Patent ID: 7763876

Claim:
In a printing device, a system for detecting a surface characteristic of a printable surface, comprising: a first illuminator configured to emit a first light beam at a point on a printable surface, thereby producing a generally specular reflectance in a first direction; a second illuminator configured to emit a second light beam at the point on the printable surface, thereby producing generally diffuse reflectance in the first direction; a linear array sensor configured to detect the generally specular reflectance and the generally diffuse reflectance in the first direction, wherein the linear array sensor is positioned substantially along a cross-process direction of the printing device; and a processor configured to process the generally specular reflectance and the generally diffuse reflectance detected by the linear array sensor and to determine a gloss characteristic of the printable surface, wherein sampling of the sensor is configured to synchronize the first and second illuminators so that each scanline of the linear array sensor is alternately a capture of 1) a combination of the generally specular and the generally diffuse reflectance; and 2) the generally diffuse reflectance.