Method and apparatus for illumination and imaging of a surface employing light-emitting diodes.

(57) the equipment which illuminates the surface of summary book invention and reads the image of the surface, This LED is prepared on the flat field where the opening was formed in the center including the two-dimensional array of LED which illuminates that surface uniformly, . Moreover, supply the signal which reads the image of the illuminated surface and by which the image of the read surface is denoted to a processing unit. Including the camera equipped with CCD which has suitable lens body structure, the lens body structure of the camera equipped with this CCD penetrates the central opening formed while which was flat the two-dimensional array of the above-mentioned LED was prepared, and is arranged, The camera equipped with the two-dimensional array and CCD of the above-mentioned LED is arranged in the opaque cover.