A sheet conveyance device includes a sheet mount on which a standard-sized sheet is mountable; a first conveyor to bring in the sheet from the mount, convey the sheet through a reverse conveyance path such that the sheet passes through a specific operation position, and eject the sheet into a sheet ejection area outside the mount; and a second conveyor to bring in a hard sheet with a higher bending rigidity than the sheet from one end of a straight conveyance path along a plane passing through the specific position of the reverse path, and eject the hard sheet conveyed along the straight path from another end of the straight path at a sheet ejection area side. The mount includes a hard sheet ejection port to let through at least a leading edge portion of the hard sheet to be ejected from the second conveyor in a sheet ejection direction.

The sheet discharge control unit notifies an engine control unit of plural conveyance interval times for different conveyance speeds beforehand, where each of the conveyance interval times corresponds to a period from completion of a post processing operation with respect to a preceding piece of recording material post-processed earlier until a start of a post processing operation with respect to a given piece of recording material post-processed subsequently to the preceding piece of recording material. When performing image formation on the given piece of recording material, the engine control unit selects a conveyance interval time which matches a conveyance speed for performing image formation on the given piece of recording material from the plural conveyance interval times, of which the engine control unit has been notified by the sheet discharge control unit, and determines a timing to start the image forming operation, based on the selected conveyance interval time.

Temperature of a printing medium 110 is sufficiently decreased by stopping the printing medium 110 in a discharge path, conveying the printing medium at a low speed, switching a conveyance path, or the like. If the temperature of the printing medium 110 can be sufficiently decreased, the thermochromism phenomenon is suppressed. As a result, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of achieving highly accurate color matching and color stability.

An image scanning device includes a scanning unit configured to scan, at a scanning position, an image of a document, a first discharge portion, a second discharge portion, a conveying unit configured to selectively convey the document along a first conveying path from the scanning position to the first discharge portion, and along a second conveying path from the scanning position to the second discharge portion, a driving unit configured to generate a driving force for driving the conveying unit, and a cover member configured to receive the driving force generated by the driving unit such that the cover member moves between a closed position for covering the second discharge portion and an open position for exposing the second discharge portion.

An image processing device includes first and second feeding units. The first feeding unit feeds a sheet toward the second feeding unit in a sheet feeding direction via a sheet feeding path. The device further includes an image processing portion. The first feeding unit is in the path upstream of the processing portion and includes a first shaft rotating in the feeding direction. The second feeding unit is in the path downstream of the processing portion, and the first and the second units feed and hold the sheet. The second feeding unit includes a second shaft rotating in the feeding direction. The device includes a first supporting member supporting first and second ends of the first shaft, a second supporting member supporting first and second ends of the second shaft, and a third supporting member supporting one shaft at a predetermined portion which is not either end of either shaft.

A reading device includes a reader provided with a reading sensor that optically reads a sheet conveyed through a conveyance path, and a hardware processor that controls the reader, in which the reader includes a background section that is disposed to face the reading sensor across the conveyance path, the background section having a background surface serving as a background of the sheet when the sheet is read, and the hardware processor switches the background surface of the background section on the basis of attribute information of the sheet to be conveyed.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a tray having a plurality of sheets, a feeder to successively convey sheets stacked on the tray, a controller, and a double-feed sensor to detect double feed when the feeder conveys a plurality of sheets in an overlapping manner. When a double-feed length, which corresponds to a length, in a conveyance direction of the sheet, of a region in which the double feed has been detected by the double-feed sensor, is larger than a predetermined distance, the controller determines that the double feed has occurred. When the double-feed length is smaller than the predetermined distance and a sheet size is smaller than a predetermined size, the controller determines that the double feed has occurred. When the double-feed length is smaller than the predetermined distance and the sheet size is larger than the predetermined size, the controller determines that the double feed has not occurred.

A medium transport apparatus includes a main body that is switchable between a first posture and a second posture and a rotatable route-forming member that forms an exterior of a turning route. The route-forming member couples a first transport route to a second transport route when the main body has the first posture and couples the first transport route to a third transport route when the main body has the second posture. The medium transport apparatus further includes a transport route switching section having a switching member that engages with both the body support and the route-forming member. In response to switching between the first posture and the second posture of the main body, engagement of the switching member with the main-body support changes to rotate the route-forming member and to switch the medium transport route to which the first transport route is coupled.

An image reading device includes a contact glass, an automatic document feeder, a first reading module, a second reading module, a white reference member, a swinging mechanism, one motor, and a control portion. The swinging mechanism swings the second reading module or white reference member in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The control portion, by rotating a motor forward, drives a conveying member to convey a document and, by rotating the motor reversely, drives the swinging mechanism with the conveying member at rest to swing the second reading module or white reference member and meanwhile acquire white reference data. When performing a duplex reading process successively for a plurality of sheets of a conveyed document, the control portion acquires the white reference data with the document at rest closely upstream of the second reading module in the conveyance direction.

A transportation device transports a document sheet from a feeding tray to an output tray. A first lifting device lifts and lowers the feeding tray. A feeding-tray upperlimit sensor detects that the feeding tray reaches an upperlimit height. An output-tray sheet sensor detects the document sheet on the output tray. Further, the controller at a standby status (a) determines whether a document sheet is on the output tray or not, (b1) if a document sheet is not on the output tray, arranges the feeding tray at a predetermined intermediate position, and (b2) if a document sheet is on the output tray, arranges the feeding tray at a lower position that is a position apart by a predetermined distance from a position of the feeding tray when detecting that the feeding tray reaches the upperlimit height. Here, the lower position is a position higher than the intermediate position.