JP2003292227A - After-treatment device for sheet and image forming device therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain good loading and storage for a curled sheet in conducting loading operations with an after-treatment device for the sheets such as a finisher. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises a detecting means of detecting the position of a sheet top face, and a control means of controlling the sheet so that the sheet may be moved to a standby position of a prescribed amount of sheets based on information on the detected position before the delivery of the sheets, the sheet may be moved to a delivery position of a prescribed amount of sheets, and so that the sheet may be moved to a completion position of a prescribed amount of completion position immediately before the completion of sheet delivery. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus that sorts, binds, and stores sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, and an image forming apparatus including the same. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and laser printers are provided with a post-processing device for performing post-processing such as sheet binding. Such a post-processing device is shown in FIG. So that it can move up and down freely
The tray 103, which is a sheet stacking table for stacking sheets on the second sheet, is disposed on the upper side of the swing guide 88.
A sheet level detection sensor 10 for detecting that the height of the sheet S discharged onto the tray 103 has reached a certain value.
5 are provided.

Here, the sheet level detecting sensor 10
Reference numeral 5 denotes a rotatable sensor lever 10 whose upper end is pivotally supported and which comes into contact with the sheets S stacked on the tray 103.
6 and a photo sensor 107 that outputs a signal indicating that the height of the sheet S has reached a certain value when the sensor lever 106 rotates by a predetermined angle. The sensor lever 106 is configured to gradually rotate upward when the sheets S are sequentially stacked on the tray 103, and to be at a predetermined angle when the height of the sheets S reaches a certain value.
As a result, the sheet level detection sensor 105 can detect that the stacked sheet height has reached a certain value.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, since the height of the sheet on the tray is detected by using the sensor lever and the photo sensor, the distance between the sheet discharge port and the upper surface of the sheet on the tray is determined. Cannot be adjusted arbitrarily, and the movement of the tray can be controlled only at a limited position. As a result, there is a limit to the stackability of sheets depending on the discharge mode.

Therefore, a non-contact type distance measuring sensor is used to measure the distance from the discharge port of the sheet stacking surface every time the sheet is discharged from the discharge port onto the tray, and the distance is measured from the discharge port of the sheet stacking surface. By always controlling the distance of to a predetermined value,
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-32215 proposes a method of eliminating the risk of so-called bending of the sheet in which the trailing edge of the sheet remains caught in the discharge section and improving the stackability of the sheet.
It is done by 5.

[0006]

However, in such a proposal, the distance from the discharge port of the sheet stacking surface where the sheet is discharged from the discharge port onto the tray is measured at one measurement point, and the sheet is discharged from the discharge port of the sheet stacking surface. Since the distance is always controlled to a predetermined value, it may not be possible to sufficiently cope with the curl of the sheet which changes under various conditions such as paper type, paper size and environment. That is, when the sheet curls upward, the tray position is set to the lower side with respect to the normal non-curled sheet because the curled rear end is used as the measurement point. As a result, when the ejection front end of the next sheet is ejected, there is a possibility that a problem such as buckling or curling of the sheet front end may occur due to the height of the landing surface lowering at the front end.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus capable of favorably accommodating and accommodating curls of sheets that change under various conditions such as paper type, paper size, and environment, and the same. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus provided with.

[0008]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet post-processing apparatus that receives a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus in a sheet post-processing apparatus that processes and stores a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus. A sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet conveyed to a predetermined position, a sheet discharging unit that discharges the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit from a discharge unit, a sheet storing unit that stacks and stores the sheets discharged from the sheet discharging unit, and the sheet. A moving means for moving the containing means in the vertical direction and a sheet discharging operation based on the leading edge position information of the sheet discharged by the sheet discharging means after the sheet storing means has been moved to the standby position of a predetermined amount by the moving means. And a control unit that controls to move to a predetermined amount of discharge position and to move to a predetermined amount of end position after the sheet discharge is completed. To.

According to the above-mentioned mode, the control means moves the sheet storage means to the standby position of a predetermined amount by the moving means, and then, based on the leading edge position information of the sheet discharged by the sheet discharge means, the sheet discharge means. It moves to a predetermined amount of discharge position inside, and is controlled for each predetermined number of sheets so as to move to a predetermined amount of end position after the end of sheet discharge, so sheets that change under various conditions such as paper type, paper size, environment It is possible to satisfactorily stack and store the curl. Moreover, since the sheet accommodating means is moved in a state where a predetermined number of sheets are stacked, the sheets are aligned due to the vibration associated with the movement of the sheet accommodating means, and the sheets can be favorably stacked and accommodated.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided detection means arranged above the sheet storage means for detecting the position of the upper surface of the sheets stacked on the sheet storage means, and the control means detects the measurement result by the detection means. It is characterized in that it is controlled to move to the respective predetermined positions based on the above.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the control means controls for each predetermined number of sheets.

A sheet post-processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention is
In a sheet post-processing apparatus that processes and stores sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus, a sheet conveying unit that receives the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus and conveys the sheet to a predetermined position, and a sheet binding unit that binds a predetermined number of sheets. Sheet discharging means for discharging a sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means or a sheet bundle bound by the sheet binding means from a discharging portion, and a sheet storing for stacking and storing the sheet or the sheet bundle discharged from the sheet discharging means Means, a moving means for moving the sheet containing means in the vertical direction, and a leading edge position information of the sheet discharged by the sheet discharging means after the sheet storing means is moved to a standby position of a predetermined amount by the moving means. Based on this, it is controlled to move to a predetermined amount of discharge position during sheet discharge and to move to a predetermined amount of end position after sheet discharge is completed. Characterized in that it comprises control means for the.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a detection unit which is arranged above the sheet storage unit and detects the position of the upper surface of the sheets stacked on the sheet storage unit, and which is based on the measurement result of the detection unit. It is characterized in that it is controlled to move to a predetermined position of the sheet or the sheet bundle.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the respective predetermined positions for the sheet discharging portion are different between the sheet and the sheet bundle, and the sheet bundle is lower than the sheet.

An image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including an image forming section and a sheet post-processing apparatus for accommodating a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming section. The post-processing apparatus is the sheet post-processing apparatus described in any of the above.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration to which the present invention is applicable. In the figure, 1 is a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention, 100 is a copying apparatus which is an example of an image forming apparatus, 200 is a cassette for stacking a plurality of sheets of different sizes, and 300 is an automatic original for automatically feeding originals. It is a feeder (hereinafter referred to as ADF).

First, in the copying apparatus main body 100, 10
Reference numeral 1 is a platen glass on which a document is placed, 103 and 104 are scanning reflection mirrors (scanning mirrors) for changing the optical paths of reflected light from the document, 105 is a lens having a focusing and zooming function, and 106 is an ADF 300. It is a first scanning mirror base having an illumination lamp and a mirror for reading a document sent by the scanner.

