JP2006151587A - Sheet handling device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet handling device which satisfies both of requests for high shift aligning accuracy and productivity, and to provide an image forming device. <P>SOLUTION: Whether mode is set in the shift mode or not is checked (S101), and in the case of the shift mode and in the case wherein a paper sheet aligning device is mounted (S102), a check whether alignment of the paper sheets is necessary or not is done (S103). When aligning the paper sheets on the basis of the check, the paper sheet aligning device is moved to a tray home position (position at shift quantity 2β) of the time when the paper sheet aligning device is mounted (S104), and delivery, adjustment and shift (2β) are repeated till a job is concluded (S105, S106, S107 and S108). On the other hand, in the case wherein the paper sheet aligning device is not mounted in S102 and in the case wherein alignment of the paper sheet is not performed in S103, the paper sheet aligning device is moved to a tray home position (position at shift quantity 2α) of the time when the paper sheet aligning device is not mounted (S109), and delivery and shift (2α) are repeated till the job is concluded. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus including a sheet alignment apparatus that aligns recording sheets, and an image forming apparatus including the sheet alignment apparatus or the sheet processing apparatus.

  As this type of invention, for example, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 or 2 is known. Among them, Patent Document 1 discloses a sheet having a simple configuration in which the sheet-like medium discharged by the discharge unit can be sorted in a neatly arranged state on a tray that moves in a shift direction orthogonal to the discharge direction. In order to provide a sheet-like medium processing apparatus, a discharge unit that discharges a sheet-like medium that is conveyed, a tray on which the sheet-like medium discharged by the discharge unit is stacked, and a sheet-like medium stacked on the tray In a sheet-like medium processing apparatus comprising tray moving means for moving the tray by a predetermined amount in a shift direction orthogonal to the sheet-like medium discharge direction of the discharge means for sorting, the tray is stacked on the tray. Aligning means for aligning the sheet-like medium, and the aligning means comprises the sheet-like medium discharged from the discharging means and stacked on the tray. A pair of aligning members that perform an aligning operation for aligning the positions of the end faces by bringing the aligning portions into contact with each other so as to sandwich two end faces of the sheet-like medium parallel to the discharge direction, and the sheets stacked after the sorting operation An invention is described in which the aligning operation is performed so that the sheet-shaped medium is aligned at a position different from the sheet-shaped medium stacked before the sorting operation.

Further, Patent Document 2 provides a sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus that can keep the time for the returning operation by the returning means, the aligning operation by the aligning means, and the sorting operation by the sorting means within the sheet-medium transport time interval. Therefore, the discharge means for discharging the conveyed sheet-like medium, the stacking means for loading the sheet-like medium discharged by the discharge means, and the discharge means for the sheet-like medium stacked on the stacking means An aligning means that contacts and aligns so as to sandwich an end face parallel to the discharge direction of the sheet-like medium, and a sheet by moving the stacking means or the aligning member by a predetermined amount in a shift direction orthogonal to the sheet-like medium discharge direction of the discharge means Sorting means for sorting the medium-like medium, and return means comprising a rotating body that aligns the sheet-like medium by abutting against the standing wall provided at the alignment position The sheet-like medium aligning apparatus is configured to change the discharge speed of the sheet-like medium by the discharging means so as to leave a sheet interval (time) by an operation time for performing the processing by the sorting means, the returning means, and the aligning means. An invention to control is disclosed.
JP 2001-240295 A JP 2002-211829 A

  In a conventional paper post-processing device, for example, a paper sheet that has been image-formed by an image forming apparatus and sent to the paper post-processing device passes through a paper discharge sensor that detects the passage of the paper and serves as a pair of paper discharge units. Guided to the roller. A tray is positioned below the discharge roller. The paper discharged from the paper discharge roller in the discharge direction (a direction perpendicular to the axis of the paper discharge roller in a substantially horizontal plane) is the inertia after the trailing edge of the paper leaves the paper discharge roller. And it falls down diagonally by its own weight and is loaded on the tray. If the paper is not on the tray, the distance from the top surface of the tray to the nip of the discharge roller. If the paper is stacked on the tray surface, from the top surface of the stacked paper to the nip The paper will fall free and land by the free fall distance.

