Patent ID: 7400429

Claim:
An image reading apparatus comprising: a light-emitting unit which extends in a first direction, and includes a luminous particle area formed in a predetermined shape with a non-luminous particle area inside, and which moves at a predetermined speed in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and which outputs light whose intensity is greatest in a center in the first direction of the light-emitting unit and continuously varies from the center in the first direction to both ends; an opto-electric conversion element which outputs an opto-electric conversion signal corresponding to the light from an object illuminated by the light from the light-emitting unit and which converts the light from the object at every predetermined time when the light-emitting unit moves in the second direction; and an optical element which is provided between the light-emitting unit and the opto-electric conversion element, and guides the light from the object to the opto-electric conversion element, wherein the optical element has the characteristic to suppress the intensity of the light from the object at both ends of the first direction, rather than to suppress the intensity of the light from the object passing through the center in the first direction.