Patent ID: 8272640

Claim:
A medium conveyance apparatus comprising: a conveyance path to convey a medium; a plurality of conveyance units which convey the medium along the conveyance path; a first lower layer control unit which controls a conveyance unit, that conveys the medium in a first conveyance section of the conveyance path, among the plurality of conveyance units; a second lower layer control unit which controls a conveyance unit, that conveys the medium in a second conveyance section located downstream of the first conveyance section in a direction in which the medium is conveyed, among the plurality of conveyance units; an upper layer control unit which controls the first lower layer control unit and the second lower layer control unit; and a passage detection unit which is provided in the conveyance path, and detects passage of the medium, wherein the upper layer control unit is further configured to determine, in accordance with the detection result obtained by the passage detection unit, whether the medium is at a position where both the first lower layer control unit and the second lower layer control unit engage with conveyance control of the medium, instruct the first lower layer control unit and the second lower layer control unit to operate in synchronization with each other when the upper layer control unit determines that the medium is at the position where both the first lower layer control unit and the second lower layer control unit engage with the conveyance control of the medium, and instruct the second lower layer control unit to operate asynchronously to the first lower layer control unit when the upper layer control unit determines that the medium is not at the position where both the first lower layer control unit and the second lower layer control unit engage with the conveyance control of the medium.