Object recognition system and method

A method comprising the steps of:

• collecting light reflected from an object through an inspection aperture;
• separating the collected light into different color components;
• directing the different color components onto an optical detector;
• generating an output signal from said optical detector in response to said different color components;
• detecting energy peaks in said output signal for each of said different color components;
• measuring widths of said energy peaks;
• and
• classifying said object by comparing at least the relative widths of energy peaks for a plurality of said different color components against premeasured characteristics of known objects.

A system comprising:

• a light collection system including at least one lens and aperture, said light collection system collecting light reflected from an object to be identified;
• an optical detector;
• means connected to said light collection system for separating light collected by said light collection system into different color bands of light corresponding to colors of said object and for directing each color band of light onto said optical detector, said optical detector generating an output signal having an amplitude corresponding to the intensity of light received by said optical detector;
• a pattern recognition system connected to said optical detector and responsive to said output signal, said object being classified by said pattern recognition system according to measured widths of energy peaks in said different color bands;
• and
• an optical code recognizer sharing said aperture with said light collection system, said optical code recognizor comprising a decoder for identifying an encoded symbol affixed to said object.

An apparatus comprising:

• an optical code reader, said optical code reader comprising
• an optical code reader light collection system including an aperture and a lens,
• a photosensitive element positioned so as to receive light gathered by said optical code reader light collection system, and
• a decoder connected to said photosensitive element;
• and
• an object recognition system, said object recognition system comprising an object recognition system light collection system sharing said aperture with said optical code reader light collection system.

An apparatus comprising:

• a housing, said housing having a surface atop which items may be placed and a first aperture and second aperture for viewing said items;
• a multi-planar optical code reader, said multi-planar optical code reader comprising a first partial field-of-view code reader utilizing said first aperture for viewing said items and a second partial field-of-view code reader utilizing said second aperture for viewing said items, said first partial field-of-view code reader and said second partial field-of-view code reader having at least partially overlapping fields of view;
• and
• an object recognition system sharing at least one of said first aperture and said second aperture with said multi-planar optical code reader.

A method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, through an aperture, light reflected from an object;
• detecting said light using a first photodetector, and generating a first output signal therefrom;
• attempting to identify, in response to said first output signal, an encoded symbol;
• dividing said light into color components and detecting the different color components using a second photodetector, and generating a second output signal therefrom, said second output signal comprising energy peaks for said different color components;
• and
• attempting to recognize, in response to said second output signal, an object meeting predefined characteristics by evaluating the color of the object as indicated by the color components of said light, and by evaluating the size of the object and its features as indicated by the relative widths and positions of said energy peaks for said different color components.

An apparatus comprising:

• a housing
• an object recognizor located within said housing, said object recognizor comprising
• a light collection system;
• a light separator connected to said light collection system, whereby light collected by said light collection system is separated into different color components corresponding to colors of an object to be identified;
• an optical detector positioned so as to receive said different color components, said optical detector having an output signal dependent upon intensities of said different color components;
• and
• a pattern recognition system connected to said optical detector and responsive to said output signal, said object being classified by said pattern recognition system according to widths of energy peaks in said output signal for said different color components;
• and
• an optical code reader located within said housing, said optical reader sharing an aperture with the light collection system of said object recognizor.