Patent ID: 8275304

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image reading unit configured to read image information of an original document; an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet according to the image information; a sheet discharge space located between the image reading unit and the image forming unit, into which the sheet is discharged after passing through the image forming unit; a first sheet discharge port through which the sheet is discharged into the sheet discharge space; a second sheet discharge port located beneath the first sheet discharge port, through which the sheet is discharged into the sheet discharge space; and a sheet handling unit detachably mounted in the sheet discharge space, configured to connect to the first sheet discharge port and block the second sheet discharge port when mounted in the sheet discharge space, wherein the sheet handling unit includes a stapler unit connected to the first sheet discharge port, such that when stapling is selected, more than one sheet are sequentially forwarded to the stapler unit to be stapled and then discharged from a discharge port of the sheet handling unit onto a stack tray, and when stapling is not selected, the sheet is transported along a path onto the stack tray without being forwarded to the stapler unit.