Patent ID: 7342670

Claim:
A system for detecting a position of a drop ejected from a drop applicator, the system comprising: a first light source oriented to provide a first light in a first direction; a second light source oriented to provide a second light in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction and intersecting the first light; the first and second lights oriented substantially in a first plane, the first plane oriented substantially orthogonal to an expected flight path of a drop ejected from the drop applicator; a beam splitter having a first portion that is a pass-through portion, and a second portion that is a reflective portion; a first mirror, positioned to receive the first light, the first mirror to reflect the received first light to the first portion of the beam splitter; a second mirror, positioned to receive the second light, the second mirror to reflect the received second light to the second portion of the beam splitter; and an image detector to capture an image of first light passed through the pass-through portion of the beam splitter and second light reflected by the reflective portion of the beam splitter, wherein the image detector is located at a fixed position calibrated in at least two dimensions with respect to the drop applicator and a reference position in the system, and wherein the captured image represents a specific location with respect to the system reference position.