JP6887791B2 - Sheet processing device and image forming device equipped with this - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet processing device and an image forming device that classify a sheet and process the edge of the sheet. More specifically, the sheet is niped and shifted by a relay roller in the process of conveying the sheet, and the edge of the sheet to be shifted is shifted. The present invention relates to an apparatus in which punch holes are drilled in the edges or corners of sheets are cut to separate and accumulate sheets in an accumulation tray.

Conventionally, in image forming devices such as copiers, laser beam printers, facsimiles, and multifunction devices thereof, sheet processing such as binding processing, perforation processing, or sheet corner cut division processing is performed on the sheet on which an image is formed. Some are equipped with a device.

In such an image forming apparatus, in order to reduce the size of the apparatus as a whole, the above-mentioned binding or the like is arranged in the space above the image forming portion and in the body between the image reading portions, and punches are punched in the sheet to be discharged. For example, Patent Document 1 filed by the present applicant shows a method of perforating a hole or sorting and discharging the storage trays located above and below.

Further, in a relatively large sheet processing device, the front side (front side of the device) and the back side in the direction in which the sheet discharged from the image forming device before being carried into the binding unit intersects the transport direction in the transport process. Patent Document 2 shows a device (on the rear side of the device) that shifts by a specified number of sheets and sorts by a stacking tray, in which a punch unit for punching is arranged in the sorting sheet.

In this device, a punch unit is placed at the entrance of the device, the punching position is positioned by a shift roller after passing through the punching unit, and the punching unit is switched back to move to the punching unit located upstream of the punching unit for punching. To process. After this punching process, the punched sheets are discharged from the punch unit again and shifted by a shift roller, so that the punched sheets are separated and accumulated by the stack tray.

By the way, in the punch unit as described above, the punch blade is moved to the corresponding die hole to perform punching. The punch blades and die holes are usually arranged in a plurality of pairs (5 pairs or more) in a direction intersecting the sheet transport direction in order to punch two or three holes in the sheet. By punching the punch blade and die hole, punch scraps are stored in the punch scrap box from this position, but the punch unit scrap box is immediately full due to the demand for faster punching process, and it is necessary to stop the device. Occurs. Therefore, in Patent Document 3, which is the application of the present applicant, it is proposed to periodically operate the lever (sweeping means) for moving the dust in the waste box. As a result, the debris in the debris bock is flattened.

Japanese Patent No. 5608479 Japanese Patent No. 5528088 Japanese Patent No. 4236565

However, although Patent Document 1 is relatively small, it is possible to classify sheets using a matching plate that separates sheet bundles on a processing tray that is temporarily placed for binding processing, but the speed is increased. There is a limit to the number of sheets that can be used, and it is desired to speed up the sorting process of sheets that are relatively frequently used, for example, A4 or a letter or less, which is frequently used.

By the way, although it is possible to classify the sheets for punching the punch holes shown in Patent Document 2, this apparatus has a punch unit on the upstream side of the shift roller for shifting the sheet to be conveyed. For this reason, in order to drill a punch hole on the rear end side of the sheet, which is usually performed, it is necessary to once transport the sheet to a position where it can be moved by niping it only with a shift roller, and then align it with the punch. Therefore, it took more time than expected when classifying a general-purpose size (A4 or letter), which requires high speed, from a punch.

Further, what is shown in Patent Document 3 is for flattening punch debris stored in the punch unit as described above, but is provided with a lever (sweeping means) for moving the debris in the debris box. However, the lever (sweeping means) must be moved many times in accordance with the recent demand for drilling, and when the amount of accumulated waste is large, this lever (sweeping means) is moved with a relatively large force. It had to be done, and it was necessary to increase the size of the drive for this purpose.

Therefore, the present invention was made based on the idea of changing the drilling position with respect to the scrap box when punching a large number of sheets, and disperses the punched scraps in the scrap box, and temporarily levers (sweeps). Even if a wiping means) or the like is provided, it is a problem to disperse the punch debris in advance and then flatten the drive to reduce the size and simplification of these drives.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration.
A sheet processing apparatus for integrated punch holes drilled to the stacking tray to the end of the shifted the shift sheet conveyed sheet, a conveyance path for guiding a sheet from the carry-in port, the conveyance path a shift roller which shifts in a direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction with provided to convey a sheet, and carrying rollers for carrying the sheet from the conveyance path located downstream of the shift roller toward the stacking tray, the comprising a punch unit having a debris box for collecting debris by the perforations as well as punches holes in the ends of the formed sheet on the upstream side of the carrying roller, and a control means for controlling the shift roller and punching unit, the punch unit, the sheet can move the punch holes of a plurality of die holes for receiving a plurality of punch blade abuts with the punch blades in both the sheet conveying direction and cross direction of these punch blade and die hole while drilling into a sheet and then, provided to secure the scrap box to receive the punch waste from the sheet by the punch blade in a range covering a moving range in the transverse direction of said punch blade and die hole, said control means integrated into said stacking tray When the number of sheets is a predetermined number, the shift roller shifts the sheets, shifts the punch blade and the die hole in the same direction as the shift direction of the shift roller, and shifts until the next predetermined number of sheets is reached. The sheet is shifted by a roller, and the punch blade and the die hole are controlled to stay at the shifted position .

According to the present invention, when a large number of sheets are perforated, the punch debris is dispersed in the debris box, and even if a lever (sweeping means) or the like is provided, the punch debris is dispersed in advance. Since it can be flattened after that, it is possible to reduce the size and simplification of these drives.

Explanatory drawing which showed the whole structure which combined the image forming apparatus and the sheet processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. The whole explanatory view of the sheet processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. Explanatory drawing of a transport unit including a shift roller (relay roller) unit. Explanatory drawing of driving around the processing tray (placement tray) of a sheet processing apparatus. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a moving configuration of a matching member (matching plate) provided on the processing tray of FIG. 4 and moving in the sheet width direction. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a moving position of a binding unit located at an end of a processing tray of FIG. Explanatory drawing of the relationship between the shift roller (relay roller) unit and the seat length. A side sectional view illustrating the driving of a shift roller (relay roller) unit. The front explanatory view explaining the driving of a shift roller (relay roller) unit. Explanatory drawing of a punch unit including a waste box as an edge processing unit of a sheet. Explanatory drawing of punching drive of a punch unit including a waste box. Explanatory drawing of a seat side edge detection sensor attached to a punch unit. It is a figure explaining the state which the shift of a sheet by a shift roller (relay roller) unit is completed. FIG. 13A is an explanatory view of a state in which the shift is completed before the carry-in roller of the first transport path. FIG. 13B is an explanatory view of a state in which the shift is completed before the branch roller of the second transport path. Explanatory drawing in which the shift roller is separated at the time of switchback when the carried-in sheet is guided to the image forming part again. FIG. 15A is a diagram showing a state in which the sheet is conveyed to the shift roller unit, and FIG. 15A is a state diagram in which the sheet has started to be carried into the shift roller unit from the image forming portion. FIG. 15B is a state diagram in which the shift roller unit completes the shift of the seat to the front side (front side of the device) or the back side (rear side of the device). FIG. 16 (a) is a diagram for explaining a state in which the sheet is carried out from the shift roller unit and a punching state by the punch unit, and FIG. 16 (a) is a diagram for explaining a state in which the shifted sheet is discharged from the shift roller unit roller. Is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the carry-in roller is stopped and the punching unit is used for drilling. FIG. 17A is a diagram in which the states of the sheet of FIG. 15 correspond to each other in a plane, and FIG. 17A is a state diagram of the sheet starting to be carried into the shift roller unit from the image forming unit in accordance with FIG. 15A. .. FIG. 17 (b) is a state diagram in which the shift roller unit completes the shift of the seat to the front side (front side of the device) corresponding to FIG. 15 (b). FIG. 18A is a view in which the states of the seats of FIG. 16 correspond to each other in a plane. FIG. 18A corresponds to FIG. 16A, and the shifted seat is moved from the shift roller unit roller to the front side (front side of the device). In the figure for explaining the discharged state, FIG. 18B corresponds to FIG. 16B, in which the carry-in roller is stopped and the sheet shifted to the front side (front side of the device) is punched with a punch unit. Explanatory drawing of the state which is performing. 15 and 16 are views in which the states of the seats correspond to each other in a plane, and FIG. 19 (a) shifts from the shift roller unit roller to the back side (rear side of the device) corresponding to FIG. 15 (b). It is a figure explaining the state which the finished sheet was discharged. FIG. 19B is an explanatory view of a state in which the carry-in roller is stopped and the sheet shifted to the back side (rear side of the apparatus) is punched by the punch unit in accordance with FIG. 16B. A table showing the transport processing patterns when the sheet processing device is equipped with a punch unit and when a transport guide (dummy punch unit) is not provided. It is a processing flow chart of the sheet by the table of FIG. It is a processing flow chart of the sheet following FIG. It is a processing flow chart of the sheet following FIG. It is a large size processing flow chart of the sheet following FIG. It is a processing flow chart of the sheet following FIG. It is a processing flow diagram of the sheet in the case of the transport guide (without punch unit / dummy punch) following FIG. 21. It is a processing flow chart of the sheet following FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the division state of the sheet bundle seen from the stacking tray side, and FIG. 28A is the stacking state diagram of the sheet separated by the shift roller unit from the discharge roller. FIG. 28B is an integrated state diagram of the sheets separated by the matching plate of the processing tray. An explanatory view for preventing the specific sheet from being caught in the die hole, FIG. 29 (a) is an explanatory view in which the die hole is avoided and shifted to the front side (front side) of the device. FIG. 29B is an explanatory diagram in which the device is largely shifted to the front side (front side) for classification. Explanatory drawing to prevent the specific sheet from being caught in the die hole, FIG. 30A is an explanatory view in which the die hole is avoided and shifted to the rear side (back side) of the device. FIG. 30B is an explanatory view that is largely shifted to the rear side (back side) of the device for division. It is a figure explaining the state of the punch blade / die hole to shift and the fixed waste box, and FIG. 31 (a) is the figure which punches the punch blade / die hole in the sheet at the center position. FIG. 31 (b) is a diagram in which the punch blade / die hole is shifted to the front side (front side of the apparatus) to punch the sheet. FIG. 31 (c) is a diagram in which the punch blade / die hole is shifted to the back side (rear side of the apparatus) to punch the sheet. It shows another embodiment of the sheet edge processing unit, and is the plane explanatory view of the punch corner cut unit. It is a perspective view of the punch corner cut unit of FIG. 32. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control configuration in the overall configuration of FIG.

