Sheet Conveyance Apparatus and Sheet Conveyance System

The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-079904 filed on May 16, 2024, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates to a sheet conveyance apparatus and a sheet conveyance system that uses the sheet conveyance apparatus.

A known processing apparatus prints multiple printing contents on a single sheet and cuts the sheet in the sheet conveyance direction to divide the sheet into multiple effective sheets in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. According to such a processing apparatus, printed sheets may include a blank page, or multiple jobs may be continuously printed. When the effective sheets formed by cutting are accumulated, the accumulated sheets include a blank sheet(s) or effective sheets of different jobs. Therefore, a worker is required to sort and gather the sheets again.

Furthermore, if no gap is formed between adjacent effective sheets when the sheets are cut, the adjacent effective sheets overlap each other after cutting. This may cause sheet jam or other inconveniences.

It is therefore necessary to devise conveyance operations when conveying divided effective sheets in parallel.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H9-109491 discloses a sheet conveying system having multiple conveying paths. According to the technology, an apparatus includes: a sheet supplying means that conveys multiple sheets supplied from multiple hoppers in parallel; a printing mechanism that prints printing information on the supplied sheets in parallel; a paper discharging means that conveys and ejects the sheets in parallel; and a stacker that stacks the ejected sheets.

Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H8-34540 discloses a sheet conveyance apparatus that includes guide members. The guide members guide sheets that are conveyed in parallel without any space between them in different directions so that the sheets are prevented from overlapping each other.

According to the former configuration, it is possible to shift the conveyance timing of the sheets conveyed in parallel, and it is also possible to accumulate the sheets for each conveying line.

However, the apparatus of the former configuration is effective in a case where the sheet size and the conveyance operation are fixed. The operation in the former configuration is not performed successively after a single sheet is cut into multiple sheets. Furthermore, the former configuration cannot cope with collating and gathering work if a job includes a blank page or if multiple jobs are performed consecutively.

According to the latter configuration, it is possible to avoid overlapping of effective sheets by transporting the respective effective sheets to different transport paths of different directions even if there is no gap between the effective sheets conveyed in parallel.

However, the latter configuration can cope with only a fixed sheet size and cannot cope with effective sheets arranged parallel to each other in three or more rows.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet conveyance apparatus and a sheet conveyance system using the sheet conveyance apparatus that are capable of outputting effective sheets in a way desired by a user in a case where a sheet is cut in a sheet conveyance direction and divided into multiple effective sheets and the effective sheets are conveyed in parallel as print products.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a sheet conveyance apparatus including: a cutting section that cuts, in a conveyance direction, a sheet on which images are printed to divide the sheet into multiple effective sheets; a conveyance section capable of individually conveying the effective sheets divided by the cutting section; a conveyance operation switching mechanism capable of switching a conveyance operation of the effective sheets conveyed by the conveyance section; and a hardware processor that controls the conveyance operation switching mechanism, wherein, based on at least either information on image formation on the effective sheets or information on cutting of the sheet into the effective sheets, the hardware processor controls the conveyance operation switching mechanism to switch the conveyance operation of the effective sheets.

Therefore, the sheet on which images are printed is cut in the conveyance direction by the cutting section into multiple effective sheets divided in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. Each of the effective sheets divided by the cutting section can be individually conveyed by the conveyance unit. Then, the conveyance operation switching mechanism switches the conveyance operation of the individually conveyed effective sheets as necessary. Thus, the sheet conveyance apparatus can convey some effective sheets in a different conveyance operation from the other effective sheets.

That is, the sheet conveyance apparatus can convey part of the individually conveyed effective sheets in a different conveyance operation from the other effective sheets, based on information on the image formation on the effective sheets individually conveyed by the conveyance unit and/or information on the cutting of the effective sheets individually conveyed by the conveyance unit. Thus, the sheet conveyance apparatus can cope with collation and gathering work in a case where a job includes a blank page, a case where jobs are consecutively performed, and a case where sheet sizes after cutting are different, for example.

Furthermore, even if there is no gap between adjacent effective sheets after cutting, a gap can be formed between the adjacent effective sheets by switching the conveyance operation of the individually conveyed effective sheets by the conveyance operation switching mechanism.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.

As illustrated inand, a sheet conveyance systemaccording to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatusand a sheet conveyance apparatus.

The image forming apparatusforms a color image by an electrophotographic method, based on image data obtained by reading an image of a document or image data received from an external device. The image forming apparatusincludes an operation part, a display part, a document reading section, an image forming section, a sheet feed section, a recording section, a communication section, an image processing section, and a controller(an image forming controller, a hardware processor).

The operation partincludes a touch screen formed to cover a display screen of the display partand various operation buttons, such as numeric buttons and a start button. The operation partoutputs an operation signal based on a user's operation to the image forming controller.

The display partincludes a liquid crystal display (LCD) and displays various screens in accordance with an instruction of a display signal input from the image forming controller.

