JP2009018913A - Paper handling device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper handling device capable of shifting a paper without opening a conveying means even when the paper is arranged across a plurality of conveying means to improve productivity. <P>SOLUTION: This paper handling device has a conveyance passage 220 for conveying the conveyed paper onto a paper delivery tray side, shift rollers 222, 223 provided in the conveyance passage 220 to convey the paper to be delivered onto a paper delivery tray in the direction of paper conveyance and shift the paper in the vertical direction to the direction of paper conveyance, and an inlet sensor 501 for detecting the position of the paper in the conveyance passage to sort the papers to be delivered by shift travel. A plurality of shift rollers 222, 223 are arranged at an interval along the direction of paper conveyance and perform shift operation to prevent the occurrence of malfunction in shift operation of the plurality of shift rollers 222, 223 conveying paper across the same paper based on the position of the paper detected by the inlet sensor 501. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper processing apparatus that performs paper processing including perforation on a sheet-like recording medium (referred to as “paper” in the present specification), and a copy that includes the paper processing apparatus integrally or separately. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a digital multifunction peripheral having a combination of these functions.

  Conventionally, various types of paper processing apparatuses for performing paper processing including perforation on paper discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and here post-processing, have been proposed. As such a sheet processing apparatus, for example, an invention described in Patent Document 1 is known. An object of the present invention is to perform fine adjustment in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the punch hole position by using a shift mechanism for sorting discharged paper bundles. In a paper processing apparatus comprising a conveyance path for discharging the discharged paper to a paper discharge tray and a punching unit provided in the middle of the conveyance path for punching the paper, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray. Shift means for shifting the paper in a direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction in the paper conveyance path, and when performing fine adjustment in the direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction with respect to the paper during the punching process, And a control means for causing the vertical shift to be performed. As a result, the paper is shifted to the paper discharge tray so that the paper discharged from the image forming apparatus can be easily distinguished from paper that has been post-processed before or after that. Can do.

In addition, the invention described in Patent Document 2 is also known as an apparatus having a shift mechanism.
JP 2002-179330 A JP-A-6-298435

  In the prior art, the shift means shifts the paper by moving the transport roller in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction. At that time, the shift means (mechanism) in the shift direction is independent, and when the sheet straddles the downstream conveyance roller, the shift operation is performed after the downstream drive is released by an open / close guide plate or the like. For this reason, in the case of shifting, the shifting cannot be performed until the downstream drive is released after the preceding sheet exits the downstream conveyance drive. Further, since the sheet cannot be discharged after the shift is completed until the downstream drive is restored, the productivity is reduced by the downstream drive release and return time.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to improve productivity by enabling shifting without opening the conveying means even when the sheet straddles a plurality of conveying means.

  In order to solve the above problems, the first means includes a transport path for transporting the loaded paper to the paper discharge tray side, and the paper that is provided in the transport path and is discharged to the paper discharge tray. Shifting means for transporting in the transport direction and shifting in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction, and detecting means for detecting the position of the paper in the transport path, shifts the discharged paper In a paper processing apparatus having a function of sorting by movement, a plurality of the shift means are arranged at a plurality of intervals along the paper transport direction, and the same paper is used based on the position of the paper detected by the detection means. The shift operation is performed so that wrinkles do not occur in the shift operations of the plurality of shift means that are transported across the plurality of shift means.

  The second means is the first means, in which the shift means moves the shift rollers arranged at intervals along the paper transport direction and moves the shift rollers in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction. And the shift operation is performed by control means for controlling the operation of the shift means.

  The third means is characterized in that, in the second means, the control means controls the operation of the driving means independently, and causes the shift means to perform the shift operation.

  The fourth means is characterized in that, in the third means, the control means operates at least one shift means among the plurality of shift means.

  The fifth means is characterized in that, in the third or fourth means, the control means selects the driving number of the shift means according to the size of the paper.

  A sixth means is characterized in that, in any one of the second to fifth means, the control means causes the plurality of shift means to drive synchronously and perform a shift operation.

  The seventh means is characterized in that, in the sixth means, the control means selects the shift means for synchronously driving based on the size of the paper.

