JP2004292170A - Sheet treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet treatment device capable of performing sorting even if the number of sheets forming a sheet bundle exceeds the loading limit amount of a treatment tray. <P>SOLUTION: This sheet treatment device has an accumulation tray 2 accumulating image-formed sheets, a treatment tray 4 for loading, thereon, sheets temporarily in a process to the accumulation tray 2, a shift means changing the lateral loading position of the sheets loaded on the treatment tray 4, and a capacity recognizing means recognizing the loaded amount of the sheets loaded on the treatment tray 4. When the sheets are sorted for every specified number of sheets and it is recognized by a capacity recognizing means that the loaded amount of the sheets on the treatment tray 4 exceeds the loading limit amount of the treatment tray 4, the sheets loaded on the treatment tray 4 are discharged to the accumulation tray 2, and the operation of a shift means is continued so that the position of the sheet discharged first on the treatment tray 4 becomes the same as the position of the subsequent sheet until the number of the subsequent sheets reaches a specified one. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus for sorting sheets discharged from a copying machine, a printer, and the like.

A conventional sheet processing apparatus that sorts a series of sheets into a plurality of bundles will be described.
The sheet processing apparatus includes a stacking tray for finally stacking sheets on which images are formed, and a processing tray provided in a process of being conveyed to the stacking tray. Then, the sheet on which the image is formed is temporarily stacked on the processing tray, switched back therefrom, and discharged to the stacking tray.
In the above-described sheet conveyance process, all the sheets are once conveyed to the processing tray, and the relative position of the sheet bundle is shifted by the processing tray. That is, in the processing tray, when the preceding sheet bundle is shifted, for example, rightward, the subsequent sheet bundle is shifted leftward to sort.
No patent search was conducted for this case.

In the conventional apparatus as described above, since a series of sheets exceeding the stacking limit of the processing tray cannot be sent to the processing tray at a time, a sheet bundle exceeding the stacking limit of the processing tray can be sorted. could not.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet processing apparatus capable of performing a sort process on sheets exceeding a maximum load capacity of a processing tray.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stacking tray for stacking sheets on which images are formed, a processing tray for temporarily stacking sheets in a process of reaching the stacking tray, and a shift unit for changing a stacking position of the sheets in the width direction on the processing tray. And a capacity recognizing means for recognizing a stacking amount of sheets to be stacked on the processing tray, and presupposes a sheet processing apparatus that sorts sheets by a predetermined number of sheets.

  On the premise of the above-mentioned sheet processing apparatus, the first invention is characterized in that when the capacity recognizing means recognizes that the load of sheets on the processing tray exceeds the load limit of the processing tray, It is characterized in that the sheets are discharged to the stacking tray and the operation of the shift means is continued so that the position of the previously discharged sheet and the position of the succeeding sheet on the processing tray are the same until the number of succeeding sheets reaches a predetermined number. Having.

A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that when the capacity recognizing means recognizes that the processing tray exceeds the stacking limit, the stacking of subsequent sheets on the processing tray is temporarily stopped.
A third aspect of the invention is characterized in that the capacity recognizing means comprises a counting means for counting the number of sheets stacked on the processing tray.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the capacity recognizing means comprises a level sensor for measuring a height level of sheets stacked on a processing tray.

  The fifth invention is based on the first invention, and includes a path for directly discharging the sheet to the stacking tray and a path for discharging the sheet to the stacking tray via the processing tray. A plurality of preceding sheets directly discharged, and a succeeding sheet bundle to be bundle-discharged to the stacking tray via the processing tray as a unit aggregate, and discharge of the sheet bundle from the processing tray in the preceding unit aggregate. It is characterized in that, of the sheets directly discharged to the stacking tray in the subsequent unit assembly, at least the first sheet directly discharged is overlapped and discharged to the stacking tray.

According to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the sorting process can be performed even for the number of sheets exceeding the maximum load capacity of the processing tray.
In particular, according to the fifth aspect, the waiting time between the preceding unit aggregate and the subsequent unit aggregate can be omitted, so that the overall processing time can be reduced.