Hereinafter, reference is made to a drawing regarding a sheet processing device B including each unit that shifts the sheet according to the present invention in a direction intersecting the transport direction in the transport path and punches holes in the sheet, and an image forming device A to which the sheet is attached. I will explain.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing device B and an image forming device A according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a sheet processing device B including a transport unit 40 having a shift roller unit 50 according to the present invention, a punch unit 60, a binding unit 100, a first accumulation tray 110, a second accumulation tray 115, and other units for processing sheets. It is explanatory drawing of.

[Image forming apparatus A]
The image forming apparatus A shown in FIG. 1 uses an electrophotographic method, and includes a paper feeding unit composed of three stages of paper feeding cassettes 1a, 1b, and 1c for storing sheets below the image forming unit 2, and a sheet processing device. When B is not attached, the image reading device 20 is arranged above the image forming unit 2 with the paper ejection space above the image forming unit 2. Therefore, when the sheet processing device B is arranged, it is arranged on the device frame 29 as a so-called in-body type that utilizes the paper ejection space as shown in the figure.

The image forming unit 2 adopts a tandem method using an intermediate transfer belt. That is, four color components (yellow 2Y, magenta 2M, cyan 2C, black 2BK) are used. For example, in yellow 2Y, a photosensitive drum 3a as an image carrier and a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum 3a are used. It has a charging device 4a including a charging device 4a, and an exposure device 5a that uses an image signal read by the image reading device 20 as a latent image. Further, a developing device 6a that forms a latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3a as a toner image, and a primary transfer roller 7a that first transfers an image on the photosensitive drum 3a formed by the developing device 6a to an intermediate transfer belt 9. It has. This configuration is first transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 9 for each color component. The color component remaining on the photosensitive drum 3a is recovered by the photosensitive cleaner 8a and prepared for the next image formation. These are the same for other color components (magenta 2M, cyan 2C, black 2BK) as shown in FIG.

By the way, the image of the intermediate transfer belt 9 is transferred to the sheet fed from the paper feed unit 1 by the secondary transfer roller 10, and this image is melted and fixed to the sheet by the pressing force and the amount of heat by the fixing device 12. The superimposed color components remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 9 are removed by the intermediate belt cleaner 11 to prepare for the next transfer.

The sheet in which the image is formed in this way is directed to the main body discharge roller 30 by the relay roller of the main body, but when the image is formed on both sides of the sheet, the sheet once conveyed to the sheet processing device B side by the switching gate is switched back. Then, the image is conveyed to the circulation path 17 and sent to the image forming unit 2 again to form an image on the back surface side of the sheet.
The sheet whose image is formed on one side or both sides of the sheet in this way is conveyed to the transfer unit 40 of the sheet processing device B through the main body discharge roller 30.

The image reading device 20 is arranged above the paper ejection space above the image forming unit 2. Here, the document placed on the document stacker 25 is fed to the platen 21 by the document feeder 24, and the sent document is irradiated by the scan unit 22 to be sequentially read by the photoelectric conversion element 23 (for example, CCD) and shown in the figure. Images are accumulated in the data storage unit that has not been used. As described above, the accumulated image is formed on the sheet by the image forming unit.

[Sheet processing device B]
Next, the sheet processing device B arranged in the paper ejection space below the image reading device 20 above the image forming unit 2 of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described. The sheet processing device B includes a transport unit 40 provided with a shift roller unit 50 that receives the sheet discharged from the main body discharge roller 30 from the carry-in inlet 32, a punch unit 60 that punches a punch hole in the sheet, and a downstream side thereof. A binding unit 100 is arranged in which a temporary sheet is placed on the processing tray 90 and the binding process is performed as needed.

Further, the sheet processing device B has a first transport path 70 that guides the sheet from the carry-in inlet 32 to the processing tray 90 side downstream of the shift roller unit 50 from the carry-in path 34, and a downstream of the shift roller unit 50. A second transport path branched at is provided. A first accumulation tray 110 for storing sheets discharged from the processing tray 90 or directly discharged from the first transport path 70 is provided downstream of the first transport path 70, and if necessary, above this is provided. The second stack tray 115 for storing the sheets sent from the second transport path is arranged so as to overlap each other.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first stacking tray 110 is provided with a paper surface sensor 111S that detects the paper surface in contact with the stacking tray sensor 111 on the upper surface of the sheet for accommodating the first stacking tray 110. The elevating motor 110M is driven by the paper level of the paper sensor 111S so that the storage position is always within a certain range.

A punch unit 60 for punching punch holes is arranged near the edge of the sheet (the front and rear edge of the sheet) constituting the sheet processing device B, but when the sheet is not particularly required to be punched, the punch unit 60 is arranged. The punch unit 60 also functions as a sheet processing device B even as a transport guide unit (60D) that simply guides the sheet. The transport guide unit (60D) has the same outer shape as the punch unit 60, and is a so-called dummy punch unit as a guide for guiding the sheet from the carry-in path 34 to the first transport path 70. The pattern of use of the punch unit 60 and the transport guide unit (60D) that perform this punching process will be described later.

Hereinafter, the transport unit 40, the punch unit 60, the drive around the processing tray 90, the matching mechanism on the processing tray 90, and the binding unit 100 for binding the sheets will be described. The transport unit 40 and the punch unit 60 related to the present invention will be described in detail later, including their operating states.

[Transport unit 40]
As shown in FIG. 3, a transport unit 40 of the sheet processing device B is provided corresponding to the main body discharge roller 30 provided at the main body discharge port. The inlet of the transport unit 40 is a carry-in inlet 32 and corresponds to the main body discharge roller 30. The transfer unit 40 relays the sheet to the downstream side and moves and shifts the sheet to the front side (front side) and the rear side (back side) in the direction intersecting the transfer direction in the process of transferring the sheet (relay roller). ) 52 is provided with a shift roller unit 50.

The sheet carried in from the carry-in inlet 32 is detected by the carry-in sensor 42, and in this embodiment, the transfer rotation of the shift roller 52 of the shift roller unit 50 is started from the detection of the carry-in sensor 42.

Immediately immediately downstream of the shift roller 52, a first flapper 68 for guiding the sheet to the first transport path 70 or switching the second transport path 80 is located. The first flapper 68 always moves at a position for guiding the first transport path 70 sheet (solid line position in FIG. 3) and, if necessary, at the second transport path 80 (broken line position in FIG. 3). It is connected to the solenoid 68SL. The position of the first flapper 68 is the branch position of the first transport path 70 and the second transport path 80.

Further, in the second transport path 80, a third transport path 88 that enables the sheet switched back by the main body discharge roller 30 to be transported above the second transport path 80 in order to form an image on both sides of the sheet is a switchback open path. It has become. A second flapper 85 that selectively guides the seat to the branch position of the second transport path 80 and the third transport path 88 is also connected to the second flapper solenoid 85SL.

A punch unit 60 is provided on the downstream side of the first flapper 68 of the first transport path 70. The punch unit 60 will be described later, but the punch unit 60 is provided with a die hole 63 for punching a sheet at a position corresponding to the punch hole. As described above, when only the transport guide is sufficient for the punch unit 60, the transport guide unit (60D) serving as a dummy punch may be replaced. In the description of this embodiment, the first transport path 70 may be referred to as P1, the second transport path 80 may be referred to as P2, and the third transport path 88 may be referred to as P3.

[Sheet transport drive around processing tray 90]
Here, the sheet transport drive around the processing tray 90 is touched and placed according to FIG. The first transport path 70 (P1) includes a carry-in roller 72 for carrying in the sheet, and a carry-out roller 74 for carrying out the sheet from the first transport path 70 toward the processing tray 90 or the first accumulation tray 110. A discharge roller 78 for discharging the sheet of the tray 90 or the sheet of the unloading roller 74 from the discharge port 105 is provided in the first stacking tray 110. The discharge roller 78 includes a discharge upper roller 78a that swings with respect to the discharge lower roller 78b. Further, the discharge roller 78 is capable of forward and reverse rotation, and the sheet is moved to the first stacking tray 110 side in the forward rotation (in the direction of the solid line in FIG. It is designed to be sent to the surface 92 side.

A carry-out guide 76 for guiding the sheet downward is provided above the processing tray 90 so as to be swingable, and the sheet is fed to the reference surface 92 side by a reversing discharge roller 78, and the sent sheet is rotated by the scraping roller 93. Therefore, the tip is aligned with the reference surface 92. When this is repeated, the sheets are placed on the processing tray 90 as a bundle.

[Rotary drive of unloading roller]
First, the unloading roller 74 including the unloading upper roller 74a and the unloading lower roller 74b is driven by the unloading roller motor 74M. The carry-out roller motor 74M is composed of a hybrid type stepping motor, and a speed detection sensor 44S for detecting the rotation speed of the motor shaft is arranged. The drive of the carry-out roller motor 74M is transmitted to the arm gear 126 via the transmission gears 120 and 122 and the transmission belt 124. The drive from the arm gear 126 is transmitted by the transmission belt 128 to the upper roller shaft 74uji of the carry-out upper roller 74a supported by the transfer roller support arm 136. A spring 134 of the carry-out upper roller 74a is provided between the support arm 1369 and the carry-out upper roller 74a so that the carry-out upper roller 74a is driven by being in pressure a contact with the carry-out lower roller 74b at all times.

The rotational drive of the carry-out lower roller 74b is performed by transmitting the drive of the carry-out roller motor 74M to the receiving gear 142 individually provided on the carry-out lower roller shaft 44sj via the transmission gear 120 and the transmission belt 138.

Further, the drive from the receiving gear 142 rotates the scraping roller 93 with the gear 144 with a one-way clutch and the protruding belt 146 that also serves as a transmission belt. Since the scraping roller 93 is transmitted via the gear 144 with a one-way clutch, even if the receiving gear 142 rotates forward and reverse as described above, it rotates only in the direction of the solid arrow in FIG. 4, and the processing tray The sheet is rotated so as to be transferred only in the direction of the reference surface 92 of 90.

In the above-mentioned belt with protrusion 146, the scraping roller 93 is rotated at the tip, but only the circular scraping belt, which omits the scraping roller 93, may be rotated. By the way, the unloading roller motor 74M is driven by the unloading roller 72 that carries in the sheet in the first transport path 70 via the transmission gear 120 and the transmission belt 148.