  According to an eighth means, in any one of the third to seventh means, the control means moves the shift means to the paper receiving position at an arbitrary timing after the trailing edge of the paper passes through the shift means. It is made to move.

  A ninth means is characterized in that, in any one of the second to eighth means, the control means controls the sheet conveyance drive of the plurality of shift means independently for each shift means.

  A tenth means is the ninth means characterized in that the control means controls the transport speed of the plurality of shift means at an independent timing at an independent speed.

  The eleventh means is characterized in that, in the ninth means, the control means controls the conveyance speeds of the plurality of shift means to be conveyed at a synchronized speed.

  A twelfth means is characterized in that, in the eleventh means, the plurality of shift means are transported by the same drive source.

  The thirteenth means is characterized in that, in any of the first to twelfth means, the shift means is provided on the most downstream side of the transport path.

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

  In the embodiment described later, the discharge tray is the second discharge tray 208, the transport path is the reference number 220, the plurality of shift means are the shift roller 222 and the discharge shift roller 223, and the detection means is the inlet sensor 501 or the discharge sensor. The paper sensor 235 and the control means correspond to the CPU 701, respectively.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of shift units are arranged at a plurality of intervals along the sheet conveyance direction, and the plurality of shift units convey the same sheet based on the position of the sheet detected by the detection unit. Since the shift operation is performed so that no wrinkle occurs in the shift operation of the shift means, it is not necessary to wait for the release of the conveyance drive when performing the shift operation, and the productivity can be improved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire sheet post-processing apparatus as a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a sheet post-processing apparatus 200 is attached to a side portion of the main body 100 of the image forming apparatus. The sheet post-processing apparatus 200 is configured to receive a sheet from the sheet discharge roller 101 of the main body 100 by an inlet conveyance roller 202 via an inlet guide plate 201. An inlet sensor 501 for detecting the carry-in of the paper is provided on the upstream side of the entrance transport roller 202 in the paper transport direction. As the entrance sensor 501, for example, a reflection type optical sensor is used. In addition, a transmissive optical sensor can be used.

On the downstream side of the entrance conveyance roller 202 in the conveyance direction, a punch unit 502 for punching filing holes in the sheet is disposed. Further, on the downstream side of the punch unit 502 in the conveyance direction, a branching claw 211 for switching the sheet to be conveyed to one of the conveyance paths 210 and 220 is disposed. A conveyance roller 203 is disposed downstream of the conveyance path 220 branched from the branch claw 211 in the conveyance direction. A branching claw 221 for switching the sheet to be conveyed to either the conveyance path 220 or the conveyance path 240 is disposed downstream of the conveyance roller 203 in the conveyance direction. By the branch claw 211 and the branch 221,
1) Paper that goes in the direction of a first paper discharge tray 214 (proof tray) provided in the upper part of the paper post-processing apparatus 200 from a conveyance path 210 that passes through the conveyance rollers 212 and 213. 2) It passes through a conveyance roller 222 and a paper discharge roller 223. Paper transported in the direction of the second paper discharge tray 208 supported by the paper post-processing apparatus 200 from the transport path 220 3) A lower transport path is selected by the branching claw 221 and arranged at intervals. The sheet is divided into a sheet that goes from the conveyance path 240 passing through the pair of conveyance rollers 241 toward the staple tray 402 of the stapler 401 for binding the end face of the sheet.

  As will be described later, the transport roller 222 functions to shift the sheet in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction, and is hereinafter referred to as a shift roller. Note that both the transport roller 222 and the paper discharge roller 223 function as shift rollers, but these are arranged in parallel at the most downstream position of the transport path 220.

  The sheet is sent out from the conveyance roller 241 on the most downstream side in the conveyance direction of the conveyance path 240 toward the staple tray 402 to the staple tray 402. The stapler 401 is disposed at the lower end (the rear end in the paper transport direction) of the staple tray 402 that holds the paper. The staple tray 402 includes jogger fences 422 for aligning sheets from the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction at both ends in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction, and a rear end fence 410 for aligning the sheet conveyance direction with the rear end. Is arranged. Further, a tapping roller 250 is provided at a position away from the sheet placement surface of the staple tray 402 to strike and align the sheet with the trailing edge fence 410. Although not shown, the staple tray 402 may be provided with a saddle stitching stapler.