  By the way, when the sheet post-processing apparatus has a sorting function, the tray reciprocates in a horizontal plane with a stroke necessary for sorting in a shift direction perpendicular to the discharge direction. The tray is slidably held on a pedestal extending in the shift direction, and reciprocates in the shift direction on the pedestal by a drive mechanism. In the paper post-processing apparatus having such a sorting function, conventionally, the paper discharged from the paper discharge roller has simply fallen freely in the free fall distance space and is loaded on the tray. In other words, the paper away from the paper discharge roller is in a free state until it is stacked on the tray. If the lateral registration of the paper received from the image forming apparatus is shifted or skewed, the paper loaded on the tray The end faces of the sheets in the shift direction are not aligned between the sheets, resulting in misalignment of sheets with a lateral deviation amount Δ.

  Therefore, it is necessary to set the shift amount of the tray 12 in anticipation of the lateral shift amount Δ, and the tray must be moved greatly during the shift. Further, as described in Patent Document 2 mentioned above, there is a limit to the time between sheets that can be secured by increasing or decreasing the sheet conveyance speed.

  Further, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, although alignment of paper is considered, productivity is not considered.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object thereof is to provide a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus that satisfy both high shift alignment accuracy and productivity requirements.

  In order to achieve the above object, the first means has a sorting function and performs processing on a sheet-like recording medium when the sheet aligning device is mounted and when it is not mounted. A means for changing the sorting position of the sheet-like recording medium is provided.

  The second means is characterized in that, in the first means, means for detecting whether or not the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted is provided.

  According to a third means, in the first or second means, the sorting function includes a stacking unit that moves the sheet-like recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction when the sheet-like recording medium is discharged, and sorts the sheet-like recording medium. Features.

  According to a fourth means, in the first or second means, the sorting function sorts the sheet-shaped recording medium by moving the sheet-shaped recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction when the sheet-shaped recording medium is conveyed. It consists of a shift roller.

  According to a fifth means, in any one of the first to fourth means, the sheet aligning device is mounted on the stacking means on which the sheet-like recording medium is discharged.

  A sixth means is any one of the first to fifth means, wherein the sheet aligning device sandwiches an end surface parallel to the transport direction of the sheet-like recording medium discharged onto the stacking means and performs sheet alignment. It is characterized by comprising an alignment member for performing.

  A seventh means is any one of the first to sixth means, wherein the means for changing the sorting position changes a movement amount in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet-like recording medium. .

  An eighth means is the seventh means, wherein the means for changing the sorting position changes the movement amount when the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted.

  According to a ninth means, in the seventh or eighth means, when the means for changing the sorting position does not perform alignment by the sheet alignment apparatus, the movement amount when the sheet alignment apparatus is not mounted. It is characterized by.

  A tenth means is characterized in that the image forming apparatus includes a sheet processing apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth means.

  The eleventh means is the tenth means, further comprising means for instructing a change in the sorting position of the sheet-like recording medium when the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted.

  In the embodiment described later, the means for changing the sorting position is in the CPU (not shown) of the sheet post-processing apparatus 50, the image forming apparatus is in reference numeral 51, and the means for detecting the presence or absence of the sheet aligning apparatus is in the detection apparatus 52. The sheet aligning device corresponds to reference numeral 90, and the sheet-like recording medium corresponds to the paper S.

