A device for braking and positioning a print sheet in a processing machine, wherein, along a feeding direction for the print sheet, at least one mechanism exerts a braking force onto the print sheet, to position the print sheet in connection with an operation of a downstream-arranged processing station. The device includes at least a first mechanism operative to release pneumatic, braking-force triggering pulses that act upon the print sheet. At least a second mechanism is operative to generate at last one frictional force that acts upon the print sheet, wherein with aid of at least one of the first mechanism and the second mechanism, intermittent, uniform or oscillating braking forces are generated that act upon the print sheet. A control unit controls the braking forces based on at least one of changeable control profiles resulting from queried operating parameters and stored control profiles.

A sheet conveying device includes: a sheet discharge roller disposed in a conveying path of sheets so as to discharge a sheet being conveyed to a sheet discharge tray; a conveying unit that conveys sheets on a side of the conveying path closer to an upstream side than the sheet discharge roller; a motor that rotates at a constant system speed during conveying of sheets to drive the conveying unit; a transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the sheet discharge roller to rotate the sheet discharge roller; and a controller that controls an operation of the transmission mechanism, wherein the transmission mechanism changes a circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller, and the controller performs speed reduction control of controlling the operation of the transmission mechanism to temporarily reduce the circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller when a sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray.

A sheet conveying device includes: a sheet discharge roller disposed in a conveying path of sheets so as to discharge a sheet being conveyed to a sheet discharge tray; a conveying unit that conveys sheets on a side of the conveying path closer to an upstream side than the sheet discharge roller; a motor that rotates at a constant system speed during conveying of sheets to drive the conveying unit; a transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the sheet discharge roller to rotate the sheet discharge roller; and a controller that controls an operation of the transmission mechanism, wherein the transmission mechanism changes a circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller, and the controller performs speed reduction control of controlling the operation of the transmission mechanism to temporarily reduce the circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller when a sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray.

A printing apparatus includes a printing unit, first and second conveyance units conveying a print medium, and a control unit performing reduction control to reduce an overlap amount between a preceding print medium and a succeeding print medium by using a speed difference. In a first case in which a trailing end of the preceding print medium and a leading end of the succeeding print medium are positioned in an interval between the first and second conveyance units, a conveying speed of the preceding print medium is set to a first speed. In a second case which is different from the first case and in which the trailing end and the leading end are positioned in the interval between the first and second conveyance units, the conveying speed of the preceding print medium is set to a second speed different from the first speed.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A drop feeder conveys the document packets to the feeder. A sensor provides information related to the thickness of the document packets and the drop feeder is controlled in response to the information related to the thickness of a packet in the feeder. The method includes the control of the drop feeder in response to information related to the thickness of a document packet at the feeder.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A drop feeder conveys the document packets to the feeder. A sensor provides information related to the thickness of the document packets and the drop feeder is controlled in response to the information related to the thickness of a packet in the feeder. The method includes the control of the drop feeder in response to information related to the thickness of a document packet at the feeder.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A retard adjacent the feeder is operable in first and second positions. In the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in the packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet. In the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard. The system further includes a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in the packet exceeds a predetermined threshold. A drive mechanism automatically drives the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A retard adjacent the feeder is operable in first and second positions. In the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in the packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet. In the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard. The system further includes a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in the packet exceeds a predetermined threshold. A drive mechanism automatically drives the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic.

In some examples, a media stacker includes a drawer defining a chamber, and a plurality of moving elements to engage media sheets of different sizes as the media sheets are output from a system. The plurality of moving elements are to slide the media sheets to a target position in the drawer, and the plurality of moving elements are to disengage from the media sheets once the media sheets have reached the target position. A plurality of retaining elements are to engage the media sheets of the different sizes as the media sheets slide into the drawer.

In some examples, a media stacker includes a drawer defining a chamber, and a plurality of moving elements to engage media sheets of different sizes as the media sheets are output from a system. The plurality of moving elements are to slide the media sheets to a target position in the drawer, and the plurality of moving elements are to disengage from the media sheets once the media sheets have reached the target position. A plurality of retaining elements are to engage the media sheets of the different sizes as the media sheets slide into the drawer.