Numeral 107 is a registration roller, numeral 108 is a photosensitive drum, numeral 110 is a pressure roller, and numeral 111 is a conveyor belt for conveying a recording sheet on which an image has been recorded to the fixing side.
Is a fixing device for thermocompressing the conveyed recording sheet, 1
13 and 117 are conveyance rollers for conveying the recording sheet,
114 is a flapper for switching the conveying direction of the conveyed recording sheet, 115 is a conveying roller for conveying the recording sheet toward the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, 116 is a reversing path for reversing the front and back of the recording sheet, and 118 is a cassette 20
0 and transport rollers 119, 120, 121 that transport the sheets from the reverse path 116 to the photosensitive drum unit section.
Are rollers, trays and separation pads, respectively, which convey the sheets from the manual feed unit. 122, 123
Reference numerals 125 and 125 are a laser light source for forming an image on the photosensitive drum 108, a polygon mirror and a mirror for changing the optical path, and 124 is a motor for rotating the polygon mirror 123.

Further, in the cassette 200, 201 is a conveying roller for pulling out a sheet from the cassette 200,
Reference numeral 2 is an intermediate roller for delivering the sheet pulled out from the cassette 200 upward.

By the way, the surface of the photosensitive drum 108 is composed of a photoconductor and a seamless photoconductor using a conductor, and the drum 108 is rotatably supported and operates in response to the pressing of the copy start key. A main motor (not shown) starts rotation in the direction of the arrow in the figure. When the predetermined rotation control of the drum 108 and the potential control processing (preprocessing) are completed, the original placed on the original platen glass 101 is illuminated by an illumination lamp integrated with the first scanning mirror 106, and the original is lit. The reflected light of (1) passes through the lenses 105 through the scanning mirrors 103 and 104, and forms an image on the light receiving element inside the lens unit.

Here, the reflected light image from the original is converted into an electric signal by the light receiving element and sent to an image processing section (not shown), while predetermined data received by the main body from the user in this image processing section. After the processing, it is sent to the laser light source 112. And
The electrical signal subjected to this data processing is the laser unit 112.
After being converted into light by the polygon mirror 123, the mirror 1
25 is reflected to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 108, and is visualized by toner to be transferred onto a transfer sheet as described later.

The transfer sheet set in the cassette 200 or the manual feed tray 120 is fed by the feeding roller 11
8, 119, 201, and 202, the copying apparatus main body 100
Then, it is sent to the photosensitive drum 108 with accurate timing by the registration roller 109, and the leading edge of the latent image and the leading edge of the transfer sheet are aligned. Then, the transfer sheet passes between the photosensitive drum 108 and the roller 110, so that the toner image on the drum 108 is transferred onto the transfer sheet.

After this, the transfer sheet is the drum 108.
After being separated, they are guided to the fixing device 112 by the conveyor belt 111 and fixed by pressing and heating. The transfer sheet (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) on which an image is formed in this manner enters into the path indicated by 116 by the flapper 114, and when the trailing edge of the sheet leaves the flapper 114, the conveyance roller 117 is indicated by the arrow in the figure. Rotate in the opposite direction.
Then, the sheet travels in the reverse direction on the path indicated by 116, and the leading end thereof is advanced by the flapper 114 toward the discharge roller 115, and is output to the sheet post-processing apparatus main body 1 with the printing surface facing downward.

On the other hand, in the ADF 300, reference numeral 301 is a stacking tray for setting the original bundle 302 on the original downward, and the pickup roller 304 conveys the lowermost sheets of the original bundle one by one. Reference numeral 305 is a separating unit that sends out the bottom sheet one by one when a plurality of originals are sent out in a bundle, and 306 is a registration roller pair that aligns the leading ends of the separated originals. The original that has passed through the registration rollers 306 is read by the reading unit 307 while the mirror base 106 is fixed, that is, so-called flow reading is performed, and then the original is loaded on the discharge tray 309 via the discharge roller 308. It is like this.

The digital type copying machine is composed of a "scanner section" for reading an image of an original and a "printer section" for reproducing the image, and each can operate independently.

In the scanner section, the original is illuminated with a lamp,
The reflected light is decomposed into small dots (pixels) by the light receiving element, and at the same time, it is converted into an electric signal (photoelectric conversion) according to the light and shade of the original, and in the printer section, the electric signal sent from the scanner section. Based on the above, a photosensitive drum is irradiated with a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum, and a copy image is formed through development, transfer and fixing.

Therefore, by connecting the interface section 500 to the digital copying machine, the electric signal of the original read by the scanner section is transferred to the other facsimile 501, and conversely, the electric signal received from the other facsimile 501 is transferred. It is also possible to send the image to the transfer unit through the interface unit 500 and display the image on the transfer sheet.

Similarly, an image signal received from a computer device such as the personal computer 502 is sent to the printer unit through the interface unit 500 to be printed on a transfer sheet, or an image read by the scanner unit is transmitted through the interface unit 500 to the personal computer 502. It can be imported to.

As described above, in the digital copying machine of the present embodiment, not only the original sent from the ADF 300 or the original placed on the platen glass is read and copied, but also the interface section 500 is used. By doing so, the facsimile 501 or the personal computer 50
It is also possible to use it as a second printer.

By the way, a stopper member 2 is provided above the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, and the copying apparatus main body 100 is provided.
When it is connected to, the holding member 2A is positioned and attached to the holding portion 2A formed on the side surface of the copying apparatus main body 100 by the stopper member 2. Also, the sheet post-processing apparatus 1
A folder unit or a mounting base 70 that supports the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 is arranged in the lower part of the sheet, and casters 80 are movably mounted on the folding unit.

As a result, when the jam processing near the discharge portion of the copying apparatus main body 100 or the jam processing at the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 and the transfer section of the copying apparatus main body 100 is performed, the stopper member 2 is first released and then the The sheet post-processing apparatus 1 can be easily moved by moving the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 horizontally and separating it from the copying apparatus main body 100.

On the other hand, when the sheet discharged from the discharge section of the copying apparatus main body 100 is processed in the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, the upstream end of the flapper 3 is located downward in FIG. The upstream end of 4 is located above,
It is sent to the first transport path 6 through the roller pair 5. In addition,
When the sheet is conveyed to the folding device, the upstream end of the flapper 3 is located above and is conveyed through the third conveying path 7 in the direction of the broken line arrow in the figure.

In the figure, 8 is the first transport path 6
The second conveyance path (buffer path) bypassing the path, 9 is a buffer roller, 14, 15 and 16 are buffer rollers, 10, 11, 12a, 12b and 13 are sheet detection sensors, and detection of a passing sheet and accumulation of a accumulated sheet are performed. Performs detection, etc.

Reference numeral 17 is a first discharge roller, 18 is a pressing roller that rotates in contact with the first discharge roller, and 19 is a discharge alignment belt, which is sandwiched between the first discharge roller 17 and the pressing roller 18 to rotate. In addition, as a measure for preventing the belt from coming off, an endless rib (not shown) provided near the central portion inside the belt engages with the circumferential groove of the first discharge roller 17 and rotates.

Further, reference numeral 20 denotes an abutting plate for abutting the rear end of the sheet to align the sheet in the longitudinal direction at the time of stapling, which will be described later. The abutting plate 20 is a home position for sequentially aligning the rear ends of the sheets. And a retracted position that does not hinder the movement of the stapler 400. When the stapler 400 moves, the stapler 400 is rotated to a retracted position indicated by a broken line so as not to hinder the movement of the stapler 400. I have to.

