A conveyor includes a plurality of belt support assemblies each having a drive wheel assembly at one end and an idler wheel assembly at the other end. Each of the drive and idler wheel assemblies includes a motion converter for converting the rotational movement of a shaft into linear motion along the shaft and an actuator for selectively engaging the motion converter and the shaft. A controller controls the operation of the shafts and the actuators to selectively and individually control the location of each end of each belt assembly relative to one another and to a centerline of the conveyor.

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 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 reading apparatus includes: a supply tray; a discharge tray, which is positioned below the supply tray to support the sheet; a conveyance guide, which conveys the sheet from the supply tray to the discharge tray; a reading sensor, which reads an image on the sheet conveyed on the conveyance guide; a discharge unit, which includes a discharge port to discharge the sheet conveyed by the conveyance guide to the discharge tray and is configured to move from a third position to a fourth position, the fourth position being higher than the third position; a first drive source, which generates a drive force; and a second drive source, which generates a drive force, wherein the movable plate is moved by the drive force from the first drive source, and the discharge unit is moved by the drive force from the second drive source.

An image scanner is configured to perform: controlling the sheet feed roller to feed the document supported on the sheet feed tray, controlling the conveyor to convey the fed document to the reading position, controlling the image sensor to read the image of the document at the reading position, and controlling the sheet discharge unit to discharge the read document to the sheet discharge tray; in response to detecting, by the sheet feed sensor, a state change from the first state to the second state, moving the movable plate upward until the sheet feed roller changes from the second state to the first state; after moving the movable plate, controlling the distance sensor to detect the document distance; and moving the sheet discharge unit vertically based on the detected document distance.

An image reading device includes: a discharge guide including a discharge opening for discharging the sheet conveyed by the conveyance guide to the discharge tray, the discharge guide being configured to move from a third position to a fourth position according to the decrease in the number of the sheet to be supported by the supply tray, the fourth position being higher than the third position; a discharge roller configured to discharge the sheet through the discharge opening; and a first drive source which generates a first drive force for moving the discharge guide between the third position and the fourth position, wherein the first drive force is also used for rotating the discharge roller.

An image reading device includes: a discharge guide including a discharge opening for discharging the sheet conveyed by the conveyance guide to the discharge tray, the discharge guide being configured to move from a third position to a fourth position according to the decrease in the number of the sheet to be supported by the supply tray, the fourth position being higher than the third position; a discharge roller configured to discharge the sheet through the discharge opening; and a first drive source which generates a first drive force for moving the discharge guide between the third position and the fourth position, wherein the first drive force is also used for rotating the discharge roller.

An image reading device includes: a controller which performs a first drive operation for rotating the discharge roller, and a second drive operation for moving the discharge guide between the third position and the fourth position. The controller stops the first drive operation when performing the second drive operation, and stops the second drive operation when performing the first drive operation.

An automated sheets processing system has a vertical stacks accumulating region (SAR) into which sheets are uninterruptedly fed to build vertical stacks for pre-specified loads including completed loads and newly building nascent loads. A tiltable Stacking Deck has a downstream discharge end from which the sheets can be fed at different elevational levels into the stacks accumulating region. A nascent sheets accumulator system has a plurality of support surfaces that are retractably interjectable into the stacks accumulating region for defining a separation gap between the top of a completed load and the bottommost sheet of a nascent new load. At least one of the support surfaces is retractably interjectable in an upstream direction into the stacks accumulating region while at least two others of the support surfaces are retractably interjectable in a downstream direction into the stacks accumulating region. One of the support surfaces has an anti-scuff feature.

An automated sheets processing system has a vertical stacks accumulating region (SAR) into which sheets are uninterruptedly fed to build vertical stacks for pre-specified loads including completed loads and newly building nascent loads. A tiltable Stacking Deck has a downstream discharge end from which the sheets can be fed at different elevational levels into the stacks accumulating region. A nascent sheets accumulator system has a plurality of support surfaces that are retractably interjectable into the stacks accumulating region for defining a separation gap between the top of a completed load and the bottommost sheet of a nascent new load. At least one of the support surfaces is retractably interjectable in an upstream direction into the stacks accumulating region while at least two others of the support surfaces are retractably interjectable in a downstream direction into the stacks accumulating region. One of the support surfaces has an anti-scuff feature.