[Rotary drive of discharge roller]
Next, the discharge roller 78 including the discharge upper roller 78a and the discharge lower roller 78b is driven by the discharge roller motor 78M. The discharge roller motor 78M is also composed of a hybrid type stepping motor, and a speed detection sensor 78S for detecting the rotation speed of the motor shaft is also arranged in the same manner. The drive of the discharge roller motor 78M is transmitted to the arm gear 156 via the transmission gears 150 and 152 and the transmission belt 154. The drive from the arm gear 156 is transmitted by the transmission belt 158 to the discharge upper roller shaft 48uji of the discharge upper roller 78a supported by the discharge roller support arm 166.

The discharge upper roller 78a is attached so as to be rotated about the axis of the arm gear 156 in order to be separated from the fixed discharge lower roller 78b. This disengagement is performed by the discharge roller moving arm 160, which is attached to the shaft of the arm gear 156 and has a rear fan-shaped gear and a spring 164 that urges the discharge upper roller 78a to the tip of the moving arm on the tip side. By driving the discharge roller moving arm motor 160M that engages with the rear fan-shaped gear in the forward and reverse directions, the arrow C is in contact with the release direction of the arrow O by one-way rotation and the discharge lower roller 78b of the arrow C by the other rotation. Move in the pressure welding direction.

The discharge roller moving arm motor 160M is also composed of a stepping motor, and the position of the discharge roller moving arm 160 is detected by the discharge roller moving arm sensor 160S. Further, the rotational drive of the discharge lower roller 78b is performed by transmitting the drive of the discharge roller motor 78M to the receiving gear 169 individually provided on the discharge lower roller shaft 78sj via the transmission gear 150 and the transmission belt 168.

[Alignment plate for alignment and position shift]
Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a matching configuration in which the sheet is brought into contact with the side edge of the sheet each time the processing tray 90 is carried in to align the sheets or change the placement position of the sheets will be described. FIG. 5 is a view of the processing tray 90 viewed from above, and the matching plate 95 includes a front matching plate 95a on the front side and a rear matching plate 95b on the rear side. Each of these has a front alignment surface 95af and a rear alignment surface 95bf that are separated from each other by the side edges of the seat. The separation and contact to the seat side edge is provided at the bottom of the front matching plate 95a, and the front matching plate rack 95aR guided by the front rack guide 95aRG is moved by the front matching motor 95aM via the gear 95aG. Similarly, the rear matching plate rack 95bR provided at the bottom of the rear matching plate 95b and guided by the rear rack guide 95bRG is moved by the rear matching motor 95bM via the gear 95bG.

The front alignment plate 95a and the rear alignment plate 95b are aligned based on the seat center when multi-binding, and are aligned as one-sided reference when corner binding, or are aligned according to the binding method. You can change the criteria. Further, as one of the sheet processing unit, and biasing the sheet bundle the placing on the processing tray 90, and can be called jog processing for dividing the sheet bundle by discharging it to the first stacking tray .. Incidentally, unloading rollers 75 and discharge rollers 74 for carrying the sheet to the processing tray 90 between its conditions for performing hip with the sheet unloading is biased by the plate spring.

[Binding unit and its movement]
Next, since the binding process of the binding unit 100 of this embodiment is already known, detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, when the stapler 100SP of the binding unit 100 is stopped at the binding position, the stapler SP motor 100SPM is rotationally driven and shown in the figure. The stapler is driven into the bundle of sheets by moving the driver that has not been used, and the stapled needle that has been driven is bent by the anvil to perform needle binding. This binding process is performed at a plurality of positions on the corner end faces of the sheet and the end faces in the width direction. This point will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 shows that the stapler 100SP that staples the sheet bundle moves on the moving table 101. The moving table 101 is attached to the device frame of the sheet processing device B, with the upper part shown on the front side and the lower part on the rear side. With reference to FIG. 2, the moving table 101 is provided with a moving groove 106 for guiding the groove pin 107 protruding from the stapler 100SP side in a substantially linear shape. A guide pin 103 is engaged with a posture guide 104 provided on the moving table 101 on the tip end side of the stapler 100SP.

The stapler 100SP is coupled to a moving belt that is moved by the stapler moving motor 100M. As a result, the stapler 100SP has a corner binding position Cp1 on the rear side, a multi-binding range Ma1 to Ma2 in a range closer to the center side, and a corner binding position Cp2 on the front side depending on the moving position. Further, it is controlled so as to be located at the needle replenishment position in which the rear side of the stapler 100SP faces the outside of the device on the front side and the home position position HP before the start of binding, which is also the manual binding position on the front side.

Therefore, the apparatus of this embodiment has a binding unit 100 as one of the sheet processing units, in which the stapler 100SP performs binding processing at an arbitrary position of the sheet bundle placed on the processing tray 90. In the processing tray 90, a pair of matching plates 95 are arranged in the sheet width direction for aligning the sheets each time the sheets are carried in. Needless to say, the binding unit 100 includes not only the stapler SP100SPM for binding with staples, but also binding with an adhesive and crimp binding for crimping sheets to each other.

From here, the transport unit 40 including the shift roller (relay roller) unit 50 particularly related to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9. After that, the punch unit 60 (dummy punch (conveying guide) 60D) will be described.

[Shift roller unit 50]
First, FIG. 7 shows a state in which the sheet discharged from the main body discharge roller 30 is nipated by the shift roller 52 and transported to the first transfer path 70 to complete the shift of the sheet (solid line L1 in FIG. 7) and the second transfer. It shows a state (broken line L2 in FIG. 7) in which the sheet is conveyed to the route 80 and the shift of the sheet is completed. The length from the carry-in inlet 32 to the carry-in roller 72 of the first transport path 70 is such that a part of the sheet to be transported is nipped only in the shift roller 52 and can be shifted in a direction intersecting the transport direction. ..

Specifically, since the length from the carry-in inlet 32 to the carry-in roller 72 is set to 235 mm, the sheet that can be shifted here is a sheet having a length of 216 mm or less in the transport direction, for example, A4 horizontal, letter horizontal, B5. The horizontal seat can be shifted. In the present invention, a sheet that can be nipped only by the shift roller 52 and can be shifted by the transport unit 40 is referred to as a small sheet (simply "small"), and a sheet that cannot be shifted here is referred to as a large sheet (simply "large"). To do.

Further, the length from the carry-in inlet 32 to the branch roller 82 of the second transport path 80 is also the same, and the seat length that shifts in the direction intersecting the seat transport direction is limited. This is because the sheet processing device B is configured as compact as possible, and consideration is given to matching with the in-body type image forming device described at the beginning.

The shift operation by the shift roller of the sheet that has entered the first transfer path 70 or the second transfer path 80 is performed after the sheet passes through the first flapper 68 located immediately after the shift roller 52. , Further delaying the position to start the shift. First, in the first transfer path 70, the shift is started when the tip of the sheet conveyed by the shift roller 52 passes through the die holes 63 of the punch unit 60 described later, and the shift is started until the sheet reaches the carry-in roller 72. It is completed, in other words, the shift is performed within L3 shown in the figure.

This is to reduce the possibility that the corners of the sheet conveyed to the die hole 63, which will be described later, are caught by curls or the like, particularly when the punch unit 60 is mounted. Further, even in the case of the dummy punch (conveyor guide) 60D to which the punch unit 60 is not mounted, by limiting the shift position, the additional resistance at the time of shifting the seat becomes constant and the inclination becomes less. .. Therefore, the shift completion of the shiftable seats of each length is approximately immediately before the carry-in roller 72.

Further, also in the second transport path 80, the shift roller 52 shifts after the seat tip passes the position of the tip of the second flapper 85. This is also for the purpose of roughly eliminating the additional resistance and the like due to the above-mentioned sheet, and the sheet is started and completed within the range of L4 shown in the drawing. That is, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the shift roller 52 by the shift roller 52 is started after the sheet exceeds at least the first flapper 68 and is carried into the first transport path 70 or the second transport path 80. ing.

[Shift drive configuration of shift roller unit 50]
Next, the drive configuration of the shift roller (relay roller) unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. The shift roller unit 50 including the shift roller 52 is partitioned by a broken line in FIG. This section range is detachable by pulling it out from the transport unit 40 as a unit. FIG. 8 shows a state in which the shift roller 52 is rotating as a relay roller that relays the transfer of the sheet. After that, when the seat tip is conveyed within the range of L3 described above, the shift roller 52 and the shift driven roller 54 are shifted in the direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction. As shown in FIG. 9, this shift shows a moving lever 56 that separates the shift roller 52, the shift driven roller 54, and the shift driven roller 54 from the shift roller 52 by the shift cam 55 mounted on the cam mounting plate 55F on the unit frame 50F. Shift left and right. Since the cam engaging portion 59 of the shift cam 55 fixes the shift roller shaft 52J, the shift driven roller shaft 54J, and the moving lever shaft 56J, the shift cam 55 shifts by moving left and right. In the present application, the shift roller 52 and the shift driven roller 54 that nip the sheet and shift in the direction intersecting the relay transport and the transport direction may be simply referred to as a shift roller 52.

The shift cam 55 has a cam slit 58, and the cam slit 58 is engaged with a cam moving pin 57 provided on a shift gear 53 rotated by a shift motor 50M. Therefore, by rotating the shift gear 53 to the shift motor 50M, the moving pin 57 moves in the direction of the left and right arrows shown in the drawing via the cam slit 58. Although not particularly shown, by detecting the position of the shift cam 55 or the shift gear 53, the center position before the shift of the shift roller 52 or the like, the shift position on the front side, and the shift position on the rear side are detected. ing. The cam engaging portion 59 is slidably supported by the mounting plate shaft 55FS fixed to the cam mounting plate 55F.

The shift driven roller 54 is configured to move to a position separated from the shift roller 52 when the seat is switched back by the forward / reverse rotation of the main body discharge roller 30. That is, the shift driven roller 54 is supported by the moving lever 56, and the moving lever shaft 56J, which is the axis of the moving lever 56, can be separated by the driven roller solenoid 54SL. Normally, the spring 56b is pressed against the shift roller 52 so that a relatively strong nip force is obtained during relay transportation or shifting.

