Patent ID: 8413985

Claim:
An image forming apparatus connectable to first and second sheet feeding apparatuses for forming an image on a sheet fed by said first sheet feeding apparatus, wherein said first sheet feeding apparatus feeds the sheet to said image forming apparatus, and said second sheet feeding apparatus feeds the sheet to said first sheet feeding apparatus, said image forming apparatus comprising: a transmission path adapted to connect said image forming apparatus and said first and second sheet feeding apparatuses, said transmission path transmitting information among said image forming apparatus and said first and second sheet feeding apparatuses, wherein said transmission path is comprised of a serial bus; a signal line adapted to connect said image forming apparatus and said first sheet feeding apparatus, said signal line transmitting a handover signal output from said image forming apparatus to said first sheet feeding apparatus, and a first control unit adapted to transmit a feeding start request to said first and second sheet feeding apparatuses via said transmission path, and transmit the handover signal to said first sheet feeding apparatus via said signal line after receiving a preparation-completion notification corresponding to the feeding start request from said first sheet feeding apparatus, wherein said first sheet feeding apparatus includes a conveyance unit and a second control unit, said conveyance unit adapted to convey a sheet to a predetermined position of said conveyance unit as a temporary sheet waiting position in accordance with a reception of the feeding start request via said transmission path, and convey the sheet at the predetermined position to said image forming apparatus in accordance with a reception of the handover signal via said signal line, wherein a first speed at which the sheet is conveyed to the predetermined position is faster than a second speed at which the sheet is conveyed from the predetermined position to said image forming apparatus, and said second control unit adapted to transmit the preparation-completion notification to said image forming apparatus after said conveyance unit conveys the sheet to the predetermined position; wherein the second control unit communicates with said second sheet feeding apparatus via said transmission path to receive the sheet from said second sheet feeding apparatus, and wherein said signal line is disposed such that said first sheet feeding apparatus does not communicate with said second sheet feeding apparatus via said signal line, to receive the sheet from said second sheet feeding apparatus.