JP2000034054A - Paper processing unit and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper processing unit and an image forming device, capable of stapling a separate paper bundle safely in a state of good handling by means of manual paper feeding, not to mention that a stapled paper bundle is taken out to the specified mail bin. SOLUTION: A paper processing stage 6 is constituted by providing a processing means 22 stapling the stacked sheets of paper on the basis of the stapling process information of the paper in a paper stacker 7. This paper processing stage 6 is stationarily set up at the upper side of a device body, while a plurality of main bins 8 are set up in an underside of the stacker 7 extending over vertically plural stages, and further, a paper conveying means 10 conveying a paper bundle fed out of the paper processing stage 6 to the specified mail bin 8 on the basis of specified information in the paper storage destination is installed there, while further aside from the paper stapling process information, an operation indicating means to operate the paper stapling processing means 22 is installed these as well.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper processing apparatus and an image processing apparatus in which paper discharged from an image processing apparatus such as a printer, an electrostatographic copying machine, a facsimile or the like is accommodated in a specified mail bin. The present invention relates to a forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as personal computers).
Along with the networking of information processing devices such as personal computers and workstations, a case in which one printer, for example, is shared by a plurality of users (herein, an individual or a group of groups is referred to as a user) is conspicuous. ing.

This so-called network printer has a paper processing apparatus in which paper ejected from the printer is stored in a mail bin unique to each user based on print information from each user. A paper processing apparatus having a plurality of mail bins called mailboxes, wherein one of the plurality of mail bins is associated with the user in a one-to-one correspondence so as to have a mail bin. Is desired.

[0004] It is also desired to be able to bind sheets as needed. A paper processing apparatus capable of satisfying these needs has been proposed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-119526.

In this paper processing apparatus, a mail bin is arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages on the upper side of the apparatus main body, a path for introducing paper discharged from the printer is branched, and path switching means is provided in the path branching section. Provided, and
Based on the specification information of the paper storage destination, a paper transport unit that transports the paper to the specified mail bin is provided along the branch path to the upper side, while the paper binding processing unit and the like are built in the lower side of the apparatus main body. Further, a paper stacker is provided on the lower side of the mail bin group so as to be vertically movable, and the paper stacker is provided with a stacking stage for sheets from a lower branch path, a processing stage such as a paper binding process, And a stage for taking out a sheet bundle to the sheet conveying means.

[0006]

However, in the paper processing apparatus having such a configuration, the binding target is limited to a series of operations on paper discharged from a printer connected to the paper processing apparatus. In the non-binding processing mode, a binding process is performed on a sheet bundle that has been discharged (hereinafter, simply referred to as another sheet bundle), or another sheet bundle formed by another printer or an electrostatographic copier (hereinafter, also referred to as There is an inconvenience that cannot be used for the binding process of another sheet bundle.)

Here, if the movement of the stacker is stopped at the paper binding processing stage and an operation instructing means for operating the paper binding processing means is provided separately from the paper binding processing information, another stack of paper can be obtained. However, there is a possibility that the sheet can be stapled into the stacker by hand, but in such a configuration, when the sheet bundle is manually fed, an unnatural posture that bends the body is forced, and the handling is poor. ,
Furthermore, since the stacker originally moves up and down, there is a problem in terms of safety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and enables a bundle of bound sheets to be taken out to a designated mail bin, and utilizes a sheet binding processing means for that purpose. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet processing apparatus capable of safely binding another sheet bundle in a well-handled state by manual insertion, and an image forming apparatus including the sheet processing apparatus.

