Patent ID: 7446909

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: (i) a CCD sensor which converts an image of an object being read to image data of electrical signals; (ii) a transparent glass which holds the object being read; (iii) a mirror set including one or more mirrors, and movable along the transparent glass, which transmits the image of the object being read to the CCD sensor; (iv) an illuminating device configured to be moved along the transparent glass together with the mirror set, which illuminates the object being read held to the transparent glass; (v) a carriage member that supports the mirror set and the illuminating device, which moves at a specified speed along the transparent glass by external driving force, and which indicates an own position by a marker member mounted on its own specified position; (vi) a white reference element which provides white reflected light that serves as a reference to define a threshold level when the CCD sensor outputs the image data; (vii) a home position sensor which detects the marker element of the carriage member and sets the wait position of the mirror set and the illuminating device; (viii) a reading window arranged at a specified position in a direction away from the transparent glass with the white reference element set at the center in a plane defined by the white reference element as well as the transparent glass, which enables the image of the object being read to be transmitted to the CCD sensor through the mirror set by feeding of the object being read independently from the object being read set on the transparent glass; and (ix) a drive unit which drives the carriage member at a predetermined speed and sets the position of the carriage member in such a manner that, at the wait time, the reflected light from the white reference element is guided to the mirror of the mirror set supported on the carriage member, to which the reflected light from the object being read is a primary transmission; an exposure unit which generates image light corresponding to the image data; a photosensitive unit which generates an image corresponding to the image light generated by the exposure unit, and which holds the image; and a developing unit which visualizes the image held on the photosensitive unit by supplying a visualizing agent.