Temperature compensated optical detector

A circuit for determining a characteristic of light comprising:

• a light responsive device that produces a signal in response to the characteristic of incident light thereon;
• a source of light exposed to said device;
• addressable memory means for storing data corresponding to said light characteristic as a function of said device optical signal;
• and
• means to convert directly said device optical signal to an address for said memory means, said memory means producing in direct response to said address an output that corresponds to said characteristic of light.

A method for determining a characteristic of light comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a light responsive device that produces a temperature dependent optical signal corresponding to the characteristic of incident light thereon;
• b) exposing said device to incident light from a source and detecting said optical signal;
• c) interrupting said incident light to said device;
• d) detecting a temperature dependent electrical characteristic of the dark device;
• and
• e) compensating said optical signal as a function of said detected electrical characteristic to provide an output that corresponds to the characteristic of the incident light.

A method for determining a characteristic of light comprising the steps of:

• a) using a light response device to produce an output that corresponds to the light characteristic;
• b) exposing the device to light;
• c) using an addressable memory that stores a look-up table of light characteristic data as a function of the device output;
• d) directly converting the device output to an address for the memory;
• and
• e) producing an output from the memory in direct response to said address and that corresponds to the light characteristic.