  Above the staple tray 402, a folding plate 466 that folds the paper is provided so as to be movable in the direction of a pair of upper and lower folding rollers 451 and 452, and a predetermined position of the paper is pushed into the nip of the folding rollers 451 and 452. The paper is folded by folding rollers 451 and 452. The sheets from the discharge roller 223 and the folding rollers 451 and 452 are discharged to a second discharge tray 208 supported so as to be movable up and down. The paper discharged onto the second paper discharge tray 208 by the paper discharge roller 223 is aligned in the paper discharge direction on the second paper discharge tray 208 by the return operation of the return roller 207. Reference numeral 235 denotes a paper discharge sensor for checking the paper discharged to the second paper discharge tray 208, and the nip on the upstream side in the paper transport direction from the nip of the paper discharge roller 223 and the paper discharge driven roller 209. It is provided in the position close to.

  2 is a front view for explaining the operation of the sheet aligning member in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the operations of the sheet aligning member and the paper discharge tray in FIG.

  The second paper discharge tray 208 is provided with an aligning device 300 that aligns the direction (arrow B direction) orthogonal to the paper transport direction (arrow A direction) of the paper discharged onto the second paper discharge tray 208. ing. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the aligning device 300 uses an alignment member 310, 311 to end an end portion in a direction B (hereinafter referred to as a shift direction B) perpendicular to the paper discharge direction A of a sheet or sheet bundle. The alignment operation is performed. If necessary, the sheets can be stacked in a sorting state in which the positions are shifted by a predetermined number in the paper discharge direction A and the shift direction B.

  FIG. 4 is a front view showing a drive mechanism of the sheet aligning member of FIG. As shown in the figure, the alignment members 310 and 311 in the alignment apparatus 300 are moved in the shift direction B by alignment member drive motors 301 and 302. The driving forces of the aligning member driving motors 301 and 302 are transmitted to the moving members 307 and 308 fixed to the timing belts 303 and 304 by the timing belts 303 and 304 and the pulleys 305 and 306, respectively. The alignment member drive motors 301 and 302 in the present embodiment use step motors, and for control purposes, the motor drive 1 pulse can correspond to the movement distance, so that the alignment members 310 and 311 are accurately placed at the target positions. It is possible to stop.

  The aligning members 310 and 311 can move independently in the shift direction B on the left and right sides, and are aligned with the end face of the paper interposed therebetween. Reference numerals 312 and 313 are reference position sensors configured by transmission optical sensors for confirming the reference positions of the alignment members 310 and 311. The sensors 312 and 313 change the sensor output when the sensor detection plates 307a and 308a of the moving members 307 and 308 block their optical paths, thereby detecting the position. The CPU 701 described later can recognize the movement distance (movement position) from the reference position of the alignment members 310 and 311 from the output signals of these sensors 312 and 313 and the number of drive pulse signals sent to the alignment member drive motors 301 and 302. .

  Further, the aligning members 310 and 311 are assembled to the shaft 309, and the rotation of the aligning member up / down retracting motor 315 is transmitted to the gear 314 to rotate the shaft 309 and rotate in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. . The CPU 701 can detect the rotation position from the position of the filler 314 a detected by the home sensor 316 and the filler 314 a provided on the gear 314. This makes it possible to align the end surfaces of sheets stacked in a sorting state whose position is shifted by the sheet post-processing apparatus 200 in combination with the alignment operation in the sheet discharge direction A and the shift direction B.

  FIG. 5 is a plan view for explaining the sheet alignment member and the conveyance state of the sheet of FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the shift roller of FIG. When the paper alignment mode is selected, it is possible to perform sorting and paper alignment by shifting the paper itself. In this embodiment, the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge roller 223 are provided with a shift mechanism. Accordingly, the discharge roller 223 is also referred to as a discharge shift roller 223 in the following description. The configuration of the shift mechanism of the paper discharge shift roller 223 is the same as the configuration of the shift mechanism of the shift roller 222, and thus illustration and description thereof are omitted.

