Patent ID: 8248673

Claim:
An image reading apparatus capable of separating pages of images, the image reading apparatus comprising: a housing; an automatic sheet feeder connected to the housing, the automatic sheet feeder comprising a document passageway, the document passageway having an opening, the automatic sheet feeder being for transporting a first document and a second document along the document passageway and past the opening; a separation reference sheet disposed in the opening, the separation reference sheet comprising a specific portion; a scanning module, disposed in the housing and disposed at a position opposite the separation reference sheet, for scanning the specific portion of the separation reference and the first document and the second document transported past the opening and generating a continuous image; and an image processing unit, coupled to the scanning module, for receiving the continuous image and processing the continuous image into a first document image corresponding to the first document and a second document image corresponding to the second document according to a specific image comprising the specific portion, wherein in the continuous image the specific image is interposed between the first document image and the second document image.