[0009]

The technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above object are as follows. That is, the invention according to claim 1 is related to a sheet processing apparatus, and comprises a sheet stacker provided with a processing unit for performing a binding process on a stack sheet based on sheet binding processing information, and configures a sheet processing stage. While the paper processing stage is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the paper processing apparatus main body, the mail bins are arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages on the lower side of the stacker, and based on the specification information of the paper storage destination, In addition to providing a paper transporting unit for transporting the bundle of papers fed from the paper processing stage to a designated mail bin, the system further includes an operation instruction unit for operating the paper binding processing unit separately from the paper binding processing information. There is a feature in the point.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus having a sheet processing apparatus, wherein a sheet stacker is provided with a processing unit for performing a binding process on a stack sheet based on sheet binding processing information. To configure the paper processing stage,
The paper processing stage is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the main body of the paper processing apparatus, while mail bins are arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages on the lower side of the stacker. A sheet processing device is provided by providing a sheet conveying device for conveying the sheet bundle fed from the processing stage to a designated mail bin. The sheet processing device is connected to the image forming apparatus main body, and further, a sheet binding process information is provided. It is characterized in that an operation instructing means for operating the paper binding processing means is provided separately from the main body of the paper processing apparatus or the main body of the image forming apparatus.

In any of the first and second aspects of the present invention, the sheet bundle stacked on the sheet processing stage can be bound and taken out to a designated mail bin, and if necessary, a manual feed can be performed. Thus, by supplying another sheet bundle to the sheet processing stage and instructing the sheet binding processing unit to operate, the manual sheet bundle can also be subjected to the binding process. Since the sheet bundle is fixedly arranged on the upper side, the binding processing of the sheet bundle of the manual feed can be performed safely and easily in a natural standing posture.

In order to take out a sheet bundle to a designated mail bin without binding, the sheet is designated as it is each time the sheet is fed to the stacker without stacking the sheet on the stacker of the sheet processing stage. What is necessary is to carry it to the mail bin which was set.

Preferably, however, the paper feed path to the stacker is provided with a path switching means for switching and feeding the paper to the paper transport means based on the non-binding processing information of the paper. In this case, the sheets are stacked one by one in the designated mail bin without passing through the sheet processing stage.

Here, in order to facilitate the later sorting operation of the sheet bundle, a plurality of sheets per document are continuously printed in a plurality of pages in order, and the sheet bundle is divided for each copy. When the document is taken out to the mail bin or a plurality of documents are continuously printed, it is preferable to take out the sheet bundle for each document and take it out to the mail bin.

In order to satisfy this demand, the sheet processing stage is provided with a cursor for aligning the width of the sheet, and further, the cursor is moved in the sheet width direction in the state of aligning the width of the sheet based on the instruction information of the offset discharge. Means may be provided (claim 4).

By the way, printers and electrostatographic copiers generally employ a so-called face-up discharge mode in which an image forming surface is directed upward. In this case, when sheets are stacked on a stacker in a face-up state, Alternatively, as described above, if the paper is directly taken out to the mail bin without passing through the paper processing stage, the page order of the paper will be out of order.

To solve this inconvenience, the paper feeding path to the stacker is provided with a switchback means for reversing the front and back of the paper (claim 5), and the paper is fed to the stacker or the mail bin. It is only necessary to turn over the paper before and after the printing.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a printer (an example of an image forming apparatus) 1 in which a face-up discharge mode is adopted.
And a switchback means 5 for inverting the sheet in the upper part of the apparatus main body 4 connected to the inlet 3 for the image forming sheet, and the sheet after the sheet is turned over. The sheet processing stage 6 for stacking and binding is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the apparatus main body 4 so that the free end of the stacker 7 projects upward from the apparatus main body 4.

A so-called mail bin 8 for accommodating the sheet bundle after the binding process fed from the sheet processing stage 6 is fixed to the lower side of the stacker 7 over a plurality of upper and lower stages and fixedly. A mail bin in which a bundle of sheets is designated based on information on designation of a sheet accommodating destination from an information processing device (for example, a personal computer with reference to FIG. 5) 9 by a user. 8 is provided.

Further, based on the non-binding processing information of the sheet from the information processing device 9, the sheet after the reversal is not passed through the sheet processing stage 6, and the mail bin 8 is designated by the sheet conveying means 10. A path switching means 11 for switching and feeding the paper is provided between the switchback means 5 and the paper conveying means 10.