FIG. 1 showing an embodiment is a sectional view of a sheet processing apparatus. The sheet processing apparatus 1 is provided adjacent to an image forming main body 3 such as a copying machine or a printer.
The sheet on which an image has been formed is carried into the sheet processing apparatus 1 via the image forming main body 3. The sheet conveyed into the sheet processing apparatus 1 has two paths: a path for directly carrying out to the collecting tray 2 and a path for carrying out to the collecting tray 2 after passing through the processing tray 4. .

  When the sort mode is selected, the direct discharge path directly discharged to the collecting tray 2 and the switchback path discharged to the collecting tray 2 via the processing tray 4 are used alternately. In other words, after the preceding sheet group is successively discharged one by one to the stacking tray 2, the subsequent sheet group is temporarily stacked on the processing tray 4 and then switched back, and the bundle is discharged to the stacking tray 2. Is done.

Further, all sheets are directly discharged to the stacking tray 2 while maintaining a fixed position. On the other hand, the sheet carried into the processing tray 4 is shifted in position with respect to the sheet bundle directly discharged to the stacking tray 2 and is discharged to the stacking tray 2 in the shifted state. That is, by alternately using the two paths, the sheet group directly discharged to the stacking tray 2 and the sheet group discharged through the processing tray 4 are sorted.
Unlike the above, when the non-sort mode is selected, all of the sheets are discharged directly to the stacking tray 2. Therefore, the sheets stacked there are all superimposed at the same position.

Next, the case where the sheet is discharged through the direct discharge path and the case where the sheet is discharged through the switchback path will be described in more detail based on a specific configuration.
(1) Discharge through Direct Discharge Path In FIG. 1, a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming main body 3 is carried in from a carry-in entrance 6 of the sheet processing apparatus 1. At the carry-in port 6, a carry-in sensor (not shown) recognizes the leading edge of the sheet. When the sensor recognizes the sheet, the conveying rollers 7 and 8 rotate, and the sheet is further drawn into the sheet processing apparatus 1.

  When the carry-in sensor recognizes the leading edge of the sheet as described above, the movable member 11 rotates from the solid line position to the chain line position in FIG. It is brought into contact with the roller 13.

  After the sheet is pulled in by the conveying rollers 7 and 8, the sheet is further fed in the direction of the accumulation tray 2 by the relay conveying rollers 9 and 10. Finally, the lifting roller 12 and the driving roller 13 that are in contact with each other sandwich the sheet, and discharge the sheet to the accumulation tray 2.

(2) Bundle Discharge Through Switchback Path When the bundle is discharged through this switchback path, the rotating member 11 is kept in the state shown in FIG. In the state shown in FIG. 2, the lifting roller 12 keeps a position away from the driving roller 13.
Therefore, the sheet that has passed through the relay conveyance rollers 9 and 10 passes over the drive roller 13 while being pushed out by the rollers 9 and 10, and a part of the sheet faces the accumulation tray 2. When the trailing edge of the sheet in the transport direction comes off the relay transport rollers 9 and 10, the trailing edge falls onto the processing tray 4.

  When the trailing edge of the sheet falls on the processing tray 4 side, the drive roller 13 rotates in the reverse direction, and the paddle drive roller 21 fixed to the drive shaft 14 rotates. The paddle drive roller 21 is linked via a belt 24 to a paddle rotation shaft 22 to which the paddle 23 is fixed. Therefore, when the drive shaft 14 rotates, the paddle 23 rotates. At this time, the rotation direction of the paddle 23 is set to be counterclockwise in FIG.

  As described above, the driving roller 13 rotates in the reverse direction, and the paddle 23 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 2, so that the sheet placed on the driving roller 13 is an arrow in FIG. It is forcibly conveyed in the direction. At this time, the lower end of the transport belt 16 wound around the relay transport roller 10 contacts the sheet on the processing tray 4 and transports it in the direction of the arrow in FIG. This is because, in FIG. 2, the relay conveyance roller 10 rotates counterclockwise around the rotation shaft 10a, and the rotation of the conveyance belt 16 applied to the auxiliary roller 15 also rotates counterclockwise. Moreover, since the transport belt 16 is wound around the relay transport roller 10, the transport belt 16 keeps running as long as the relay transport roller 10 is rotating.

