The present invention is to provide a sheet bundle binding device having both a staple binding unit and a staple-free binding unit, capable of performing binding in two stages of proper binding and temporary binding so as to obtain a desired binding force and to easily remove some sheets from a bound sheet bundle. A binding control section determines, based on user's settings, whether or not to perform first binding in which a first sheet bundle Sb1 is subjected to the proper binding using the staple binding unit or staple-free binding unit and determines whether or not to perform second binding in which a second sheet bundle obtained by accumulating additional sheets on the first sheet bundle is subjected to the temporary binding using the staple-free binding unit so as to control binding forces with which the first and second sheet bundles are bound.

To suppress the bending of sheets, a sheet conveying apparatus includes a sheet conveying portion including an abutting portion for abutting against an end portion of the sheet supported by a supporting portion and which conveys the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion by moving in a predetermined moving direction, and a pressing portion which is provided on the sheet conveying portion such that the pressing portion is movable in a thickness direction of the sheet and which presses the sheet toward the supporting portion. The pressing portion includes an inclined portion arranged to be closer to the supporting portion at an upstream side than a downstream side, and a contacting portion configured to contact a surface of the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion to press the sheet to the supporting portion at a position distant from the abutting portion.

A folding processing device includes a pressing section that includes a first opposing member and a second opposing member, the first opposing member opposing a folded portion of a folded sheet, the second opposing member opposing the first opposing member with the folded portion interposed therebetween, the pressing section pressing the folded portion by nipping the folded portion by using the first opposing member and the second opposing member; and a guiding section that is disposed upstream from the pressing section in a sheet transport direction, the guiding section nipping the sheet whose folded portion has passed through the guiding section and guiding the sheet to the pressing section.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a sheet processing apparatus includes a stacking unit that stacks a sheet conveyed thereto; a first alignment unit that aligns the sheet or a bundle of sheets stacked in the stacking unit in a sheet conveying direction; a second alignment unit that aligns the sheet or the bundle of sheets stacked in the stacking unit in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction; a pressing unit that presses the bundle of sheets at an end portion thereof on a predetermined one side; and a control unit that causes at least one of the first and second alignment units to execute an alignment operation during a press operation of the sheet or the bundle of sheets performed by the pressing unit.

A post-processing apparatus comprises a first processing tray on which fed paper is placed; a paper binding section configured to bind a plurality of sheets of paper stacked on the first processing tray into one bundle; a second processing tray which a plurality of paper bundles bound on the first processing tray are sequentially conveyed to and placed on; a paper bundle gluing section configured to coat glue at a given position of the top surface of a first paper bundle placed on the second processing tray before a second paper bundle is placed on the first paper bundle; a pressing section configured to press and bind the first paper bundle with the second paper bundle between which glue is coated; and a control section configured to control the timing for conveying the second paper bundle onto the first paper bundle after the glue is coated.

An image forming system capable of producing a center-folded or saddle-stitched brochure having punched holes at identical positions between the front and back sides thereof even when a saddle-stitching or center-folding position is set to a location shifted from a sheet center position. A puncher punches holes in a sheet. A finisher folds a sheet bundle formed by sheets each having the holes punched therein. A console sets an adjustment value for adjusting a folding position at which the sheet bundle is folded by the finisher, according to a manual operation. When the adjustment value is larger than a reference value, the puncher determines a punching position with respect to a folding position having the adjustment value reflected thereon and punches the holes in the determined punching position.

A sheet post-processing device includes a conveying section that conveys a paper sheet; a punch section that punches punch holes in the paper sheet conveyed by the conveying section; a stacker section that stores the paper sheet in which the punch holes are punched by the punch section; a binding section that binds a paper sheet bundle stored in the stacker section with a binding member; and a controller that controls the above sections. The controller selectively performs a ring binding mode and a direct binding mode. The ring binding mode is a mode in which punch holes are punched in the paper sheet by the punch section and then the binding member is made to penetrate the punch holes for binding. The direct binding mode is a mode in which the binding member is directly driven into the paper sheet bundle without punching the punch holes in the sheet.

A square back processing unit performs a square back process on the sheet bundle and includes a pair of clamp portions. The sheet bundle subjected to the square back process by the square back processing unit is discharged to a sheet bundle discharge unit. A cover unit is provided downstream of the square back processing unit in the conveyance direction such that a child access probe according to a safety standard IEC 62368-1 does not reach the pair of clamp portions in a case where the child access probe is inserted from an outside of the sheet processing apparatus.

In a post-processing device (sheet discharge device), a pile thickness calculating section calculates, from a type and the number of paper sheets discharged through a sheet output port, a thickness of a pile, at its leading end, of sets of paper sheets on a sheet output tray (piling section), calculates a thickness of the pile, at its trailing end, of sets of paper sheets on the sheet output tray from an amount of movement of a lifting section, and calculates an angle of inclination of the uppermost set of paper sheets in the pile from the thicknesses of the pile at its leading and trailing ends, a height of inclination of the sheet output tray, and a length of the paper sheets. The control section controls the sheet discharge section to change a manner of discharging a subsequent set of paper sheets according to the calculated angle of inclination.

A sheet discharge apparatus includes a sheet stacking portion on which a sheet discharged by a discharging portion is stacked, and a control portion configured to control a moving unit such that a height position of an uppermost sheet stacked on the sheet stacking portion becomes a first height position. In a case where a sheet detection portion detects that the height position of the uppermost sheet is above a second height position, the control portion sets a sheet discharge speed of the discharging portion to a first sheet discharge speed. In a case where the sheet detection portion detects that the height position of the uppermost sheet becomes lower than the second height position, the control portion controls the sheet discharge speed to be a second sheet discharge speed faster than the first sheet discharge speed.