Patent ID: 9582697
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: G06K

Claim:
1. A reader operable to read a mark on a substrate, the reader comprising: a power source, operable to deliver a variable drive current or voltage, a light source operable to illuminate said mark with a sequence of illumination light pulses of different wavelength spectra, an intensity of said illumination light pulses varying according to the delivered drive current or voltage; a light sensor operable to measure an intensity of light received from said mark and to deliver a corresponding light intensity signal; and a control unit operable to control said power source and light sensor to control timings of said illumination light pulses according to a switching pattern and timings to acquire said light intensity signal for synchronizing acquisition of said light intensity signal with said sequence of illumination light pulses, said control unit being further operable to adjust a duty cycle of said switching pattern so as to maintain heat generation associated to each illumination light pulse below a given threshold value, wherein the control unit is further configured to compute a decay time of a luminescent material of said mark based on said light intensity signal.