By the way, in the rotational drive of the shift roller 52 as a relay roller that conveys the sheet, the nine degrees of the shift transfer motor 52M attached to the unit frame 50F are transmitted via the gear portions 46 and 47. As shown in FIG. 8, the drive start or stop is performed by the carry-in sensor 42 provided at the entrance of the shift roller 52 of the carry-in path 34. Therefore, when the carry-in sensor 42 detects the carry-in of the sheet, the shift transfer motor 52M is started to be driven and stopped after a predetermined time after the sheet has passed. Of course, the control signal of the shift transfer motor 52M may be obtained from the image forming apparatus A of the main body.

[Punch unit configuration]
From here on, another element, the punch unit 60, will be described with reference to the front view of FIG. 10 and the cross-sectional view of FIG. The punch unit 60 includes a punch moving unit 61 having a punch blade 62 and a die hole 63, and a fixing portion 69 including a waste box 67 and the like. The punch blade 62 is configured to reciprocate with respect to the die hole 63 from the rotation of the punch cam 64. The punch cam 64 is provided with a 2-hole cam 64WC for drilling 2-hole punch holes on both sides of the center of the sheet and a 3-hole cam 64TC for drilling the center of the sheet and punching both sides thereof.

In the punch moving unit 61, the rotation of the moving motor 61M provided in the fixing portion 69 including the waste box 67 is fixed to the punch moving unit 61 via the moving gear 61G so that the punch moving unit 61 can move in a direction intersecting the sheet transport direction. It is engaged with the moving rack 66. Therefore, the punch moving unit 61 moves in the left-right direction of the arrow shown in the drawing according to the forward / reverse driving of the moving motor 61M. A moving roller 61R is provided between the punch moving unit 61 and the fixing portion 69 in order to carry out this movement smoothly. As described above, the punch holes are provided with two punch blades 62WP for two holes and three punch blades 62TP for three holes, and the die holes 63WD for two holes and the die holes 63TD for three holes correspond to these. There is.

As can be clearly seen from FIG. 11, the two-hole cam 64WC and the three-hole cam 64TC are provided so as to have different phases. The punch cam 64 is driven by the punch motor 60M via the punch gear 65, and the eccentric cam 64C rotated by the cam drive shaft 64J is rotated by the rotation of the punch motor 60M in the a arrow direction and the b rotation direction. The cam holder 64H provided on the outside thereof and connected to the punch blade 62 is moved. At this time, since the phases of the cams are different, the punch blade 62WP for 2 holes and the punch blade 62TP for 3 holes can be switched.

Returning to FIG. 10 again, a side edge sensor 61S is provided on the opposite side of the punch moving unit 61 from the punch motor 60M with a seat passage in between, according to the seat size . The side edge sensor 61S detects the edge of the sheet at a position near the rear edge of the sheet, and moves the punch moving unit 61 slightly from the outside to the inside of the edge to change the state of the sensor (falling or rising). The end is detected to determine the drilling position of the 2 or 3 holes. Further, a punch sensor 60S for detecting the edge of the sheet is provided at a position corresponding to the center (the center of the punch blade 62TP for 3 holes) . Position the path Nchisensa 60S trailing edge of the sheet has passed is determined so that the punching position of the sheet. Of course the position of the predetermined counting from the punch sensor 60S may puncturing positions.

FIG. 12 shows the above-mentioned side edge sensor 61S and punch sensor 60S attached to the punch moving unit 61, and illustrates the positions of the die holes 63 (2-hole die holes 63WD and 3-hole die holes 63TD). There is. As shown in this figure, side edge sensors 61S corresponding to each size are provided at positions slightly deviated according to the size of the sheet. Then, when the sheet is fed based on the center reference (center of the punch sensor 60S), the side edge of the sheet can be detected by some movement. It also shows that the 2-hole die hole 63WD is located 40 mm from the center and both sides of the 3-hole die hole 63TD are located 104 mm. In this case, the letter size vertical (LTRR) and the legal size (LGL) correspond exactly to the die hole 63TD for 3 holes, but this point will be described separately as a die hole 63 avoidance operation.

[Sheet transfer in transfer unit]
From here, the sheet transfer to the first transfer path 70 (P1), the second transfer path 80 (P2), and the third transfer path 88 (P3) by the transfer unit 40 including the shift roller unit 50 will be described. FIG. 13A shows a state in which the sheet having a length L1 has been shifted before the carry-in roller 72 of the first transport path 70 (P1). Specifically, the length from the carry-in inlet 32 to the carry-in roller 72 is set to 235 mm, and the sheet that can be shifted in the direction intersecting the transport direction by the shift roller 52 is a letter size having a length of 216 mm or less. Sheets with a length of A4 size or less can be shifted. A sheet having a length longer than this is placed on the processing tray 90 and then shifted by the matching plate 95. This point will be described later.

The sheet from the carry-in port is conveyed downstream by the shift roller 52 in the shift roller unit 50 and shifted in a direction intersecting the transfer direction. In FIG. 13A, the first flapper 68 punches. The sheet is positioned so as to be conveyed to the unit 60 (or the dummy punch (conveyor guide) 60D) side. Thus the sheet is conveyed toward the first conveying path 70, but will be shifted, in the actual embodiments with the leading end of the sheet starts shifting from through the die hole 63 of the punch unit 60 , The shift is completed by the time the carry-in roller 72 is reached.

That is, regardless of the length of the sheet that can be shifted, the sheet is less likely to be caught in the die hole 63 by starting the shift after the tip of the sheet has passed within the range of L3. Further, in each case, the shift is started from the same position, and the additional resistance of the transport guide or the like at the time of the seat shift is kept constant to reduce the seat jam or the like at this position. In particular, when shifting while being conveyed by the shift roller 52, it is possible to prevent catching.

Of course, in the case of the dummy punch (conveying guide) 60D in which the die hole 63 does not exist, the shift of the sheet can be started when the rear end of the sheet passes through the main body discharge roller 30, but in this embodiment, the shift can be started. The first flapper 68 and the shift roller 52 are positioned at positions where the seat can be seated after the seat has passed at least the swinging tip of the first flapper 68. This is because there is a gap between the flapper and the transport guide, and the seat shift is started after passing through this gap to reduce catching in this gap.

Next, FIG. 13B shows a state in which the sheet shift is completed before the branch roller 82 of the second transport path 80. In this figure, the sheet from the carry-in inlet 32 reaches the second flapper 85 via the first flapper 68 which closes the first transport path 70 side and opens the second transport path 802 side by the shift roller 52.
When the second flapper 85 has passed the swinging tip, the seat shift is started and the shift is completed by the time the branch roller 82 is reached.

Here, too, specifically, the length from the carry-in inlet 32 to the branch roller 82 is set to 235 mm, and the sheet that can be shifted in the direction intersecting the transport direction by the shift roller 52 is 216 mm or less in length. Sheets of letter size and A4 size or smaller can be shifted. Therefore, a sheet exceeding this cannot be used as a sheet for sorting, but in this case, the sheet may be passed through the first transport path 70 and shifted by the matching plate 95.

Further, in the second transport path 80 as well, the sheet can be shifted to the first flapper 68 and the first flapper 68 by starting the shift after the tip of the sheet has passed within the range of L4 regardless of the length of the sheet that can be shifted. The operation is performed after passing through the tip of the 2 flapper 85, so that the second flapper 85 and the transport guide are less likely to get caught. In addition, all the seats start shifting from the same position, and the additional resistance of the transport guide and the like at the time of seat shifting is kept constant to reduce seat jam and the like at this position. In particular, when shifting is performed while being conveyed by the shift roller 52, it is similarly possible to prevent catching and the like.

Of course , if the rear end of the sheet sent to the second transport path 80 passes through the main body discharge roller 30, the sheet can be shifted, but in the present embodiment, at least the swinging tip of the first flapper 68 is The first flapper 68 and the shift roller 52 are positioned so that they can be shifted after the seat has passed. This is because the gap is formed between the flapper and the transfer guide, so as to start the shift of the sheet after passing between gap, thereby reducing the caught into between space.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, it is an explanatory view when the sheet is switched back when the sheet carried in is guided to the image forming portion again for forming an image on both sides. In this case, the sheet passes above the first flapper 68 and the second flapper 85 and is carried into the third transport path 88. In this case, the seat is moved by the main body discharge roller 30 in the forward direction and the opposite switchback direction. At this time, the shift roller 52 is connected to the shift roller 52 so as not to interfere with the transport operation of the main body discharge roller 30. The shift driven roller 54 that is in pressure contact is separated by the driven roller solenoid 54SL. As a result, a relatively long sheet such as A3 can be conveyed by the main body discharge roller 30 in the forward direction and the switchback direction without resistance.

[Explanation of seat shift operation to the first transport path]
From here, the cross-sectional explanatory views of FIGS. 15 and 16 and FIGS. 17 and 17 in which the shift operation leading to the completion of the shift of the sheet to the first transport path 70 of FIG. 18 will be described.

[Front shift]
FIG. 15A is a diagram in which the sheet leading to the first transport path 70 is discharged from the main body discharge roller 30 and carried in from the carry-in inlet 32. In this figure, the first flapper 68 has already shielded the path on the second transport path 80 side. From this state, when the carry-in sensor 42 detects the tip of the sheet, as shown in FIG. 17A, the shift roller 52 rotates in the transport direction and drives the moving motor 61M of the punch unit 60 to drive the punch moving unit 61. In this case, shift to the front side in advance. The shift amount of the punch moving unit 61 in this embodiment is slightly larger than 15 mm. The rotation start of the shift roller 52 and the shift start of the punch moving unit 61 may be performed by obtaining a signal of sheet loading from the main body image forming apparatus A. In the drawing, the die holes 63 of the punch moving unit 61 are shown as a 3-hole die hole 63TD and a 2-hole die hole 63WD.

FIG. 15B shows a state in which the tip of the sheet passes through the die hole 63 of the punch moving unit 61 and is conveyed to the carry-in roller 72 of the first transport path 70. As described above, when the seat tip passes through the die hole 63 located at the position L3 from the carry-in roller 72, the shift roller 52 and the shift driven roller 54 start shifting to the front side (hereinafter, simply, the shift roller). 52 shifts). This state is shown in FIG. 17B as a state in which the rear end of the seat has already passed through the main body discharge roller 30 and the shift roller 52 is shifting to the front side while conveying the seat, and is shown in a broken line state. The shift to the front side is completed. The shift amount Shift F on the front side of the shift roller 52 is also set to 15 mm, but it may be about 10 mm so that the division can be discriminated. Further, although an example in which the shift roller 52 is shifted to both the front side and the rear side is shown here, a shift of only one side of about 10 mm to 15 mm in one direction of the device center and the front side or the rear side is shown. There may be.

