Patent ID: 7065473

Claim:
A method for measuring the integrated area Q gT of a pulse-like input signal applied to a device characterized by one or more decay time constants in said device's impulse response function by measuring a step-like output signal, referred to as the primary signal, provided by said device in response to said pulse-like input signal, the method comprising: creating a set of secondary signals by directing the primary signal into a plurality of signal paths; performing a filtering or delaying operation in at least one of said signal paths; applying a set of weighting coefficients to said secondary signals within said signal paths; summing said secondary signals to provide a time correlated, weighted filter sum signal; and performing at least one capturing operation after any filtering or delaying operations to produce a value of said time correlated, weighted filter sum signal, following said capturing and summing operations, that is a measure of said integrated area Q gT of said input signal; wherein said filtering, delaying and/or capturing operations establish a defined time correlation between said secondary signals with respect to one another prior to said secondary signals being summed; and wherein said weighting coefficients applied to the secondary signals are selected, based on the nature of any filters used in said filtering operations, on the defined time correlation established between said secondary signals, and on the values of the one or more decay time constants associated with said device, to compensate said measured area Q gT for the risetime structure of said step-like pulse, for the presence of more than one decay time constant, or for both.