Sheet Post-Processing Apparatus with Auxiliary Storing Section
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet post-processing apparatuses face inefficiencies due to the need to temporarily suspend image formation processing when handling odd-numbered sheet bundles, as they cannot ensure sufficient time for post-processing, leading to reduced processing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A sheet post-processing apparatus with an auxiliary storing section that temporarily saves sheets and feeds them in batches to the main storing section, accompanied by the next sheet, ensuring consistent processing intervals and avoiding the need for suspending the image formation processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If sheets are alternately temporarily saved on the temporarily storing drum to feed two sheets together to the stacking section, then the time required to align sheets in the stacking section is compensated and processing speed is improved, but the last sheet of an odd-numbered bundle cannot be temporarily saved, causing insufficient time for post-processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the sheet feeding strategy based on the bundle number. For odd-numbered bundles, sheets are fed one at a time to ensure adequate post-processing time. For even-numbered bundles, sheets are fed in pairs to maximize processing speed. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between speed and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the feeding parameter (single sheet vs. paired sheets) based on the bundle number parity. This parameter change allows the system to optimize for speed when appropriate (even bundles) while guaranteeing post-processing time when needed (odd bundles), thus resolving the technical contradiction.
2Reliability
If the conveyance of the first sheet of the next bundle is temporarily stopped to ensure post-processing time for the previous bundle, then post-processing time is guaranteed, but the image formation processing must be suspended, reducing overall processing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the bundle processing into odd-numbered and even-numbered bundles with different feeding strategies. This segmentation allows the system to guarantee post-processing time for odd bundles without affecting the processing of even bundles, thereby maintaining overall processing efficiency while ensuring reliability where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects the feeding mode (single or paired) based on bundle number, allowing continuous operation of the image formation apparatus while ensuring adequate post-processing time for specific bundles that need it, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and productivity.
3Productivity
If sheets are fed one by one to the stacking section in accordance with sheet feeding intervals, then the image formation processing can continue without suspension, but the time required to staple a specified number of sheets is too long to handle successively fed sheets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by temporarily storing sheets on the temporarily storing drum before they reach the stacking section. This preliminary storage allows the system to prepare sheets for batch processing, reducing the effective stapling time by having sheets ready in advance rather than processing them as they arrive.
Solution Approach 2:
The temporarily storing drum acts as an intermediary between the sheet feeding mechanism and the stacking section. It buffers the sheets, allowing the system to decouple the sheet feeding rate from the stapling rate, thus enabling continuous feeding while maintaining adequate stapling time.
Data Source
AI summary
A sheet post-processing apparatus has a stacking section for storing sheets received from an image forming apparatus for post-processing, a sheet saving section for temporarily saving a specified number of sheets being conveyed to the stacking section and then causing them to accompany a sheet conveyed next for the batch feed of the sheets, and a controller for executing a control to batch feed remaining sheets by causing the remaining sheets to accompany the temporarily saved sheets of a previous set if the remaining sheets falls short of the number of the sheets to be batch fed. Even if the total number of the sheets saved in the auxiliary storing section and the last sheet of the sheet bundle falls short of the preset batch feed number, the need for temporarily suspending the conveyance of the first sheet of the next bundle can be eliminated to speed-up the sheet processing.