Patent ID: 6315288
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: B42C,B65H,G03G

Abstract:
A sheet post-processing apparatus, comprising:a sheet tray capable of retaining therein a plurality of sheets;a sheet transportation path for guiding a sheet into the sheet tray;a bypass path bypassing at least part of the sheet transportation path for guiding a sheet into the sheet tray;a post-processing mechanism for performing a predetermined post-processing operation on a set of sheets retained in the sheet tray; anda sheet transportation mechanism including: (a) sheet stopping means for, during the post-processing operation performed by the post-processing mechanism on one set of sheets previously fed into the sheet tray, once stopping a first sheet of a next sheet set in the transportation path, (b) sheet deflection means for transporting a second sheet of the next sheet set into the bypass path, and (c) sheet feeding means for feeding the first and second sheets of the next sheet set into the sheet tray upon completion of the post-processing operation performed on the one set of sheets previously fed into the sheet tray, wherein the bypass path extends to a location such that leading edges of the first and second sheets of the next sheet set are aligned at an outlet of the bypass path before the first and second sheets are fed by the sheet feeding means into the sheet tray.