A sheet processing apparatus includes: a processing tray section having a sheet mounting surface on which a transported sheet is mounted and a processing section that performs processing on the sheet; a side edge alignment section that is provided on the processing tray section and aligns a side edge of the sheet; a lower support section that is provided downstream of the processing tray section in a transport direction of the sheet and supports the sheet from below; and a discharge tray located below the lower support section. The side edge alignment section performs a shift operation of shifting the sheet in a shift direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet. The lower support section moves in the shift direction in conjunction with a movement of the sheet in a state of supporting the sheet from below during the shift operation by the side edge alignment section.

A conveying apparatus for feeding sheets into a processing apparatus is discloses which comprises a plurality of nips within which sheets are gripped and driven along a conveying direction towards the processing apparatus, each nip being defined between a respective drive wheel and an opposing reaction surface. The drive wheels are omni-wheels configured to apply a frictional force to advance the sheets in the conveying direction while permitting free movement of the sheets in a direction transverse to the conveying direction, the reaction surfaces permitting free movement of the sheets in the transverse direction, and an elongate guide is arranged on one side of the conveying apparatus, to extend generally parallel to the conveying direction, the conveying apparatus being configured to urge conveyed sheets in the transverse direction into contact with the guide. A control system is provided to move the guide generally in the transverse direction in dependence upon sensed fiducials on the conveyed sheets, to ensure correct alignment of the sheets in the transverse direction with respect to the processing apparatus.

A sheet conveyance device includes a pair of conveyance rollers, a contact-release mechanism, an alignment mechanism, and a control portion. The contact-release mechanism moves first and second conveyance rollers, constituting the pair of conveyance rollers, into contact with and away from each other. The alignment mechanism aligns a sheet conveyed along the sheet conveyance passage in a sheet width direction. The alignment mechanism includes a pair of alignment members movable toward and away from each other in the sheet width direction and aligning the sheet in the sheet width direction by making contact, from both sides in the sheet width direction, with side edges of the sheet. The control portion controls the contact-release mechanism to move the first and second conveyance rollers away from each other, and aligns the sheet with the pair of alignment members located opposite each other in the sheet width direction.

A center-alignment apparatus for use in an ATM has a transport mechanism to transport a document into the ATM. One or more plates operable in tandem to move the document toward a centerline of a path the document is to travel. Edge-detection sensor(s) on the plate sense an edge of the document when the plate(s) is moved toward the centerline. A translate/rotate mechanism translates and rotates the document while the translate/rotate mechanism transversely moves the document toward the center until another edge-detection sensor detects an edge of the document to create a parallel-aligned document. The control logic controls the plate(s) to centers the parallel-aligned document about the centerline to create a centered document.

A sheet feeding device includes a driving transmission member, a feeding unit, and a switching member. The feeding unit is detachable from the sheet feeding device and includes a driven transmission member that receives a driving force from the driving transmission member, a feeding member, and a holding member that holds the driven transmission member and the feeding member. The switching member abuts the holding member and moves the feeding member between a second position and a first position lowered from the second position. When the driving force is transmitted to the driven transmission member, the feeding unit is positioned to the sheet feeding device by receiving a positioning force in an attachment direction of the feeding unit. When the driving force is not transmitted to the driven transmission member, the feeding unit is regulated by the switching member in movement in a direction opposite to the attachment direction.

A sheet post-processing device is connected to a punch processing unit. The punch processing unit includes a skew detection unit and a punch unit. The skew detection unit detects a skew amount of a sheet. The punch unit forms punch holes at positions of the sheet according to the skew amount. The sheet post-processing device includes a processing tray, a paddle, a driver, and a control unit. The sheet of which the skew amount is detected by the skew detection unit is mounted on the processing tray. The paddle conveys the sheet on the processing tray by a paddle operation. The driver drives the paddle to perform the paddle operation. The control unit is configured to operate the driver to control a number of times the paddle operation is performed by the paddle based on the skew amount.

A sheet conveyance method using a sheet conveyance apparatus that includes a conveyance path and a plurality of alignment members disposed along the conveyance path, the method includes: determining a set of alignment members to be operated based on a length of the paper sheet from among the plurality of alignment members; and aligning the paper sheet conveyed on the conveyance path using the determined set of alignment members.

A second roller set is disposed separately from a first roller set in one direction of the conveyance direction, and includes an intermittent roller that generates, during one rotation, a conveyance enabled time of contacting the card and conveying the card and a conveyance disabled time of not contacting the card and not conveying the card. A third roller set is disposed separately from the second roller set. A reference guide wall receives abutments of a first end portion of the card and arranges a position of the card in the width direction at a reference position. An urging guide wall urges a second end portion of the card toward the reference guide wall by a first urging force. A support wall regulates a movement of the reference guide wall toward the urging guide wall at a position serving as the reference position.

A sheet processing system according to an embodiment includes a tray that supports a sheet on opposite sides of the sheet orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the sheet. The tray includes a first adjustable support and second adjustable support positioned opposite the first adjustable support in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the sheet. A skew sensor detects a skew angle of the sheet conveyed to the tray. A corner sensor detects positions of each corner on a front end in the downstream direction of the sheet conveyed to the tray. A controller controls movement of the first and second adjustable supports based on the detected skew angle and the detected positions of each corner on the front end of the sheet conveyed to the tray so that the sheet is conveyed to the tray without jamming.

According to one embodiment, a sheet conveying device includes a tray and a correcting member. On the tray, a sheet bundle in which a plurality of sheets are overlapped is stacked in a thickness direction of the sheet bundle. The correcting member moves relative to the tray in the thickness direction. The correcting member abuts against an upper layer portion of an outer peripheral portion of the sheet bundle on the tray, and presses the upper layer portion from an outside after abutting. The correcting member corrects a position of the upper layer portion in a lateral direction intersecting the thickness direction toward an inside from the outside of the sheet bundle.