Patent ID: 6975400

Claim:
An imaging system adapted to determine one or more characteristics of an object entrained in a flow of fluid, from an image of the object while there is relative movement between the object and the imaging system, comprising: (a) a fluid channel having a generally elongate cross section, such that said fluid channel directs said flow of fluid into a generally broad flat flow; (b) a collection lens disposed so that light from the object entrained in fluid passes through the collection lens and travels along a collection path; (c) a plurality of light reflecting elements disposed in the collection path, each light reflecting element reflecting light of a different predefined characteristic along a different reflected light path, and passing light that does not have said different predefined characteristic, such that light from the object passes through each light reflecting element only once; (d) a plurality of imaging lenses disposed such that for each light reflecting element, at least one imaging lens is positioned to receive one of reflected and transmitted light from the light reflecting element, thereby producing an image, each image projected by each of the plurality of imaging lens being directed toward a different predetermined location; wherein at least one of said plurality of imaging lenses has a focal length differing from another of said plurality of imaging lenses, such that at least one of said plurality of imaging lenses produces a first image having a magnification that is different than a second image produced by another of said plurality of imaging lenses; and (e) a plurality of detectors disposed such that for each imaging lens, a detector is positioned to receive an image projected by a different imaging lens, each detector producing an output that is indicative of a different characteristic of the object, while the relative movement between the object and the imaging system occurs.