Patent ID: 8847121

Claim:
A heater system comprising: a substrate defining a heating surface; a layered heater formed on the heating surface, the layered heater defining at least one resistive heating layer; a plurality of nodes disposed along the heating surface and in electrical contact with the resistive heating layer, the plurality of nodes being arranged such that a heating target is to be disposed on at least some of the plurality of nodes; a plurality of lead wires connected to the plurality of nodes; a multiplexer in communication with the plurality of nodes through the plurality of lead wires; and a controller in communication with the multiplexer, wherein the multiplexer sequences and transmits parameters from the plurality of nodes to the controller, and the controller controls an amount of power provided to each of the plurality of nodes, the amount of power provided to the at least some of the plurality of nodes being different from that provided to remaining nodes due to differences in parameters between the at least some of the nodes caused by a temperature of the heating target placed on the at least some of the plurality of nodes.