Specifically, the switchback means 5 is configured as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the paper introduction path 12 from the printer 1 is branched up and down, and a path switching claw 13 is provided at the path branching part. The pair 15 and the sheet receiving member 16 are connected to each other, and
5 is configured to be driven to rotate in the reverse direction immediately before the trailing edge of the sheet is separated from the roller pair 15 based on the sheet size detection information from the information processing device 9, while the path switching claw 1 is
3 is set to the home position with the paper feeding attitude (shown by a solid line) to the upper branch path 14 and to the paper feeding attitude to the lower branch path 17 in synchronization with the reverse rotation of the roller pair 15. I am trying to change it.

The path switching means 11 for the sheet fed to the lower branch path 17 includes a sheet feeding path 19 for feeding the sheet to the stacker 7 by a pair of sheet feeding rollers 18, and a feeding path for joining to the sheet conveying means 10. The paper path 20 is switched to feed the paper. The paper feed attitude (indicated by the phantom line) to the paper feed path 19 is set to the home position, and based on the non-binding process information of the paper, The posture is changed to the posture for feeding the paper to the paper feeding path 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sheet processing stage 6 includes a stacker 7 for sheets fed from the roller pair 18.
Stacking sheet width aligning means 21, sheet binding processing means 22 for driving staples into the width-aligned sheet bundle, and gate 23 for binding processing sheet bundle to sheet transporting means 10.
And a sheet pressing roller means 24 for changing the posture from the retracted posture to the paper holding posture when the paper bundle is derived.

The above-mentioned paper binding processing means 22 is provided with the paper binding processing information from the information processing device 9 and the paper processing stage 6.
The stapler is driven into the left shoulder of the stack of sheets based on the stack information of the last sheet to be stacked on the left side when viewed from the free end side of the stacker 7, and is stacked face down. When the staple is driven into the left shoulder of the sheet from the lower side of the sheet bundle, the sheet is fed in the width direction in a sheet feeding mode in which one end in the longitudinal direction of the sheet is aligned (so-called one-end-based sheet feeding mode). However, the paper may be fed in the longitudinal direction, and the staple may be driven into the right shoulder of the paper bundle.

Further, the sheet is fed in the longitudinal direction by adopting a feeding mode based on the other end opposite to the above, and the sheet binding processing means 22 is disposed at the right back corner, The stapler may be driven into the left shoulder of the bundle,
Alternatively, the stapling is not limited to driving the staples into the corners, but the staples may be driven at one point or two points in the middle of the stack paper. In this case, the center of the paper in the width direction is aligned. That is, a so-called center-based paper feeding mode may be adopted.

The paper binding processing means 22 is an operation instruction means provided on the upper side of the apparatus main body 4 (see FIG. 1).
The stapling operation can be performed by a manual operation of the stapler 25. At this time, a paper detection sensor 26 is provided in the vicinity of the paper binding processing means 22, and when the sensor 26 detects the paper, Only the operation of the sheet binding processing unit 22 by the operation instruction unit 25 is enabled, and consideration is given to eliminating erroneous stapling when there is no sheet in the stacker 7.

On the other hand, the paper width aligning means 21 is provided with a pair of width aligning cursors 27 and 28 for receiving the paper of the maximum length and width.
Is provided so as to be movable in the width direction of the stacker 7, the paper receiving posture of the maximum length and width is set to the home position, and based on the paper size data fed and fed from the printer 1, the stacker 7 Each time sheets are stacked, the cursor 27 on the opposite side of the sheet binding processing means 22 moves in the width direction of the stacker 7 to align the width of the sheets.

The paper width aligning means 21 outputs the information of the offset discharge of the sheet bundle from the information processing device 9,
Offset means (not shown) for moving the cursors 27, 28 in the paper width direction in the paper width alignment state each time the final paper stack information is input based on the final paper stack information to the paper processing stage 6. It has.

