Patent ID: 8345319

Claim:
An image reading apparatus comprising: an original reading unit that includes a plurality of first image sensor chips arranged at a predetermined interval in a first image sensor chip row along a main-scanning direction; and a plurality of second image sensor chips arranged at a predetermined interval in a second image sensor chip row along the main-scanning direction, wherein the first image sensor chip row and the second image sensor chip row are arranged so that the first image sensor chips overlap the second image sensor chips in a zigzag manner in a sub-scanning direction; an image-data generating unit that generates a piece of first image data by correcting image data read by each first image sensor chip with a first correction coefficient, and generates a plurality of pieces of second image data by correcting image data read by each second image sensor chip with a plurality of types of second correction coefficients; a comparing unit that compares image data in an overlapping portion between the first image data and each of the plurality of pieces of second image data; and an image-data selecting unit that selects a piece of second image data based on a comparison result obtained by the comparing unit from among the plurality of pieces of second image data.