An image reading system includes a scanner apparatus and a data reception apparatus. The data reception apparatus has a receiving section receiving image data transferred from the scanner apparatus, a received data storage section storing the image data received in the receiving section, and a driver program executing section executing a driver program for operating the scanner apparatus to transmit a scan start command. The scanner apparatus has a feeding section feeding an original document sheet to a predetermined reading position, a reading sensor reading an image of the original document sheet fed by the feeding section, a transfer data storage section storing image data from the reading sensor, a transfer section transferring the image data stored in the transfer data storage section to the data reception apparatus, and a scanner control section controlling the feeding section and the reading sensor.