The document reading sectionincludes an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a scanner. The document reading sectionoutputs image data obtained by reading an image of a document to the image forming controller.

The image forming sectionforms an image on a sheet supplied from the sheet feed section, based on the image data subjected to image processing. The image forming sectionincludes: photosensitive drumsY,M,C, andK corresponding to respective colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K); an intermediate transfer belt; a secondary transfer roller; a fixing section; and a density sensor.

The photosensitive drumY is uniformly charged and is then scanned and exposed by a laser beam based on the image data for a yellow color, so that an electrostatic latent image is formed. Next, the yellow color is applied to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum, and development is performed. For the other photosensitive drumsM,C, andK, the same processing as that for the photosensitive drumY is performed, except that the colors to be handled are different.

The toner images in the respective colors formed on the photosensitive drumsY,M,C, andK are sequentially transferred onto the rotating intermediate transfer belt(primary transfer). That is, a color toner image in which the toner images of four colors are superimposed is formed on the intermediate transfer belt. The color toner image on the intermediate transfer beltis collectively transferred onto a sheet by the secondary transfer roller(secondary transfer).

The fixing sectionincludes a heating roller that heats the sheet on which the color toner image is transferred and a pressure roller that presses the sheet. The fixing sectionfixes the color toner image on the sheet by heating and pressing.

The sheet feed sectionincludes sheet feed trays Tto Tand supplies the sheet to the image forming section. Each of the sheet feed trays Tto Tstores sheets of a sheet type and a size determined in advance for each sheet feed tray.

The recording sectionstores various data, such as a program, image data to be used when the program is executed, and various setting data, to be readable by the controller(image forming controller). As the recording section, a large-capacity memory such as a hard disk can be used.

The communication sectioncommunicates with an external apparatus over a network, for example, a user terminal, a server, and a different image forming apparatus, and receives image data or job information on an image forming job from the external apparatus. The job information includes various setting items, such as the image forming mode, whether to perform cutting processing, the size of each sheet to be generated by cutting, the place to which a sheet is ejected, and post-processing.

The image processing sectionperforms necessary image processing on image data stored in the recording section, image data obtained by reading an image from a document by the document reading section, and image data input from an external device via the communication section. The image processing sectionthen sends the image data after the image processing to the image forming section. The image processing includes gradation processing, halftone processing, color conversion processing, and so forth. The image forming sectionforms an image of four colors of C, M, Y, and K on a sheet, according to the pixel values of the four colors of the pixels of the image data on which image processing has been performed by the image processing section.

The controllerincludes a CPU, a ROM, and a memory. By reading and executing various programs stored in the recording section, the controllercontrols each section of the image forming apparatus. That is, for example, the controllerfeeds a sheet from the sheet feed trays Tto T, transfers the image from the intermediate transfer beltonto the sheet by the secondary transfer roller, and performs fixing processing by heating and pressurizing the sheet in the fixing section, so that the image is formed on the sheet.

The controlleralso controls each section of the sheet conveyance apparatus, which is described later. Therefore, the controllerserves as the image forming controllerand the sheet processing controller.

The sheet conveyance apparatusperforms processing on a sheet output by the image forming apparatusas necessary. Examples of the processing include slitter processing, gap slitter processing, cutting processing in a cross direction, creasing processing, and perforation processing in the cross direction or in the conveyance direction. These kinds of processing are not essential and are executed when instructed by the image forming apparatus. When the processing is not required, the sheet conveyance apparatusconveys the sheets from the image forming apparatusto the sheet ejection trays Tand Tas they are.

Herein, a case of performing slitter processing (cutting a sheet in the sheet conveyance direction) as the processing will be mainly described.

The sheet conveyance apparatuscuts the sheet P on which images have been printed by the image forming apparatusinto multiple effective sheets along the conveyance direction. The sheet conveyance apparatuschanges conveyance operation of the multiple effective sheets cut and divided in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction as necessary. The sheet conveyance apparatusthen ejects the effective sheets to the sheet ejection trays Tand T.

The sheet conveyance apparatusincludes a cutting sectionthat cuts a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction into effective sheets, an effective sheet conveyance sectionthat conveys the individual effective sheets, a conveyance operation switching mechanismthat switches conveyance operation of the individual effective sheets, and the sheet ejection trays Tand Tthat receive ejected sheets. The sheet conveyance apparatusfurther includes a printing information recording section, a processing information recording section, and the controller(sheet processing controller).

The cutting sectionincludes a cutter. The cuttercuts the sheet P in the conveyance direction of the sheet P and divides the sheet P into multiple effective sheets in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction. The cuttermay have a mechanism for cutting a sheet, such as a disk cutter or a guillotine cutter. In the example herein, the cutteris a disk cutter that cuts a sheet by rubbing an upper rotating blade and a lower rotating blade against each other.

