A method and device for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications

Abstract

A method and device for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications by accumulating a number of photocurrent signals in an accumulating step of at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline is larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline, and processing the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline, and wherein the processing of the first pipeline comprises spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline comprises analysing at least one quality attribute of the detected light signal.

Description

[0001]SPECIFICATION TITLE: A method and device for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This disclosure pertains to a device and method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications, such as in an optical measuring device, such as a device for measuring a gas concentration and / or composition in a cavity, such as a cavity in a body. Description of the Prior Art In absorption spectroscopy, such as tunable diode- laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), photocurrent signals are acquired synchronously with the driving of one or more diode laser in a well-defined waveform which allows absorption spectra to be retrieved. In applications, the driving waveform is repeated indefinitely, and the signals are accumulated over multiple such waveforms to form a single spectroscopic sample. Typically, the waveform repetition rate is on the order of 1 kHz and accumulation is performed over hundreds to thousands of such waveforms, such that the yielding integration time is on the order of a second. The longer integration time decreases the influence of electrical and optical noise in the signal, and to allow acquisition of signals with sufficient quality. In gas-in-scattering- media-absorption spectroscopy applications (GASMAS), which uses TDLAS, the transmission of light from the emitter to the detector is very low, and thus the integration time may be even longer.Hence, a new device and method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications could be advantageous. In particular, a device and method which can provide improved safety for the patient and the practitioners would be advantageous. In the art it is common that spectroscopy-based gas detection systems employ a separate detector or optical path explicitly designed for obtaining an attribute different from the spectroscopic information, such attribute could be background measurement. CN109490216B discloses a gas detection apparatus that utilizes a secondary photodetector to monitor ambient light and background interference. CN109813639B includes a background compensation detector as part of the configuration for simultaneous gas and particulate measurement. CN115015113A features a dual-path system where one optical route is allocated specifically for background signal acquisition to improve accuracy. Similarly, JP2008116263A describes a gas monitoring setup that incorporates an auxiliary detection unit solely for detecting background noise or ambient light, thereby supporting real-time correction. Other hardware solution has also been employed, such as in US7075653B1 which describes a laser-based remote methane detection system wherein background signals are obtained indirectly by using a rotating optical element (e.g., a chopper) to intermittently block the laser beam, enabling ambient background levels to be inferred from signal dips— rather than through a dedicated detector. None of these implementations provides improved responsiveness in spectroscopy applications. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure preferably seek to mitigate, alleviate, or eliminate one or more deficiencies, disadvantages, or issues in the art, such as the above-identified, singly or in any combination by providing a device, and / or method according to the description. The examples given in the disclosure may be any type of gas measuring device and / or method, such as used in non- medical applications as well as in in medical application. Medical application could be a monitoring device or method for measuring a gas in a cavity of a patient, such as in a respiratory system or parts of a respiratory system, such as a lung. For these types of devices, the same components and principles are applicable. In a first aspect of the disclosure, a method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications is described. The method may include acquiring data being photocurrent signals from a detector corresponding to a detected light signal. Sending the photocurrent signals into at least a first and a second pipeline. Each pipeline may include an accumulation step and a processing step. The photocurrent signals may come from a single detector. A detector may by a unit of multiple detectors working as a single detector. Alternatively, a single detector may here be multiple detectors wherein the photocurrent signals from each of the detectors are combined into one signal to be processed. Accumulating a number of photocurrent signals in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline. The number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline may be larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline. Processing the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline. The processing of the first pipeline may include spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline may include analysing at least one quality attribute of the detected light signal. In an example of the disclosure, the spectroscopy application may be gas absorption spectroscopy, such as tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), such as gas-in-scattering-media-absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS). In an example of the disclosure, the at least one quality attribute may include at least one of source-to- detector transmission, an average transmission, signal power, noise level, background light level. In an example of the disclosure, the integration time for each pipeline may be individually controlled. In an example of the disclosure, an output from the processing of the second pipeline may be used as a condition of a usage of data for the first pipeline. In an example of the disclosure, the second pipeline may be used for determining a background level of light a higher repetition rate than the first pipeline. In an example of the disclosure, a variation in the background level may conclude that the data from the first pipeline shall be discarded. In an example of the disclosure, observing the quality may attribute to identify changes to a measurement configuration. In an example of the disclosure, the changes to a measurement configuration may include a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected and / or broken whereby the light from the emitter may be reduced. In a further aspect of the disclosure, a computer implementation of the method is described. In a further aspect of the disclosure, a computer program is described which may include instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method described. In a further aspect of the