Patent ID: 7561315

Claim:
An image reading apparatus, comprising: a first image reading unit including a first demagnifying optical component and a first CCD sensor, the first image reading unit being configured to read an image on a first side of a document that is transported in a predetermined direction on a horseshoe-shaped document transport path, by the first CCD sensor through the first demagnifying optical component at a first image reading position, and a second image reading unit including a second demagnifying optical component and a second CCD sensor, the second image reading unit being surrounded on three sides by the document transport path, the second image reading unit being configured to read an image on a second side of the document, by the second CCD sensor through the second demagnifying optical component, at a second image reading position which is located downstream of the first image reading position in a direction in which the document is transported, wherein a transport roller for transporting the document and a bent portion of the document transport path are arranged in this order along the direction in which the document is transported, upstream of each of the first image reading position and the second image reading position in the document transport direction, wherein the bent portion arranged upstream of the first image reading position is located such that the document abuts against a lower inner wall of the document transport path at the first image reading position, and wherein there are a plurality of bent portions between the first image reading position and the second image reading portions on the document transport path, and the plurality of bent portions between the first image reading position and the second reading position are arranged such that the document abuts against the lower inner wail of the document transport path at the second image reading position.