Patent ID: 7453980

Claim:
An apparatus for acquiring an image of an object in a stream of objects, comprising: an emitter operable to produce and direct a beam of electromagnetic radiation; a conveyor configured to transport the object through the beam of electromagnetic radiation; a sensor positioned in receiving relation to a portion of the beam of electromagnetic radiation that has passed through the object, and operable to provide a signal in response to an accumulated received portion of the beam of electromagnetic radiation over an integration time interval; a controller connected in signal receiving and command transmitting relation to the sensor, and operable to provide image data derived from a plurality of the signals; a tracking routine configured to run on the controller and operable to provide a tracked position of the object by computing the position of the object relative to the beam of electromagnetic radiation; and an integration time control routine configured to run on the controller, and operable to specify the integration time interval based on a pre-defined relationship having predefined integration time constants, and wherein the pre-defined relationship is a function of the tracked position; and an image memory circuit connected to the controller and operable to receive the image data, and operable to store the image data in an image format.