Patent ID: 7626735

Claim:
An image reading apparatus comprising: a feeder that feeds a sheet; a transfer path on which the sheet fed by the feeder is transferred; a first reading unit positioned on a first side of the transfer path that captures an image on a face of the sheet from the first side of the transfer path, the first reading unit including at least one color sensor for capturing color image data and a first monochrome sensor for capturing monochrome image data; a second reading unit positioned on a second side of the transfer path that captures an image on a face of the sheet from the second side of the transfer path, the second reading unit consisting of a second monochrome sensor for capturing monochrome image data; a mode selection unit for selecting a monochrome mode or a color mode; an inversion unit in the transfer path that inverts the sheet; and a correction unit that substantially equalizes image density of captured first image data and captured second image data, wherein: when the monochrome mode is selected, the captured first image data is captured by the first monochrome sensor in the first reading unit and the captured second image data is captured by the second monochrome sensor in the second reading unit on a single transfer of the sheet through the transfer path, and when the color mode is selected, the captured first image data is captured by the at least one color sensor in the first reading unit on a first transfer of the sheet through the transfer path, the sheet is inverted by the inversion unit and the captured second image data is captured by the at least one color sensor in the first reading unit on a second transfer of the sheet through the transfer path.