On the other hand, the alignment of the sheets in the width direction is performed by the width aligning guide 21 as shown in FIGS. Further, the stapler 400 moves in a range indicated by an arrow in FIG. 3 to perform two-point binding, one-side binding on the front side, and one-side binding on the back side.
3 and 4, reference numeral 29 is an alignment reference plate.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2, reference numerals 23, 24, and 25 denote first, second, and third trays as sheet accommodating means for accommodating and accommodating sheets ejected from the ejection port 50, and first and second trays 26, 26. It is a tray unit that is a mounting table unit that moves up and down while holding the third trays 23, 24, and 25. At the lower part of the tray unit 26, as shown in FIG. 5, a drive device as a moving means is formed.
The tray unit 26 is moved in the vertical direction by rotating the lifting gear 601a while engaging the rack gear 26a formed in the tray unit 26 with the shift motor 601 constituted by a pulse motor.

Further, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 31 is a swing guide, and as shown in FIG. 6, the swing guide 31 rotatably holds the movable discharge roller 33, and when the sheet is discharged, the swing guide 31 is moved as shown in FIG. When the illustrated cam 35 is rotated by the paper discharge motor 35a in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the cam 35 is rotated downward with the rotation shaft 31a as a fulcrum, and the movable discharge roller 33 is pressed against the discharge roller 32 as shown in FIG. It is for making it.

In the stapling mode, which will be described later, the swing guide 31 is rotated upward to a position where the movable discharge roller 33 is separated from the discharge roller 32 as shown in FIG. A pair of rollers including a discharge roller 32 and a discharge roller 32 is set from a sheet dischargeable state to a sheet discharge impossible state.

On the other hand, in FIG. 6, reference numeral 30 denotes a stopper, which is rotated about the rotation shaft 30a as a fulcrum when the tray is moved, and closes the discharge port 50 as shown by the solid line in FIG. By closing the discharge port 50 in this way, it is possible to prevent the sheets stacked on the tray from flowing back to the discharge port 50 when the tray passes through the discharge port 50. In the figure, 2
Reference numeral 7 is an upper snow guide.

Further, when the sheet is discharged, the stopper 30 is rotated in the arrow Y direction shown in FIG. 6 to open the discharge port 50. Further, this stopper 30 is set in the state shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the rotation guide 31 is rotated in the direction of releasing the discharge port 50, similarly to the rotation guide 31.

Further, in FIG. 6, reference numeral 34 denotes a roller guide, which is rotatably provided with its lower portion pivotally supported between the lower snow guide 27a and the discharge port 50, and has a locking claw at the upper end thereof. 34a is provided so as to project outward.
Here, when the rotation guide 31 rotates downward, the roller guide 34 rotates while extending the spring 37 via the link 36, and the tip of the locking claw 34 a is located at least in the main body 1 than the front end of the discharge roller 32. It is designed to retreat to an inward position.

By retracting the roller guide 34 in this way, it is possible to prevent the sheet S from being caught between the roller guide 34 and the discharge roller 32 when the sheet is discharged, and the sheet S is reliably discharged. Is able to. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, a flank shown by a slanted line I can be formed between the lower slatted guide 27a and the discharged sheet S so that it can be smoothly guided to the tray 24. Has become.

By the way, this roller guide 34 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, it is biased in the direction of arrow A by a spring 37, and when in the staple mode, it is held by the spring 37 in a position where it is flush with the lower snow guide 27a as shown in FIG. It has become.

Then, in this way, the lower snow guide 27
By forming the same surface as “a”, even when the inclined end of the sheets Sa stacked on the tray 24 is curved (curled) upward in the staple mode, the inclined end is formed by the lower snow guide 27 a and the discharge roller 32. I try not to get caught between them.

Further, in the staple mode, as shown in FIG. 9, the locking claw 34a is projected above the tray 24, so that even if the inclined end of the sheet S is curved upward. It is possible to prevent the upper end of the sheet from exceeding the point G. When the next sheet comes out, the sheet is caught and jammed, or the width aligning guide 21 operates and becomes a load when aligning, and the alignment deteriorates. I am trying to prevent it.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2, 60 is the tray 23,
It is a non-contact type distance sensor having an irradiation unit that irradiates light toward 24 and 25 and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light of the irradiation light. Then, a CPU, which is a control device described later
Is operated, for example, by operating the distance sensor 60 each time a predetermined number of sheets are discharged or a binding operation is performed,
Light is emitted toward 24 and 25, and the distance between the distance sensor 60 and the sheets stacked on the trays 23, 24 and 25 is obtained from the position on the light receiving portion where the reflected light is received.

Further, the CPU determines the sheet stacking state of the trays 23, 24 and 25 based on the obtained distance, and the shift motor 601 according to the determination result.
Drive control is performed to move the tray unit 26 in the vertical direction to move the trays 23, 24, 25, as will be described later.

FIG. 11 is a simple block diagram of the distance sensor 60, in which 61 is a light emitting element (1
ED) and 62 are burst wave generation circuits that generate a signal for causing the light emitting element 61 to emit light, and form a radiation section together with the light emitting element 61.

Reference numeral 63 denotes a PSD (provided in the light receiving portion for receiving the light reflected by the sheet after being irradiated from the light emitting element 61 toward the first, second and third trays 23, 24 and 25). Position-Sensitive-Detector) A light receiving element.

The PSD light receiving element 63 includes an amplifier 63a, a limiter 63b, a band pass filter (BPS) 63c, a demodulator 63d, and an integrator 63.
e, a comparator 63f, which generates a current of different magnitude depending on the receiving distance of the reflected light from the sheet surface. Further, 64 is a burst wave generation circuit 62
Output a trigger signal to the PSD light receiving element 63
It is a signal processing circuit for converting the current from the voltage information into voltage information.

By the way, this distance sensor 60 is arranged inside the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 as described above, and
2, CPU 6 having a block configuration as shown in FIG.
00, and when the signal from the CPU 600 is input, the burst wave generation circuit 62 outputs a trigger signal to cause the light emitting element 61 to emit light, and the PSD light receiving element 63 changes the receiving distance of the reflected light. Corresponding voltage information C
The output is made to the PU 600.

As shown in FIG. 14, the distance sensor 60 irradiates the tray 23 (sheet S) with light at a predetermined angle a with respect to the vertical direction, that is, 30 ° in this embodiment, so that the tray 23 is irradiated with light. It is located diagonally above.

On the other hand, the CPU 600 uses the distance sensor 6
Based on the magnitude of the voltage signal from 0, the distance sensor 6
The distance A from 0 to the sheet stacking surface is calculated. By obtaining the distance A to the sheet stacking surface in this manner, the vertical distances L2 and L2 ′ from the distance sensor 60 to the sheet stacking surface can be obtained by the following formula. It should be noted that this L2 'indicates the vertical distance when the tray 23 is at the position for stacking the first sheet, that is, when no sheets are stacked on the tray.

L2 = A * COS 30 ° (1) L2 ′ = A * COS 30 ° (2) Further, the distance from the distance sensor 60 to the discharge port 11
Is known in advance, the distance L3 ′ between the sheet stacking surface of the tray 23 and the discharge port 50 or the upper surface of the sheet and the discharge port 50
The distance L3 between and can be calculated by the following equations.

L3 = L2-L1 (3) L3 '= L2'-L1 (4) By the way, this distance measurement is performed as shown in FIG. 15 every time the CPU 600 performs post-processing such as discharging a predetermined number of sheets or stapling. Such a signal is intermittently input to the burst wave generation circuit 62 via the signal processing circuit 64.