  Therefore, the sheet fed onto the processing tray 4 is further fed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 by the transport belt 16, and the leading end of the sheet in the transport direction reaches the stopper 18 provided on the processing tray 4.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view in which the processing tray 4 is cut away. In FIG. 3, a movable alignment plate 17 is provided on one side of the processing tray 4, and a fixed alignment plate 30 is provided opposite to the movable alignment plate 17.
The movable alignment plate 17 slidably penetrates a guide projection 17 a formed on the lower side of the guide plate 4 a formed in the processing tray 4, and fixes the penetrating end to the rack member 32. The rack member 32 is provided below the processing tray 4 so as to be movable in the width direction of the processing tray 4 and engages with a pinion 33. The pinion 33 is rotated by the driving force of the stepping motor 31.

Now, when the stepping motor 31 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, the rack member 32 moves leftward in the drawing by an amount corresponding to the rotation amount of the stepping motor 31. When the rack member 32 moves leftward in the drawing, the movable alignment plate 17 also moves accordingly.
The reason why the movable alignment plate 17 is moved in this way is that the side edge of the sheet located between the movable alignment plate 17 and the fixed alignment plate 30 is pushed as shown in FIG. This is for pressing against the side.

  The reason why the side edge of the sheet is pressed against the fixed alignment plate 30 as described above is as follows. That is, the sheet fed to the processing tray 4 is configured to have the same relative position in the width direction as the sheet directly discharged to the stacking tray 2. In such a state where the relative positions are the same, the sheet fed to the processing tray 4 is located substantially at the center of the processing tray 4 as shown by reference numeral S1 in FIG. In other words, the left edge of the sheet in the drawing is spaced from the fixed alignment plate 30.

As described above, the sheet located substantially at the center is shifted toward the fixed alignment plate 30 by the movable alignment plate 17 and pressed against the fixed alignment plate 30 as shown by reference numeral S2 in FIG.
The sheet bundle pressed against the fixed alignment plate 30 in this manner maintains a position shifted in the width direction with respect to the sheet directly discharged to the stacking tray 2. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, if the sheet bundle S4 pressed against the fixed alignment plate 30 is directly discharged to the collecting tray 2, the sheet bundle S3 directly discharged to the collecting tray 2 is sorted. State.
The movable alignment plate 17 corresponds to the shift means of the present invention.
Moreover, the side surfaces of the sheet bundle pressed against the fixed alignment plate 30 are aligned by the pressing force of the movable alignment plate 17.

Next, a mechanism for discharging a bundle of sheets stacked on the processing tray 4 to the stacking tray 2 at a stretch in the state of the bundle will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main structure of the sheet processing apparatus of FIG. In FIG. 5, the stacking tray 2 is located forward in the direction of the arrow.
In this apparatus, the entire sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray 4 is discharged to the accumulation tray 2 side by being sandwiched between the elevating roller 12 and the driving roller 13. The timing at which the elevating roller 12 is pressed against the sheet bundle is as follows. It is decided as follows.

That is, when sorting sheets on which images are formed, the number of sheets forming one bundle is stored in advance. Then, at the stage when the shift operation for the number of sheets in the bundle is completed, the rotating member 11 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. When the rotating member 11 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, the lifting roller 12 comes into pressure contact with the sheet bundle on the driving roller 13 as shown in FIG.
When the drive roller 13 is rotated in the above state, the sheet bundle contained in the processing tray 4 is collectively discharged to the accumulation tray 2.

Further, when post-processing such as stapling or punching is performed on the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray 4, the lifting roller 12 is pressed against the sheet bundle when the processing is completed. .
In any case, when all processes to be performed on the processing tray 4 are completed, the lifting roller 12 is pressed against the sheet bundle as described above.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 19 denotes a paper holding lever, which is provided below the driving roller 13 so as to be swingable, and a leading end 19a of the paper holding lever comes into contact with the collecting tray 2 by driving a driving mechanism (not shown). , Or away from the collecting tray 2. When the leading end 19 a is in contact with the collecting tray 2, the sheet bundle placed on the collecting tray 2 is pressed by the leading end 19 a of the paper pressing lever 19.