disclosure, a device for performing an optical measurement using a spectroscopy application is described. The device may include at least one light source which may be configured for transmitting a light signal corresponding to each light source of the at least one light source. At least one detector which may be configured to detect the light signal from the at least one light source to obtain at least one detected light signal. A processing unit which may be configured to: acquiring data related to a photocurrent signals from the detector corresponding to the at least one detected light signal; sending the data related to the photocurrent signals into at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein each pipeline comprises an accumulation step and a processing step; accumulating data related to a number of photocurrent signals in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline, wherein the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline is larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline; and processing data related to the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline, and wherein the processing of the first pipeline may include spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline may include analysing quality attributes of the at least one detected light signal. In an example of the disclosure, the first pipeline may be used for obtaining a gas concentration and / or distribution based on the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step. In an example of the disclosure, the processing unit may be configured for observing an average transmission from at least one of the at least one light source to at least one of the at least one detector using the second pipeline for identifying changes to a measurement configuration. In an example of the disclosure, the changes may include a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected whereby the light from at least one of the at least one light source is reduced, such as by closing a shutter. Advantages with the described device and / or method includes improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications without sacrificing accuracy. The described device and / or method may even provide improved accuracy. A faster response may also be used to detect any malfunction of an optical device and be used to reduce the risk of a user being hurt, such as improving eye safety. In particular, improved responsiveness could be advantageous for a device and / or method used for medical applications since this could provide improved safety for the patient and the practitioners. Especially, a faster response may provide a faster diagnosis or treatment. It should be emphasized that the term “comprises / comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other aspects, features and advantages of which examples of the disclosure are capable of will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of examples of the present disclosure, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is illustrating an exemplary schematic illustration of spectroscopic device; Fig. 2 is illustrating exemplary schematic illustrations of a processing pipeline; Fig. 3 is illustrating an exemplary flowchart where the processing pipeline of Fig. 1 has been split into multiple lanes; Fig. 4 is illustrating a flowchart of a method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications; and Fig. 5 is illustrating an exemplary device for performing an optical measurement using a spectroscopy application. DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES Specific examples of the disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these examples are provided so that the disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. The inventors have found a way of utilization of acquired signal at an increased repetition rate and with a shorter delay time from an event to action when performing spectroscopy. The invention can be utilized for most spectroscopic devices where the responsiveness needs to be improved. The invention may for example be implemented in a medical device or system. When performing spectroscopy measurements, such as tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), photocurrent signals are acquired synchronously with the driving of one or more diode laser in a well-defined waveform which allows absorption spectra to be retrieved. The driving waveform is repeated indefinitely, and the signals are accumulated over multiple such waveforms to form a single spectroscopic sample to be used for the analyses. Typically, the waveform repetition rates are in the order of 1 kHz and accumulation is performed over hundreds to thousands of such waveforms, such that the yielding integration time is in the order of a seconds. The longer integration time decreases the influence of electrical and optical noise in the signal, and allows acquisition of signals with sufficient quality. One type of TDLAS application is Gas-In-Scattering- Media-Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS) applications. In GASMAS applications, the transmission of light from the emitter to the detector is very low, and thus the integration time may be even longer (10s of seconds) which lowers the responsiveness even further compared to other types of spectroscopic applications. With the integration times experienced for most types of spectroscopic applications, the responsiveness in values presented to a user are poor. The time between an intervention is performed (such as moving emitter or detector, or manipulating the sample) to a response in the displayed values are at least as long as the integration time. In addition, if changes are made during integration, the signals are not representative for the measurement configuration and the user may want to see at least a few stable presented values before proceeding. Furthermore, photocurrent signals from the detector may carry information in addition to pure spectroscopic information, such as information related to absorption, pressure etc. Such information comprises signal quality attributes such as source-to-detector transmission, noise level, background light level, etc. The inventor has concluded that the integration time needed to provide sufficient measurement quality of these additional attributes may not necessarily be the same as for the spectroscopic information. Hence, these attributes may be measured with sufficient quality using a much shorter integration time, and thus at a much higher repetition rate. Fig. 1 is illustrating an exemplary schematic illustrations of a spectroscopic device. The spectroscopic device may be based on TDLAS. When utilizing TDLAS to detect gas in a scattering material, such as tissue, where the light-absorbing free gas is dispersed in cavities surrounded by a medium, such as the respiratory system or parts of the respiratory system, such as a lung, a wavelength of at least one light source 1, 2, 3 is swept over an absorption peak or band of a gas to be measured. A sweep where each step could be down to a scale below a nanometre. GASMAS is the principle that the spectrally sharp gas absorption may be distinguished from a broadband absorption of