Patent ID: 7324001

Claim:
A system for detecting and discriminating between water and ice formation on an object comprising: multi-wavelength light source; an optical element mounted on the object and having an input coupled to receive at least first and second light beams from the multi-wavelength light source and an output adapted to provide attenuated versions of the first and second light beams; a detector operative to receive and process the attenuated versions of the first and second light beams to provide corresponding first and second signals having predetermined characteristics representative of light intensity values of the attenuated versions of the first and second light beams; and a processor coupled to receive and process the first and second signals to provide one or more ratio values of the first and second signals, wherein based on the one or more ratio values, the processor is operative to actuate any one of a number of indicators corresponding to one of a number of predetermined states of operation of the optical element mounted on the object as to detecting and discriminating between water and ice formation on the object.