Next, FIG. 16A shows a state in which the front end of the sheet passes through the carry-in roller 72 of the first transport path 70 and the rear end of the sheet passes through the shift roller 52. Fig. 18 (a) corresponds to the stiff state, and the seat has already passed the punch unit 60 (dummy punch (conveyor guide) 60D if there is none) that has already shifted to the front side with the shift amount ShiftF to the front side. There is. When the rear end of the seat passes through the shift roller 52 as shown in the drawing, the shift roller 52 is returned to the home position of the center in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 18A. The return to the home position is set by the count from the passage of the seat of the carry-in sensor 42, but can also be controlled by the main body signal. In this way, by immediately returning to the home position when the shift roller 52 passes through the seat, even if the next seat shifts to the rear side, it can be quickly dealt with.

Then, as shown in FIG. 16B, when the punch sensor 60S of the punch moving unit 61 detects the rear end of the sheet, it is determined that the sheet has reached the punch position at this point, and the carry-in roller 72 is stopped. After this stop, the punch motor 60M already described is moved up and down the punch blade 62 by the punch cam 64 by designating the rotation direction depending on whether the punch motor 60M has two holes or three holes, and a punching operation is performed between the punch motor 60M and the die hole 63. This state corresponds to FIG. 18B, and since the die hole 63 in the center of the 3-hole die hole 63TD is positioned as the sheet movement by the shift roller 52, it is decided to drill the sheet with the center of the sheet sandwiched between them. Become.

In order to determine the perforation position in the sheet at the position between FIG. 16 (a) and FIG. 18 (a) corresponding to this and FIG. 18 (b) corresponding to this. The punch moving unit 61 reciprocates in a direction intersecting the transport direction within a range corresponding to the sheet size. This is to detect the seat side edge by the side edge sensor 61S shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, and the error in the sheet width direction is corrected by the state change (edge detection by rising or falling) of the side edge sensor 61S. To do. It is desirable that this detection be performed at a position close to the perforation position, and in this embodiment, it is performed at the above-mentioned position.

[Rear shift]
This time, the case where the seat is shifted to the rear side by the shift roller 52 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the rear shift operation is the same as the front side except that the direction intersecting the transport direction is the rear side, the description will be omitted. The sheet is carried in from the carry-in inlet 32, the shift roller 52 rotates in the transport direction, and the moving motor 61M of the punch unit 60 is driven to shift the punch moving unit 61 to the rear side in advance. The amount of shift of the punch moving unit 61 to the rear side is slightly larger than 15 mm. Then, when the tip of the sheet passes through the die hole 63 corresponding to the punch blade 62 of the punch moving unit 61, as shown in FIG. 19A, this time the shift motor 50M is driven to move the shift roller 52 to the rear side. shift. As a result, the seat is shifted to the rear side shift by ShiftR. This rear shift shift R is also 15 mm.

When the sheet passes through the shift roller 52 from this state, the shift roller 52 is returned to the original position and waits for the next sheet to be carried in. On the other hand, the previous sheet is conveyed substantially in the center of the shifted punch moving unit 61 by the carry-in roller 72, and as shown in FIG. 19B, when the rear end of the sheet is detected by the punch sensor 60S, the carry-in roller 72 Is stopped, the punch motor 60M is driven to drive the designated punch blade 62, and the punching process is performed on the rear end side of the sheet. The same applies when shifting to the front side, but until the shift direction for division is changed, the position remains after the shift, and when the shift position is changed, the seat is in front of the carry-in roller 72. Move to the shift position on the opposite side.

Then, when the division processing of the designated number of copies is completed, the punch moving unit 61 is returned to the original center position. That is, the shift roller 52 returns to the center each time the seat passes, and the punch moving unit 61 does not change the shift position within the same number of copies until the seat shift position is changed, and moves only when the shift direction is changed. It will change direction. It should be noted that the side edge detection of the sheet immediately before the drilling process is similarly performed by slightly moving the side edge sensor 61S.

The above is the operation of shifting the punch moving unit 61 and the shift roller 52 to the front side and shifting to the rear side as the seat moves. As described herein, a punch moving unit 61 before the sheet is conveyed, since the move, after the sheet shift pierceable becomes any time sheet, high speed processing can be achieved. On the other hand, in the embodiment, since it is located on the downstream side of the shift roller 52, the punch moving unit 61 may move at a relatively low speed. Therefore, the shift operation can be sufficiently performed without increasing the size of the mobile motor 61M.

[Punch and sheet processing pattern]
Here, regarding the sheet punching process and the sheet shift process in the sheet processing device B of this embodiment, in the case of the dummy punch (conveyance guide) 60D provided with the punch moving unit 61 and the case of the dummy punch (conveying guide) 60D not provided with the punch moving unit 61, the sheet transfer length is added. The punch and sheet processing patterns in the case of large and small are shown in FIG. In this table, the presence or absence of the punch movement unit 61 in the first row, whether the sheet length is large or small in the second row (whether the transport length actually exceeds 216 mm), and the shift in the third and fourth rows. Indicates whether to perform seat shift by the roller 52 (○ indicates that it can be executed, × indicates that it cannot be executed).

Furthermore, the 5th row indicates whether the sheet division shift is performed by the matching plate 95 on the processing tray 90 (△ can be performed), and the 6th row is for 3 holes in the specific sheet (letter vertical, legal size sheet). The presence / absence of the avoidance operation of the die hole 63TD and the punch drilling process are shown in the 7th line. The eighth row shows the procedure of punching and shifting the sheet processing in the sheet processing apparatus B, and the final ninth row shows the pattern showing the processing result of punching and shifting according to the sheet length. Since these details will be clarified in the description so far and the description including the processing flow from now on, the description here will be omitted.

Next, the flow of punching and sheet shifting according to the above description and the processing pattern shown in FIG. 20 will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 21 to 27.
(Steps S10 to S19)
FIG. 21 shows the operation flow of the start. Here, first, it is determined whether the punch unit 60 is mounted on the sheet processing device B or the dummy punch (conveyor guide) 60D is not mounted (S10). The determination may be made by detecting the punch unit 60 with a sensor (not shown), or by making an initial setting from an electric switch or a control panel. At that step, if there is, then wait for the sheet to be brought in (S11). Then, when the carry-in sensor 42 detects the tip of the sheet, the shift roller 52 and the shift driven roller 54 start rotating in the nip state (S12). Here, also in the case of the dummy punch (conveying guide) 60D, the sheet is waited for loading (S17), and the shift driven roller 54 is started by detecting the sheet of the loading sensor 42. The next operation in the above case will be described separately with reference to FIG.

Returning to FIG. 21, the length information of the sheet carried in from the main body side by the main body discharge roller 30 is acquired in parallel with the start of rotation of the shift roller 52. In this step, as shown in FIG. 20, as the small size, for example, a sheet length of B5 horizontal, letter horizontal, and A4 horizontal is set. Further, as the large size, B5 vertical, letter vertical, A4 vertical, legal, B4, and A3 sheet transport lengths are set. That is, if A4 and letters, which are relatively frequently used, are treated as horizontal, processing can be performed quickly. Next, it is determined whether or not shift execution is performed for sheet division (S14). If there is a division shift here, the punch moving unit 61 is first shifted to the front side or the rear side in the division direction (S15). The shift of the punch movement unit 61 here is performed by driving the movement motor 61M to a position slightly larger than 15 mm in consideration of the detection movement of the side edge sensor 61S.

During this time, the shift roller 52 conveys the sheet to the punch unit 60 side beyond the first flapper 681. Then, it is confirmed whether or not the tip of the sheet has entered the range of L3 beyond the die hole 63 of the punch unit 60 (S16). This confirmation is performed by the punch sensor 60S of the punch moving unit 61. Here, when it is instructed not to perform the division shift of the sheet, the transfer by the shift roller 52 is continued. The next operation in this case will be described separately with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the sheet transport length is large, the punch moving unit 61 is reduced to the front in order to avoid catching the die hole 63 (3 hole die hole 63TD) and the tip angle of the sheet. Shift to the side or the rear side. Here, since the die holes 63 on both sides of the die hole 63TD for 3 holes are targeted, the shift is made by about 6 mm. Therefore, the punch moving unit 61 moves larger than 15 mm when the previous sheet is divided, and moves within a range of about 6 mm when avoiding the die hole 63, so that an extra addition of the moving motor 61M is added. I'm making it smaller. The next operation in this case will be described separately with reference to FIG. 24.

(Steps S100 to S190)
Next, S100 to S190 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, in the case of small size classification, when the seat tip approaches the L3 region, the shift roller 52 and the shift driven roller 54 are moved to the front side or the rear side in the direction intersecting the designated seat transport direction. Shift movement is performed while transporting the sheet (S100). This state corresponds to FIG. 17 (b) and FIG. 19 (a) described above. At this stage, the carry-in roller 72 of the first transport path 70 rotates to take over and transport the sheet (S120). When the rear end of the seat taken over by the carry-in roller 72 passes through the shift roller 52, it returns to the initial position which is the home position in the center of the apparatus and stops, and waits for the next seat to be carried in.

On the other hand, the large-sized sheet in which the punch moving unit 61 has been subjected to the drilling avoidance operation (S19) is taken over and conveyed by the rotation of the carry-in roller 72 (S170). After that, when the rear end of the large-sized sheet passes through the shift roller 52 (S180), the shift roller 52 stops rotating and waits for the next sheet to be carried in (S190).

[Execution of punch drilling process]
Next, the execution of the punching process of the punch unit 60 to the small size or the large size described above is confirmed. If it is executed here, it first shifts slightly to the center side of the device in order to detect the position of the side edge of the sheet. By this shift, the state change of the side edge sensor 61S is confirmed, and the drilling position in the sheet width direction is determined (S150). The next operation in this case and when the previous punch drilling is not performed will be described with reference to FIG.

(Steps S200 to S250)
In FIG. 23, when the punch sensor 60S detects the passage of the rear end of the sheet, the carry-in roller 72 is stopped (S200). The stop position is the drilling position at the rear end of the sheet, and the punch motor 60M is drilled by determining the rotation direction according to the instructions of the two holes or the three holes (S210) . It resumes rotation of the carry roller 72 and the punch perforation process is completed, to convey the sheet. Here, the discharge roller 78, which reaches the carry-out roller 74 rotating together with the carry-in roller 72 and then descends and press-contacts, directly discharges the sheets one by one to the first accumulation tray 110. When this discharge is completed, the rotation of the carry-out roller 74 and the discharge roller 78 is stopped (S240). If there is a next sheet, the process returns to the start and the process is repeated until a predetermined number of sheets are processed. By the above operation processing, the small size sheet processing when the punch unit 60 is present is performed.

