Patent Document ID: 20050228231
Application ID: 10951448
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. An optical imaging system having good dynamic range comprising: a) a tunable light source configured to emit illumination light comprising a variable selected spectral output and a variable selected wavelength dependent intensity distribution, wherein the light source is configured to independently increase or decrease the variable selected spectral output and the variable selected wavelength dependent intensity distribution as desired; b) an image sensor configured to detect light emanating from a target and transmit an image of the target to a processor; and, c) a controller operably connected to the light source, the image sensor and the processor, the controller containing computer-implemented programming that is configured to coordinate the light source, image sensor and processor such that the programming varies the selected spectral output and wavelength dependent intensity distribution of the illumination light to provide a compensatory illumination light configured to compensate for at least one of saturation, overexposure or underexposure in a specific wavelength distribution in the image without substantially changing acceptable wavelength distributions, and the computer-implemented programming is configured to combine data about the variation of the light source with the data in the image to provide an enhance dynamic range for the system compared to the image sensor alone.