Patent ID: 8594770

Claim:
An apparatus for capturing a multispectral image of a deep internal structure of an object, said apparatus comprising: means to transmit a beam of light comprising two or more different wavelengths, said two or more different wavelengths configured to determine one or more characteristics of the internal structure; means to scan said beam of light in a plurality of optical paths to produce a two dimensional scan pattern; an array of photo detectors distributed around the object; each said photo detector configured to detect said scanned two or more wavelengths of light after being differentially absorbed by the internal structure and the surrounding areas, and to output a signal of a contrast formed by the absorption spectrum of said two or more wavelengths by the internal structure, said means to transmit further configured to also transmit one or more visible wavelengths of light, by using said signal from said photodetectors, to selectively project the one or more characteristics of the internal structure onto the surface of the object; a memory; a comparator configured to receive the output of said photo detectors, and to provide one bit of data for each pixel of the photo detector output to indicate whether its brightness is too bright or too dark, said bit of pixel brightness data being stored in said memory and being incrementally updated for said selective projection, said stored pixel brightness data used to adjust power to said means to transmit light, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, for said selective projection to provide improved contrast sensitivity for said projected image.