Multi-spectral optical sensor and system

A multi-spectral optical system comprising:

• a monolithic semiconductor chip defining a plurality of subarrays of optical detector regions;
• a plurality of optical filters;
• a plurality of lens elements;
• a processing resource,
• wherein each subarray of optical detector regions includes a corresponding plurality of optical detector regions,
• wherein each subarray of optical detector regions has the same relative spatial arrangement of optical detector regions as each of the other subarrays of optical detector regions,
• wherein each optical filter is aligned between a corresponding lens element and a corresponding subarray of optical detector regions such that light which is incident on each lens element along a direction of incidence from a scene is transmitted by each lens element and converges through the corresponding optical filter onto a corresponding one of the optical detector regions of the corresponding subarray of optical detector regions, which corresponding one of the optical detector regions depends on the direction of incidence so that the corresponding optical detector region of each subarray of optical detector regions detects light incident on the multi-spectral optical sensor along the same direction of incidence,
• wherein the multi-spectral optical sensor and the processing resource are configured for communication with one another,
• wherein the processing resource is configured to associate different electrical signals generated by different optical detector regions of a same subarray of optical detector regions with light incident on the multi-spectral optical sensor from the scene along corresponding different directions of incidence and to associate different electrical signals generated by corresponding optical detector regions of different subarrays of optical detector regions with light incident on the multi-spectral optical sensor from the scene along the same direction of incidence, and
• wherein the processing resource is configured to determine an ambient light source classification for each direction of incidence of a plurality of different directions of incidence based on a comparison between electrical signal values corresponding to each direction of incidence for each subarray of optical detector regions and predefined spectral data and, wherein the predefined spectral data comprises a plurality of discrete spectra, each spectrum corresponding to a different known type or kind of ambient light source.