BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a sheet conveyance apparatus configured to convey a sheet and to an image forming system configured to form an image on the sheet.

Description of the Related Art

Some image forming apparatus such as an electro-photographic printer is optionally provided with a sheet processing unit configured to perform a process such as a binding process or a sorting process on sheets on which images have been formed in an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus, and stack the processed sheets as a product. Some of such sheet processing unit is provided with a shift mechanism configured to shift the sheets received from the image forming apparatus in a width direction in order to enhance alignment accuracy of sheets on a processing tray or to enhance alignment accuracy of the sheets just discharged without performing any process. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-76776 discloses a sheet processing unit in which a shift unit is disposed upstream of a buffering roller for buffering sheets to be processed and which overlays the sheets to be buffered on one another while offsetting the sheets in a width direction such that they are readily aligned in the width direction on the processing tray.

By the way, if such shift unit corresponding to each individual discharge destination is to be disposed in a sheet conveyance apparatus having a function of conveying sheets while distributing to a plurality of discharge destinations, a structure of the apparatus is unnecessarily complicated and thus increases costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a new sheet conveyance apparatus that is capable of aligning sheets in a configuration with a plurality of discharge portion, and an image forming system including the same.

According to one aspect of the invention, a sheet conveyance apparatus includes a first conveyance path through which a sheet is conveyed toward a first discharge portion, a detection portion provided on the first conveyance path and configured to detect a position of the sheet in a width direction perpendicular to a discharge direction toward the first discharge portion, a second conveyance path which is branched from the first conveyance path and through which the sheet reversed from the discharge direction in the first conveyance path is conveyed in a case where the sheet is to be discharged to a second discharge portion other than the first discharge portion, a discharge unit provided downstream in the discharge direction of a position where the second conveyance path branches from the first conveyance path, the discharge unit being movable in the width direction and being configured to perform a discharge operation of discharging the sheet onto the first discharge portion and a reversing operation of reversing and conveying the sheet to the second conveyance path, and a controller configured to control the discharge unit and to execute a first alignment control when the reversing operation is performed. The first alignment control is a control in which the discharge unit moves the sheet in the width direction based on the position of the sheet detected by the detection portion to align the sheet at a target position.

According to another aspect of the invention, a sheet conveyance apparatus includes a first conveyance path through which a sheet is conveyed toward a first discharge portion, a detection portion provided on the first conveyance path and configured to detect a position of the sheet in a width direction perpendicular to a discharge direction toward the first discharge portion, a second conveyance path which is branched from the first conveyance path and through which the sheet reversed from the discharge direction in the first conveyance path is conveyed in a case where the sheet is to be discharged to a second discharge portion other than the first discharge portion, a discharge unit provided downstream in the discharge direction of a position where the second conveyance path branches from the first conveyance path, the discharge unit being movable in the width direction and being configured to perform a discharge operation of discharging the sheet onto the first discharge portion and a reversing operation of reversing and conveying the sheet to the second conveyance path, a conveyance unit provided on the second conveyance path and capable of nipping and conveying the sheet in a forward conveyance direction and a backward conveyance direction in the second conveyance path, the discharge unit and the conveyance unit being configured to perform a buffering operation of buffering a plurality of sheets, which are conveyed one by one through the first conveyance path, by overlaying the plurality of sheets on one another, and a controller configured to control the discharge unit and to execute an alignment control when the buffering operation is performed. The alignment control is a control in which the discharge unit moves and adjusts a position in the width direction of a preceding sheet having arrived at the discharge unit in the width direction in accordance to a position detected by the detection portion on a succeeding sheet conveyed toward the discharge unit following the preceding sheet.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