  The shift roller 222 functions as a shift unit that moves (shifts) the sheets in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction in order to distinguish the sheet bundle to be discharged. The shift roller 222 is configured as shown in FIG. In other words, a pair of driven rollers 601 slidable in a direction perpendicular to the sheet transport direction are pressed against the pair of shift rollers 222 by elastic urging means. These driven rollers 601 rotatably supported by the support shaft 602 are elastically biased toward the central portion of the support shaft 602 by a spring 630 as an elastic biasing means, and after the shift roller 222 moves in the shift direction, It is configured to self-return to the original position.

  The shift roller 222 is fixed to the shaft 612. The shaft 612 obtains a conveyance force to the sheet through a gear 613 by a rotational driving force from a driving unit (not shown). Reference numeral 620 denotes a shift motor, which is connected to a shaft 612 via a gear portion 610 and a link portion 611. When the shift motor 620 rotates by a certain amount, the shift roller 222 is moved from the central position in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction. For example, it can be moved 10 mm on one side and 20 mm on both sides. This shift movement amount can be arbitrarily set by configuring the shift motor 620 from a motor that can control the movement amount, such as a step motor. The shift movement amount needs to be set to an amount that allows the bundle of discharged sheets to be distinguished when the sheets are discharged and stacked on the second discharge tray 208. As shown in FIG. 5, the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 are configured to be able to shift the sheets one by one in the left-right direction perpendicular to the transport direction while transporting the received paper at the center when viewed from the top of the paper transport path. is there.

  The shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 are arranged on the downstream side of the transport path, and do not straddle the transport drive that does not perform the shift operation during the shift operation. Therefore, the opening / closing guide that releases the transport drive on the downstream side of the shift roller as in the prior art. A driving mechanism such as a plate becomes unnecessary. As a result, the structure can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

  The rotation of the shift roller 222 is connected to a conveyance drive source via a gear 613, but the conveyance of the shift roller is set as a plurality of common drive sources so that the conveyance speed and acceleration / deceleration of the plurality of shift means are always conveyed at the same speed. If controlled, the conveyance driving mechanism of the shift roller can be reduced. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the machine and promote cost reduction.

  By transporting the plurality of shift roller transport drive units independently and at the same time as the shift operation, it is possible to increase the distance from the subsequent sheet, thereby improving productivity.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an outline of a control circuit in the image forming apparatus provided with the sheet post-processing apparatus of FIG. The control circuit includes a control circuit on the sheet post-processing apparatus 200 side and a control circuit on the image forming apparatus 100 main body side. The control circuit on the sheet post-processing apparatus 200 side has a plurality of drivers 709, a plurality of sensors 710, A ROM 711 and an interface 712 are connected, and further connected to a main body CPU 713 of the image forming apparatus main body via the interface 712. The plurality of sensors 710 are the above-described entrance sensor 501, reference position sensors 312, 313, and the like, and the driver 709 is a shift motor 620, 720 driven by the paper post-processing device 200, a shift transport motor 703, 704, and others. These motor drivers drive the motors 705, 706, 707, and 708.

  In the control circuit configured as described above, signals from the sensors 710 in the sheet post-processing apparatus 200 are input to the CPU 701. In accordance with the input signal, the CPU 701 shifts a shift motor 620 that shifts a shift roller 222, a shift motor 702 that shifts a paper discharge shift roller 223, a shift conveyance motor 703 that rotates the shift roller 222 so as to convey a sheet, and a sheet. A shift conveyance motor 704 for rotating the paper discharge shift roller 223 so as to convey, each motor 705 for rotating each conveyance roller such as the entrance conveyance roller 202, and each motor for driving the punch unit 502, the stapler 401, etc. 706, motors 707 for driving the folding plate 466, the alignment member 310, and the like, and motors 708 for moving the second discharge tray 208 up and down and rotating the return roller 207 are driven via drivers 709. . The ROM 711 stores program codes for controlling various shift operations as will be described later, read by the CPU 701, and expanded in a RAM (not shown) to execute the control. Here, the driving timing of each driver 709 is set by the CPU based on the detection timing of the leading or trailing edge of the sheet of the entrance sensor 501 and the length in the sheet conveyance direction.

  The operation of each embodiment when the paper sorting alignment mode is selected in the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 8 to FIG. 13 are explanatory diagrams of the operation in the embodiment when shifting is performed by synchronizing a plurality of shift rollers.

