OPTICAL IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION SYSTEM AND TAGS
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:
- (a) a plurality of structural-color tags, generating a distinct spectral response in a specified spectral range, said distinct spectral response including at least one characteristic spectral feature;
(b) a spectral imaging system for capturing a dataset of at least 5 spectrally-filtered digital images of a field of view; and
(c) a processing system comprising at least one processor, said processing system being configured to process a dataset of spectrally-filtered digital images from said spectral imaging system so as to;
(i) identify spatial pixels of said dataset having said characteristic spectral feature in said specified spectral range as spatial pixels corresponding to one of said tags; and
(ii) process spectral data from said dataset for said tag to derive information relating to said tag.
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Abstract
A system is disclosed capable of automatic and remote identification, tracking, sensing, and characterization of physical entities (objects and subjects) using structural-color tags. Optical encoding is performed in the spectral domain by means of photonic engineering. Several embodiments are provided for the imaging, tagging and processing aspects of the system.
34 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of structural-color tags, generating a distinct spectral response in a specified spectral range, said distinct spectral response including at least one characteristic spectral feature; (b) a spectral imaging system for capturing a dataset of at least 5 spectrally-filtered digital images of a field of view; and (c) a processing system comprising at least one processor, said processing system being configured to process a dataset of spectrally-filtered digital images from said spectral imaging system so as to; (i) identify spatial pixels of said dataset having said characteristic spectral feature in said specified spectral range as spatial pixels corresponding to one of said tags; and (ii) process spectral data from said dataset for said tag to derive information relating to said tag. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for detection of, and obtaining information from, a plurality of structural-color tags comprising the steps of:
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(a) employing a spectral imaging system to capture a dataset of at least 5 spectrally-filtered digital images of a field of view; (b) processing said dataset of spectrally-filtered digital images to identify spatial pixels having characteristic spectral features in a specified spectral range as spatial pixels corresponding to a structural-color tag; and (c) for each detected tag, process spectral data for the corresponding pixels to derive information relating to the tag. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A structural-color tag having a lateral dimension greater than five millimeters and comprising at least one photonic structure selected from the group consisting of interferometric, multilayer, thin-film, quarter-wavelength, Bragg, grating, Fabry-Perot, plasmonic, photonic crystal, structural filter, color-shifting, optically-variable structures, said photonic structure having a distinct spectral response in a specified spectral range, said distinct spectral response associated with
(a) one or more optical phenomena from the group comprising interference, diffraction, refraction, iridescence, scattering, plasmonics; (b) at least one characteristic spectral feature, said feature including at least one transition between a high-intensity level and a low-intensity level, said intensity levels differing by 20% or more and said transition occurring over a spectral bandwidth of 1000 inverse centimeters or less. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
Specification