[Large size punch shift with punch unit]
Next, the flow of large size punches and division shifts with a punch unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25.
(From S300 to S360)
First, in FIG. 21, following the avoidance operation of the die hole 63 (S19), the carry-in roller 72 is rotated (S300). Next, it is determined whether or not the rear end of the large-sized sheet has passed through the shift roller 52 (S310). When the sheet passes, the shift roller 52 finishes its role as a relay roller, stops rotating, and waits for the next sheet to be carried in. The discharge roller 78 also starts rotating (S330). Here, the punch unit 60 confirms the execution of the punch drilling process (S340). When it is executed, the punch moving unit 61 is slightly moved and the seat side edge sensor 61S determines the punch position from the sheet side edge (S350). Next, the rear end of the sheet detects the rear end of the punch sensor 60S (S360). The next operation in this case and when the previous punch drilling is not performed will be described with reference to FIG. 24.

In the flow chart of FIG. 25, the large size sheet processing will be continuously described. When the punch sensor 60S detects the rear end of the sheet, the rotation of the carry-in roller 72 (carry-out roller 74) and the discharge roller 78 is temporarily stopped (S400). After this stop, the punch motor 60M is driven to perform a predetermined 2-hole or 3-hole punch drilling process (S410). After this drilling process, the carry-in roller 72, (carry-out roller 74), and the discharge roller 78 are rotated again to restart the sheet transfer. Here, it is confirmed whether or not the shift for dividing the sheets is performed for the sheets that are not subjected to the punch drilling process.
When the division shift is performed, when the sheet is carried out to the processing tray 90, the discharge upper roller 78a is discharged, the lower roller 78b is lowered, the sheet is niped, the discharge roller 78 is reversed, and the sheet is conveyed to the reference surface 92 side. To do. After that, the discharge roller 78a is raised and stopped, and the carry-in roller 72 (carry-out roller 74) is also stopped (S440). At this time, the scraping roller 93 also rotates to bring the sheet into contact with the reference surface 92.

Depending on the position where the matching plate 95 is shifted according to the contact with the reference surface 92, the rear matching plate 95b is mainly used when moving to the front side, and the front side is mainly used when moving to the rear side. The sheet is shifted by the matching plate 95a and moved to the dividing position (S450). In this case, the sorting movement on the processing tray 90 by the matching plate 95 may be one sheet, two sheets, or a shift movement for each part, but two sheets are often used because of the quick processing.

In the sheet divided and shifted by the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90, the roller 78a is lowered again on the discharge, the sheet is nipated, and one sheet is bundled in the first accumulation tray 110 by the discharge roller 78 as needed. Discharge as. On the other hand, the sheet that does not perform the division shift in the processing tray 90 also stops the carry-in roller 72 when it reaches the discharge roller 78 from the carry-in roller 72 (S490). At the same time, the discharge roller 78 nips the sheet and discharges the sheet to the first accumulation tray 110. If there is a next sheet, the process returns to the start and the process is repeated until a predetermined number of sheets are processed. By the above operation processing, a large size sheet processing when the punch unit 60 is present is performed. Here, since the large size sheet cannot be shifted by the shift roller 52, the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90 is used for the sorting process as described above.

[Processing at the time of dummy punch (transport guide) 60D]
(From S500 to S590)
From here, the flow of sheet processing in the case where the punch unit 60 is not installed and only the transport guide unit (60D) is used will be described with reference to FIG. Here, since there is no perforation processing and only the sheet shift is performed and the large size processing is performed by the matching plate 95, the table of FIG. 20 is substituted and the description here is omitted.

If it is determined that there is no punch unit 60, the length of the sheet to be conveyed next is determined. Here, as in FIG. 21, it is divided into a small size and a large size. (S500). When it is determined that the sheet is a small size sheet, it is determined whether or not to shift using the shift roller 52 (S510). When shifting the shift roller 52, it is confirmed whether the sheet is located in the range of L3 at substantially the same position as the die hole 63. This confirmation is performed by a sensor located at the same position as the punch sensor 60S (S520). When the seat is located in the L3, the shift roller 52 shifts while transporting the seat to the front shift or the rear shift (S530).

This shift is performed so that the tip of the seat reaches the carry-in roller 72. Then, the carry-in roller 72 roller is rotated to take over and carry (S540). Subsequently, when the rear end of the seat passes through the shift roller 52, the shift roller 52 is returned to the home position in the center of the apparatus and the rotation is stopped (S560).

When it is determined that the shift roller 52 is not shifted (S510), the carry-in roller 72 is rotated to take over and convey the sheet (S570). After that, it is confirmed whether or not the sheet has passed through the shift roller 52 (S580). When the sheet has passed, the rotation of the shift roller 52 is temporarily stopped (S590). The next operation including the shift roller 52 for returning to the home position will be described with reference to FIG. 27.

(From S600 to S620)
As shown in FIG. 27, after stopping the shift roller 52 and a predetermined time after the rear end of the seat passes through the seat sensor 73, the discharge upper roller 78a is lowered to the discharge lower roller 78b, and the first discharge roller 78 is used. The sheet is discharged to the accumulation tray 110 of the above. As a result, the divided sheets or the undivided sheets are sequentially accumulated in the first accumulation tray 110. After that, the discharge roller 78a is raised to stop the rotation of the discharge roller 78 (S600). At about the same time as this, the carry-in roller 72 (carry-out roller 74) also stops (S610). If there is a next sheet, the process returns to the start and the process is repeated until a predetermined number of sheets are processed. By the above operation processing, the small size sheet processing in the case of the transport guide unit (60D) without the punch unit 60 is performed. It should be noted that the large size sheet is classified by the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90 and accumulated in the first accumulation tray 110 as described above, as described above. ..

[Loading state in the first stack tray]
In the above flow, the state of the sheets separated by the shift roller 52 or the matching plate 95 on the processing tray 90 and accumulated in the first accumulation tray 110 will be described with reference to FIG. 28. First, FIG. 28A is an integrated state diagram of the sheets separated by the shift roller 52 and discharged by the discharge roller 78. In this figure, the sheets shifted by the shift roller 52 are discharged by the discharge roller 78 via the carry-in roller 72 and the carry-out roller 74 and are accumulated. In the case of this figure, four separate sheets are accumulated for every ten sheets. This integration method is the same when the second transport path 80 is integrated on the second accumulation tray 115 by the escape roller 114.

On the other hand, FIG. 28B is an accumulation state diagram of the sheet in which the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90 is shifted in the first accumulation tray 110. As shown in this figure, the large size sheet is once placed on the processing tray 90, the sheet is shifted by the front side matching plate 95a and the rear side matching plate 95b, and then placed on the first stacking tray 110. It is what you are doing. In this embodiment, two sheets are shifted by the matching plate 95, and the last two sheets are shifted to the rear side in the processing tray 90. As described above, in the present embodiment, the small-sized sheets can be separated and accumulated in the state of FIG. 28A even in the first transport path 70 or the second transport path 80. Further, the large size sheets can be separated and accumulated by the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90 shown in FIG. 28 (b).

[Die hole avoidance shift and division shift]
Here, when transporting a specific sheet (letter vertical and legal size in this embodiment), there are a punch blade 62 formed in the punch moving unit 61 and a die hole 63 for receiving the punch blade 62, of which three holes are used. The tip angle of the specific sheet may get caught in the punch blade 62TP and the 3-hole die hole 63TD, causing jam. That is, if the die hole 63TD for 3 holes is located 108 mm on both sides of the punch moving unit 61 from the center, the sheet width of the letter vertical and the legal size is 216. It gets caught. Therefore, in this embodiment, the following operations are performed.

First, in FIG. 29 (a), the die hole is shifted to the front side of the device to avoid the die hole. In this case, the punch moving unit 61 is shifted (Ss) to the front side by about 6 mm. As a result, even if the letter length and the legal size in the range defined by the broken line in the drawing are conveyed, there is no possibility that the die hole 63TD for 3 holes will be caught.

On the other hand, FIG. 29 (b) in the case of division shifting sheet by the shift of the shift roller 52, there is shown a case Ru shift Tosu punch moving unit 61 in advance in the same or more as the shift roller 52. In this case, even if the letter length and the legal size in the range defined by the broken line in the figure are conveyed, there is no possibility of being caught in the 3-hole die hole 63TD due to this division shift (Sr). That is, in the present embodiment, the short had 6 mm shift for the punching movement unit 61 die holes avoidance (Ss), has a larger shift 15mm for sorting, the sorting processing by the shift roller 52 If this is done, the die hole avoidance movement is not performed again. Of course, the shift Ss may be performed when the sheet is carried into the punch moving unit 61, and then the remaining portion of the Ss may be shifted, and as a result, the division shift Sr may be moved.

FIG. 30 is a diagram in which the punch moving unit 61 is shifted to the rear side to perform a die hole avoidance division shift, and FIG. 31 (a) is a shift (Ss) to the rear side for avoiding the die hole. Indicates the state of. The punch blade 62 and the die hole 63 are punched in the sheet at the center position. On the other hand, in FIG. 31B, the punch blade 62 and the die hole 63 are shifted (Sr) to be divided into the rear side. These, like FIG. 29, the punch movement unit 61 and the short had 6 mm shift for die holes avoidance (Ss), has a larger shift 15mm for sorting, performs sorting processing by the shift roller 52 In that case, the die hole avoidance movement is not performed again.

[Distributed accumulation of punch scraps]
Next, the dispersion and accumulation of punch chips generated from the sheet punching process of the punch blade in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 31. This figure shows a state in which punched debris from the die hole 63 is collected by a perforation process for the fixed debris box 67. For the sake of explanation, the 3-hole die hole 63TD of the punch moving unit 61 that moves in the direction intersecting the sheet transport direction is shown, and represents the 3-hole punch scrap 67TD generated from the die hole 63TD. As shown in FIG. 10, the actual device has a die hole for two holes of 63 WD or more, but the number of die holes is omitted for the sake of explanation.

