Sheet post-process apparatus

• US 7,295,803 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 11/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Taki, Hiroyuki, Yamamoto, Hajime, Murakami, Reiji, Sugizaki, Yoshiaki, Terao, Yasunobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Anthony H.
• Application Number:
  US11/008,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20060067773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 399/407, 399/408, 399/409, 399/410, 270/27, 270/58.08, 270/52.18
• US Class Current: 399/407
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6541 Binding sets of sheets, e.g. by stapling, glueing
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6573 Feeding path after the fixing point and up to the discharge tray or the finisher, e.g. special treatment of copy material to compensate for effects from the fixing
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00421 Discharging tray, e.g. devices stabilising the quality of the copy medium, postfixing-treatment, inverting, sorting

Abstract

A waiting tray is provided in a sheet-conveying path and holds sheets if the sheets need to be post-processed. A processing tray receives sheets conveyed from the waiting tray. It may receive sheets conveyed through the sheet-conveying path and coming not via the waiting tray, before the sheets are post-processed. A conveying mechanism is provided, which causes the sheets to fall, due to gravity, from the waiting tray onto a processing tray. A sheet-aligning mechanism aligns the sheets on the processing tray, at their transverse edges and longitudinal edges. On the processing tray, the sheets are post-processed, forming a bundle. The conveying mechanism conveys the bundle of sheets to a storage tray. Input rollers are spaced by a vertical distance from sheet-feeding rollers which are positioned at upstream of the waiting tray.

Claims

1. A sheet post-process apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of rollers which receive sheets from an MFP and convey the sheets forward;

a waiting tray which is provided in a conveying path and holds some of the sheets conveyed from the rollers when a bundle of sheets needs to be post-processed;

a processing tray which holds the sheets conveyed from the waiting tray and other sheets forming the bundle of sheets, before the bundle of sheets is post-processed;

the plurality of rollers including input rollers and sheet-feeding rollers, and the input rollers being positioned above the sheet-feeding rollers which are positioned upstream of the waiting tray and convey the sheets to the waiting tray or the processing tray;

a post-process mechanism which performs a post-process on the bundle of sheets on the processing tray; and

a storage tray which holds the bundle of sheets conveyed from the processing tray.

2. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sheet-conveying path extending from the input rollers to the sheet-feeding rollers is curved.

5. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet-conveying mechanism which conveys the post-processed bundle of sheets from the processing tray.

7. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet-aligning mechanism which aligns the bundle of sheets with one another on the processing tray at transverse and longitudinal edges.

9. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an alignment mechanism to align some of the sheets on the waiting tray.

3. A sheet post-process apparatus, comprising:

conveying means for receiving sheets from an MFP and conveying the sheets forward;

a waiting tray which is provided in a conveying path and holds some of the sheets conveyed from the conveying means when a bundle of sheets needs to be post-processed;

a processing tray which holds the sheets conveyed from the waiting tray and other sheets forming the bundle of sheets before the bundle of sheets is post-processed;

the conveying means including input rollers and sheet-feeding rollers, and the input rollers being positioned above the sheet-feeding rollers which are positioned upstream of the waiting tray and convey the sheets to the waiting tray or the processing tray;

a post-process mechanism which performs a post-process on the bundle of sheets on the processing tray; and

a storage tray which holds the bundle of sheets conveyed from the processing tray.

4. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a sheet-conveying path extending from the input rollers to the sheet-feeding rollers is curved.

6. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a sheet-conveying mechanism which conveys the post-processed bundle of sheets from the processing tray.

8. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a sheet-aligning mechanism which aligns the bundle of sheets with one another on the processing tray at transvers and longitudinal edges.

10. the sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an alignment mechanism to align some of the sheets on the waiting tray.

11. A method for post-processing sheets, comprising:

receiving sheets from a multi-function peripheral and conveying the sheets forward;

positioning input rollers above sheet-feeding rollers which are positioned upstream of a waiting tray and convey the sheets to the waiting tray or a processing tray;

providing the waiting tray in a conveying path for holding some of the sheets conveyed when a bundle of sheets needs to be post-processed;

holding sheets conveyed by the waiting tray on the processing tray and other sheets forming the bundle of sheets before the bundle of sheets is post-processed;

performing a post-process on the bundle of sheets on the processing tray; and

holding the bundle of sheets conveyed from the processing tray.

12. The method for post-processing sheets according to claim 11, further comprising a sheet-conveying path extending from the input rollers to the sheet-feeding rollers to be curved.