Patent ID: 7450229

Claim:
A method for determining one or more characteristics of a subpopulation of objects from images collected from a population of objects, comprising the steps of: (a) imaging the population of objects to collect image data, while there is relative movement between the population of objects and an imaging system used to image the population of objects, where each object in the population of objects is imaged using the following steps: (i) dispersing light from the object into a plurality of light beams; (ii) focusing the plurality of light beams to produce respective images, each respective image corresponding to a different one of the plurality of light beams; and (iii) providing a time delay integration (TDI) detector disposed to receive the respective images, the steps of dispersing the light and providing the TDI detector being implemented such that the dispersed light is dispersed across the detector in a direction that is substantially orthogonal to a direction of a motion of the respective images across the TDI detector, enabling a plurality of different images of the object to be acquired simultaneously; (b) using the image data to define the subpopulation of objects, the subpopulation of objects being encompassed by the population of objects; (c) identifying an object feature exhibited by the subpopulation of objects; and (d) using the image data to measure at least one characteristic associated with the object feature.