Direct part marking code reading with multimodal object sensing

An optical symbol reading system, comprising:

• an image sensor operative to capture an image of a target area;
• a color-sensing system that is distinct from the image sensor and separately sensitive to certain colors in the visible spectrum, the color-sensing system being operative to separately measure intensity levels of those colors;
• an illumination system including a plurality of sets of photo emitters that are operative to produce various types of illumination based on illumination parameters, wherein the illumination system, the image sensor, and the color-sensing system are arranged such that emitted light from the illumination system, in accordance with a selected type of illumination, is directed towards the target area while a portion of the emitted light is reflected from any object of interest present in the target area and received by the image sensor and the color-sensing system;
• a surface-profiling system that is distinct from the image sensor, and arranged to measure distance to multiple points of at least one surface in the target area;
• and
• control circuitry coupled to the image sensor, the color-sensing system, the illumination system, and the surface-profiling system, wherein the control circuitry is operative to autonomously:
• activate the color-sensing system and the surface-profiling system to measure conditions comprising at least a color measurement, and a set of distance measurements;
• process the conditions to produce a set of assessed object characteristics representing at least color, distance from the optical symbol reading system, and orientation of the at least one surface in the target area relative to the optical symbol reading system;
• determine the illumination parameters based on the set of assessed object characteristics;
• activate the illumination system according to the illumination parameters;
• capture a first image of the target area during activation of the illumination system, the target area including at least a portion of the object of interest that includes a machine-readable symbol;
• and
• process the first image to read the machine-readable symbol,
• wherein:
• the surface-profiling system is further arranged to measure reflected intensity of illumination reflected from multiple points of the at least one surface in the target area and compare reflected-light intensity values of reflected illumination to determine a reflectance of the at least one surface in the target area including applying a correction function to each portion of the at least one surface that is offset from a normal axis of the surface-profiling system and for a concave or convex shape of the at least one surface;
• the conditions further comprise the reflected intensity;
• and
• the set of assessed object characteristics further represents reflectance of the at least one surface in the target area.