Patent ID: 8281621

Claim:
A physical resource consuming apparatus comprising: a physical resource consuming system operating according to a cycle of operation requiring a consumption of a physical resource; a physical resource dispensing system coupled to the physical resource consuming system to dispense the physical resource coupled to the physical resource dispensing system and comprising: a removable component removably coupled to the physical resource dispensing system and defining a reservoir containing a physical resource; a graphic provided on the removable component; and a composite defined by at least overlapping portions of the graphic, the removable component and the physical resource, respectively, to define a thickness for the composite ranging in a direction between the graphic and the physical resource, with each overlapping portion residing at a different depth in the thickness of the composite, the composite having optically encoded information regarding a characteristic of the physical resource contained in the reservoir at least at a first and second depths of the thickness of the composite, with the first depth being different than the second depth; an optical reading system comprising: an illumination source selectively providing illumination to the first and second depths of the thickness of the composite when the removable component is coupled to the physical resource dispensing system; a reflectance reader configured to read the reflectance from the composite when illuminated by the illumination source at the first and second depths and provide an output indicative of the read reflectance during illumination at the first and second depths; and a controller configured to receive the output corresponding to the read reflectance at the first and second depths and determine at least one operating parameter of the physical resource consuming apparatus as a function of the output.