A sheet bundle from the sheet processing stage 6, or
The paper transport unit 10 for transporting the paper fed through the path switching unit 11 to the designated mail bin 8 without passing the paper bin through the paper processing stage 6 is attached to the paper transport guide 29 facing downward. Is formed, and a pair of transport rollers 30 is disposed immediately upstream of the paper lead-out portion a. Further, a flapper 31 for switching and feeding paper to the designated mail bin 8 is provided. Are placed in the paper leading-out sections a, excluding the lowermost mail bins 8, and the flapper 3
1 and the mail bin 8, and a paper feed roller pair 32 is disposed between the flappers 31.
Is a home position in which the paper is passed downstream (the posture indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2).

When the sheet processing apparatus 2 is formed as a single unit, the operation instructing means 25 must be provided on the sheet processing apparatus main body 4 side. However, the sheet processing apparatus 2 is integrated with the image forming apparatus 1. In this case, the operation instructing means 25 does not necessarily have to be provided in the main body 4 of the sheet processing apparatus, but may be provided on the main body side of the image forming apparatus 1 as shown by a virtual line in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, a case where a plurality of information processing apparatuses (for example, personal computers) are connected to one printer 1 via a network, and users A to E share the printer 1 For example, the user B designates one copy printing of a plurality of sheets per document and the binding processing of the sheet bundle, and transfers the bound sheet bundle to the second-stage mail bin from the top. Next, a description will be given of how to take out a sheet bundle when an instruction to discharge the sheet is given to the sheet bundle 8.

First, the paper sequentially fed from the first page in the face-up state from the printer 1 passes through the switchback means 5 and is turned upside down to form the paper feed path 19 by the paper feed roller pair 18. Then, each time the sheets are stacked on the stacker 7 in a face-down state, and the sheets are stacked on the stacker 7, the width aligning means 21 aligns the widths of the sheets, and a plurality of sheets are designated per specified part. Is completed, the sheet binding processing means 22 drives a staple, for example, on the left shoulder of the sheet bundle based on the stack information of the last sheet.

When the staple driving is completed,
Based on the information on the completion of the binding process, the roller unit 24 switches to the paper pressing posture, and the rollers 33 and 34 sandwich the bound bundle of sheets, and at the same time, the lead-out gate 23 opens to restrict the rear end of the sheet. The sheet bundle subjected to the binding processing is released toward the sheet conveying means 10 with the release and the rotation of the lower roller 34.

On the other hand, in the sheet conveying means 10, only the flapper 31 corresponding to the second-stage mail bin 8 is provided as shown by a solid line in FIG. Is switched to the paper feeding mode for the second-stage mail bin 8. Therefore, the sheet bundle subjected to the binding processing is taken out to the second-stage mail bin 8, and thereafter, the sheet bundle as described above is completed until the final removal of the plurality of sets of sheet bundles is completed. Is repeatedly taken out.

In the case where a plurality of sheets per document are continuously printed in a plurality of pages in the order of pages, the above-described sheet bundle removal process is repeatedly performed based on the information on the number of copies specified from the information processing device 9. In the case where a plurality of documents are to be printed continuously, the above-described sheet bundle extraction process is performed based on the continuous print information of the plurality of documents from the information processing device 9 and the information of the completion of printing for each document. Is repeated for each document.

Here, when the above-described printing of a plurality of copies or continuous printing of a plurality of documents is performed without performing the binding process, if the information processing apparatus 11 specifies the form of the offset discharge, the information is used as a basis. By functioning of an offset means (not shown), the sheet bundle can be separated and taken out to the mail bin 8 for each unit.

At this time, the sheets pass through the switchback means 5, are turned upside down, are sequentially stacked on the stacker 7 in a face-down state, and each time the sheets are stacked, the width aligning means 21 Aligning the width of
It is performed in the same manner as above.

When the stacking of a plurality of sheets is completed per a designated part, the offset means operates based on the stack information of the final sheet and the information of the offset discharge, that is, the cursor 27, 28 is shifted to one side in the paper width direction in the paper width direction in the paper width alignment state, and the paper bundle is offset by slightly moving the paper bundle together with the paper bundle. And the outlet gate 23 is opened, and the sheet bundle is taken out to the mail bin 8.