Here, in the figure, Vin is a signal for causing the light emitting element 61 to emit light, for example, every one stapling operation. When the L (Low) signal continues for 7 Omsec or more, the light emitting element 61 emits light. To start the measurement side, and thereafter, eight clock signals of 0.2 msec or less, for example, 8 times during Imsec or more, the burst wave generation circuit 62.
I input it to and measure the distance.

The measurement is completed by inputting eight clock signals and then applying an H (High) signal of 1.5 msec or more. Also,
For such a signal on the light emitting side, the reflected light received on the PSD light receiving element 63 side is used as voltage information of 8 bits by the CPU 6
Output to 00.

On the other hand, in the CPU 600, 8-bit distance data obtained in advance by experiments or the like is made into a table, which is stored in the ROM (Read Only Memory) 610 shown in FIG. 13 which stores the control procedure executed by the CPU 600. From the data sent from the distance sensor 60 based on this table, for example, the distance A between the distance sensor 60 and the sheet stacking surface is obtained.

Then, the calculated distance is the tray 2
3 is a predetermined height, for example, when the sheet is shorter than the first predetermined distance indicating that the sheets are stacked by a height that hinders the discharge of the sheets, the shift motor 601 is provided so as not to hinder the discharge of the sheets. Drive control is performed via the driver D6 shown in FIG.
To lower.

If the required distance becomes shorter than the first predetermined distance after the tray 23 is sequentially lowered and the tray 23 reaches the lowest position, the tray 2
B. The unit 26 is moved so that sheets are stacked on another tray.

In this way, by measuring the height of the sheet S or the distance between the sheet stacking surface of the tray 23 and the discharge port 50, an appropriate movement amount of the tray 23 can be calculated. Note that the results of these calculations are stored in a RAM (random access memory) 620 that stores various data.

By the way, the first, second and third trays 23,
Through holes 23a, 24a, and 25a are formed at the measurement points of the distance sensor 60 in each of 24 and 25 (FIGS. 2 and 1).
4). Here, in this way, each tray 23, 24, 2
By forming the through holes 23a, 24a, 25a in 5, the presence or absence of the sheets on the trays 23, 24, 25 can be determined.

That is, when the trays 23, 24, 25 are irradiated with light and no sheets are stacked on the trays 23, 24, 25, the irradiation light is emitted through the through holes 23a,
After passing through 24a and 25a, for example, the sheet of the lower tray is hit and reflected. With such a configuration, the distance obtained at this time becomes larger than the second predetermined distance indicating that the normal tray is at the position for stacking the first sheet, and thus C
The PU 600 can determine that there are no sheets on the trays 23, 24, and 25.

In this way, the trays 23, 24, 25 are
When it is determined that there is no sheet on the upper side, the CPU 600 determines that the trays 23, 24, and 25 are in a sheet stackable state, and stacks the first sheet on the trays 23, 24, and 25.

By the way, on the input side of the CPU 600, in addition to the distance sensor 60, as shown in FIG. 12, a buffer sensor S10, which is a means for detecting that the sheet remains in the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, a copying machine An input sensor S30 that detects that a sheet discharged from the apparatus 100 has entered the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, an UP cover sensor S40 that detects that the upper cover of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 has been opened, and a sheet rear Tray 23 from inside the processing device 1,
Paper ejection motor 35a for ejecting sheets onto 24 and 25
Paper discharge motor clock sensor S80 for prompting the CPU 600 to send information relating to the abnormality or speed control, the alignment HP sensor S90 for detecting the home position of the abutting plate 20 when stapling, and the staple tray 3
A staple tray sensor S100 for detecting the presence / absence of a sheet on the sheet 8 is electrically connected.

Further, on the input side of the CPU 600, the first and second sludge sensors S130 and S14 for detecting the positions of the upper and lower sludge guides 27 and 27a forming the upper wall surface and the lower wall surface of the discharge port 50, respectively.
0, a sheet discharge sensor S150 that detects that a sheet has been discharged from the inside of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 onto the tray, and a staple movement HP that detects that the stapler 400 that can move inside the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 is at the home position. The sensor S170, the UP limit detection sensor S200 for detecting the upper limit of the movable tray, the door closing / closing detection SWS210 for detecting the closing / closing of the door of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 and the copying apparatus main body 100 are connected. A joint SW sensor S220 for electrically detecting the presence of the electric field is electrically connected.

By the way, the tray HP sensor S180 and the shift clock sensor S1 are provided on the input side of the CPU 600.
Although 90 is electrically connected, the tray HP sensor S180 is, for example, a sensor for detecting that the tray unit 26 is at the lowest position as shown in FIG. The clock sensor S190 is a sensor for counting the number of drive clocks of the shift motor 601 and measuring the amount of movement of the tray unit 26.

The CPU 600 can detect how much the tray unit 26 has risen from the lowest position by the signals from the two sensors S180 and S190, and the tray is moved to the home position. You can judge whether or not.

On the other hand, on the output side of the CPU 600, in addition to the shift motor 601, a driver D as shown in FIG.
1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D
9, and a conveyance motor M230 that conveys a sheet in the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 via D11, a sheet ejection motor 3
5a, an aligning motor M250 for aligning the sheets, a staple portion moving motor (pulse motor) 452 for moving the staple 400, a stapler motor 406 for causing the stapler 400 for binding the bundle of sheets to perform the binding operation,
An entrance solenoid S1290 for switching the conveyance path of the sheet discharged from the copying apparatus main body 100, a discharge port solenoid S1300 for switching the discharge port of the sheet discharged from the inside of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, and a sheet inside the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 Switching solenoid 131 for switching the transport path
0, an alarm display unit 650 is electrically connected to alert the operator when an overload or the like is detected in the sheet stacking surface distance measurement.

By the way, in FIG. 2, 400 A is a staple unit having a stapler 400 for binding the bundle of sheets stacked on the staple tray 38 at the time of stapling, and is shown in FIG. 16 by a pulse motor described later. Moving in the direction of the arrow Y, the front side of the sheets stacked on the staple tray 38 is bound at one place (binding position H1), and at two places (binding position H).
2, H3), and the binding is performed at one place on the back side (binding stop position H4). Although the sizes of the binding sheets are A3, A4 and B4, B5 in the figure, the gist of the present invention is not limited to a specific sheet size.

Here, this stapler 400 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the support member 431 is fixed to the stapler cover 430 and is fixed to the moving table 433 so as to be movable in the X direction.

On the other hand, the moving member 433 has a spring member 43.
9 is fixed, the stapler cover 430 is biased upward by the spring member 439, and the stopper 430a.
It is located at.

In addition, a support shaft 441,
442 and 443 are fixedly mounted, and the pulley gear 440 and the guide support members 434, 435, and 436 are rotatably supported by them. Furthermore, this moving table 433 has
A roller 444 for maintaining the parallel movement of the moving table 433 is rotatably supported, and an abutting member 2 described later is also provided.
A stopper regulating member 438 that constitutes the zero retracting means is fixed.

On the other hand, the stay 432 provided so as to face the staple tray 38 has the first
Slotted groove 44 for restricting movement of the guide support member 434
7 is provided, and second and third guide support members 435,
A rack gear 445 that meshes with a rail 437 and a pulley gear 440 that regulate the movement of the 436 is fixedly installed.

