Patent ID: 7782504

Claim:
An image reading/recording apparatus comprising: a recording unit that records on a plurality of recording sheets; a reading unit that reads a plurality of documents; a separation feeding unit that sequentially feeds the plurality of recording sheets or the plurality of documents to said recording unit or said reading unit sequentially from an uppermost sheet in a sheet stack of the plurality of recording sheets or a sheet stack of the plurality of documents; a conveying unit that conveys the plurality of recording sheets or the plurality of documents; and a sheet discharging unit that discharges the plurality of recording sheets or the plurality of documents, wherein said separation feeding unit, said reading unit, said conveying unit, said recording unit, and said sheet discharging unit are disposed in this sequence from an upstream side in a conveying direction, wherein said reading unit is so provided as to read an undersurface of the plurality of document with a reading surface of said reading unit directed upward, wherein said separation feeding unit includes a feeding roller which rotatably contacts the uppermost sheet in the sheet stack of the plurality of recording sheets or the sheet stack of the plurality of documents, and a retard roller which separates the plurality of recording sheets or the plurality of documents other than the uppermost sheet in the sheet stack of the plurality of recording sheets or the sheet stack of the plurality of documents directly in contact with said feeding roller, wherein the sheet stack of the plurality of documents is stacked such that image surfaces of the plurality of documents are directed downwards, wherein said feeding roller contacts an upper surface of the uppermost sheet in the sheet stack of the plurality of documents with an image surface of one of the plurality of documents directed downwards when feeding one of the plurality of documents, and wherein the sheet stack of the plurality of documents is read sequentially from an uppermost document of the plurality of documents, and, after reading all of the plurality of documents, information read by said reading unit is transferred in a way that reverses the order in which the plurality documents was read from said reading unit.