Producing time variation in emanating light
First Claim
1. A method of using an excitation arrangement, the method comprising:
- while an object travels along a path, operating the excitation arrangement to provide excitation to the object within a range of excitation photon energies, the excitation causing the object to emanate light;
the act of operating the excitation arrangement including;
in each of a sequence of segments of the path, providing an excitation pattern with a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of excitation energies, the respective excitation spectra of at least two of the segments being different than each other and including;
a non-interference-like transition between the at least two segments;
in response to the different excitation spectra, the object emanating light differently so that, while the object travels along a part of the path that includes the sequence of segments, the emanating light has time variation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An excitation component or arrangement can provide excitation to a moving object so that information is encoded in time variation of light emanating from the object. For example, in each of a sequence of segments, it can provide a respective non-binary excitation spectrum, and the spectra can be different with a non-interference-like transition between them; because the object emanates light differently in response to the different spectra, photosensing results can be obtained that include encoded information about the object. The non-binary spectra could be different intermediate intensities, such as different gray levels or different intensities of one color or could be different colors. The excitation can be provided in a pattern with non-interference-like transitions between regions, and object motion can also be controlled. In another approach, a trigger signal can cause a time-varying excitation in a region, with non-interference-like transitions between intervals of excitation, such as black/white, multiple colors, or gray levels.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method of using an excitation arrangement, the method comprising:
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while an object travels along a path, operating the excitation arrangement to provide excitation to the object within a range of excitation photon energies, the excitation causing the object to emanate light;
the act of operating the excitation arrangement including;in each of a sequence of segments of the path, providing an excitation pattern with a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of excitation energies, the respective excitation spectra of at least two of the segments being different than each other and including; a non-interference-like transition between the at least two segments; in response to the different excitation spectra, the object emanating light differently so that, while the object travels along a part of the path that includes the sequence of segments, the emanating light has time variation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of using an excitation arrangement, the method comprising:
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while objects travel past the excitation arrangement, operating the excitation arrangement to provide excitation to the objects within a range of excitation photon energies, the excitation causing the objects to emanate light;
the act of operating the excitation arrangement including;providing an excitation pattern that includes two or more excitation regions, each with a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of excitation energies;
each of the objects traveling through a sequence of the excitation regions that includes at least two regions whose excitation spectra are different than each other and includinga non-interference-like transition between the at least two regions; in response to the different excitation spectra, each object emanating light differently so that, while the object travels through the sequence of excitation regions, its emanating light has time variation.
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9. Apparatus comprising:
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a fluidic structure that includes a channel through which objects can travel along respective paths during operation of the apparatus; and an encoding component;
the encoding component includingan excitation arrangement that can provide excitation to objects in the channel within a range of photon energies, the excitation causing the objects to emanate light;
the excitation arrangement providing the excitation so that each object'"'"'s path includes a sequence of segments in each of which the excitation arrangement provides excitation with a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of photon energies, the respective excitation spectra of at least two of the segments being different than each other and includinga non-interference-like transition between the at least two of the segments; in response to the different excitation spectra, each object emanating light differently so that, while the object travels along a part of its path that includes the at least two segments, the emanating light has time variation. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Apparatus comprising:
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a fluidic structure that includes a channel through which objects can travel along respective paths during operation of the apparatus; and an encoding component that includes; an excitation source that can provide excitation to objects in an excitation region of the channel within a range of photon energies, the excitation causing the objects to emanate light;
the excitation source being capable of providing at least two different excitation spectra within the range of photon energies;a trigger detector along the channel upstream from the excitation region, the trigger detector responding to each of the objects as it passes, providing a respective trigger signal; and circuitry that responds to each object'"'"'s trigger signal, causing the excitation source to provide time-varying excitation while the object travels through the excitation region, the time-varying excitation including two or more excitation intervals during each of which the excitation source provides different ones of the excitation spectra. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 28)
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19. A method of using an excitation arrangement, the method comprising:
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while an object travels along a path, operating the excitation arrangement to provide excitation to the object within a range of photon energies, the excitation causing the object to emanate light;
the act of operating the excitation arrangement including;in each of a sequence of segments of the path, providing respective excitation with a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of photon energies; successive segments in the sequence having respective excitation spectra sufficiently different that the object emanates light differently in the successive segments and, while the object travels along a part of the path that includes the sequence of segments, its emanating light has time variation; and providing respective excitation of each segment in the sequence through a respective path length so that the sequence includes a substantially continuous spatial pattern of excitation, the spatial pattern including at least one of; a non-periodic pattern; a periodic pattern; and a chirped pattern; the time variation of the object'"'"'s emanating light including, as a result of the spatial pattern, at least one of; non-periodic time variation; periodic time variation; and chirped time variation. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method of using an excitation component, the method comprising:
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while an object travels through a region, operating the excitation component to provide excitation in the region within a range of photon energies, the excitation causing the object to emanate light;
the act of operating the excitation component including;during each of a sequence of intervals, providing respective excitation with a respective excitation spectrum within the range of photon energies;
the respective excitation spectra of successive intervals in the sequence being sufficiently different that the object emanates light differently during the successive intervals and, during the sequence of intervals, its emanating light has time variation; andproviding respective excitation of each interval in the sequence during a respective duration so that the sequence includes a substantially continuous pattern of excitation over time, the pattern of excitation over time including at least one of; a non-periodic pattern; a periodic pattern; and a chirped pattern; the time variation of the object'"'"'s emanating light including, as a result of the pattern of excitation over time, at least one of non-periodic time variation; periodic time variation; and chirped time variation.
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29. A method of using an excitation arrangement, the method comprising:
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while objects travel past the excitation arrangement, operating the excitation arrangement to provide excitation to the objects within a range of photon energies, the excitation causing each object to emanate light in accordance with a respective emanation spectrum, the respective emanation spectra of at least some objects being different;
the act of operating the excitation arrangement including;providing a substantially continuous excitation pattern, the excitation pattern including at least one of; a non-periodic pattern; a periodic pattern; and a chirped pattern; and the excitation pattern further including one of; a longitudinal sequence of segments, each with respective excitation having a respective non-binary excitation spectrum within the range of photon energies;
successive segments in the longitudinal sequence having respective excitation spectra sufficiently different that objects with different emanation spectra emanate light differently in the successive segments and, while an object travels through the longitudinal sequence of segments, its emanating light has respective time variation that encodes information about the object'"'"'s emanation spectrum; anda time sequence of intervals, each with respective excitation having a respective excitation spectrum within the range of photon energies;
the respective excitation spectra of successive intervals in the time sequence being sufficiently different that objects with different emanation spectra emanate light differently during the successive intervals and, during the time sequence, an object'"'"'s emanating light has respective time variation that encodes information about the object'"'"'s emanation spectrum; anddistinguishing at least one of the objects based on the information about the object'"'"'s emanation spectrum encoded in the respective time variation. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification