Patent ID: 7507983

Claim:
An apparatus for reading radiation image information, comprising: a cassette loader for loading a cassette storing therein a stimulable phosphor panel with radiation image information recorded therein; a reading unit for applying stimulating light to said stimulable phosphor panel which is removed from said cassette supplied from said cassette loader to emit light from said stimulable phosphor panel, and photoelectrically reading the light emitted from said stimulable phosphor panel to obtain the radiation image information recorded in said stimulable phosphor panel; an erasing unit for applying erasing light to said stimulable phosphor panel to erase remaining radiation image information therefrom; a cassette discharger for discharging said cassette storing said stimulable phosphor panel therein; said cassette loader having detecting means disposed in alignment with a particular area of said cassette which is loaded in a certain state, for detecting information of said particular area, whereby the loaded state of said cassette in said cassette loader is determined based on the information detected by said detecting means, wherein said detecting means comprises an image capturing means for capturing image information representing a shape or a pattern of said particular area, and wherein said image capturing means performs imaging by a charge-coupled device to produce an image signal to determine an orientation of the cassette.