In the figure, 446 is the home position of the stapler unit 400A (when the first guide support member 434 is at the point indicated by A in the figure).
Is a photo interrupter that detects whether or not In this embodiment, the photo interrupter 4
46, the amount of rotation of the pulse motor, which will be described later, is defined from the home position as the base point by the number of pulses to control the binding position of the stapler unit 400A, but the gist of the present invention is not limited to this. Not something.

On the other hand, a pulse motor 452 for moving the stapler unit 400A in the arrow Y direction is fixedly mounted on the moving table 433, and a belt pulley 454 is fixedly mounted on the pulse motor 452. ing. Here, the belt pulley 454 is connected to the pulley gear 440 via the timing belt 455, and the rotation of the motor 452 is transmitted to the pulley gear 440 via the belt pulley 454 and the timing belt 455, whereby the stapler unit 400A is transferred. Arrow Y
It is designed to move in the direction. Note that reference numeral 453 is a cover for electrical parts such as the pulse motor 452.

By the way, this stapler unit 400
When A moves, the first guide support member 434 moves between A and G shown in FIG. 18 along the slot-shaped groove 447 provided in the stay 432, while the second guide support member 435 does not move. The first guide support member 434 moves along the rail 437 only while moving between A and E, and the third guide support member 436 moves to the rail 437 only while the first guide support member 434 moves between E and G. It is designed to move along.

For example, in FIG. 18, when the first guide support member 434 is at the position A, the second guide support member 435 is formed.
Is regulated by the rail 437, and the third guiding support member 436 is in a free state. At this time, the diagonal binding operation at the position H1 in FIG. 16 is possible. Further, when the first guide support member 434 moves from the position A to the position C, the stapler unit 400A, which was tilted by a predetermined angle at the position A, moves the second guide support member 435 along the rail 437. By doing so, the stapler unit 400A is rotated parallel to the width direction of the sheet, and when the first guide support member 434 moves between C and D, the stapler unit 400A is in the parallel state to the width direction of the sheet. The position is regulated so as to maintain. This enables parallel two-position binding (H2, H3) according to various sheet sizes.
It becomes possible to operate.

Thus, the stapler unit 400A
Always has three guide support members 434, 435 and 43.
By being configured to be movable in the Y direction while the position and angle are regulated by the two guide supporting members of 6, the front side 1 is located at a position corresponding to various sheet sizes.
Single location binding, double location binding, etc. are possible. The first
The amount of movement of the guide support member 434 is defined by the amount of rotation of the pulse motor 452 as described above.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, by providing the sheet alignment reference plate 29 on one side, the front one binding position (H1) is made common for various sheet sizes. However, the sheet alignment reference may be set to the sheet center, and the two binding positions (H2, H3) may be made common for various sheet sizes.

On the other hand, when performing such a binding operation, it is necessary to provide a regulating member that abuts on the rear end of the sheets to arrange the sheet bundle. Therefore, as shown in FIG. A butting plate 20 is provided.

The abutting plate 20 is rotatably held by a shaft member 457 fixedly mounted on the staple tray 38, while the spring member 4 wound around the shaft member 457.
It is adapted to be urged in the counterclockwise direction by 48 so that the regulating portion 20a formed at one end portion is projected upward from the rear end of the staple tray 38. Then, when the sheets are stacked on the staple tray 38 in this state, the rear end of the sheet comes into contact with the abutting plate 20 and the rear end of the sheet bundle Sa is adjusted.

By the way, since the abutting plate 20 and the stapler 400 have a positional relationship of overlapping,
When the stapler unit 400A moves or when the staple binding operation is performed, the butting plate 20 becomes an obstacle. Therefore, the abutting plate 20 is provided with a retracting unit 449 for retracting the abutting plate 20 to a position that does not hinder the movement of the stapler unit 400A when the stapler unit 400A moves.

Here, the retracting means 449 is fixed to the abutting plate 20, and the gear portion 450 attached to the shaft member 457 and the lower end portion are axially supported.
A rotatable fan-shaped gear 451 that meshes with the gear portion 450 of the butting plate 20, and a fixed fan fixed to the moving base 433, abuts the fan-shaped gear 451 and moves the fan-shaped gear 451 to the shaft portion 456 when the stapler unit 400A moves. And a stopper regulating member 438 that rotates about the fulcrum.

The sector gear 451 has a contact portion 45.
1a is provided, and when the stapler unit 400A moves, the stopper regulating member 438 comes into contact with the contact portion 451a. Then, when the stopper regulating member 438 contacts in this manner, the fan gear 4
51 is pushed in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the stapler unit 400A, and is rotated to the position of the broken line shown in FIG.

Therefore, when the fan gear 45 rotates in this way, the gear portion 450 meshing with the fan gear 45 rotates, and the abutment plate 20 contracts the spring member 448 accordingly and the staple tray 38 of the staple tray 38 is compressed. The shaft member 45 is moved to a retracted position that does not prevent the lower stapler unit 400A from moving.
It is adapted to rotate downward with 7 as a fulcrum.

When the stapler unit 400A further moves, the stopper regulating member 438 moves the fan-shaped gear 45.
Since it comes off from the first contact portion 451a, the abutting plate 20 is returned and rotated together with the fan-shaped gear 451 to the position for regulating the rear end of the sheet bundle Sa shown in the figure by the returning force of the spring member 448. Has become.

By the way, this butting plate 20 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of the abutting plates 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 2 are provided in the width direction of the sheet.
0e is provided with a retracting unit 449. As a result, each butting plate 20a, 20b, 20c,
20d and 20e are configured to be independently rotatable.

In the figure, three abutting plates 20a, 20a,
20b and 20c are in a position to adjust the rear end of the sheet bundle,
The other two abutting plates 20d and 20e are in a position where they do not hinder the movement of the stapler unit 400A.

Next, the specific structure and basic operation of the stapler 400 will be described. Stapler 400
22 has a crocodile shape as shown in FIG. 22, and is provided with a staple driving section 400a including an upper forming section 401 and a lower staple table 402.
A needle cartridge 403 is detachably attached to the forming unit 401, and a plate-shaped needle H is connected to about 5000 in the needle cartridge 403.
The book is loaded.

Here, the plate needle H loaded in the needle cartridge 403 is urged downward by a spring 404 provided on the uppermost side of the needle cartridge 403, and the feed roller arranged at the lowermost side. It is configured to give a conveying force to 405. The needles H sent out by the feed roller 405 are formed one by one by swinging the forming part 401.

When the staple motor 406 is activated, the eccentric cam gear 408 is rotated through the gear train 407, and the forming portion 401 is operated by an eccentric cam integrally attached to the eccentric cam gear 408, thereby causing an arrow mark. As shown in FIG. 5, the clinching operation (needle binding operation) is performed by swinging to the staple table 402 side.

The stapler 400 is provided with a reflection type sensor 409 below the staple cartridge 403 for detecting the staple-free state of the staple H loaded in the staple cartridge 403. In the example, the reflective cartridge 409 is used for the needle cartridge 403.
The staple jam (staple clogging) of the staple H that is further fed out is detected.

Next, the detection of the staple jam of the staple H will be described. FIG. 23 is a plan view of the stapler 400. A cord 406a for supplying a drive current is connected to the staple motor 406.
Is equipped with a current sensor (abnormality detection means) 406b as load detection means for detecting the value of the flowing current.