  In this embodiment, the shift operation is performed by two shift rollers 222 and paper discharge shift rollers 223. In FIGS. 8 to 13, the shift operations are performed by synchronizing these two shift rollers. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus 100 is transferred from the entrance transfer roller 202 to the transfer roller 203, the shift roller 222, and the discharge shift roller 223. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, after the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the conveyance roller 203, the sheet P is moved perpendicularly to the sheet conveyance direction which is the sheet discharge direction A by the shift roller 222 and the sheet discharge shift roller 223, as shown in FIG. Shift in the direction B. When this paper P straddles both the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 during the transport operation, or when it straddles both these rollers during the shift operation, the shift drive of both the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 is synchronized. To shift.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when the rear end of the sheet P has passed through the shift roller 222, that is, after the shift operation is completed, when the rear end of the sheet passes the shift roller 223, the shift roller 222 and the discharge shift roller 223 are returned to the sheet receiving position at the same timing. (In the direction of arrow C) to prepare for receiving a subsequent sheet. Then, as shown in FIG. 12, after the trailing edge of the paper P has passed through the paper discharge shift roller 223, the subsequent paper P is transported by the transport roller 203. When the preceding paper P is completely removed from the paper discharge shift roller 223, the leading edge of the subsequent paper P is transported from the transport roller 203 to the shift roller 222 as shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the paper P is shifted, the paper can be shifted if the rear end of the paper passes through the nip of the transport roller 203 upstream of the shift roller 222. Therefore, when the paper P is transported to a shiftable position and the paper P is straddling a plurality of shift rollers, such as the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223, the shift driving of these shift rollers is shifted in synchronization. Can be shifted smoothly. Also, when shifting according to the size of the paper, it is judged whether the paper straddles multiple shift rollers, and by operating the minimum necessary drive device, wasteful operation can be eliminated, extra energy is eliminated, and production Can also be improved. Note that the control timing of the return operation from the shift position of the shift roller 222 to the sheet receiving position can be set based on the detection timing of the trailing edge of the sheet by the sheet discharge sensor 235.

  If the paper does not straddle both shift rollers at the start of the shift or during the shift operation, there is no problem even if only the shift roller 222 on the upstream side is shifted and no extra energy is consumed. Can do. FIG. 14 to FIG. 18 are explanatory diagrams of shift drive control when the paper does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers at the time of shifting. Hereinafter, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to these drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 14, when a small sheet P is conveyed by the conveyance roller 203, the shift roller 222 starts to shift in the shift direction B. As shown in FIG. 15, the sheet is shifted in the shift direction B by the trailing edge of the sheet coming out of the conveyance roller 203. As shown in FIG. 16, when the paper P is supported only by the shift roller 222, it is located at a predetermined shift position. When the leading edge of the paper P is positioned from the shift roller 222 to the paper discharge shift roller 223, the shift roller 222 is returned in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 18, the paper is discharged to the second paper discharge tray 208 while being shifted by the paper discharge shift roller 223.

  Thus, when the paper is small, the paper can be shifted by shifting only the shift roller 222. At this time, since one or a plurality of shift rollers can be selectively driven and controlled, control that eliminates wasteful operations is possible, and control that can eliminate unnecessary energy and improve productivity can be realized. Further, when shifting the sheet, the sheet can be shifted when the sheet passes through the nip of the conveyance roller 203 upstream of the shift roller 222. However, the sheet conveyance direction dimension is short, and the other end of the sheet is shifted downstream of the shift roller 222. In this embodiment, when the shift is completed before reaching the discharge shift roller 223, it is not necessary to shift the downstream shift roller, that is, the discharge shift roller 223. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate useless operations by determining the minimum required shift roller when shifting the paper according to the size of the paper and driving it to perform the shift operation.