liquids and solids. This results in that a small gas absorption signal (down to a fraction of the order of 1 in 10 000) may be extracted from light passing through a scattering and absorbing material despite transmitting only a minor fraction of the injected light when using GASMAS technology. For GASMAS technology the wavelength is tuned over a specific gas absorption line, for example, by ramping the drive current. In some examples, the detection is made frequency- sensitively and / or phase-sensitively. The light, such as laser light, from the at least one light source 1, 2, 3 may be wavelength modulated at a selected frequency, and synchronous intensity variations may be detected when the modulation is conducted around a gas absorption wavelength. The gas absorption wavelength may be in the ultraviolet, visible, near infrared or infrared spectrum. When modulation is conducted close to a gas absorption wavelength, the intensity of the detected light may quickly change at small variations of the wavelength, as described in S. Svanberg, Gas in Scattering Media Absorption Spectroscopy - from Basic Studies to Biomedical Applications, Lasers and Photonics Reviews 7, 779 (2013), which is incorporated herein by reference. The measured intensity of light incident on a detector 7 may then be converted to a measurement of the absorption by the gas in the sample. By having an estimated known gas concentration of a gas in the sample, such as water, the absorption of the gas may be converted to a measurement of the average distance the light travelled through the gas. The travel distance, or path length, may be used to estimate an unknown concentration of a second gas. In the device, the at least one light source 1, 2, 3 is arranged in a housing 16 which may include a gas mixture. In most cases the air mixture is ambient air, but other compositions are possible. The housing 16 may also include beam preparation components, for collimating the beams from the light sources, combining beams from multiple light sources and / or coupling the beams into a probe 5 for transmitting the light to a measuring site at a measuring object 6A. The components for collimating and / or combining the beams may typically be lenses and mirrors known to the person skilled in the art. In the schematic drawings, a first light source 1 may either be arranged to emit light along an optical axis of the combined beam or, as illustrated, a mirror 8 may be used for folding the light beam emitted from light source 1 to be transmitted along the optical axis. In the illustrated example, beam combiners 9, 10 may be used for combining the beams of at least a second light source 2, 3 with the beam of the first light source 1. The beam combiners 9, 10 may be dichroic mirrors. Collimating lenses 13, 14, 15 may be arranged in front of each light source 1, 2, 3. Alternatively, the mirrors 8, 9 and 10 may be used for collimating the beams. Alternatively, a lens system may be arranged for collimating the beams after they have been combined. In the housing 16, the light is, at least partly, transmitted in an open beam path whereby the light is traveling through the gas mixture inside the housing 16. Part of the light may therefore be absorbed by the gas mixture in the housing 16 and the absorption may cause an offset in the measured absorption signal. Alternatively, instead of having the light transmitted in an open beam path, optical waveguides, such as optical fibres, may be used for transmitting the light signal. Using optical elements, the individual light beams from each light source of the at least one light source 1, 2, 3 may be collimated and then combined into a single beam. The single beam may therefore include light from each light source 1, 2, 3 arranged in the housing 16. After the light beams from each of the at least one light source 1, 3, has been collimated and combined into a single beam, the combined beam may be coupled to a proximal end of a measuring probe 5 for transferring the light to a measuring site at the measurement object 6B. The measurement object 6A may include a cavity of pores having at least one free gas. The combined beam may be coupled to the proximal end of the measuring probe 5 by a lens or a lens system 12. The measuring probe 5 may be made of a waveguide, such as optical fibre. The measuring probe 5 may be held against the measuring site, or arranged inside the measuring object, such as arranged inside a human for measuring the gas in a cavity. For arranging the probe 5 inside the measurement object 6B, the waveguide or optical fibre may be arranged in a catheter or an endoscope. In one example, two or more light sources 1, 2, 3 are used for measuring at least one free gas. Depending on the measured gas, the wavelengths of the at least two light sources 1, 2, 3 may be adapted to match absorption peaks of at least two gases. For example, the wavelength may be adapted to about 760 nm for addressing oxygen gas, and to about 820 nm or 935 nm for addressing water vapour. Other wavelengths may be used depending on the gases to be detected. The concentration of water vapour can be estimate based on relative humidity and a measured temperature and may therefore be used as a reference gas for obtaining an estimated path length to be used when measuring gases with an unknown concentration, for example oxygen or carbon dioxide. In some examples other gases than water vapour may be used as a reference gas. The requirement is only that the gas concentration may be obtained without using the path length the detected light has travelled through the cavity or pores in which the gas with an unknown concentration is located. Alternatively, in other examples only one light source 1, 2, 3 may be used and the path length through the cavity and pores may be estimated by other means. The at least one light source 1, 2, 3 may be semiconductor lasers, for example distributed feed-back lasers (DFBL), vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) or other types of available lasers. The power of the emitted light is preferably in the range 0.1mW to 3000mW. The lasers may be driven by a current and temperature regulating unit included in a drive unit. The drive unit may be controlled by a control unit, such as a computer. The control unit may be used for signal processing and evaluation of the measured data. All determinations or calculations described herein may be performed by a control unit or a data processing device (not illustrated). The control unit or a data processing device may be implemented by special-purpose software (or firmware) run on one or more general-purpose or special-purpose computing devices. In this context, it is to be understood that each "element" or "means" of such a computing device refers to a conceptual equivalent of a method step; there is not always a one-to-one correspondence between elements / means and particular pieces of hardware or software routines. One piece of hardware sometimes comprises different means / elements. For example, a processing unit serves as one element / means when executing one instruction, but serves as another element / means when executing another instruction. In addition, one element / means may be implemented by one