  According to the present invention, there is provided means for changing the sheet sorting position depending on whether the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted or not. Further, the means for changing the sheet sorting position when the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted is further provided. Therefore, both high shift alignment accuracy and productivity requirements can be satisfied.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This system includes an image forming apparatus 50, a sheet post-processing apparatus 51, and a sheet aligning apparatus 90. The sheet aligning apparatus 90 is detachably attached to a sheet post-processing apparatus 51 independent of the image forming apparatus 50. In the following embodiments, a sheet-like recording medium will be described as a representative sheet.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper post-processing device 51 has a tray 12 that can be moved up and down as a paper stacking unit, and a Bruch tray 14 that is fixed in position and does not move. The tray 12 is controlled to move up and down by driving means (not shown). Further, the height of the tray 12 is detected by a sensor capable of detecting the height of the tray 12, and the height of the sheets stacked on the upper surface of the tray 12 is controlled to be constant.

  An entrance sensor 36 and an entrance roller pair 2a are provided in the vicinity of the image forming apparatus 50 and the paper delivery portion, and the paper taken in by the entrance roller pair 2a is transported to the respective transport paths according to the post-processing mode. The

  When the blue mode is selected, the paper delivered from the image forming apparatus 50 by the entrance roller pair 2a is transported to the transport roller 2b, and the position of the branch claw 8a can be switched by on / off control of a solenoid (not shown). The paper is discharged to the blue tray 14 by the paper discharge roller 5b via the transport roller 5a.

  When the stipple mode is selected, the sheet delivered by the pair of entrance rollers 2a is conveyed by the conveyance roller 2b, and the conveyance roller is moved by the branch claw 8b whose position can be switched by on / off control of a solenoid (not shown). A stable tray 7 is stacked by a paper discharge roller 6 via 4a, 4b and 4c. At this time, alignment in the sheet conveyance direction is performed by a hitting roller (not shown), and alignment in the horizontal width direction (direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction) of the sheet is performed by the jogger fence 62. When the predetermined number of sheets are aligned, the stapler 19 performs binding processing, and the sheet bundle lifted by the discharge claw 10a is discharged to the tray 12 by the paper discharge roller 3 and stacked.

  When the shift mode is selected, the paper is discharged from the pair of entrance rollers 2a to the tray 12 by the paper discharge roller 3 via the transport rollers 2a, 2b, and 2c and stacked. This embodiment is an example in which the tray 12 is reciprocated in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction to sort the paper. That is, the sorting operation is performed by moving the tray 12 in the shift direction c shown in FIG. 3 to sort the sheets (including the sheet bundle) stacked on the tray 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the tray moving mechanism includes a tray supporting mechanism that supports the tray 12 so as to be slidable on the base 8, and a tray reciprocating mechanism that reciprocates the tray 12 in the shift direction c. The tray support mechanism 60 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 2, two guide plates 30, 31 having a length in the shift direction c penetrating the paper surface and facing in the left-right direction are integrally provided on the upper portion of the base 8. A shaft protrudes from the outside of each of the guide plates 30 and 31, and rollers 32 and 33 are supported on the shaft. On the other hand, the bottom of the tray 12 is a flat portion made of a flat surface that is wider than the distance between the rollers 32 and 33 in the direction parallel to the paper conveyance direction and has a depth that can sufficiently cover the shift amount of the tray 12 in the shift direction c. 12 a is formed, and the flat portion 12 a is placed on the rollers 32 and 33. The flat portion 12a of the tray 12 is provided with two shafts at positions corresponding to the inside of the guide plates 30 and 31, and rollers 34 and 35 are pivotally supported on these two shafts, respectively. Has been. These rollers 34 and 35 are in contact with the inner sides of the guide plates 30 and 31. A groove 80a for guiding the alignment members 102a and 102b is formed on the upper surface of the tray 12 in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction.

