Patent ID: 8275278

Claim:
A fixing control device for controlling temperature of a fixing device at a prescribed level, said fixing device including a pressurizing member for applying pressure, a fixing member for fixing a toner image carried on a printing medium with the pressure applied by the pressurizing member, and a heat source having at least two heater elements for heating at least one of the pressurizing member and the fixing member, said fixing control device comprising: a power distribution controller configured to adjust a power distribution time period when power is distributed to the at least two heater elements per control cycle; a turn on time determining member configured to determine a time when each of the at least two heater elements is turned on based on a duty ratio between the power distribution time period and the control cycle; and a soft operation controller configured to either gradually start or stop heating each of the at least two heater elements during a soft start or stop period, respectively, wherein said soft start or stop time period of one of the at least two heater elements is decreased not to overlap with the soft start or stop time period of the other one of the at least two heater elements, and said soft stop time period is decreased when the soft start time period of one of the at least two heater elements overlaps with the soft stop time period of the other one of the at least two heater elements.