Patent ID: 8901516

Claim:
An excitation light source assembly, comprising: a housing defining a central opening therein and a plurality of lamp receptacles surrounding the central opening, said housing being mountable to a support structure so that the central opening is aligned with a camera also mounted to the support structure so that a field of view of the camera is unobstructed by said housing; a light source positioned within each of the plurality of lamp receptacles, wherein at least one of said light sources comprises a narrow-band light source; and a diffuser positioned within at least some of the plurality of lamp receptacles, each of said diffusers diffusing light produced by each of said light sources; and a control system operatively connected to each of said light sources said control system operating selected ones of said light sources to provide a desired excitation illumination to an object within the field of view of said camera, the object fluorescing in response to the excitation illumination provided by said light sources.