  The rollers 32, 33, 34, 36, the guide plates 30, 31, and the like constitute a tray support mechanism 60 that supports the tray 12 so as to be movable in the shift direction c. With the tray support mechanism 60, the load on the tray 12 is supported by the rollers 32 and 33, and is guided by the guide plates 30 and 31 so as to move in the shift direction c. By combining the tray 12 supported by the tray support mechanism 60 with the tray reciprocating mechanism, the tray 12 can be reciprocated in the shift direction c by applying a reciprocating driving force to the tray 12.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the aligning and aligning device, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of an attachment portion of the sheet aligning member. In the figure, sheet aligning members 102a and 102b for aligning sheets operate via timing belts 106a and 106b by forward and reverse driving motors 104a and 104b for driving the sheet aligning members. The timing belts 106a and 106b are connected to the cradle holders 105a and 105b, and the cradle holders 105a and 105b and the paper alignment members 102a and 102b are attached by fitting and move together. The sheet aligning members 102a and 102b are attached to a shaft 108, and a D-shaped portion 108a having a D-shaped cross section is provided on the outer periphery of the shaft 108 as shown in FIG. The position (height) of 102 is held.

  Each of the sheet alignment members 102a and 102b is provided with home sensors 107a and 107b, respectively, so as to detect the respective home positions of the sheet alignment members 102a and 102b.

  The sheet alignment member 102 is retracted above the tray 12 so as not to interfere with sheet discharge. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a main part of the retracting mechanism. Since the sheet alignment members 102 a and 102 b are connected in a D shape with the shaft 108, the sheet alignment members 102 a and 102 b rotate in synchronization with the shaft 108. As shown in FIG. 6, the retracting drive motor 110 is engaged with the gear 111 via the gear portion 110a, and the gear 111 is fitted to the shaft 108 in a D shape. Therefore, by rotating the retract drive motor 110, the sheet leveling members 102a and 102b can be retracted upward.

  In this embodiment, the amount of movement in the shift direction c is controlled to be different between when the paper aligning device is mounted and when it is not. A specific example of the tray reciprocating mechanism will be described below together with the tray position determining means.

  In FIG. 7, the tray 12 enters the concavo-convex portion of the end fence 40, and the end fence 40 moves in the shift direction c, so that the tray 12 also moves in the same direction. A bracket 41 with a long hole 41a is mounted at the center of the end fence 40 in the shift direction c, and a pin 42 is inserted into the long hole 41a.

  The pin 42 is pressed and fixed to a pulley 43 that is pivotally supported by a main body (not shown). This insertion fixing position is eccentric from the rotation center of the pulley 43. The pulley 43 is rotated by a motor 44 via a timing belt 45. The pin 42 is rotated by the rotational movement of the pulley 43, and the tray 12 performs a linear reciprocating motion in the shift direction c according to the amount of eccentricity. The direction of motion is converted as follows. The configuration around the eccentrically rotating pin 42 and the long hole 41a constitutes the main part of the tray reciprocating mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 7, a convex portion (detection piece) 43a for shielding the sensor is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the boom 43, and the home position is detected by shielding the optical paths of the home sensors 48a and 48b. A first home sensor 48a when the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted and a second home sensor 48b when the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted are attached to the bracket 41 (FIG. 3), as shown in FIG. When the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted, sorting is performed by rotating to the symmetrical position 42a2 corresponding to the distance α from the rotating shaft to the pin 42a1, and further rotating back to the home position. Therefore, the shift amount of the sheet S when the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted is 2α. As shown in FIG. 8, when the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted, the shift operation of the sheet S from the second home sensor 48b is similarly performed at 2β (the distance between the pins 42b1 and 42b2). Then α> β
The positional relationship is as follows. That is, the shift amount is increased when the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted, and the shift amount is decreased when it is mounted. The sheet loading state on the tray 12 at this time is shown in FIGS. FIG. 9 shows the sorting state of the shift amount 2α of the paper S when the paper aligning device 90 is not installed, and FIG. 10 shows the shift amount 2β of the paper S when the paper aligning device 90 is installed and paper sorting and alignment is performed. The sorting state is shown.