  Further, in the present invention, since the shift drive of the plurality of shift rollers is single drive, as shown in FIGS. 19 to 24, when the rear end of the sheet passes the shift roller 222 after the end of the shift operation, the shift roller 222 is first moved to the subsequent sheet receiving position. When the rear end of the sheet passes the shift roller 223, the control is performed to return the shift roller 223 to the sheet receiving position, thereby reducing the waiting time until the subsequent sheet can be received and improving the productivity. FIG. 19 to FIG. 24 are explanatory diagrams when a plurality of shift rollers are independently controlled at an arbitrary timing.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 19, the paper P is transported to the transport roller 203, the shift roller 222, and the paper discharge shift roller 223. As shown in FIG. 20, when the rear end of the sheet passes through the conveyance roller 203, the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 are moved in the shift direction B. As a result, the sheet P shifts in the shift direction B as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 22, when the rear end of the sheet P passes through the shift roller 222, the shift roller 223 is returned to the sheet receiving position. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 23, when the trailing edge of the paper P passes through the paper discharge shift roller 223, the paper discharge shift roller 223 is also returned to the paper receiving position. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 24, the leading edge of the succeeding paper P is conveyed at the paper receiving position.

  In this way, when the plurality of shift rollers are driven in the same manner, the shift roller means must be returned to the subsequent sheet receiving position after the sheets have passed through all the shift rollers when the subsequent sheet is received. However, in the control as shown in FIG. 19 to FIG. 24, since the shift roller through which the paper has passed can be returned to the receiving position for the subsequent paper, productivity can be improved.

  The control shown in FIGS. 14 to 24 can be performed by controlling the driving time of the conveyance roller 203, the shift roller 222, and the discharge shift roller 223 by the CPU 701 in FIG. May be provided in the vicinity of the transport roller 203, the shift roller 222, and the paper discharge shift roller 223 to detect the position of the paper, and the CPU 701 may control based on the result.

  On the other hand, it is possible to increase the conveyance speed in conjunction with the sheet shift operation to increase the interval with the succeeding sheet, to gain time for the aligning operation, and to improve productivity. Hereinafter, as an example, a case where punching and punching is performed on a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus main body 100 and sorting is performed will be described.

  The sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus main body 100 is conveyed from the inlet conveyance roller 202 to the punch unit 502 as described above. After the paper is temporarily stopped by the punch unit 502 to perform punch punching, the conveyance is resumed. There is control for enlarging the space shortened by punching after punching, but this is omitted.

  In the case where the speed increase of the plurality of shift means is performed in synchronization, the transport drive sources of the plurality of shift rollers may be common or divided (independent). When the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the conveyance roller 203, the conveyance speeds of the shift roller 222 and the paper discharge shift roller 223 are increased in synchronization in order to increase the space between the subsequent sheet. In addition to this, a shift operation is also performed, but the timing of speed increase may be any timing before and after the start of the shift. The shift roller 222 and the discharge shift roller 223 are synchronized in order to improve the stackability when the shifted paper is conveyed and the rear end of the paper passes through the shift roller 222 and is discharged to the second discharge tray 208 at an arbitrary timing. Then, the speed is reduced, and the sheet is discharged to the second discharge tray 208. Before the leading edge of the succeeding sheet enters the shift roller 222, the shift roller 222 and the discharge shift roller 223 are returned to the succeeding sheet receiving speed, and the succeeding sheet is received and conveyed. In this conveyance method, it is necessary to synchronize the conveyance speeds of the shift roller 222 and the discharge shift roller 223 and return to the receiving speed before the succeeding sheet reaches the shift roller 222.

  It is also possible to divide the driving of the plurality of shift means into a plurality of parts and to carry out without synchronizing the conveyance speed. In this transport method, it is possible to earn a paper gap with the succeeding paper larger than the method of transporting in synchronization. That is, when the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the conveyance roller 203, the conveyance speeds of the shift rollers 222 and 223 are increased in synchronization with each other in order to earn a gap between the sheet and the subsequent sheet. The shift operation is performed in the same manner as this operation, but the speed increase timing may be the timing before and after the start of the shift. The shifted sheet is conveyed, and after the trailing edge of the sheet has passed through the shift roller 222, only the shift roller 222 is returned to the subsequent sheet receiving speed at an arbitrary timing. At that time, the paper discharge shift roller 223 continues to carry the paper while being accelerated. Then, the sheet discharge shift roller 223 is decelerated at an arbitrary timing after the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the shift roller 222, and the sheet is discharged to the second discharge tray 208.