instruction in some cases, but by a plurality of instructions in some other cases. Such a software-controlled computing device may include one or more processing units, e.g., a CPU ("Central Processing Unit"), a DSP ("Digital Signal Processor"), an ASIC ("Application-Specific Integrated Circuit"), discrete analogue and / or digital components, or some other programmable logical device, such as an FPGA ("Field Programmable Gate Array"). The data processing device may further include a system memory and a system bus that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit. The system bus may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and / or non-volatile memory such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM) and flash memory. The special purpose software may be stored in the system memory, or on other removable / non-removable volatile / non-volatile computer storage media which is included in or accessible to the computing device, such as magnetic media, optical media, flash memory cards, digital tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, etc. The data processing device may include one or more communication interfaces, such as a serial interface, a parallel interface, a USB interface, a wireless interface, a network adapter, etc., as well as one or more data acquisition devices, such as an A / D converter. The special-purpose software may be provided to the control unit or data processing device on any suitable computer readable medium, including a record medium and a read-only memory. The device further includes a detector 7 for detecting light being transmitted through, or back scattered from, the measurement object 6A to be measured. The detector 7 may be arranged directly on the object 6A to be measure, or a waveguide, such as fibres could be used to collect the light at the object 6A to be measured and transmitting it to the detector 7. The detector unit 7 may include photodiodes, photomultiplier tubes, avalanche photodiodes, charge- coupled devices (CCD), or CMOS light sensitive devices. When measuring on tissue, for example on a gas in a cavity in a human body such as a lung, the detector unit 7 may be adapted to be positioned dermally on the subject. To solve the aforementioned problems related to a low responsiveness, a data acquisition and processing pipeline (see Error! Reference source not found.2) may be split into multiple parallel lanes as illustrated in Error! Reference source not found.3. The split of the processing pipeline into multiple pipelines may be generally described as: First, the acquisition and accumulation step may be split into two separate processes. Secondly, one or more additional processing pipelines may be added, each with its separate accumulation step. This way, the integration time for each pipeline may be individually controlled. Furthermore, when the data processing steps are made independent of each other, output sample rate are made independent of each other. The process using the data from the two pipelines may in turn use the data from the individual pipelines. Additionally, and / or alternatively, the process may also use the data from one pipeline to condition the usage of data from the other pipelines. For example, the second pipeline may be used to determine the background level of light at a higher repetition rate than the spectroscopic data pipeline, for example 10-fold higher. In case the background level is varying a lot it may be concluded that the data from the spectroscopic data pipeline shall be, at least partially, discarded. Similarly, by observing the average transmission from emitter to detector using the second high repetition rate pipeline changes to the measurement configuration can be quickly identified. Fig. 4 is illustrating a flowchart of a method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications. The method may include the step of acquiring data 1001 being photocurrent signals from a detector corresponding to a detected light signal. Sending the photocurrent signals 1002 into at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein each pipeline may include an accumulation step and a processing step. Accumulating 1003 a number of photocurrent signals in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline. The number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline may be larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline. Processing the number of photocurrent signals 1004 accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline. The processing of the first pipeline may include spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline may include analysing at least one quality attribute of the detected light signal. The at least one quality attribute may include at least one of source-to-detector transmission ratio, an average transmission, signal power, noise level, background light level. Additionally, the spectroscopy application may be gas absorption spectroscopy, such as Tunable Diode-Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS), such as Gas-in-Scattering- Media-Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS) which has both been described hereinbefore. Additionally, the integration time for each pipeline is individually controlled. This may be used to improve the responsiveness based on the spectroscopic information of interest and the at least one quality attribute being analysed. The integration time may also be individually controlled dependent on the purpose for obtaining the quality attribute and how the quality attribute may be used in relation to the spectroscopic analysis. For example, in some examples an output from the processing of the second pipeline is used as a condition of a usage of data for the first pipeline. For example, the quality attribute may be used as a condition for usage of the data being used for the spectroscopic analysis. For example, the second pipeline may be used for determining a background level of light at a higher repetition rate than the first pipeline. A variation in the background level concludes that the data from the first pipeline should possibly be discarded. Alternatively, and / or additionally, the method may include observing the quality attribute to identify changes to a measurement configuration. The changes to a measurement configuration may include a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected and / or broken whereby the light from the emitter is reduced upon detection of a change to the quality attribute. The reduction can be done by a shutter, an iris, introducing a density filter and / or by changing the power driving the light sources. Broken may mean that the optical fiber and / or probe is cracked which may be detected as a change in the quality attribute. Broken may also mean that the emitter head is broken off, the optical fiber is crashed, and / or if the optical fiber is overbent leading to a reduction in light being transmitted through the optical fiber. The reduction in light from the emitter may be done automatically to prevent injuries, such as eye damages, to subjects in the vicinity to the spectroscopic device. An advantage of only reducing the light, such as to a level being considered as safe, and not