The reason that the sheet bundle placed on the stacking tray 2 is pressed by the paper pressing lever 19 in this manner is as follows. That is, a part of the sheet placed on the processing tray 4 protrudes onto the stacking tray 2. Therefore, the protruding portions of the sheets stacked on the processing tray 4 overlap with each other on the stacking tray 2 with respect to the sheet bundle directly conveyed to the stacking tray 2. In such a situation, if the sheet placed on the processing tray 4 is shifted, the sheet directly discharged to the stacking tray 2 may move accordingly. If the sheets on the stacking tray 2 have moved, the sorted sheet bundle cannot be distinguished.
In order to prevent such a situation, the tip 19a of the paper pressing lever 19 presses the sheet bundle on the stacking tray 2 so as not to move.
Reference numeral 43 in FIG. 4 denotes a stapler for performing stapling processing on sheets aligned on the processing tray.

  The control mechanism of the above-described apparatus will be described below. As shown in FIG. 8, the control mechanism 110 includes a rotating member driving circuit 61, a carry-in sensor 62, a paper pressing lever driving circuit 63, a conveying motor driving circuit 64 for driving various conveying rollers, a matching plate driving circuit 65, The paddle drive circuit 66 and the stapler unit 67 are connected. A communication circuit 68 is also connected to the control mechanism 110, and the communication circuit 68 is connected to the control mechanism 110 to which signals of sensors of the image processing main body 3 are input.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, on the image forming main body 3 side, sheet counters 115 and 116 for counting the number of sheets are provided at outlets of the cassettes 113 and 114, respectively. The detection signals of the number counters 115 and 116 are transmitted to the control mechanism 110 via the communication circuit 68 described above.
In addition, the code | symbol 118 in a figure is a drum.

Next, a description will be given of a pattern for discharging sheets to an accumulation tray using the above-described path shown in FIG.
For example, when six copies of three originals are to be made, three originals are set on the image forming main body 3 and the fact that the required number of copies is six is set via an operation panel (not shown). , And the sort mode is selected.

  When the sort mode is selected, the direct discharge path directly discharged to the collecting tray 2 as described above and the switchback path discharged to the collecting tray after being shifted by the processing tray 4 are used alternately. . That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, the preceding three sheets of the first set are discharged to the stacking tray 2 one by one. Thereafter, the subsequent three sheets of the second set are once stacked on the processing tray 4 and then subjected to the shift processing, and are also switched back and discharged to the stacking tray 2.

  In the process of discharging the first group of sheets to the stacking tray 2 and guiding the second group of sheets to the processing tray 4, no waiting time is required. The reason is that when the first group of sheets is directly discharged to the stacking tray 2, the processing tray 4 is in an empty state, so that the second group of sheets can be continuously guided to the processing tray 4. It is.

  However, in the process of discharging the second group of sheets from the processing tray 4 and directly discharging the third group of sheets to the stacking tray 2, a waiting time for stopping the conveyance of the sheets is set. That is, the third group of sheets is not directly discharged to the collecting tray 2 until the second group of sheets on the processing tray 4 is discharged to the collecting tray 2. In other words, the first group of sheets and the second group of sheets are grouped together to form a preceding unit assembly, and the third group of sheets and the fourth group of sheets are grouped and succeeded. In the case of a unit aggregate, a waiting time is set in the process of discharging the preceding unit aggregate and the subsequent unit aggregate.

Even if the waiting time is set between the preceding unit aggregate and the succeeding unit aggregate, the processing time is shorter than in the conventional case. This is because, in the conventional case, the waiting time is set at every interval of each sheet group such that a waiting time is set between the first sheet group and the second sheet group of the unit assembly. Must be set.
Therefore, as in this embodiment, even if the waiting time between the first sheet group and the second sheet group is not required, there is an advantage that the processing time is shortened.

Next, the discharge pattern shown in FIG. 7B will be described.
In this discharge pattern, similarly to FIG. 7A, when the sort mode is selected, a direct discharge path directly discharged to the collecting tray and a switchback path discharged to the collecting tray after being shifted in the processing tray. And are used alternately. That is, as shown in FIG. 7B, the preceding three sheets of the first set are discharged onto the stacking tray 2 one by one. Thereafter, the subsequent three sheets of the second set are once stacked on the processing tray 4, shifted there, and then switched back to be discharged onto the stacking tray 2.

  Then, at the same time as the sheet bundle of the second copy is discharged, the sheet of at least the first page of the third copy is directly discharged to the accumulation tray 2. In other words, the sheet group of the second set and at least the first page of the third set are overlapped and discharged to the stacking tray 2. When the direct discharge of the third copy is completed in this way, the sheet of the fourth copy is fed to the processing tray 4 and shifted there.