On the other hand, FIG. 24 shows the staple motor 40 in one stroke of the staple driving detected by the current sensor 406b.
6 shows the waveform of the current value flowing in 6. In the figure, W1 is a waveform when the staple H is normally ejected and the sheet bundle Sa is passed through to stop bending, and W2 is blank ejection (the staple H is not ejected even when the stapler 56 is operated). It is a waveform of time. At the time of idle driving, there is no load when the needle H penetrates the sheet bundle Sa and no load at the time of bending the needle, so the level of the current value becomes small.

W3 is a waveform when a stapling defect, a stylus jam, or the like has occurred. At this time, generally, an overload occurs and the level of the current value rises extremely. Therefore, when the current level is near the I ₀ value (initial setting value), it can be determined that the staple driving is normally performed, and when I> I ₀ + C (C is a variation), the needle jam, the staple driving failure, Or, it is possible that the stapler mechanism is abnormal, and when I <I ₀ −C, it can be determined that the blanking has occurred. It should be noted that the staple-free state or the staple-jam state that has occurred in the stapler 400 can be notified to the operator via a display unit using an LED or the like.

Next, the stapler 4 thus constructed
The stapling operation of 00 will be described.

The plate-shaped stapler H accommodated in the staple cartridge 403 is moved from the lowermost side by the feed roller 405.
After being sent out one by one, as shown in FIG. 25, the needle H1 is sent to the needle bending block 415, and the leading end of the needle H1 is held in the holding groove 415a of the needle bending block 415 at the center thereof.

After that, when the eccentric cam gear 408 rotates and the forming part 401 moves to the lower operating position, the driver 4 is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) as shown in FIG.
16 is pushed down and the plunger 416a is pushed down. At this time, the U-shaped bending block 417 is pressed by the pressing claw 416b formed in a part of the plunger 416a and pressed onto the needle bending block 415. As a result, the stapler needle H held by the holding structure 415a of the needle bending block 415 is bent into a U shape as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, after this, the plunger 416a is further pushed down, and the pushing claw 416b is changed to the U-shaped bending block 4.
Remove from 17. Then, only the plunger 416a is further pushed down to reach the tapered portion of the needle bending block 415, and only the most advanced needle H1 bent in a U-shape while pushing the needle bending block 415 to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. Is stapled with the staple cutting member 418, and the staple H1 is driven into the sheet S.
The sheet S is bound by being pressed against the 02 side.

After that, when the rotation of the eccentric cam gear 408 advances and the forming part 401 moves to the upper standby position, the driver 416 and the plunger 416a move upward and return to the standby position, and the stapling operation 1
The process ends.

Next, such a stapler unit 40
The sheet post-processing operation of the sheet post-processing apparatus having 0A will be described.

For example, when the sheet is discharged without stapling, the first, second and third trays 23, 24,
A so-called sheet discharge control 1 to be described later, in which the sheet is directly discharged to the sheet 25, is performed. FIG. 27 shows a case where copy sheets are discharged to the second tray 24.

When the non-staple mode is selected by the user, the cam 35 shown in FIG. 7 rotates in the direction of the arrow by the paper discharge motor 35a, so that the swing guide 31 swings as shown in FIG. It swings about the shaft 31a to a position where the discharge rollers 32 and 33 are pressed against each other. At this time, the stopper 3 for closing the discharge port 50
0 is stopped at the position rotated in the arrow Y direction with respect to the swing guide 31.

In this state, the sheet discharged from the copying apparatus main body 100 passes through the conveying path 6 shown in FIG. 2, which constitutes a part of the conveying means, and is passed to the roller pairs 5 and 17, and the roller pair 5, After being further discharged to the downstream side by 17, the swing guide 31 is directed to the direction of the tray 24, discharged from the discharge port 50 via the discharge rollers 32 and 33, and sequentially stacked on the tray 24.

On the other hand, when a large number of ordinary sheets S are stacked and housed, first, it is confirmed by the distance sensor 60 shown in FIG. 27 that no sheets remain on the second tray 24. Therefore, the CPU 600 causes the distance sensor 60 to emit light toward the second tray 24, as described above.
The time for receiving the reflected light is measured, but since the measurement time in this case is longer than the second predetermined time, the CPU 600
Judges that there is no sheet on the tray 24.

After confirming that no sheet remains on the tray 24 in this way, as shown in FIG. 28A, the first tray 24 is loaded so that the sheets are stacked from the current tray height. The sheet is moved to a predetermined height (standby position; L10) for stacking the sheets.

Here, as shown in FIG. 27B, when the discharge sensor S150 detects the leading edge of the sheet to be discharged, and the sheet leading edge is discharged by a predetermined amount by the discharge roller 32 based on this detection signal. Then, the tray 24 is moved to a predetermined height (discharging position; L20).

Further, as shown in FIG. 27C, based on the detection signal of the leading edge of the sheet discharged by the sheet discharge sensor S150, the tray 24 is moved to a predetermined height (end position; L30) before the sheet is completely discharged. To move.

The above operation is repeated each time a sheet is discharged, and when it is detected that the maximum stacking amount of sheets has been stacked in the tray, a stop signal is output to the copying apparatus main body 100, and sheet discharging is temporarily stopped.

As described above, by moving the height of the tray 24 during the operation of discharging one sheet, a sheet curled under various conditions can be separated from the trailing end of the stacked sheets when the sheet front end is discharged. It is possible to prevent a collision, prevent curling that tends to occur when the leading edge of a sheet lands on a loaded sheet, and further prevent a so-called waist bending phenomenon in which the trailing edge of the sheet remains on the discharging roller 32 at the end of sheet discharging. Good loading and storage becomes possible. Further, since the tray is moved for each sheet, the sheets are aligned due to the vibration caused by the movement, and it is possible to expect better stacking and storage.

Next, in order to stack the sheets on the third tray 25, the tray unit 26 is lowered to a position determined to stack the first sheet on the third tray 25.
After that, the copying operation is restarted in the copying apparatus main body 100,
The stacking of sheets is restarted, and thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated until the tray 25 becomes full. The case of stacking sheets on the first tray 23 is similar to the case of moving from the second tray 24 to the third tray 25.

Next, the stapling operation of the sheet post-processing apparatus will be described.

First, at the time of staple sorting in which stapling is performed to make a copy, the sheets are not directly loaded on the trays 23, 24 and 25, but first loaded on the staple tray 38 in FIG.

When the staple sort mode is selected by the user, the swing guide 31 releases the discharge port 50 and discharge rollers 32, 3 as shown in FIG.
Swing upwards so that 3 is separated. When the swing guide 31 swings in this manner, the roller guide 34 is held by the spring 37 in the same plane as the lower slats guide 27a, as described above, and the sheet stopper portion 35a is placed on the tray 24. The sheet bundle Sa projects above.

In this state, the sheet discharged from the copying apparatus main body 100 passes through the conveying path 6 and the roller pair 1
After being passed to the rollers 7 and 18, they are discharged by the roller pairs 17 and 18. However, since the swing guide 31 swings upward, the sheet is not discharged and the staple tray 3 is discharged.
8 is loaded. At this time, the tray 24 is positioned above the non-staple mode, and as shown in FIG.
It supports the leading edge of the sheet S and assists in returning to the upstream side in the discharge direction.