completely switch the light off, is that a quality attribute may still be obtained. The quality attribute may be used to analyse the status of the light transmission path, such as to determine if the problem occasioned the need to reduce the level of light is still present or has been removed, such as verifying that it is safe to increase the light level, such as increasing the light level to full effect. In some examples may a subject increase the light from the emitter manually after verifying that the problem occasioned the need to reduce the light level has been removed, such as the broken optical fibre has been replaced and / or the probe has been replaced. The method may include providing an indication to the user that the problem has been removed and that it may be safe to increase the light level. The indication may be a light signal, a sound signal or an indication provided on a screen of the device. Alternatively, and / or additionally, the device may remove the reduction of intensity automatically when the quality attribute being analysed is improved, such as being over a pre-defined threshold. The method may be implemented on the computer as a computer program or software. The computer may be a processing unit. The processing unit may be connected to a device for performing an optical measurement using a spectroscopy application. Fig. 5 is illustrating an exemplary device 20 for performing an optical measurement using a spectroscopy application. The device 20 may be a device similar to the device illustrated in Fig. 1. The device 20 may include at least one light source 21 configured for transmitting a light signal corresponding to each light source of the at least one light source 21. The device 20 may further include at least one detector 22 configured to detect the light signal from the at least one light source 21 to obtain at least one detected light signal. The detected signal is a photocurrent signal which is converted to a digital signal. A processing unit 23 may be configured to acquiring data related to the photocurrent signals from the detector 22 corresponding to the at least one detected light signal. The data related to the photocurrent signals may be sent into at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein each pipeline includes an accumulation step and a processing step. Data related to a number of photocurrent signals may then be accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline, wherein the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline is larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline. The processing unit 23 may thereafter process the data related to the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline. The processing of the first pipeline may include spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline may include analysing quality attributes of the at least one detected light signal. The spectroscopic analysis performed using the first pipeline may include obtaining information related to a gas concentration or gas distribution based on the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step. Further, in some examples, by observing the quality attributes, such as an average transmission from at least one of the at least one light source 21 to at least one of the at least one detector 22, using the second pipeline, changes to a measurement configuration may be identified. Changes to the measurement configuration, such as the device or system for performing the spectroscopic measurements, may include a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected from a connector of the measurement configuration. When a disconnection is detected, the light from at least one of the at least one light source may be reduced. The light may be reduced to a level considered safe to use and can cause no harm to the eye in direct exposure. The light may be reduced by closing a shutter, an iris, introducing a density filter and / or reducing the power driving the lights source. The reduction in light from the emitter may be done automatically to prevent injuries, such as eye damages, to subjects in the vicinity to the spectroscopic device. An advantage of only reducing the light, such as to a level being considered as safe, and not completely switch the light off, is that a quality attribute may still be obtained. The quality attribute may be used to analyse the status of the light transmission path, such as to determine if the problem occasioned the need to reduce the level of light is still present or has been removed, such as verifying that it is safe to increase the light level, such as increasing the light level to full effect. In some examples may a subject increase the light from the emitter manually after verifying that the problem occasioned the need to reduce the light level has been removed, such as the broken optical fibre has been replaced and / or the probe has been replaced. The device may include providing an indication to the user that the problem has been removed and that it may be safe to increase the light level. The indication may be a light signal, a sound signal or an indication provided on a screen of the device. Alternatively, and / or additionally, the device may remove the reduction of intensity automatically when the quality attribute being analysed is improved, such as being over a pre-defined threshold. The present invention has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, other examples than the above described are equally possible within the scope of the disclosure. Different method steps than those described above may be provided within the scope of the invention. The different features and steps of the invention may be combined in other combinations than those described. The scope of the disclosure is only limited by the appended patent claims. The indefinite articles "a" and "an," as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean "at least one." The phrase "and / or," as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean "either or both" of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method for improving responsiveness in spectroscopy applications, the method comprising: acquiring data being photocurrent signals from a detector corresponding to a detected light signal; sending the photocurrent signals into at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein each pipeline comprises an accumulation step and a processing step; accumulating a number of photocurrent signals in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline, wherein the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline is larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline; and processing the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline, and wherein the processing of the first pipeline comprises spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline comprises analysing at least one quality attribute of the detected light signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spectroscopy application is gas absorption spectroscopy, such as tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), such as gas-in-scattering-media-absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS).