FIG. 31A is a diagram in which a 3-hole die hole 63TD corresponding to the 3-hole punch blade 62TP is punched in the sheet at the device center position. In this state, the punch scraps are accumulated as 3-hole punch scraps 67TD. If the punching process is continued in this state, the punch scraps are simply piled up and fill up immediately even though there is a space for accumulating in the scrap box 67. In this case, a sweeping member such as a lever that disperses punch debris is operated, but when they are stacked, they must be moved with a relatively large force.

Therefore, the punch moving unit 61 is also moving in the same manner as the front side shift and the rear side shift of the seat by the shift roller 52 described so far as the present embodiment. Therefore, if the scrap box 67 is fixedly arranged with respect to the punch moving unit 61 that moves in the direction intersecting the transport direction, the punch scraps are dispersed as a result, and a sweeping member such as a lever for dispersing the punch scraps is not provided. Alternatively, even if it is provided, the punch chips are dispersed in advance, so that the dust can be dispersed and accumulated with a relatively light force.

That is, when the sorting process is performed by the shift roller 52, the accumulation position of the 3-hole punch waste 67TD also moves due to the shift of the punch movement unit 61 to the front side as shown in FIG. 31 (b), and the conventional waste (broken line). Display) Dispersed and integrated (solid line display). In this case, the center of the seat and punch moving unit 61 has moved to the FC shown in the figure. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 31 (c), when the shift roller 52 and the punch moving unit 61 shift to the rear side, the accumulation position of the 3-hole punch scrap 67TD also moves due to the shift of the punch moving unit 61 to the rear side. It is dispersed and accumulated (solid line display) with respect to the conventional waste (broken line display). In this case, the center of the seat and punch moving unit 61 has moved to the RC shown.

As described above, in the above embodiment, when the sheets are divided for each specified number of copies, the shift roller 52 and the punch moving unit 61 are shifted for each division, so that the punch debris can also be dispersed and accumulated. Further, this mechanism can also be adopted when perforation processing is performed on a large number of parts that do not need to be particularly divided. That is, for example, when about 3000 sheets are drilled only and the accumulation trays are accumulated in the first accumulation tray 110, 500 sheets or 1000 sheets are classified in an appropriate range from the total number of sheets and discharged / accumulated. Then, the dust can be dispersed according to the contents described in FIG. 31, and the number of times the device is stopped to discard the punched dust in the scrap box 67 can be reduced. As for the stacked state of the sheets, for example, only a part of the range shown in FIG. 28A is 500 sheets or 1000 sheets, and the division is displayed as the number of sheets, which increases convenience.

[Other Examples of Sheet Edge Treatment]
In the description so far in the present embodiment, the punch unit 60 has been shown as an edge processing unit that processes the edge of the sheet, but as the edge processing unit, for example, a corner cut unit that cuts the corners of the sheet is also adopted. it can. The outline of this corner cutting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 32 and 33. Details are described in Patent Application 2015-238732 relating to the applicant's application.

32 and 33 are punch corner cut units provided as a sheet edge processing unit and a punch mechanism. FIG. 32 is a plan explanatory view of this unit, and FIG. 33 is a perspective view of this unit. As shown in FIG. 31, the punch corner unit F180 is provided on the front side in the broken line in the drawing so as to reciprocate in a half region in the direction intersecting the transport direction by the corner unit F motor 184. The punch corner unit F180 is provided with a corner cutting blade F181 for cutting the corners of the sheet, a punch blade F182, and an embossing F183 for marking the sheet. As a result, the end treatment is possible on the front half of the seat.

Further, on the rear side (upper side of the drawing) of FIG. 31, the punch corner unit R190 is provided by the corner unit R motor 194 so as to reciprocate in a half region in the direction intersecting the transport direction. The punch corner unit R190 is provided with a corner cut blade R191 for cutting the corners of the sheet, a punch blade R192, and an emboss R193 for marking the sheet. As a result, the end treatment is possible on the front half of the seat. Therefore, the corner unit F motor 184 and the corner unit R motor 194 can be driven and moved to the shift position in advance before the seat is shifted in the direction intersecting the transport direction by the shift roller 52. The central punch sensor 60S and the side edge sensor 61S provided in each unit have the same functions as those described in the previous embodiments. Further, the downstream side of the broken line frame is the carry-in roller 72. 33 is a partial perspective view of the device of FIG. 32. As the edge processing unit for processing the edge of the sheet in this way, not only the punch unit 60 but also the corner cut unit for cutting the corners of the sheet can be adopted.

[Explanation of control configuration]
The system control configuration of the image forming apparatus A including the sheet processing apparatus B including the shift roller unit 50 and the punch unit 60 (corner cut punch unit) described above will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 34. The image forming apparatus system shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming control unit 200 of the image forming apparatus A, a transfer unit 40, a shift roller unit 50, a punch unit 60, a binding unit 100, a first integration tray 110, and the like. The sheet processing control unit 204 (control CPU) is provided.

The image formation control unit 200 includes a paper feed control unit 202 and an input unit 203. Then, from the control panel 18 provided on the input unit 203, (1) "print mode", (2) "escape mode", (3) "division shift mode", and (4) "punch mode (sheet side edge)" will be described later. "Cut mode", (5) "Sheet binding mode" (6) "Switchback mode" and combinations of these are executed. In particular, the central combination of the present embodiment can be a combination as shown in the table of FIG.

The sheet processing control unit 204 is a control CPU that operates the sheet processing device B according to the above-mentioned designated sheet processing mode. The sheet processing control unit 204 includes a ROM 206 that stores an operation program and a RAM 207 that stores control data. Further, in the sheet processing control unit 204, for example, in the transfer unit 40 according to the present embodiment, a carry-in sensor 42 for detecting the carry-in of the sheet to the shift roller unit 50 and a position sensor for detecting the shift position of the shift roller 52 , The punch sensor 60S that detects the position of the sheet with the punch unit 60, the side edge sensor 61S that detects the side edge of the sheet, the sheet sensor 73 that detects the sheet of the first transport path 70, and the elevating position of the discharge roller 78. A discharge roller moving arm sensor 160S, a paper surface sensor 111S for detecting the paper surface height of the first integration tray 110, and the like are connected.

Next, the sheet processing control unit 204 includes a shift motor 50M, a shift transfer motor 52M, a first flapper solenoid 68SL, a second flapper solenoid 85SL, a carry-out roller motor 74M, and a discharge roller motor of the transfer unit 40 (including the shift roller 52). 78, a seat transfer control unit 210 for controlling the discharge roller moving arm motor 160M and the like is provided. Further, the sheet processing control unit 204 has a punch control unit 211 that controls the punch motor 60M and the movement motor 61M that moves the punch movement unit 61. Further, the processing tray 90 control unit 212 that controls the front side matching motor 95aM and the rear side matching motor 95bM that move the matching plate 95 so that the mounting positions are different for matching or sorting for binding in the processing tray 90. Also has. Further, the stapler SP100SPM of the binding unit 100 that binds the sheets placed on the processing tray 90 and aligned, the stapler control unit 213 that controls the stapler moving motor 100M that moves the stapler 100SP to a designated position, and various sheet processing are performed. It is provided with an integrated tray elevating control unit 214 that controls an elevating motor 110M of the first integrated tray 110 according to the amount of accumulation of the sheets to be processed or unprocessed sheets in the final stage. In addition, it should be noted.

[Sheet processing mode]
The sheet processing control unit 204 of the present embodiment configured as described above is connected to the sheet processing device B, for example, (1) "print mode", (2) "escape mode", (3) "division shift mode", ( 4) "Punch mode (sheet side edge cut mode)", (5) "sheet binding mode" (6) "switchback mode" and combinations thereof are executed. The main processing modes will be described below.

(1) "Printout mode"
The main body discharge roller 30 of the image forming apparatus A receives the image-formed sheet, conveys this sheet to the first conveying path 70 leading to the shift roller 52 and the first accumulating tray 110, and one sheet is conveyed to the first accumulating tray 110. Store one by one.

(2) "Escape mode"
The main body discharge roller 30 of the image forming apparatus A receives the image-formed sheet, conveys this sheet to the second conveying path 80 leading to the shift roller 52 and the second accumulating tray 115, and one sheet is conveyed to the second accumulating tray 115. Store one by one. This escape mode is used when instructed by the operator, when the sheet is being conveyed to the first accumulation tray 110, or when the length and thickness are indefinite.

(3) "Division shift mode",
In this mode, as already described in this embodiment, the small size seat shifts the shift roller 52 to the front side and the rear side in the direction intersecting the seat transport direction for seat division. Rola. Also. Large size sheets are classified by changing the mounting position by the matching plate 95 of the processing tray 90. In this embodiment, when the shift mode is specified, the shift location is automatically changed depending on the seat length.
(4) "Punch mode (sheet side edge cut mode)",
In this mode, punch holes of 2 or 3 holes are drilled for filing at the edge of a sheet that can pass through the first transport path 70, such as a sheet that is shifted or a sheet that is not shifted. It is also possible to use or replace the corner cut mode that cuts the corners of the sheet into an arc.
(5) "Sheet binding mode"
The sheet image-formed from the main body discharge roller 30 is intermediately conveyed by the shift roller 52, temporarily placed on the processing tray 90 via the first transfer path 70 including the punch unit 60, and bound by the binding unit 100. This is a mode in which the images are discharged from the first stack tray 110. With this binding mode, not only the stapler 100SP for needle binding, but also crimp binding and glue binding without needles can be adopted.
(6) "Switchback mode"
In order to form an image on both sides of the sheet, the main body discharge roller 30 uses the sheet processing device B as a transport guide to re-transport the sheet on which the single-sided image is formed to the image forming unit. In this case, as already described with reference to FIG. 14, the shift driven roller 54 is separated from the shift roller 52 so as not to interfere with the switchback transport of the main body discharge roller 30. This mode is automatically set when the main body side forms a double-sided image even if the operator does not specify it, but since it is related to the present embodiment, it has been described as a mode in particular.

According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the following effects are obtained.