On the other hand, the sheet S discharged onto the staple tray 38 as shown in FIG.
Of the tray 24 and the sheet fall position of the tray 24 are set to be higher, which helps to slide the sheet toward the upstream side in the discharge direction by its own weight, and further, in synchronization with the discharge roller 17, the discharge alignment belt 19 that rotates in the arrow direction. Is urged in the upstream direction on the staple tray 38.

As a result, the sheet S abuts the abutting plate 20 and is aligned in a direction parallel to the discharge direction. The alignment of the sheets in the width direction is started within a predetermined time when the width aligning guide 21 in FIGS. 3 and 4 slides the sheet S onto the staple tray 38 and strikes the abutting plate 20. The sheet S is aligned in the front direction by moving the main body from the back side to the front side by a predetermined dimension with respect to the width dimension. Hereinafter, with respect to the second and subsequent sheets, the above operation is repeated until all the sheets set by the user are stacked on the staple tray 38.

Then, when the number of sheets set by the user is aligned on the staple tray 38 as shown in FIG. 30, the stapler operates, and as described above, the binding operation is performed at the position set by the user. If stapling is completed,
As shown in FIG. 31, the swing guide 31 descends and the discharge roller 32 rotates in the direction of the arrow, so that the stapled sheet bundle Sa on the tray 38 is discharged onto the tray 24 as shown in FIG. The so-called sheet discharge control 3 described later is performed.

By the way, during the stapling operation,
Since the sheet is ejected from the copying apparatus main body 100,
An operation is performed in which the leading first sheet of the discharged sheets of the next job is retained in the main body 1 and the second sheet is stacked and discharged.

The operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 33 to 36. FIG. 33 shows a state in which the sheet S has started to enter the apparatus.

The first sheet S1 discharged from the copying apparatus main body 100 is sent to the buffer path 8 when the upstream end portions of the flappers 3 and 4 are positioned downward. The sheet S1 sent to the buffer path 8 receives the buffer roller 9
It is sent in the direction of the arrow in the figure in the form of being wrapped around. Here, the flapper 39 rotates so that the sheet is fed toward the roller 15, the sensor 11 detects the leading edge of the sheet S1, and stops in the state as shown in FIG. When the second sheet S2 enters as shown in the figure, the buffer roller 9 starts rotating, and the first and second sheets S1 and S2 are overlapped as shown in FIG. To transport. Further, when the trailing edge of the first sheet S1 passes the position of the flapper 39, the flapper 39 rotates so that the sheet S is fed toward the discharge rollers 17 and 18 as shown in FIG. The sheets are stacked and discharged onto the staple tray 38. By performing the above operation, the sheets are not ejected from the ejection rollers 17 and 18 while the stapler is performing the stapling operation, the stapling operation can be executed, and the copying apparatus main body 100 is also stopped. Never.

Further, in order to further increase the time for performing the stapling operation, it is possible to wind the third or more sheets around the buffer roller 9.

By repeating the above operation, a plurality of staple copy bundles Sa are created, but as shown in FIG.
When there is a stapled copy bundle Sa on the tray 24 and the upper end of the already stacked copy bundle Sa exceeds the point G when the deflection or bulge of the copy bundle Sa is large, the next sheet When it comes out, it may be caught and jammed, or it may become a load when the width alignment guide 21 operates to perform alignment, and the alignment may deteriorate.

However, at this time, as described above, the roller guide 34 is in the same plane as the lower snow guide 27a, and the stopper member 35 presses the upper end surface of the sheet bundle Sa on the tray 24. Since it is projected above, the upper end of the stacked copy bundle Sa will not exceed the point G upward.

Next, the CPU 60 of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 used with the thus constructed digital copying machine.
The control operation for stacking 0 sheets will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIGS. 37 to 41.

First, in FIG. 37, which is a flowchart showing the overall control procedure of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, initial control for initialization is performed in step S100. As will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 38, when the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 is powered on in step S110, the process proceeds to step S120 to initialize (initialize) the I / O port and the memory (RAM). Succeedingly, in a step S130, a communication mode with a facsimile, a printer and a copying machine is set,
In step S140, it is determined whether communication of the copying machine main body has been established. Then, if the communication of the main body is established, the process proceeds to step S150, and the initialization communication data for initialization (standby signal of the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 and the like) is transmitted from the sheet post-processing apparatus 1.

On the other hand, after the initialization communication data is transmitted in this way, the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 enters the operation waiting state,
The process advances to step S200 to wait for an operation start signal from the copying machine body.

When the operation start signal is received in step S200, the sheet post-processing apparatus 1 proceeds to step S300 and determines whether the designated tray is located at the sheet discharge port. If the designated tray is not in the predetermined position, In step S400, the tray movement control is performed so that the designated tray is located at a predetermined position.

In this tray movement control, first, it is judged whether or not the tray position is fixed, and if not, the tray is moved to the home position. Then, when the movement of the tray to the home position is completed, the tray may be moved by a predetermined amount.

Then, in step S300, if the designated tray is positioned, step S500 follows.
It is determined whether or not the mode is the non-sort mode. If the mode is the non-sort mode, the process proceeds to step S600 and the sheet discharge control 1 described later is performed.

On the other hand, if it is decided at step S500 that the mode is not the non-sort mode, then the processing advances to step S800,
Here, it is determined whether or not the staple mode is set. If it is in the staple mode, the process proceeds to step S900, and the above-described sheet discharge control 2 for discharging the sheet onto the staple tray 38 is performed.
At 00, the above-described tray movement control 2 is performed. If it is determined in step S1100 that the planned number of sheets have been discharged, the process proceeds to step S1200, the above-described stapling control is performed, and then the process proceeds to step S1300 to discharge the sheet bundle. Sheet ejection control 3 is performed. Further, step S1400
Proceed to step S9 until the sheet bundle reaches the planned number of copies.
Repeat 00 and below.

If it is determined in step S800 that the staple mode is not set, the flow advances to step S1500, and thereafter, the steps S1600 and S1700 and the steps S900, S1000, and S1100 are performed, and then the flow advances to step S1800. S13
Similar to 00, the sheet discharge control 3 discharges the sheet bundle. However, it goes without saying that this is not stapled. Then, the process proceeds to step S1900, and step S1500 and subsequent steps are repeated until the sheet bundle reaches the planned number of copies.

Next, details of the above-described sheet discharge control 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the sheet discharge control 1, first, in the non-sort mode, as is apparent from the above description, a discharge sheet process for discharging sheets one by one from the discharge port 50 onto the tray is performed in step S2000. Be seen.

Then, while one sheet is being discharged,
In step S3000, the tray up / down processing routine is executed.

This tray up / down process is a process in which the tray in the state shown in FIG. 6 is once moved up to the discharge position and then moved down to the end position.

That is, as shown in FIG. 40, it is determined in step S3100 the timing at which the front end of the sheet is ejected by a predetermined amount, the tray is moved upward to the ejection position in S3200, and the rear end of the sheet is ejected by the predetermined amount in step S3300. Determine the timing of the previous discharge, S34
At 00, the tray is lowered downward to the end position, and then the process proceeds to step S3500 to perform the tray-up amount setting process.

