Patent ID: 9372551
Filing Date: 2016-06-21
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. An image reading apparatus comprising: a casing having an opening at a front end of the casing, the front end of the casing opposite a rear end of the casing; a light source that irradiates light towards the rear end of the casing; a plurality of light guiding units that guide the light towards the front end of the casing through the opening to a same position on an object along different directions from each other; a switching unit that switches a direction of the light irradiated by the light source such that the light travels along a path leading to any one of the plurality of light guiding units; a light sensor that measures reflected light that is reflected by a point of the object disposed at the position through the opening out of the light guided to the position by the plurality of light guiding units, wherein the sensor receives the reflected light directly from the object, wherein the plurality of light guiding units comprises a first light guiding unit in a first positional relationship to the light sensor such than an angle of incidence of light guided by the first light guiding unit is different from an angle of reflection of the reflected light that is reflected toward the light sensor, in a case a surface of the object is a plane of incidence, and a second light guiding unit in a second positional relationship to the light sensor different from the first positional relationship, wherein the first light guiding unit comprises a first mirror and the second light guiding unit comprises a second mirror.