When the sheet of the fourth copy is shifted on the processing tray 4, the sheet is discharged to the collecting tray 2, and at the same time, the sheet of at least the first page of the fifth copy is directly discharged to the collecting tray 2. When the direct discharge of the fifth copy is completed, the sheet of the sixth copy is fed to the processing tray 4 and shifted there.
By repeating the above operation, no waiting time for stopping the conveyance of the sheet is required at any interval between the unit assemblies.

Next, the discharge pattern shown in FIG. 7C will be described.
In this discharge pattern, it is assumed that a large number of originals, for example, 50 pages, are copied and sorted. Here, the large amount of documents means an amount that cannot be accommodated in the processing tray 4 at one time. Therefore, when this pattern is executed, the stacking limit amount of the processing tray 4 is stored in the control mechanism 110 in advance. Further, it is necessary to provide a capacity recognizing means for detecting whether or not the load limit has been reached.

As the capacity recognition means, for example, the number counters 115 and 116 shown in FIG. 9 can be used.
Then, since the control mechanism 110 stores the stacking limit of the processing tray 4 as described above, when the number of sheets counted by the sheet counters 115 and 116 exceeds the stacking limit, the control path 110 Stops the conveyance of the sheet located at.

Further, the capacity recognition means may detect the thickness of the sheet bundle actually stacked on the processing tray 4 instead of the sheet counter. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, a thickness detection sensor 112 for detecting the thickness is provided near the processing tray 4.
It should be noted that the control mechanism in this apparatus may be provided on the sheet processing apparatus 1 side as shown by reference numeral 110 in FIG. 9 or may be provided on the image forming main body 3 side as shown by reference numeral 111. Of course.

  Here, the control mechanism 111 on the image forming main body 3 side in the discharge pattern shown in FIG. 7C will be described. The sort number information (for example, every 50 sheets) is input to the control mechanism 111. This sort number information is input by an operator from a control panel or a personal computer having sort number setting means for setting the number of sheets to be sorted. Further, information on the number of sheets fed from the cassettes 113 and 114 is input to the control mechanism 111. The information on the number of sheets fed out is input to the control mechanism 111 from the number counters 115 and 116 provided at the entrance of the image forming main body 3. The number-of-sheets counters 115 and 116 count sheets fed from the cassettes 113 and 114 to the image forming main body 3. Further, a preset stacking limit number (for example, 30) of the processing trays 4 is set in the control mechanism 111.

Therefore, when the paper is discharged from the cassette 114 to the processing tray 4, the number of sheets fed out from the cassette 114 is counted by the number counter 115 located at the entrance of the image forming main body 3. When the number of sheets reaches the maximum number of sheets (for example, 30 sheets), the sheet feeding from the cassette 114 is temporarily stopped. At the same time, an instruction signal for discharging the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray to the stacking tray 2 is output to the control mechanism 110 of the sheet processing apparatus 1. According to this signal, the sheet processing apparatus 1 discharges the sheet bundle to the stacking tray 2.
After that, the discharge of the sheet bundle from the processing tray 4 is detected by an empty sensor or the like (not shown) on the processing tray 4. Then, when this signal is sent to the control mechanism 111 of the image forming main body 3, the subsequent sheet is fed from the cassette 114 until the sort number information (for example, 50 sheets) is again reached from the cassette 114 (for example, 20 sheets remaining). Become.

The shift amount of the movable alignment plate 17 for shifting the sheet on the sheet processing tray 4 is determined by the sheet size information of a sheet size detecting unit (not shown) provided in the cassette 114 via the control mechanism 111 on the sheet processing apparatus 1 side. It is transmitted to the control mechanism 110. Therefore, the shift amount of the movable alignment plate 17 is set according to the sheet size information. As a result, the shift amount of the sheet discharged to the stacking tray 2 and the shift amount of the succeeding sheet are set to be the same position until reaching the sort number information (for example, 50 sheets).
Thereafter, when the number of sheets reaches the sort number information (for example, 50 sheets), the sheet is discharged to the stacking tray 2 together with the succeeding sheet bundle on the processing tray 4 and the first directly discharged sheet of the next processing copy.