In the tray-up amount setting processing routine, as shown in FIG. 41, in step S3510, the distance sensor 60 measures the distance (= H) between the upper surface of the stacked sheets on the tray at the down position and the discharge port 50. Then, in step S3520, it is determined whether or not the distance H between the sheet upper surface and the discharge port 50 is larger than a predetermined value. If it is larger than the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S3530, and the tray-up amount is set. That is, the tray-up amount is set as (H−L3 = standby position) in order to maintain the distance between the upper surface of the sheet and the discharge port 50 after the tray is raised by a predetermined amount (for example, L3). on the other hand,
When it is determined in step S3520 that the distance H between the upper surface of the sheet and the discharge port 50 is smaller than the predetermined value, it is not possible to raise the tray, that is, it is determined that the tray is full of sheets, and the process proceeds to step S3540 to be full. Activate the alarm to prompt the user to remove the sheet from the tray.

After the tray-up amount setting processing routine, in step S3600, the tray is moved upward to the standby position based on the tray-up amount obtained in step S3530.

After the above-described sheet discharge control 1 is performed,
In step S700, it is determined whether the number of sheets has reached the planned number, and the sheet discharge control 1 is repeated until the number of sheets reaches the planned number.

In the sheet discharge control 3 in the non-sort mode, the tray down-up process for each predetermined number of sheets of the above-described sheet discharge control 1 is performed for each sheet bundle.

That is, in the sheet ejection control 3, the "sheet" in the sheet ejection control 1 is read as "sheet bundle" to avoid redundant description. Further, step S3100 in the tray up / down processing is the timing at which the sheet bundle is discharged onto the tray after stapling or sorting is completed.

However, regarding the up position after the tray is lowered, the distance between the upper surface of the sheet and the discharge port 50, which is the predetermined position for the sheet discharging unit, is the sheet discharge control 1 and the sheet discharge control 3, that is, the sheet and the sheet bundle. It differs from the case. The up position is preferably lower in the case of the sheet bundle of the sheet discharge control 3 than in the case of the sheet of the sheet discharge control 1. This is because when the sheet bundle is discharged, it is preferable to increase the distance between the upper surface of the sheet and the discharge port 50 to facilitate discharging the thick sheet bundle.

[0147]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus capable of favorably stacking and accommodating curls of sheets that change under various conditions such as paper type, paper size, and environment, and an image forming apparatus including the same.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a sheet post-processing apparatus and a copying apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a staple tray portion of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the staple tray portion.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a main part of a tray unit of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of an essential part of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing how the swing guide of the sheet post-processing device swings.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a state where the stopper of the sheet post-processing device has blocked the discharge port.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a state where the swing guide swings upward.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a state where the roller guide of the sheet post-processing device is in a position where an escape portion is formed.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a distance measuring sensor of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a part of a control circuit of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a part of a control circuit of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the distance measuring sensor on the distance meter side.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a signal output from the CPU to the distance measuring sensor and a signal input from the distance measuring sensor to the CPU.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a staple binding position by the stapler unit.

FIG. 17 is a partial side sectional view of the stapler unit.

FIG. 18 is a schematic top view showing a movement path of the stapler unit.

FIG. 19 is a right side partial cross-sectional view of the stapler unit.

FIG. 20 is a side view showing the operation of the retracting means of the stapler unit.

FIG. 21 is a plan view showing the operation of the stapler unit and the butting plate.

FIG. 22 is a schematic view showing a structure of a stapler of the stapler unit.

FIG. 23 is a plan view of the stapler.

FIG. 24 is a waveform diagram showing a current value flowing in a staple motor in a stapling process by the stapler.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing a state in which the leading edge of the needle is held by the holding structure of the needle bending block at the center.

FIG. 26 is a side view showing a staple striking process of the forming unit of the stapler.

FIG. 27 is a side view showing a state in which a sheet is discharged to the second tray of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 28A is an enlarged side view showing a standby state when a sheet is discharged to the second tray of the sheet post-processing device. FIG. 6B is an enlarged side view showing a discharge state when discharging a sheet to the second tray of the sheet post-processing device.
FIG. 6C is an enlarged side view showing the finished state when the sheet is discharged to the second tray of the sheet post-processing device.

FIG. 29 is a side view showing a state of the second tray at the time of staple sorting.

FIG. 30 is a side view showing a state where the number of sheets set by the user is aligned on the staple tray.

FIG. 31 is a side view showing a state in which a stapled sheet is discharged.

FIG. 32 is a side view showing how a stapled sheet has been ejected.

FIG. 33 is a side view showing a state where a sheet has started to enter the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 34 is a side view showing a state in which the first sheet is wound around the buffer roller.

FIG. 35 is a side view showing the manner in which the first and second sheets S1 and S2 are stacked and conveyed.

FIG. 36 is a side view showing a state in which two sheets are discharged in a stacked state.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing an example of a control procedure of the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing an example of an initial control procedure in the control procedure.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart showing an example of a sheet ejection control procedure of the above control procedure.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure of a tray down-up processing routine in the control procedure.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure of a tray-up amount setting processing routine in the control procedure.

FIG. 42 is a side view of essential parts of a conventional sheet post-processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 sheet post-processing equipment 23, 24, 25 trays 26 tray units 50 outlet 60 ranging sensor 63 PSD light receiving element 600 CPU 601 shift motor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet post-processing apparatus for processing and accommodating a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a sheet conveying means for receiving the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus and conveying it to a predetermined position, and a sheet conveying means. Sheet discharging means for discharging the discharged sheets from the discharging portion, sheet storing means for stacking and storing the sheets discharged from the sheet discharging means, moving means for vertically moving the sheet storing means, and the sheet storing means Is moved to a standby position of a predetermined amount before the sheet is discharged by the moving unit, and then moved to a predetermined amount of discharging position during sheet discharging based on the leading edge position information of the sheet discharged by the sheet discharging unit. A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls to move to a predetermined amount of end position immediately before the end of sheet discharge. 2. Arranged above the sheet storage means,
A detection means for detecting the position of the upper surface of the sheets stacked in the sheet storage means, and the control means controls the sheet storage means to move by the movement means based on the detection result of the detection means. The sheet post-processing device according to claim 1. 3. A sheet post-processing apparatus for processing and accommodating sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a sheet conveying means for receiving the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus and conveying it to a predetermined position, and a predetermined number of sheets. A sheet binding means for binding, a sheet discharging means for discharging a sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means or a sheet bundle bound by the sheet binding means from a discharging portion, and a sheet or a sheet bundle discharged by the sheet discharging means Sheet accommodating means for stacking and accommodating, moving means for moving the sheet accommodating means in the vertical direction, and moving the sheet accommodating means to a predetermined standby position before discharging the sheet or the sheet bundle by the moving means. The position of the sheet or the sheet bundle being discharged by the sheet discharging means is determined based on the tip position information of the sheet or the sheet bundle. Move to fixed amount discharge position,
A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls to move to a predetermined amount of end position immediately before the end of discharge of a sheet or a sheet bundle. 4. Arranged above the sheet storage means,
A detection unit for detecting the position of the upper surface of the sheets or the sheet bundle stacked in the sheet storage unit is provided, and the control unit controls the sheet storage unit to move by the moving unit based on the detection result of the detection unit. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that. 5. An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming section and a sheet post-processing apparatus for processing and accommodating a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming section, wherein the sheet post-processing apparatus is any one of claims 1 to 3. 4. The image forming apparatus according to any one of 4 above.