Patent ID: 8708328

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a sheet stacking unit on which sheets are stacked; a suction conveyance unit configure to convey an uppermost sheet stacked on the sheet stacking unit while adsorbing the uppermost sheet; a suction unit configured to adsorb the sheets onto the suction conveyance unit by a negative pressure; an adsorption completion detection unit configured to detect that the adsorption of the sheets onto the suction conveyance unit is completed; a control unit configured to control the suction conveyance unit and the suction unit; and an input unit configured to input to the control unit information that tab-attached sheets or sheets other than the tab-attached sheets are stacked on the sheet stacking unit, wherein the control unit controls the suction conveyance unit and the suction unit so that when the tab-attached sheets are stacked on the sheet stacking unit and fed such that their tab portions are on the downstream side in a sheet feeding direction, after the adsorption completion detection unit detects the completion of the adsorption, the suction conveyance unit starts to convey the sheet, stops conveying the sheet after conveying the sheet by a predetermined amount, and then resumes conveying the sheet further after conveying of the sheet is stopped for a predetermined period of time.