Patent ID: 7420678

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving light from an object comprising one or more materials at a multi-spectral optical module; at the multi-spectral optical module, sequentially transmitting a plurality of wavelength band portions of the received light, wherein the wavelength band portions each have a pre-selected bandwidth between about two nanometers and about forty nanometers, wherein transmitting each of the portions comprises: configuring a variable filter of the multi-spectral optical module to transmit light included in the associated wavelength band portion of the received light and to exclude light outside the associated wavelength band portion of the received light, altering a spatial profile of the light included in the associated wavelength band portion of the received light using a light modifier, wherein the light modifier is configured to be moved relative to both the variable filter and an image acquisition system, and transmitting the light included in the associated wavelength band portion of the received light to an image acquisition system; receiving the wavelength band portions at the image acquisition system; generating image data corresponding to each of the wavelength band portions; processing at least some of the image data; and identifying at least one material of the one or more materials based on the processing at least some of the image data.