Patent ID: 8508816

Claim:
An image reading apparatus, comprising: a conveying roller that comes in contact with a sheet medium and causes a conveying force to convey the sheet medium in a conveying direction to act on the sheet medium contacting the conveying roller; an imaging unit that captures an image of the sheet medium that has been conveyed; a guide plate that is provided upstream of the imaging unit in the conveying direction, forms a part of a conveying path through which the sheet medium is conveyed, and includes a plurality of slits along a main-scanning direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, the slits being arranged parallel to each other in the conveying direction, the slits that are adjacent to each other in the main-scanning direction being shifted relative to each other in the conveying direction and partially overlapping each other as seen along the main-scanning direction; and a chargeable charging member that is provided upstream of the imaging unit in the conveying direction, arranged separate, via the plurality of slits, from the sheet medium being conveyed, and charged at least when the sheet medium is being conveyed by the conveying roller.