Radiation thermometer and radiation sensor with several sensor elements, method for determining temperature

Abstract

The invention is directed to a radiation thermometer with multiple sensor elements for detecting infrared radiation from differing regions, a radiation sensor with multiple infrared sensor elements, and a method for determining a temperature using a radiation thermometer equipped with such a radiation sensor. The radiation sensor (10) includes multiple optical elements (45, 50, 55) which are associated with a single or multiple sensor elements (30) and define the solid angle from which radiation can impinge on the respective sensor elements. A method for taking a patient's temperature using an ear thermometer equipped with a radiation sensor of the present invention is based on the tympanic membrane having a higher temperature than the ear canal. Hence part of the sensor elements that view the tympanic membrane will detect a higher temperature than the remaining sensors that view the ear canal. Accordingly, only temperature signals from the tympanic membrane are used for evaluation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.