Thereafter, each time the stack information of the last sheet is input, the cursors 27 and 28 return to the original positions and move to one side in the sheet width direction until the last sheet stack information is input.ゝ The repetition of the movement causes the plurality of sets of sheet bundles to be taken out to the stacker 7 in a state of being separated for each bundle, thus facilitating later sorting work of the sheet bundle. You can do it.

When the binding process is not performed for a part of the number of print copies, since there is no need to pass the paper through the paper processing stage 6 in particular, the path switching means is performed based on the non-binding processing information from the information processing device 9. 11 is a sheet conveying means 1
The paper feeding posture is switched to the paper feeding posture of 0, and the paper turned upside down by switchback can be taken out in the page order in a face-down state to the designated mail bin 8 through the paper feeding path 20 for merging. I just need.

The sheet bundle formed by another printer, an electrostatographic copying machine or the like, including the non-binding sheet bundle thus taken out, is bound using the above-mentioned sheet binding processing means 22. be able to.

That is, the above-mentioned sheet bundle is manually supplied in a face-down state to the sheet binding processing means 22 provided in the sheet processing stage 6, and the sheet bundle is detected by the sensor 26. The operation of the binding processing means 22 is enabled, and the sheet binding processing means 22 is operated by the operation instructing means 25. Thus, the manual sheet bundle can be bound and the sheet processing stage 6 is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the apparatus main body 4, the binding process of the manual sheet bundle can be performed safely and easily in a natural standing posture.

In the above-described embodiment, the printer 1 which adopts the face-up discharge mode is set as the object to be connected to the sheet processing apparatus 2, but the printer 1 which adopts the face-down discharge mode is used as the paper processing apparatus. 2 in this case, and in this case, the switchback means 5
There is no need to equip.

[0044]

As described above, according to the paper processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to bind a bundle of paper stacked on a paper processing stage and take it out to a designated mail bin. Of course, the sheet binding processing means for this purpose can be used to manually bind the sheet bundle as needed, and the sheet processing stage can be fixedly arranged on the upper side of the apparatus main body. In addition, the binding process of the manually-fed sheet bundle can be performed safely and easily in a natural standing posture.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer provided with a paper processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view near the sheet processing stage.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of a sheet processing stage.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a network printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 apparatus main body, 5 switchback means, 6 paper processing stage, 7 stacker, 8 mail bin, 10 paper transport means, 11 path switching means, 19 paper feed path,
22: paper binding processing means, 25: operation instruction means, 27,
28 Cursor.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet stacker further comprising a processing unit for performing a binding process on a stack sheet based on sheet binding process information.
A paper processing stage is constituted, and the paper processing stage is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the main body of the paper processing apparatus. Based on the information, a sheet transport unit that transports the sheet bundle fed from the sheet processing stage to a designated mail bin is provided, and further,
A sheet processing apparatus comprising: operation instruction means for operating the sheet binding processing means, separately from the sheet binding processing information. 2. A sheet stacker further comprising: processing means for binding a stack sheet based on sheet binding processing information;
A paper processing stage is configured, and the paper processing stage is fixedly arranged on the upper side of the main body of the paper processing apparatus, while mail bins are arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages on the lower side of the stacker, and a paper storage destination is designated. Based on the information, a sheet conveying device is provided to convey a sheet bundle fed from the sheet processing stage to a designated mail bin to constitute a sheet processing apparatus, and the sheet processing apparatus is connected to the image forming apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus further comprising an operation instructing means for operating the paper binding processing means separately from the paper binding processing information in the paper processing apparatus main body or the image forming apparatus main body. 3. The paper feeding path according to claim 1, further comprising: a path switching unit that switches a sheet to the sheet conveying unit based on non-binding processing information of the sheet in a sheet feeding path to the stacker. The described device. 4. The sheet processing stage includes a sheet width alignment cursor, and offset means for moving the cursor in the sheet width direction in the sheet width alignment state based on offset discharge instruction information. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims. 5. On the paper feed path side of the paper to the stacker,
The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising switchback means for turning over the sheet.