Patent ID: 8789462

Claim:
A printer comprising: a transfer roller including an at least partially compressible blanket and defining at least one seam extending generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the transfer roller, wherein the transfer roller includes a cylinder with the blanket secured about the cylinder; a media roller positioned for rolling contact against the blanket of the transfer roller under pressure as a media passes through a nip between the respective rollers, wherein the blanket is under compression at the nip, wherein at least one of the media roller and the transfer roller includes a translatable rotational axis; and means for maintaining a substantially uniform pressure on the blanket as an entire circumference of the transfer roller passes through a location of the nip, wherein the means for maintaining includes: a positioning mechanism configured to maintain a substantially uniform gap between the media roller and an outer surface of the cylinder of the transfer roller via application of a first gap setpoint when non-seam areas of the transfer roller pass through the nip and via application of a second gap setpoint, greater than the first gap setpoint, when the at least one seam of the transfer roller passes through a location of the nip at which no printing occurs, wherein the positioning mechanism includes: a coupling portion coupled to the translatable rotatable axis; and a control portion configured to implement the respective first and second gap setpoints by varying the position, via at least the translatable rotatable axis, of the media roller and the transfer roller relative to each other based, at least in part, on observable effects associated with deformation behavior of the coupling portion.