  Even when the sheet aligning device 90 is installed, the user can set the selection of the shift amount or the appropriateness of alignment. In this case, when the paper aligning device 90 is mounted on the paper post-processing device 51, it is selected on the operation panel (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 50 whether or not to perform the aligning operation at the time of sorting, and the paper alignment accuracy is required. In this case, sorting and alignment is performed in the state shown in FIG. 10 as the shift amount 2β, and in the normal time when alignment accuracy is not required, the tray is aligned with the alignment accuracy enough to distinguish the sorting as the shift amount 2α as shown in FIG. Make it stack.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a control procedure when the user selects sorting accuracy. In this process, first, it is checked whether or not the shift mode is set (step S101). If the shift mode is set and the sheet (sheet) aligning device 90 is mounted (step S102), whether or not the sheet is further aligned. It is checked whether or not (step S103). If paper alignment is performed by this check, the paper alignment device 90 is moved to the tray home position (FIG. 8—position of shift amount 2β) when the paper alignment device is mounted (step S104), and the paper discharge, alignment and shift ( 2β) is repeated until the end of the job (steps S105, S106, S107, S108).

  On the other hand, when the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted in step S102 and when the sheet alignment is not performed in step S103, the tray home position (the position of the shift amount 2α in FIG. 7) when the sheet aligning device is not mounted. It is moved (step S109), and the paper discharge and shift (2α) are repeated until the end of the job.

  As a result, the paper is sorted in the state shown in FIGS.

  The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is executed by the CPU of the paper post-processing device 51, and detection outputs from the sensors of the paper aligning device 90 are input to the CPU, and the motors of the paper aligning device 90 are turned on. Control. Further, the CPU executes a program stored in a ROM (not shown) while using a RAM (not shown) as a work area, and controls each unit.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the detachable sheet aligning device 90 is mounted on the tray 12, the maximum time can be obtained by shortening the moving time of the tray 12 for the user who requires the sheet alignment accuracy. Limited productivity can be secured. For users who do not require high alignment accuracy, the sheet post-processing device 50 can be provided at a low cost by not mounting the sheet aligning device, and the shift amount necessary for sorting is sufficiently secured. be able to.

  Also, the user can select whether or not to align the sheet using the sheet aligning device 90, and can select to use the sheet aligning device only when high alignment accuracy is required for the sheet. Thereby, noise and power consumption can be suppressed.

<Second Embodiment>
This embodiment is an example in which the transport roller 2c of the paper post-processing device 51 in the first embodiment functions as a shift roller, and the shift function by the tray 12 is not provided. Since the sheet post-processing apparatus 51 itself is the same as that shown in FIG. 1 except for the above-described functional parts, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those in the first embodiment, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

  FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the relationship between the shift roller 2c and the sheet S, and shows a state in which the shift roller 2c is located at the reference position (home position).

  The shift roller 2 includes a roller portion 277 and a roller shaft 280. The roller shaft 280 is rotatably supported by bearings 278 and 279. A shift motor 262 is disposed on one end side of the roller shaft 280, and a gear 264 is provided on the rotation shaft of the shift motor 262 and meshes with the shift gear 263. As a result, the shift gear 263 rotates by obtaining the driving force of the shift motor 262. A filler 263b for detecting a shift reference position protrudes from the outer periphery of the shift gear 263, and the position where the shift reference sensor S3 detects the filler 263b is the shift reference position.

  A link 252 is connected to the end of the roller shaft 380 of the shift roller 2 c on the side where the shift motor 262 is installed, and the projection 263 a of the shift gear 263 is positioned in the groove of the link 252. When the shift gear 263 rotates, the roller shaft 280 is moved in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction by the projection 263a of the shift gear 263 and the link 252, and the roller portion 277 is also moved integrally. As a result, the sheet in contact with the shift roller 2c moves in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction, and sorting is performed.

