Portable authentication fluorescence scanner employing single and multiple illumination sources
First Claim
1. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
- a) a plurality of illumination sources, at least one of said illumination sources being disposed to selectively illuminate said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia; and
b) a selector adapted to select at least one of said plurality of illumination sources.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A portable fluorescence scanner has single or multiple excitation sources at various non-visible wavelengths. If multiple non-visible sources are used, they are disposed in alignment with a selector controllable to select any of the sources. The selected beam illuminates a target article which, if authentic, has been marked with certain fluorescent material(s), and fluorescent light returns, along an optical path that may include a beam splitter, to a photodetector whose signal is processed and analyzed by a digital signal processor (DSP). The DSP also either controls the deflector or receives a signal from a transducer indicating the deflector'"'"'s orientation, or both. The invention may be configured as a hand-held fluorescence scanner. Multiple UV laser diode or UV LED sources can be arranged in an array, which may be linear. Multiple photodetectors may be arranged in an array, with a correspondence between individual UV sources and photodetectors, each corresponding pair satisfying a predetermined angular limitation. The scanner may also have one or more visible light sources, used for aiming at indicia to be scanned and/or for optimizing distance from the scanned article.
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Citations
74 Claims
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1. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a plurality of illumination sources, at least one of said illumination sources being disposed to selectively illuminate said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia; and
b) a selector adapted to select at least one of said plurality of illumination sources. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a plurality of illumination sources, at least one of said illumination sources being disposed to selectively illuminate said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia;
b) a deflector disposed and adapted to select radiation from at least one of said plurality of illumination sources and to direct the selected radiation along a first optical path;
c) a photodetector responsive to fluorescent radiation emitted by said fluorescent indicia and disposed in at least partial alignment with a second optical path to receive said fluorescent radiation; and
d) a beam splitter disposed in at least partial alignment with said first optical path and with said second optical path, for selectively directing said selected radiation toward said article and for selectively directing said fluorescent radiation toward said photodetector. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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a) at least one illumination source, disposed to illuminate said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia, said light being directed along a first optical path intercepting said articles;
b) a plurality of photodetectors responsive to fluorescent radiation emitted by said fluorescent indicia, each of said plurality of photodetectors having an associated output and being disposed in at least partial alignment with an associated optical path to receive said fluorescent radiation from said articles; and
c) an output selector for selecting an output from at least one of said plurality of photodetectors in accordance with at least one predetermined characteristic of said output. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a first plurality of illumination sources, disposed to selectively illuminate said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia, said light outside of the visible spectrum being directed along a first incident optical path associated with each of said first plurality of illumination sources;
b) a second plurality of photodetectors responsive to fluorescent radiation emitted by said fluorescent indicia, each of said plurality of photodetectors having an associated output and being disposed in at least partial alignment with an associated second optical path to receive said fluorescent radiation from said articles; and
c) an output selector for selecting an output from at least one of said plurality of photodetectors in accordance with at least one predetermined characteristic of said output. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. Apparatus for authenticating articles, authentic instances of which are marked with fluorescent indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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a) at least one first illumination source, adapted and disposed to illuminate one of said articles with light outside of the visible spectrum for excitation of said fluorescent indicia;
b) at least one second illumination source, adapted and disposed to illuminate one of said articles with visible light for indicating a predetermined distance of said apparatus from one of said articles;
c) at least one photodetector responsive to fluorescent radiation emitted by said fluorescent indicia in response to said light outside of the visible spectrum, said at least one photodetector having a photodetector output; and
d) a processor responsive to said photodetector output for indicating authentication of said one of said articles or lack of authentication thereof. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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Specification