Patent ID: 8786919

Claim:
An image scanning apparatus comprising: a feeding unit configured to feed at least one document sheet in a feeding direction along a feeding path, the feeding path includes a curved path formed to change the feeding direction with respect to the image scanning apparatus; and a scanning unit configured to scan an image of the document sheet fed by the feeding unit along the feeding path; and wherein the feeding unit comprises: a main roller configured to be rotated to feed the document sheet along the curved path, a circumference surface of the main roller forming a part of the curved path; a separation unit configured to separate the document sheet from other sheets on a sheet-by-sheet basis and convey the separated sheet to the scanning unit; and a discharge unit configured to discharge the document sheet to a discharge tray, the discharge unit being disposed on an upstream side relative to the discharge tray and on a downstream side relative to the scanning unit in the feeding direction, wherein a length of the feeding path from a downstream side end of the scanning unit in the feeding direction to a position of the discharge unit is shorter than a length of the feeding path from a position of the separation unit to the downstream side end of the scanning unit, wherein the curved path is disposed only on the downstream side of the scanning unit in the feeding direction, wherein the scanning unit comprises: a first image sensor configured to scan an image on a first face of the document sheet; and a second image sensor configured to scan an image on a second face of the document sheet that is opposite to the first face, the second image sensor and the first image sensor being disposed side-by-side in the feeding direction and on opposite sides of the feeding path, and wherein one of the first image sensor and the second image sensor is disposed to overlap the main roller when viewed from a direction in which the document sheet is conveyed over the first and second image sensors.