Back to results
US 12,679,689 B2Granted
Sheet handling apparatus that handles multiple sheets and image forming system
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakuro Mita, Koji Kawamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bundling mechanism creates a sheet bundle including N sheets including an M-th sheet to be included in a k-th booklet and a first sheet to be included in a k+1-th booklet. The k is an integer from 1 to L−1. The M is not a multiple of N. A adhesion mechanism bonds together a preceding sheet and a subsequent sheet stacked at a stacker, except for the M-th sheet to be included in the k-th booklet and the first sheet to be included in the k+1-th booklet.
Claims17
A sheet handling apparatus comprising:
- a bundling mechanism that forms a sheet bundle including a maximum of N sheets, with sheets being received one at a time;
- a conveyer that conveys the sheet bundle in a case where formation of the sheet bundle is complete;
- a stacker that stacks the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveyer;
- an adhesion mechanism that creates a booklet including M sheets by performing a bonding process each time the sheet bundle is stacked at the stacker;
- and
- a discharger that, in a case where formation of L booklets is complete at the stacker, discharges the L booklets from the stacker,
- wherein the bundling mechanism is configured to create a sheet bundle including N sheets including an M-th sheet to be included in a k-th booklet and a first sheet to be included in a k+1-th booklet, where k is an integer from 1 to L−1 and M is not a multiple of N, and
- the adhesion mechanism is configured to bond together a preceding sheet and a subsequent sheet stacked at the stacker, except for the M-th sheet to be included in the k-th booklet and the first sheet to be included in the k+1-th booklet.
5 more elements
A sheet handling apparatus comprising:
- a layering mechanism that forms a sheet bundle by layering a plurality of sheets and temporarily holds the sheet bundle;
- a conveyer that conveys the sheet bundle held at the layering mechanism;
- a stacker that stacks one or more sheet bundles conveyed to the stacker by the conveyer;
- an adhesion mechanism that forms a booklet by performing a bonding process on one or more sheet bundles stacked at the stacker;
- a discharger that discharges the booklet from the stacker;
- and
- a controller that controls the number of sheets included in each sheet bundle formed by the layering mechanism and discharge of the booklet by the discharger,
- wherein the controller is further configured to:
- in a case where the number of sheets layered at the layering mechanism is less than a predetermined number, continue a process of layering sheets by the layering mechanism;
- in a case where the number of sheets layered at the layering mechanism is equal to the predetermined number or when the number of sheets layered at the layering mechanism is less than the predetermined number but a sheet located at a top in the layering mechanism is a sheet corresponding to a last page of a job, cause the conveyer to convey a sheet bundle from the layering mechanism to the stacker;
- and
- in a case where a sheet located at a top in the sheet bundle conveyed to the stacker from the layering mechanism by the conveyer is a sheet corresponding to the last page in the job, cause the discharger to discharge all booklets stacked in the stacker.
9 more elements
An image forming system comprising:
- an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet;
- and
- a sheet handling apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus,
- wherein the sheet handling apparatus includes
- a bundling mechanism that forms a sheet bundle including a maximum of N sheets, with sheets being received one at a time from the image forming apparatus,
- a conveyer that conveys the sheet bundle when formation of the sheet bundle is complete,
- a stacker that stacks the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveyer,
- an adhesion mechanism that creates a booklet includes M sheets by performing a bonding process each time the sheet bundle is stacked at the stacker,
- a discharger that, when formation of L booklets is complete at the stacker, discharges the L booklets from the stacker, and
- a controller that controls the bundling mechanism, the conveyer, the stacker, the adhesion mechanism, and the discharger, and
- the controller is further configured to:
- count a number i of sheets layered at the bundling mechanism;
- in a case where the i equals the N, cause the conveyer to convey the sheet bundle from the bundling mechanism to the stacker;
- and
- in a case where the i is less than the N and an i-th sheet that has arrived at the bundling mechanism is an M-th sheet in an L-th booklet, cause the conveyer to convey the sheet bundle from the bundling mechanism to the stacker.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.