Patent ID: 7869029
Filing Date: 2011-01-11
Classification: A63F,G01J,G07F

Abstract:
1. A system for receiving and processing light from one or more light sources, the system comprising: a light collector and collimator that receives light from one or more light sources over a solid angle of substantially 2π steradians in N wavelength ranges (N≧3), covering near-ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths and numbered n=1, . . . , N, and that aligns the received light within a collimation angle of no more than about 2°; a light shutter mechanism that admits light received from the collector and collimator during a first time interval and blocks admission of light during a second time interval, to provide an estimate of a dark current within each of the N wavelength intervals; a light transporter, having N transporter components, numbered n=1, . . . , N, where transporter component number n transports light in the wavelength range number n substantially optimally for that wavelength range; and a light processor that receives and separately processes light transported in each of the N wavelength ranges during the first time interval and during the second time interval, estimates a fraction of total light intensity received for each of the N wavelength ranges, and estimates a dark current component in each of the N wavelength ranges from signals sensed during each of the first and second time intervals.