An example system includes an advancement mechanism to drive print medium into a stacking region, a clamping mechanism, and a controller. The clamping mechanism includes a trailing edge clamping arrangement in a trailing edge portion of the stacking region and at least one downstream clamping arrangement in a downstream portion of the stacking region, the downstream portion being downstream of the trailing edge portion. The controller is to sequentially actuate the trailing edge clamping arrangement and the at least one downstream clamping arrangement when the advancement mechanism transports a print medium into the stacking region.

Provided are a medium conveyance apparatus, control method, and control program to enable determining whether multi-feed of a medium has occurred by a greater precision. A medium conveyance apparatus includes a storage device to store in advance region information of a predetermined region in a medium, a feed roller to feed the medium, a slant detection module to detect an amount of slant of the fed medium, an overlap detection module to detect region information of a region in which overlap has occurred in the fed medium, a correction module to correct the detected region information based on the amount of slant, and a multi-feed determination module to determine that multi-feed of the medium has occurred if the corrected region information does not correspond to the stored region information and determine that multi-feed of the medium has not occurred if the corrected region information corresponds to the stored region information.

In a printing apparatus, the ends of print media fed continuously can be prevented from colliding with each other. The printing apparatus includes a printing unit configured to perform a print operation, a detecting unit configured to detect a conveyance abnormality, a conveying unit configured to convey a preceding print medium and a succeeding print medium, a conveying path having a first area including a curved portion at which a conveying direction of the print medium is curved and a second area upstream of the first area, and an opening unit capable of opening the first area of the conveying path. In a case in which a leading edge of the succeeding print medium is located in the second area at the time of the detecting unit detecting conveyance abnormality of the preceding print medium, the conveying unit conveys the succeeding print medium so that the leading edge of the succeeding print medium reaches the first area.

In a printing apparatus, the ends of print media fed continuously can be prevented from colliding with each other. The printing apparatus includes a printing unit configured to perform a print operation, a detecting unit configured to detect a conveyance abnormality, a conveying unit configured to convey a preceding print medium and a succeeding print medium, a conveying path having a first area including a curved portion at which a conveying direction of the print medium is curved and a second area upstream of the first area, and an opening unit capable of opening the first area of the conveying path. In a case in which a leading edge of the succeeding print medium is located in the second area at the time of the detecting unit detecting conveyance abnormality of the preceding print medium, the conveying unit conveys the succeeding print medium so that the leading edge of the succeeding print medium reaches the first area.

A medium aligning apparatus includes a load tray including a load surface on which a medium discharged from a discharge member that discharges a medium is loaded, a first aligning surface that aligns a plurality of mediums loaded on the load tray by positioning rear ends of the mediums, and a second aligning surface that aligns the mediums by positioning the rear ends of the mediums loaded on the load tray. In the medium aligning apparatus, the first aligning surface and the second aligning surface are switchable, and an angle formed between a wall surface in the discharge tray that receives the mediums discharged from the load tray, the wall surface having the rear ends of the mediums come in contact therewith, and the second aligning surface is smaller than an angle formed between the wall surface and the first aligning surface.

A medium aligning apparatus includes a load tray including a load surface on which a medium discharged from a discharge member that discharges a medium is loaded, a first aligning surface that aligns a plurality of mediums loaded on the load tray by positioning rear ends of the mediums, and a second aligning surface that aligns the mediums by positioning the rear ends of the mediums loaded on the load tray. In the medium aligning apparatus, the first aligning surface and the second aligning surface are switchable, and an angle formed between a wall surface in the discharge tray that receives the mediums discharged from the load tray, the wall surface having the rear ends of the mediums come in contact therewith, and the second aligning surface is smaller than an angle formed between the wall surface and the first aligning surface.

A sheet folding apparatus includes a conveyance member to convey a sheet from an ejection member at a first speed lower than a conveyance speed by the ejection member or a second speed substantially same as or higher than the conveyance speed; a registration member; a pair of first and second rollers to rotate in forward and reverse directions; a plurality of folding rollers downstream from the second roller, to rotate in forward and reverse directions to fold the sheet; and circuitry to determine whether the sheet is equal to or smaller than a reference length from an exit position from the ejection member to a folding start position downstream from the pair of the first and second rollers. The circuitry performs first-speed folding when the sheet is equal to or smaller than the reference length and performs second-speed folding when the sheet is longer than the reference length.

A sheet folding apparatus includes a conveyance member to convey a sheet from an ejection member at a first speed lower than a conveyance speed by the ejection member or a second speed substantially same as or higher than the conveyance speed; a registration member; a pair of first and second rollers to rotate in forward and reverse directions; a plurality of folding rollers downstream from the second roller, to rotate in forward and reverse directions to fold the sheet; and circuitry to determine whether the sheet is equal to or smaller than a reference length from an exit position from the ejection member to a folding start position downstream from the pair of the first and second rollers. The circuitry performs first-speed folding when the sheet is equal to or smaller than the reference length and performs second-speed folding when the sheet is longer than the reference length.

In the first mode, the control unit controls the driving source such that the rotary feeding member starts to move toward the first position based on an elapse of a first time since the detection portion detected a leading edge of the sheet, and position the rotary feeding member at the first position when a trailing edge of the sheet passes through the separation nip. In the second mode, the control unit controls the driving source such that the rotary feeding member starts to move toward the first position based on an elapse of a second time longer than the first time since the detection portion detected the leading edge of the sheet, and position the rotary feeding member at a position separated more from the stacking portion than the first position when the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the separation nip.

In the first mode, the control unit controls the driving source such that the rotary feeding member starts to move toward the first position based on an elapse of a first time since the detection portion detected a leading edge of the sheet, and position the rotary feeding member at the first position when a trailing edge of the sheet passes through the separation nip. In the second mode, the control unit controls the driving source such that the rotary feeding member starts to move toward the first position based on an elapse of a second time longer than the first time since the detection portion detected the leading edge of the sheet, and position the rotary feeding member at a position separated more from the stacking portion than the first position when the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the separation nip.