An image reading apparatus includes first and second first conveyance rollers, transparent members, reading units, and opposing rollers, and includes a driving unit. The first reading unit reads an image on a sheet first surface through the first transparent member at a first reading position. The first opposing roller is opposed to the first transparent member at the first reading position. The second reading unit reads an image on a sheet second surface through the second transparent member at a second reading position. The second opposing roller is opposed to the second transparent member at the second reading position. The second conveyance roller is arranged where a sheet trailing edge passes through the first reading position while the second conveyance roller conveys the sheet. The driving unit drives the first opposing roller so that a first opposing roller circumferential speed is faster than a second conveyance roller circumferential speed.

A reading apparatus, having a document tray, an ejection tray, a conveyer path connecting the document tray and the ejection tray and having a curved section, a conveyer to convey an original document in a conveying orientation, a first reading sensor, and a second reading sensor, is provided. The first reading sensor is located upstream in the conveying orientation from the curved section in the conveyer path. The first reading sensor optically reads a first side of the original document from below. The second reading sensor is located upstream in the conveying orientation from the first reading sensor in the conveyer path. The second reading sensor optically reads a second side of the original document from below. The first side and the second side are sides of the original document that face upward and downward, respectively, in the state where an original document is placed on the document tray.

An image acquiring device comprises: an automatic document feeder comprising: an input tray supporting an information medium; and a control panel comprising an operation button for selecting one image acquiring side of the information medium; an image acquiring assembly acquiring the image of the image acquiring side; a processor electrically connected to the automatic document feeder, the image acquiring assembly and the operation button; a storage, which is electrically connected to the processor and comprises an image module storing program codes for enabling acquiring the image of the image acquiring side; and an output unit receiving and outputting the image of the image acquiring side. The processor controls the image acquiring assembly to acquire the image of the image acquiring side according to the program codes and different signals of the operation button and transmits the image to the output unit. Associated copying method and system are also provided.

Even from a plurality of small documents, their front-side and back-side images to be formed on a recording paper sheet, with alignment and coincidence of the front-side and back-side images of each document between the front and back sides of the recording paper sheet. In an image forming apparatus, an image processing section detects a front-side image of an original document from a scan area read in a first scan by an image reading section, detects a back-side image of the original document from a scan area read in a second scan, and moves or rotates the front-side image and the back-side image of the original document in terms of a whole image of the scan area so that the front-side image and the back-side image of the original document are brought into alignment and coincidence between a front side and a back side of a recording paper sheet.

An image reading apparatus includes a first image reading unit, a second image reading unit provided on a side opposite from the first image reading unit with respect to a sheet feeding passage, a first guiding member, a second guiding member, a first unit holding the first image reading unit and the second guiding member, and a second unit holding the second image reading unit and the first guiding member. One of the first unit and the second unit is movable relative to the other unit so as to open the sheet feeding passage.

An information processing apparatus includes a mode setting unit in which a value indicating whether a scanning device is for simplex scanning or duplex scanning is set up, an interface unit that controls whether to enable signal exchange with an external memory based on the value set up in the mode setting unit, and a transfer unit that retrieves image data from the external memory and transfers the image data to an image processing unit. When the value in the mode setting unit indicates that the scanning device is for duplex scanning, the interface unit enables signal exchange with the external memory, and the transfer unit transfers the image data retrieved from the external memory to the image processing unit. When the value in the mode setting unit indicates that the scanning device is for simplex scanning, the interface unit prohibits signal exchange with the external memory.

A reading apparatus that reads an image formed on a document while transporting the document, the reading apparatus includes a first reading section that reads, as a read image, one of specularly reflected light or diffusely reflected light which is reflected from the document on a reading glass through which the moving document passes, and a second reading section that reads, as a read image, the other of the specularly reflected light or the diffusely reflected light which is reflected from the document on one side of a transport path through which the document is transported.

An image processing device includes a processor configured to: obtain image information obtained by reading a sheet that is folded with an intention that a folding line is formed at a position apart from a sheet center position in a specific direction by a predetermined distance, using an image reading device in a state in which a short folded piece of the sheet faces a sensor surface; obtain positions of two edges that are opposite to each other across a folding back of the sheet in the image information; and detect a deviation amount of the folding line based on the positions of the two edges and the predetermined distance.

An image scanning apparatus comprises: a first image scanning unit that performs image scanning of a first surface of an original; a second image scanning unit that performs image scanning of a second surface of the original; and a control unit that controls output channels for outputting analog signals from the first image scanning unit, wherein the control unit changes, between a case of single-sided scanning and a case of both-sided scanning, the output channels of the analog signals output from a part of scanning region in a plurality of scanning regions of the first image scanning unit, and changes, between a case of single-sided scanning and a case of both-sided scanning, the number of output channels for outputting the analog signals from the first image scanning unit.

An image reading apparatus includes an image capturing module, a reference member, a light source for emitting light to the reference member, a foreign object determining module for determining whether or not a foreign object appears in a specific image, and a position determining module for determining whether the foreign object exists on the image capturing module side or on the reference member side, based on an absolute value of a difference between a gradation value in a region included in two images and corresponding to a region where the foreign object appears when the foreign object appears in the specific image. One image is an image of the reference member captured under illumination of light with a first light quantity from the light source, and other image is an image of the reference member captured under illumination of light with a second light quantity from the light source.