Patent ID: 7006250

Claim:
A method of calibrating an electrophotographic machine having an image-bearing surface, wherein the electrophotographic machine comprises a multi-color electrophotographic machine, said method comprising the steps of: estimating a reflectivity of the image-bearing surface based upon an amount of usage of the electrophotographic machine; determining a reflectivity of at least one color toner on said image bearing surface, wherein said determining includes: depositing a plurality of toner patches of each of a plurality of colors on the image-bearing surface; emitting light onto said toner patches; measuring an amount of light that is reflected off of each of said toner patches; emitting light onto a bare section of the image-bearing surface, the bare section having substantially no toner thereon; and measuring an amount of light that is reflected off of the bare section, said adjusting being dependent upon said estimating step, and adjusting at least one electrophotographic condition, said adjusting being dependent upon said estimating step and upon said determining step, wherein said adjusting includes the substeps of: calculating a respective reflection ratio for each of said toner patches dependent upon each of said measuring steps; and converting each of said reflection ratios into a respective predicted lightness value.