Patent ID: 7507981

Claim:
A system for identifying a characteristic of a printing media for use with a printer, the system comprising: a light source module having a light emitting diode (LED) and an aspheric lens, the aspheric lens having an internal focusing point and an external focusing point, wherein the internal focusing point is at a location internal to the aspheric lens and the external focusing point is at a location external to the aspheric lens; a light detection module having a photodetector and an aspheric lens, the aspheric lens having an internal focusing point and an external focusing point and the aspheric lens being configured to focus received light onto the photodetector, wherein the internal focusing point is at a location internal to the aspheric lens and the external focusing point is at a location external to the aspheric lens; a printing media handling structure configured to bring the printing media in proximity to the light source module and the light detection module; wherein the light source module and the light detection module are oriented relative to the printing media handling structure at non-perpendicular angles relative to the printing media such that the external focusing points of the respective aspheric lenses are located at a common position on the printing media that is held by the printing media handling structure; wherein: the LED and the aspheric lens of the light source module are integrated into a single device; the photodetector and the aspheric lens of the light detection module are integrated into a single device; and the light source module and the light detection module are incorporated into a single module, wherein the light source module and the light detection module are pre-configured within the single module for a particular separation distance from the printing media, further comprising media logic configured to output an indication of a printing media characteristic in response to an output signal from the photodetector.