Patent ID: 7497425

Claim:
A sheet post-processing apparatus, comprising: a processing tray capable of accommodating a plurality of sheets and disposed in a lengthwise direction; a sheet introducing port that introduces the sheets to the processing tray; a sheet feeding path that guides the sheets to the sheet introducing port; an end-binding unit that performs an end-binding process to a bundle of the sheets whose one ends are aligned at a lower part of the processing tray; a middle-binding and middle-folding unit that performs middle-binding and middle-folding process of the sheets, and is positioned below the end-binding unit; and a middle-binding and middle-folding feeding path that extends, starting at a middle of the sheet feeding path, substantially parallel along the processing tray in opposition to a substantial portion of the processing tray such that the processing tray and the middle-binding and middle-folding feeding path overlap in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the processing tray, the middle-binding and middle-folding feeding path guiding the sheets to the middle-binding and middle-folding unit without going through the processing tray.