The blade of the cutterof the cutting sectionis directed in the conveyance direction. The blade is not moved in the conveyance direction and is movable only in the cross direction. The position of the cutteris adjusted based on the size of the sheet in the cross direction. That is, the controller(sheet processing controller) moves the cutterto a predetermined position in the cross direction and conveys the sheet P between the upper rotating blade and the lower rotating blade, so that the sheet is cut in the conveyance direction.

There may be one or more such cutters, and the cutting sectionmay divide the sheet into two sheets as illustrated inandor into three sheets as illustrated inand. The cutting sectionmay perform processing for cutting waste. The cutting sectionperforms division of a sheet into at least two effective sheets (products).

The effective sheet conveyance sectioncan convey the individual effective sheets in parallel that are formed by cutting a sheet in the sheet conveyance direction by the cutting sectionand dividing the sheet into multiple pieces in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction. The effective sheet conveyance sectionmay be formed as one body with the cutting sectionor may be formed independently from the cutting sectionand connected to the cutting section.

The effective sheet conveyance sectionincludes a conveyance means capable of conveying each effective sheet Pindependently. The conveyance means may be, for example, conveyance rollersthat are divided in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction and that are independently driven for each of the effective sheets. For another example, the conveyance means may be conveyance beltsthat are independently driven for each of the effective sheets.

The conveyance operation switching mechanismis provided on the conveyance path at the downstream side of the cutting section. That is, the conveyance operation switching mechanismis provided to the effective sheet conveyance section. The conveyance operation switching mechanismcan have various configurations. For example, the conveyance operation switching mechanismmay control the conveyance operation for each conveyance row (for each divided effective sheet) to adjust the conveyance speed, the conveyance direction, and so forth of each of the effective sheets arranged in parallel. Further, the conveyance operation switching mechanismcan also change the conveyance path for conveying the effective sheets by physically moving part of the conveyance path along with the effective sheets in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction.

Hereinafter, a specific example of the conveyance operation switching mechanismwill be described.

andillustrate an example of dividing the sheet P into two effective sheets Pby the cutting sectionand conveying the two effective sheets Pin parallel by the conveyance rollers.andillustrate an example of dividing the sheet P into three effective sheets Pby the cutting sectionand conveying the three effective sheets Pin parallel by the conveying rollers.

In the conveyance operation switching mechanismof this example, part of the conveyance rollers(the conveyance rollers immediately after the cutting sectionin this example) are constituted by a pair of speed control rollers,that are arranged side by side in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the effective sheets P. The speeds at which the speed control rollers,rotated are independently adjustable.

Multiple pairs of such speed control rollers,may be provided on each path of the effective sheet conveyance sectionalong the conveyance direction. Further, the pair(s) of speed control rollers,may be disposed on the conveying path (effective sheet conveyance section) as a conveyance operation switching unit.

The rotation speeds (the number of rotations) of the respective speed control rollersandcan be independently controlled. In a case where the effective sheet Pis intended to be conveyed linearly along the conveyance direction, the rotation speeds of the respective governor rollersandare made equal to each other. Further, when it is desired to convey the effective sheet toward the right side in the conveyance direction, the rotation speed of the speed control rolleron the left side with respect to the conveyance direction is set to be greater than the rotation speed of the speed control rolleron the right side. Similarly, when it is desired to convey the effective sheet toward the left side in the conveyance direction, the rotation speed of the speed control rolleron the right side with respect to the conveyance direction is set to be greater than the rotation speed of the speed control rolleron the left side. Further, when it is desired to differentiate the conveyance timing or the conveyance speed at part of the conveyance path, the conveyance rollersat the part of the conveyance path may be stopped, or the rotation speed of the conveyance rollersis made different.

Above are the examples of the conveying roller. Instead of the conveyance rollers, conveyance beltsmay be used as illustrated inand. That is, the conveyance operation switching mechanismmay be constituted by two speed control beltsandarranged in parallel in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the effective sheets. The speed control beltsandcan be independently driven. In such a configuration, it is possible to change the conveyance direction and the conveyance timing of the effective sheet by the same method.

The conveyance operation switching mechanismmay be constituted by a conveyance guidethat conveys the effective sheets in different directions. The conveyance guidemay be constituted by a guide plate that can swing to the right and left with respect to the conveyance direction to change the conveyance direction of part of the effective sheets, for example. Such a conveyance guidemay be provided instead of the speed control rollers,or the speed control belts,. For another example, the conveyance guidemay be provided together with the speed control rollers,or the speed control belts,

Furthermore, as illustrated inand, the conveyance operation switching mechanismmay include a pair of upper and lower holding rollersthat hold the effective sheet P. According to such a configuration, the effective sheet is pinched by the pair of holding rollersfrom above and below, and the holding rollersthemselves are moved in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction while holding the effective sheet. Thus, the conveyance path of the sheet can be changed. In a case where the holding rollersare also configured as the conveyance operation switching unit, the conveyance operation switching unititself may be moved in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction while holding the effective sheet to change the conveyance path. In the configuration of using the holding rollers, it is preferable that the effective sheet Pis temporarily stopped when the conveyance path is changed.