Method for compensating misalignment errors in electrophotographic device

1. A method for compensating misalignment errors associated with a laser beam in an electrophotographic (EP) device, the method comprising:

determining a first value of a time-of-flight of the laser beam, the first value of the time-of-flight being associated between a first value of a start-of-scan (SOS) time and a first value of an end-of-scan (EOS) time of the laser beam;

determining a second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, the second value of the time-of-flight being associated with a current value of the SOS time and a current value of the EOS time of the laser beam;

comparing the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam with the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam;

monitoring a duty cycle of a fuser of the EP device, the duty cycle associated with an ‘on-time’ of the fuser over a first predetermined time interval;

determining an average value of the duty cycle of the fuser for a second predetermined time period; and

adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam based on at least one of the comparison of the second value of the time-of-flight and the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, and the determined average value of the duty cycle of the fuser,

wherein the adjusting of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam compensates for the misalignment errors of the laser beam in the EP device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam prior to the determination of the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions is performed during or upon exit from a power-on-reset mode of the EP device.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising determining a time elapsed from the initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam until determining the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising

updating the second value of the time-of-flight after a third predetermined time interval, and

determining a difference between the updated second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam and the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam are adjusted following the EP device exiting from an idle mode of operation and the determined difference between the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam and the first value of the time-of-flight is more than a first threshold value, the laser beam being associated with one of a cyan color, and a magenta color.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam prior to the determination of the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam; and

determining a time elapsed from the initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam until determining the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, wherein the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam are adjusted upon determining the determined time elapsed being more than a first threshold value, and the difference between the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam and the first value of the time-of-flight being more than a second threshold value, the laser beam being associated with one of a cyan color and a magenta color.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam prior to the determination of the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, wherein the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam are adjusted upon determining the average value of the duty cycle of the fuser for the second predetermined time period being lesser than a first value of the duty cycle of the fuser by a first threshold value, the first value of the duty cycle of the fuser being associated with the initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam are adjusted upon determining the average value of the duty cycle of the fuser being greater than a first threshold value of the duty cycle over the first predetermined time period.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam prior to the determination of the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, wherein the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam are adjusted following exiting an idle mode of operation when

an amount of time in the idle mode of operation is greater than a first threshold value,

and the determined average value of the duty cycle of the fuser at the initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam is greater than a second threshold value.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising disabling the adjusting of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam based on one of user input and an occurrence of a media sheet jam condition.

12. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium for compensating misalignment errors associated with a laser beam in an electrophotographic (EP) device, the computer program product comprising a program module having instructions for:

determining an average value of the duty cycle of a fuser of the EP device over a predetermined time period; and

adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam based on the determined average value of the duty cycle of the fuser, wherein the adjusting of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam compensates for the misalignment errors of the laser beam in the EP device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , further comprising instructions for

determining a first value of a time-of-flight of the laser beam, the first value of a time-of-flight being associated between the first value of a start-of-scan (SOS) time and a first value of an end-of-scan (EOS) time of the laser beam;

determining a second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam, the second value of the time-of-flight being associated with a current value of the SOS time and a current value of the EOS time of the laser beam;

comparing the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam with the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam; and

wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam based upon at least one of the determined average value of the duty cycle and the comparison.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising instructions for performing an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam prior to the determination of the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising instructions for determining whether an operating mode of the EP device is a power-on-reset mode, wherein the initial adjustment is performed upon an affirmative determination that the operating mode of the EP device is the power-on-reset mode.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising instructions for updating the second value of the time-of-flight after a second predetermined time period, and determining a difference between the updated second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam and the first value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the instructions for adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam comprises instructions for determining whether the EP device is exiting from an idle mode of operation and determining whether the determined difference between the second value of the time-of-flight of the laser beam and the first value of the time-of-flight is more than a first threshold value.

18. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the instructions for adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam comprises instructions for determining the average value of the duty cycle of the fuser over the first predetermined time period being lesser than a first value of the duty cycle of the fuser by a first threshold value, the first value of the duty cycle of the fuser being associated with an initial adjustment of the one or more alignment conditions.

19. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the instructions for adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam comprises instruction for determining whether the average value of the duty cycle of the fuser is greater than a first threshold value of the duty cycle over the first predetermined time period.

20. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the instructions for adjusting one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam comprises instructions for adjusting the one or more alignment conditions of the laser beam upon exiting an idle mode of operation and upon determining an amount of time the EP device was in the idle mode of operation is greater than a first threshold value.