Patent ID: 7095002

Claim:
An object surface characterization system with adaptive lighting control, the system comprising: a light projector for selectively providing a plurality of light beams arranged in a beam matrix of rows and columns, wherein the light beams impinge on a surface of a target and are reflected from the surface of the target; a light source for selectively illuminating the surface of the target; a camera for capturing a first image frame and a second image frame, wherein the first image frame includes contributions provided by the light source and the plurality of light beams of the beam matrix after reflection from the surface of the target, and wherein a second image frame includes contributions provided by the light source after reflection from the surface of the target; a processor coupled to the light projector, the light source and the camera; and a memory subsystem coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to examine at least a portion of the first and second image frames to provide an indication of the intensities of the plurality of light beams and the light source and control a camera integration time of the camera and a pulse width of the light source based upon the intensities of the plurality of light beams and the light source to achieve a desired target illumination.