  The paper sorting direction is set to position A and position B as shown in FIGS. That is, the positions A and B are brought about according to the direction in which the shift motor 262 rotates from the position of the shift reference sensor S3. Assuming that the shift movement amount by position A is α, the movement amount to position B is also moved in the opposite direction, so that it is α, and the relative movement amount of the paper S by sorting is 2α. In this case, position A is set to α in the left direction from the reference position, and position B is set to α in the right direction from the reference position. This movement amount α can be changed by the amount of rotation of the shift motor 262 from the detection position (reference position) by the shift reference sensor S3. The sheet position after the shift is indicated by Sa in FIG. 13 and Sb in FIG.

In this embodiment, when the shift operation is performed using such a shift roller 2c, the movement amount in the shift direction is the same as that described above depending on whether the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted) or not mounted (mounted). The first embodiment is different from that shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. That is, control is performed so that the rotation amount of the shift motor 262 is changed between when the paper aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted) and when not mounted (mounted). When the sheet aligning device 90 is not installed, the rotation amount of the shift motor 262 is increased in order to ensure the sorting, and the sorting amount at that time is 2α (FIG. 9). On the other hand, when the sheet aligning device 90 is installed, the sheets discharged to the tray 12 are aligned by the sheet aligning device 90, so that sorting can be performed reliably even if the shift amount is reduced. Therefore, in this case, the rotation amount of the shift motor 262 is reduced, the movement amount is set to β, and the sorting amount is set to 2β (FIG. 10). In this case, as in the first embodiment,
α> β
It is.

  For the control, it is necessary to recognize whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted). Therefore, in this embodiment, the detection device 52 shown in FIG. 15 or 16 is provided. In these detection devices 52, the signal level of the connection determination is made different between when the paper aligning device 90 is mounted and when it is not mounted. In the example of FIG. 15, when the connector 501 is mounted on the paper post-processing apparatus 51, the signal level for connection determination is set to the GND level by the harness 502 attached to the connector 501 (steps S201 and S202). When not mounted, the signal level for connection determination is 5 V (steps S201 and S203). FIG. 15A shows the state when mounted, and FIG. 15B shows the state when not mounted. Moreover, the flowchart of FIG.15 (c) shows the determination procedure at this time. By checking the signal level of the connection determination in this way, it can be easily recognized whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted). This determination is performed by the CPU of the sheet post-processing device 50.

  FIG. 16 shows an example in which the signal level for connection determination is opposite to that in FIG. In this case, the signal level becomes 5V when mounted (steps S301 and S302), and the signal level becomes GND when not mounted (steps S301 and S303). In this embodiment, the detection voltage is 5 V, but it is not necessarily 5 V, and may be set to a voltage level different from the GND level.

  When the loading / unloading of the sheet aligning device 90 is detected in this manner, the sorting amounts 2α and 2β can be changed according to the loading and non-loading states as described above.

  Even if the sheet aligning device 90 is installed, the sorting amount can be changed according to whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is used. In this case, it is selected whether or not to perform an aligning operation on an operation panel (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 50 when the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted. If the sheet aligning accuracy is required, the sorting amount is set to 2β. When the alignment operation is performed and the alignment accuracy is not required, the sorting amount is set to 2α, and the sheet is discharged at a high speed with an alignment accuracy enough to distinguish the sorting, and is stacked on the tray 12. The processing procedure at this time is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  In this processing procedure, first, it is checked whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted) on the tray 12 (step S401). If not, the sorting amount is set to 2α and the above-described FIG. (Step S404). If the sheet aligning device 90 is installed, it is checked whether the instruction from the image forming apparatus 51 side is to align the sheet or not to align the sheet (step S402). The amount is set to 2α and the above-described sorting of FIG. 9 is performed (step S404). On the other hand, when paper alignment is performed, the sorting amount is set to 2β, and sorting and paper alignment are executed (step S403).