3. The method according to any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the at least one quality attribute comprises at least one of source-to-detector transmission, an average transmission, signal power, noise level, background light level.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the integration time for each pipeline is individually controlled.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein an output from the processing of the second pipeline is used as a condition of a usage of data for the first pipeline.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second pipeline is used for determining a background level of light a higher repetition rate than the first pipeline.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a variation in the background level concludes that the data from the first pipeline shall be discarded.

8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein observing the quality attribute to identify changes to a measurement configuration.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the changes to a measurement configuration comprise a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected and / or broken whereby the light from the emitter is reduced.

10. A computer implement method comprising the steps of any of claims 1 to 9.

11. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

12. A device for performing an optical measurement using a spectroscopy application, the device comprising: at least one light source configured for transmitting a light signal corresponding to each light source of the at least one light source;at least one detector configured to detect the light signal from the at least one light source to obtain at least one detected light signal; and a processing unit configured to acquiring data related to a photocurrent signals from the detector corresponding to the at least one detected light signal; sending the data related to the photocurrent signals into at least a first and a second pipeline, wherein each pipeline comprises an accumulation step and a processing step; accumulating data related to a number of photocurrent signals in the accumulating step of the at least first and the second pipeline, wherein the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the first pipeline is larger than the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the second pipeline; and processing data related to the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step of the at least first and second pipeline in the processing step of the at least first and second pipeline, and wherein the processing of the first pipeline comprises spectroscopic analysis and the processing of the second pipeline comprises analysing quality attributes of the at least one detected light signal.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein first pipeline is used for obtaining a gas concentration or distribution based on the number of photocurrent signals accumulated in the accumulating step.

14. The device of any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the processing unit is configured for observing an average transmission from at least one of the at least one light source to at least one of the at least one detector using the second pipeline for identifying changes to a measurement configuration.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the changes comprise a detection of a fiber and / or probe being disconnected whereby the light from at least one of the at least one light source is reduced, such as by closing a shutter.

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