1. 1. A sheet processing device that shifts the sheet to be conveyed and punches a punch hole at the end of the shifting sheet to accumulate the sheet in the accumulation tray (first accumulation tray 110), and guides the sheet from the carry-in inlet 32. A carry-in route 34 to be carried in, a shift roller 52 provided in the carry-in route for carrying the sheet and shifting in a direction intersecting the sheet transport direction, and a sheet located on the downstream side of the shift roller and accumulating the sheets from the carry-in route. It is provided with a carry-in roller 72 for carrying in toward the tray, and a punch unit 60 provided on the upstream side of the carry-in roller and having a punch hole 67 at the end of the sheet and collecting the waste generated by the punching. In this punch unit, punch holes are punched in the sheet by a plurality of punch blades 62 that abut on the sheet and a plurality of die holes 63 that receive the punch blades, and both of these punch blades and die holes are used (as the punch moving unit 61). A waste box that is movable in the direction intersecting the sheet transport direction and receives punching debris from the sheet by the punch blade is fixedly provided in a range covering the movement range in the intersection direction between the punch blade and the die hole 67, and is provided on the sheet. There is a sheet processing device that shifts the punch blade and the die hole in the same direction as the shift roller for each predetermined number of sheets to be drilled and punches the sheet.

According to this, when a large number of sheets are perforated, the punch debris is dispersed in the debris box, and even if a lever (wiping means) or the like is provided, the punch debris is dispersed in advance. Since the flatness can be achieved, these drives can be miniaturized and simplified.

2. The shift roller has a receiving position (device center position) for receiving the sheet conveyed from the carry-in port, and the first reference on the front side or the back side for shifting the sheet in the direction intersecting from the receiving position after receiving the sheet. It has a second reference, and both the punch blade and the die hole have a first reference (front side center FC) on the front side and a second reference (rear side center RC) on the back side in the direction intersecting the sheet transport direction. The sheet processing apparatus according to 2 above.

According to this, since the center reference can be changed in the same manner as the shift roller, the waste box 67 can be dispersed.

3. 3. The sheet processing apparatus according to 2 above, wherein the shift roller, the punch blade, and the die hole are shifted to the first reference and the second reference, respectively, when the number of punched sheets exceeds a predetermined number.

According to this, for example, when performing a batch drilling process for a large number of sheets of 500 or more, even if a classification instruction is not given, if the reference position is changed every 100 sheets, waste dispersion can be achieved.

4. The shift roller and the punch unit are arranged in this order between the carry-in inlet and the carry-in roller, and the shift of the punch blade and the die hole (punch movement unit 61) is performed at the same time as or earlier than the shift start of the shift roller. The sheet processing apparatus according to 3 above, which is shifting.

According to this, since it is located on the downstream side of the shift roller 52, the shift roller 52 can be formed without increasing the drive of the punch blade and the die hole (punch moving unit 61).

5. The sheet processing apparatus according to 3 above, wherein the shift start in the direction intersecting the sheet transport direction of the shift roller is performed after the tip of the sheet passes through the die hole.

Since the shift operation by the shift roller 52 for sorting is performed after the sheet passes through the die hole 63 of the punch unit, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the corners of the sheet are caught in the space of the die hole or the step.

6. The punch unit has an edge detection sensor (side edge sensor 61S) that detects the edges of a plurality of sheets that move together with the punch blade and the die hole, and is a sheet that is shifted by the shift roller and then conveyed by the carry-in roller. The sheet processing apparatus according to 5 above, wherein the edge of the sheet is detected and punch holes are punched.

According to this, since the punch unit detects the edge of the sheet each time it passes through the sheet and punches the punch unit, the position of the punch can be accurately determined.

7. The sheet processing apparatus according to 6 above, wherein when the punch blade is moved to the die hole to punch a punch hole in the sheet, the movement of the sheet by the carry-in roller 72 is stopped to perform the punching process.

According to this, since the carry-in roller is stopped and the drilling process is performed, the drilling position in the transport direction can be accurately determined.

8. A second stacking tray 115 for stacking sheets at a position different from the stacking tray, and a second transport path 80 branched from the carry-in path for guiding the sheet from the shift roller to the second stacking tray. The sheet is transported to the stacking tray or to the second stacking tray between the branch roller 82 provided in the second transport path for transporting the sheet from the shift roller and the shift roller and the punch unit. The sheet processing apparatus according to 7 above, further comprising a first flapper 68 for selecting the same, and starting the shift after the sheet passes through the switching flapper to start the shift by the shift roller.

According to this, the sheet to be conveyed to the second accumulation tray 115 can also be shifted by the shift roller 52, and the shift roller 52 operation is performed after the sheet passes through the switching flapper (first flapper 68). It is possible to reduce the possibility that the corners of the sheet are caught in the step or space between the flapper (first flapper 68) and the flapper (first flapper 68).

9. An image forming unit 2 that forms an image on a sheet, a sheet processing device B that processes a sheet conveyed from the image forming unit, and the sheet processing device B have the configuration according to any one of 1 to 8 above. It is an image forming apparatus.

According to this, an image forming apparatus having the effect described in each of the above-mentioned items can be provided.

10. A reading unit (image reading device 20) for reading an image of a document is provided above the image forming unit 2, and a sheet discharging space is provided between the reading unit and the image forming unit. This is an image forming apparatus in which any of the sheet processing apparatus B of 8 is arranged.

According to this, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus equipped with a sheet processing apparatus B having the effects 1 to 8 described above, which is also applied to the so-called in-body type.

In the description of the effect in the above-described embodiment, for each part of the present embodiment, the corresponding members of each component within the scope of claims are shown in parentheses, or the relationship between the two is indicated by reference numerals. Was clarified.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the present invention, and all the technical matters included in the technical idea described in the claims are the present invention. It is the subject of the invention. Although the embodiments so far have shown suitable examples, those skilled in the art can realize various alternative examples, modified examples, modified examples, or improved examples from the contents disclosed in the present specification. These are included in the technical scope set forth in the appended claims.

A Image forming device B Sheet processing device 30 Main body discharge roller 32 Carry-in inlet 34 Carry-in route 33 Tray unit 37 Transport path 40 Transport unit 50 Shift roller unit 52 Shift roller 53 Shift gear 54 Shift driven roller 55 Shift cam 60 Punch unit 60D Dummy punch (convey) guide)
61 Punch movement unit 62 Punch blade 63 Die hole 62WP 2 hole punch blade 62TP 3 hole punch blade 63WD 2 hole die hole 63TD 3 hole die hole 64 Punch cam 67 Waste box 67WD 2 hole punch waste 67TD 3 hole punch waste 68 1st flapper 70 1st transport path 72 Carry-in roller 80 2nd transport path 82 Branch roller 85 2nd flapper 88 3rd transport path (switchback open path)
90 Processing tray 95 Matching plate 100 Binding unit 110 First stacking tray 110
114 Escape Roller 115 Second Stacking Tray 180 Punch Corner Unit F
190 Punch Corner Unit R
204 Sheet processing control unit 210 Sheet transfer control unit 211 Punch control unit 212 Processing tray control unit

Claims (11)

A sheet processing device that shifts the sheets to be conveyed, punches holes at the ends of the shifted sheets, and accumulates them in the accumulation tray.
The carry-in route that guides the seat from the carry-in entrance and
A shift roller which shifts in a direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction while conveying the sheet is provided in the carrying path,
A carry roller for carrying the sheet from the conveyance path located downstream of the shift roller toward the stacking tray,
A punch unit having a debris box for collecting debris by the perforations as well as punches holes in the ends of the formed sheet on the upstream side of the feed-in rollers,
A control means for controlling the shift roller and the punch unit is provided.
The punch unit, the sheet can move the punch holes of a plurality of die holes for receiving a plurality of punch blade abuts with the punch blades in both the sheet conveying direction and cross direction of these punch blade and die hole while drilling into a sheet and then, it provided to secure the scrap box to receive the punch waste from the sheet by the punch blade in a range covering a moving range in the transverse direction of said punch blade and die hole,
The control means
When the number of sheets accumulated in the accumulation tray reaches a predetermined number, the sheets are shifted by the shift roller, and the punch blades and the die holes are shifted in the same direction as the shift direction of the shift roller.
The sheet is shifted by the shift roller until the next predetermined number is reached, and the punch blade and the die hole are kept at the shifted position.
A sheet processing device characterized by being controlled in such a manner. The shift roller has a receiving position for receiving the sheet conveyed from the carry-in entrance, and a first reference on the front side or a second reference on the back side for shifting the seat from the receiving position in the direction intersecting after receiving the sheet. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein both the punch blade and the die hole have a first reference on the front side and a second reference on the back side in a direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction. The shift roller and the punch blades and shift to the first reference and the second reference of each of the die aperture according to claim 2, characterized in that to execute if the perforation number of sheets exceeds a predetermined number Sheet processing equipment. The shift roller and the punch unit, the is placed between the inlet port and the carry roller, shifting of the die hole and the punch blade is shifted simultaneously with the start or before the shift movement of the shift roller The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the sheet processing apparatus is characterized in that. The shift start in a direction crossing the sheet conveying direction of the shift roller, the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that it is made of die holes of the punch unit from passing through the sheet leading edge. The punch unit comprises an edge sensor for detecting an edge of a plurality of sheets moving in the die hole both said punch blade after being shifted by the shift roller, edges of the sheet conveyed by the feed-in rollers The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising detecting and punching a punch hole. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the punch blade is moved to the die hole to punch a punch hole in the sheet, the movement of the sheet by the carry-in roller is stopped to perform the punching process. A second stacking tray that stacks sheets at a position different from the stacking tray,
A second conveying path branched from the conveyance path for guiding the sheet from shifting roller to said second stacking tray,
A branch roller provided on the second conveyance path for conveying the sheet from the shift roller, or for conveying the sheet between the shift roller and the punch unit to the second stacking tray or transported to the stacking tray Switching flapper to select and
And further comprising,
The start of the shift roller by shifting, sheet sheet processing apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that it is carried out after the spent through the switching flapper. When the number of perforated sheets accumulated in the stacking tray exceeds a predetermined number, the control means shifts the perforated sheets by a shift roller for each predetermined number of sheets to be perforated in the sheets regardless of whether or not there is an instruction to shift the sheets. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the punch blade and the die hole are shifted in the same direction as the moving direction of the shift roller to perforate the sheet. An image forming part that forms an image on the sheet,
A sheet processing device that processes the sheet conveyed from the image forming unit, and
The sheet processing apparatus includes the configuration according to any one of claims 1 to 9 .
An image forming apparatus characterized in that. An image forming part that forms an image on the sheet,
A reading unit for reading an image of an original above the image forming unit,
Sheet discharge space is provided between the image forming unit and the reading unit, the image forming, characterized in that the sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to the sheet discharge space 9 is arranged apparatus.

Images