The above sorting method will be described with reference to FIG. 7C. In this pattern, 50 pages of the first copy are directly discharged to the stacking tray 2. When the direct discharge of all 50 pages of the first set is completed in this way, at the same time, the number of sheets of the second set of 50 pages within the stacking limit of the processing tray 4 is sent to the processing tray 4, and Shift.
In this embodiment, the loading limit is set to 30 pages.
In this way, when the maximum number of sheets on the processing tray 4 is sent to the processing tray 4, the above-mentioned number counter 115 or 116 detects the sheet and transmits it to the control mechanism 110.

  The control mechanism 110 that recognizes that the stacking amount of the processing tray 4 has exceeded the limit stops conveyance of the sheet in the conveyance path 117. While the conveyance is stopped, the sheets stacked on the processing tray 4 are discharged in a bundle. When the bundle of 30 pages stacked on the processing tray 4 has been discharged, the next 20 pages of sheets are sent to the processing tray 4 and shifted. Then, the remaining 20 pages after the completion of this shift are discharged to the stacking tray 2.

When the discharge of 20 pages is completed as described above, all the 50 pages of the third copy are directly discharged to the stacking tray 2. When all of the 50 pages of the third copy have been directly discharged, at the same time, out of the 50 pages of the fourth copy, the number of sheets within the stacking limit of the processing tray 4 is sent to the processing tray 4 and shifted. Let it. By repeating such an operation, a predetermined number of copies are sorted.
However, in the discharge pattern shown in FIG. 7C, the over-tap discharge is performed similarly to the discharge pattern shown in FIG. 7B. In other words, the discharge of the last sheet bundle of the second copy and the discharge of at least the first sheet of the directly discharged sheets of the third copy are overlapped.

In this embodiment, when the shift operation is performed on the processing tray in the bundle discharge mode, the sheets may be spread over the stacking tray and the processing tray. In this case, the means for performing the shift operation may be provided between the accumulation tray and the processing tray.
Further, the control mechanism in this apparatus may be provided on the sheet processing apparatus side as shown in FIG. 9 or may be provided on the image processing main body 3 side.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the sheet processing apparatus. It is sectional drawing of the principal part of an apparatus which shows a switchback path | route. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of the processing tray, with a part thereof cut away. It is a top view of a processing tray. It is sectional drawing of the principal part which shows the state of bundle discharge. It is a top view of an accumulation tray. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sheet discharge pattern. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sheet discharge pattern. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sheet discharge pattern. It is a circuit diagram of a control mechanism. It is an explanatory view showing the whole device.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sheet processing apparatus 2 Stacking tray 3 Image forming main body 4 Processing tray 17 Movable alignment plate

Claims (5)

  A stacking tray for stacking sheets on which images are formed, a processing tray for stacking sheets once in the course of reaching the stacking tray, a shift unit for changing a width-wise stacking position of the sheets stacked on the processing tray, A sheet recognizing means for recognizing a stacking amount of sheets to be stacked on a processing tray, wherein the sheet recognizing means sorts the sheets by a predetermined number of sheets. When it is recognized that the stacking limit is exceeded, the sheets stacked on the processing tray are discharged to the stacking tray, and the number of sheets previously discharged and the number of subsequent sheets on the processing tray until the number of subsequent sheets reaches a predetermined number. A sheet processing apparatus characterized in that the operation of the shift means is continued so that the position becomes the same position.   2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the capacity recognizing unit recognizes that the amount exceeds the stacking limit of the processing tray, the stacking of subsequent sheets on the processing tray is temporarily stopped.   2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the capacity recognition unit includes a counting unit that counts the number of sheets stacked on the processing tray.   2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said capacity recognition means comprises a level sensor for measuring a height level of the sheets stacked on the processing tray.   A path for directly discharging the sheets to the stacking tray, a path for discharging the sheets to the stacking tray via the processing tray, and a plurality of preceding sheets directly discharged to the stacking tray; Then, the subsequent sheet bundle to be discharged to the stacking tray is set as a unit aggregate, and the sheet bundle is discharged from the processing tray in the preceding unit aggregate and directly discharged to the stacking tray in the subsequent unit aggregate. 2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least the first sheet of the sheets is directly discharged and overlapped and discharged to an accumulation tray.

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