  As described above, in this embodiment, the sorting amount is set to 2β only when the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted and the sheet aligning is performed, and when the sheet aligning device 90 is not mounted and the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted. However, when the sheet alignment is not performed, the sorting amount is set to 2α and sorting is performed.

  Other parts that are not particularly described are configured in the same manner as the first embodiment and function in the same manner.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the detachable sheet aligning device 90 is mounted, the productivity of the shift roller 2c is shortened for the user who requires the sheet alignment accuracy, thereby maximizing the productivity. Can be secured. For users who do not require high alignment accuracy, the paper post-processing device 50 can be provided at low cost by not mounting the paper aligning device 12, and a sufficient amount of shift is required for sorting. can do.

  Further, since the sheet post-processing device 50 determines whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted (mounted) and changes the shift amount, the user inputs whether or not the sheet aligning device 90 is mounted or changes the shift amount. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform an input operation for improving the operability.

  Furthermore, the user can select whether or not to align the sheet using the sheet aligning device 90, and can select to use the sheet aligning device only when high alignment accuracy is required for the sheet. Thereby, noise and power consumption can be suppressed.

1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows a tray moving mechanism. It is a principal part perspective view which shows a tray moving mechanism. It is a figure which shows a paper alignment mechanism. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows D shape of FIG. It is a figure which shows the retracting mechanism of an alignment member. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the shift mechanism at the time of sheet | seat aligner non-mounting. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the shift mechanism at the time of paper alignment apparatus mounting. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of sorting and alignment when a sheet alignment device is not installed. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state of alignment with sorting when the sheet aligning device is mounted. It is a figure which shows the control procedure when a user selects and operates the state of matching of classification. It is a top view which shows the relationship between a shift roller and a paper, and is a state in which the shift roller is located in the reference position (home position). It is a top view which shows the state shifted to the position A from the reference position of FIG. It is a top view which shows the state shifted to the position B from the reference position of FIG. It is a figure which shows the detection apparatus and recognition procedure which detect the presence or absence of mounting of a paper alignment apparatus. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of a detection device that detects whether or not a paper alignment device is mounted and a recognition procedure. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a shift control processing procedure corresponding to the presence or absence of an alignment operation by a sheet alignment apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

2c Conveyance roller, shift roller 12 Tray 30, 31 Guide plate 32, 33 Roller 34, 35 Roller 40 End fence 41 Bracket 41a Long hole 42a1, 42a2, 42b1, 42b2 Pin 43 Pulley 43a Protrusion 44 Motor 45 Pulley 48a, 48b Home Sensor 50 Image forming device 51 Paper post-processing device 52 Detection device 60 Support mechanism 90 Paper (sheet) alignment device S Paper (sheet-like recording medium)

Claims (11)

In a sheet processing apparatus that has a sorting function and performs processing on a sheet-like recording medium,
A sheet processing apparatus comprising means for changing a sorting position of the sheet-like recording medium depending on whether or not the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted.   2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting whether or not the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted.   3. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting function includes a stacking unit that sorts the sheet-like recording medium by moving in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction when the sheet-like recording medium is discharged.   3. The sorting function includes a shift roller that sorts a sheet-like recording medium by moving the sheet-like recording medium in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction when the sheet-like recording medium is conveyed. Sheet processing equipment.   The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet aligning device is mounted on the stacking unit on which the sheet-like recording medium is discharged.   6. The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an aligning member configured to perform sheet alignment by sandwiching an end surface parallel to a conveying direction of the sheet-like recording medium discharged onto the stacking unit. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the means for changing the sorting position changes a movement amount in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the sheet-like recording medium.   8. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the means for changing the sorting position changes the movement amount when the sheet aligning apparatus is mounted.   9. The sheet according to claim 7, wherein the means for changing the sorting position is a movement amount when the sheet aligning device is not mounted when alignment by the sheet aligning device is not performed. Processing equipment.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising means for instructing a change of a sorting position of the sheet-like recording medium when the sheet aligning device is mounted.

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