  By controlling in this way, it is possible to prepare for receiving the succeeding paper of the paper discharge shift roller 223 while the shift roller 222 is accelerating, so it is possible to cope with a smaller paper gap, and productivity is improved.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a front view for explaining the operation of the sheet aligning member in FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the sheet aligning member and the paper discharge tray in FIG. 1. It is a front view which shows the drive mechanism of the paper alignment member of FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining a paper alignment member and a paper conveyance state in FIG. 1. It is the perspective view seen from the lower part which shows the structure of the shift roller of FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of a control circuit in the sheet post-processing apparatus of FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing (the 1) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. It is explanatory drawing (the 2) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. It is explanatory drawing (the 3) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. It is explanatory drawing (the 4) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. It is explanatory drawing (the 5) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. It is explanatory drawing (the 6) of Example 1 which shifts synchronizing several shift rollers. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (part 1) of shift drive control in the second embodiment in which a sheet does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers during a shift. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (No. 2) of shift drive control in the second embodiment in which a sheet does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers at the time of shifting. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (No. 3) of shift drive control in the second embodiment in which a sheet does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers at the time of shifting. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (No. 4) of shift drive control in the second embodiment in which a sheet does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers at the time of shifting. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (No. 5) of shift drive control in the second embodiment in which a sheet does not straddle a plurality of shift rollers at the time of shifting. It is explanatory drawing (the 1) of Example 3 which controls several shift rollers independently at arbitrary timings. It is explanatory drawing (the 2) of Example 3 which controls several shift rollers independently at arbitrary timings. It is explanatory drawing (the 3) of Example 3 which controls a some shift roller independently at arbitrary timings. It is explanatory drawing (the 4) of Example 3 which controls a some shift roller independently at arbitrary timings. It is explanatory drawing (the 5) of Example 3 which controls several shift rollers independently at arbitrary timings. It is explanatory drawing (the 6) of Example 3 which controls several shift rollers independently at arbitrary timings.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image forming apparatus main body 200 Paper post-processing apparatus 202 Inlet conveyance roller 203 Conveyance roller 208 Second discharge tray 210, 220, 240 Transfer path 211, 221 Branch claw 214 First discharge tray 222 Shift roller (conveyance roller)
223 Paper discharge shift roller (paper discharge roller)
300 alignment device 401 stapler 502 punch unit 601 driven roller shift motor 620, 702
701 CPU
703, 704 Shift conveyance motor 705-708 Each motor 710 Each sensor 711 ROM

Claims (14)

A transport path for transporting the loaded paper to the discharge tray side;
Shift means provided in the transport path for transporting the paper discharged to the paper discharge tray in the paper transport direction and shifting the paper in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction;
Detection means for detecting the position of the paper in the transport path;
And a paper processing apparatus having a function of sorting discharged paper by shift movement,
The shifting means is
A plurality are arranged at intervals along the paper transport direction,
A sheet processing apparatus that performs a shift operation so that wrinkles do not occur in the shift operations of the plurality of shift units that are transported across the same sheet based on the position of the sheet detected by the detection unit. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The shifting means is
Shift rollers disposed at intervals along the paper transport direction;
Drive means for moving the shift roller in a direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction;
Including
A sheet processing apparatus that causes the shift operation to be performed by a control unit that controls the operation of the shift unit. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the operation of the driving unit independently and causes the shift unit to perform a shift operation. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3.
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit operates at least one shift unit among the plurality of shift units. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
The paper processing apparatus, wherein the control means selects the number of driving of the shift means according to the size of the paper. The sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit drives the plurality of shift units synchronously to perform a shift operation. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 6.
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit selects the shift unit that is synchronously driven based on the size of the sheet. In the paper processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 7,
The paper processing apparatus, wherein the control means moves the shift means to a paper receiving position at an arbitrary timing after the trailing edge of the paper has passed through the shift means. The sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 8,
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the sheet conveyance drive of the plurality of shift units independently for each shift unit. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the conveyance speed of the plurality of shift units at an independent timing. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the conveyance speeds of the plurality of shift units to be conveyed at a synchronized speed. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the plurality of shift units are transported by the same drive source. The sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
The sheet processing apparatus, wherein the shift unit is provided on the most downstream side of the conveyance path.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1.

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