Patent ID: 8768186

Claim:
An apparatus for predicting failure of a fixing device of an image forming apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a data collection unit configured to obtain a plurality of sheet transfer time values each indicating a time starting from when a recording sheet enters the fixing device to when the recording sheet exits the fixing device of the image forming apparatus; a controller unit configured to: calculate a first characteristics value that is an average value of the plurality of sheet transfer time values stored in a sheet transfer time storage unit, a second characteristics value that indicates the variance of the plurality of sheet transfer time values stored in the sheet transfer time storage unit, and a third characteristics value that indicates a maximum delay time among the plurality of sheet transfer time values stored in the sheet transfer time storage unit; generate a plurality of condition data sets each including the first characteristics value, the second characteristics value and the third characteristics value for a predetermined period of time; calculate a pre-determination result for each condition data set by applying a first weight to each condition data set; calculate a determination index value by applying a second weight to each pre-determination result and summing each pre-determination result; and predict failure of the fixing device of the image forming apparatus based on a comparison of the determination index value to a predetermined value, the comparison result including information regarding whether a fixing drive gear of the fixing device is damaged, wherein at least one of the first weight and second weight are based on the source of the failure.