A feeding apparatus comprises a blower unit that is able to perform a first air blowing operation on sheets which are stacked on a stacking unit, and a second air blowing operation in which the volume of air blowing is smaller than volume of air blowing in the first air blowing operation; a feeding unit, brought into contact with the sheets stacked on the stacking unit and located on a feeding position to which feeding is performed while pressing the sheets from above, for feeding the sheets on which the first air blowing operation has been performed; and a control unit for controlling the blower unit to perform the first air blowing operation until a start of feeding by the feeding unit so as to separate the sheets stacked on the stacking unit.

An image forming apparatus comprises a first conveyance unit, an image forming unit, a second conveyance unit, a stacking unit, and a control unit. The control unit controls, in a case where a sheet stacking condition of the stacking unit does not satisfy a predetermined stacking condition, the second conveyance unit to convey the sheet at a second conveyance speed that is faster than the first conveyance speed. The control unit controls, in a case where the sheet stacking condition of the stacking unit satisfies the predetermined stacking condition, the second conveyance unit to convey the sheet at a third conveyance speed that is slower than the second conveyance speed.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyance controller and a processor. The conveyance controller controls a conveyance operation for conveying an image forming medium. The processor executes an image quality maintenance operation for maintaining quality in an image forming processing. The processor executes at least a part of the conveyance operation and a part of the image quality maintenance operation in parallel.

A sheet discharge apparatus includes a discharge and sheet support unit, a detection unit, a rotation member having a first abutting portion positioned above the sheet support unit, and a pressing member provided rotatably independent of the rotation member. The discharge unit nips and discharges a sheet in a sheet discharge direction. The sheet support unit supports the discharged sheet. The rotation member rotates when the first abutting portion is pressed by the sheet. The detection unit detects a position of the rotation member. A second abutting portion of the pressing member abuts against the sheet at a position downstream from a position at which the discharge unit nips the sheet and upstream from the first abutting portion in the sheet discharge direction. The pressing member presses the sheet discharged from the discharge unit downward using the second abutting portion, regardless of a position of the rotation member.

A control device includes a storage and a controller and controls a system having an image forming apparatus to form an image onto a sheet based on an image forming job, and a sheet stacking apparatus having a stacking tray. The storage stores stacking state information indicating a state of sheets stacked and/or to be stacked on the stacking tray. The controller controls to generate a system configuration image that visualizes a configuration of the system, to generate a sheet bundle image that visualizes a sheet bundle stacked on the tray, and to display a screen in which the sheet bundle image is combined at a position of the stacking tray in the system configuration image. The controller controls to display the sheet bundle image such that sheets of a processed job, sheets of a job being processed, and sheets of a processing waiting job are distinguished from each other.

An apparatus, to control a motor from an instructed phase indicating a motor rotor target phase, includes a detector, a phase determiner, a converter, and a controller. The detector detects a motor winding driving current. The phase determiner determines a rotor rotation phase from the detected driving current. The converter converts a detected current value in a stationary coordinate system into a current value in a rotational coordinate system from the determined rotation phase. The controller includes a first mode for controlling the driving current to cause a determined phase deviation between the instructed and rotation phases to decreased, and a second mode for controlling the driving current from a current having a previously determined magnitude. On switching the mode from the second to the first mode, the first mode target value is set from a driving current value corresponding to a current component represented by the rotational coordinate system.

An image formation apparatus includes a conveyor configured to convey a moving element on which an image is formed, a generator configured to generate a first image and a second image by shooting the conveyed moving element at different timing, a detector configured to sense a first distance between the generator and the moving element at the time of shooting of the first image and sense a second distance between the generator and the moving element at the time of shooting of the second image, and a hardware processor configured to calculate a speed of conveyance of the moving element based on the first image, the second image, the first distance, and the second distance, and output the speed of conveyance.

An image formation apparatus according to one or more embodiments may include: a first conveyer; a second conveyer provided downstream of the first conveyer; a detector that detects a deflection of the medium between the first and second conveyers; a speed controller that controls a speed of the second conveyer within a first speed range; a calculator that calculates an average convey speed of the second conveyer. The calculator calculates a first average speed in a first period from when a leading end of the medium reaches the second conveyer to when the medium is conveyed a predetermined distance from the second conveyer. The speed controller changes, after the first period elapses, the speed of the second conveyer within a second speed range with the calculated first average convey speed as a criteria speed of the second conveyer, based on the detection result from the detector.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyance controller and a processor. The conveyance controller controls a conveyance operation for conveying an image forming medium. The processor executes an image quality maintenance operation for maintaining quality in an image forming processing. The processor executes at least a part of the conveyance operation and a part of the image quality maintenance operation in parallel.

A sheet feeding device includes a stacking unit for stacking a sheet; a feeding member for feeding the sheet stack on the stacking unit; a holding member holding the feeding member; a holder supporting portion, provided above the stacking unit, for detachably supporting the holding member; a raising and lowering unit for raising and lowering the holding member; a detection unit for detecting a topmost surface of the sheet stacked on the stacking unit, by detecting the holding member; a control unit for effecting raising and lowering operation of the holding member using the raising and lowering unit before a feeding operation of the feeding member and detect presence or absence of the holding member on the basis of a signal from the detection unit produced with the raising and lowering operation.