Picture reading apparatus with flaring light elimination capability

Claim 1

A picture reading apparatus which comprises: a housing; a light source located in said housing and emitting light wherein said light source comprises an array of light emitting diodes; a contact glass against which a document is positionable wherein said light emitting diodes emit light toward said contact glass so that the document is scanned by the emitted light from said light emitting diodes along a main scanning line; a lens array in which a plurality of lenses are arranged consecutively at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line, each of said plurality of lenses converging a reflected light which is reflected from the document through the contact glass; a roof mirror array, located in said housing and positioned substantially perpendicularly to the light source, in which a plurality of roof-like reflection surfaces reflecting the converged light from the lens array back to the lens array are arranged, corresponding to said plurality of lenses, at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line; a restricting plate provided between said lens array and said roof mirror array and eliminating flaring light between adjacent lenses of said lens array wherein said roof mirror array and said lens array are accommodated in said housing to form said roof mirror lens array; a sensor located on said housing and receiving the converged light reflected by said roof mirror array so that said received light is converted into a picture signal indicative of a picture contained in the document; an optical separation mirror located in said housing, said optical mirror reflecting the converged light from the lens array to said sensor separately from an optical path of the light reflected from the document and led to the lens array; and a light shield layer formed integrally with a surface of the contact glass so as to be spaced from said sensor and be located inside said housing, said light shield layer including a reading portion to which the emitted light from the light emitting diodes is led to pass through the contact glass for scanning the document, said light shield layer being provided at a portion other than said reading portion on said surface of the contact glass wherein said separation mirror, said light emitting diodes, and said light shield layer are located within a lower portion of said housing and wherein an internal space of said housing containing said light emitting diodes is bounded by said contact glass, said light emitting diodes and said separation mirror.