INTELLIGENT INPUT/OUTPUT TEMPERATURE SENSOR AND CALIBRATION METHOD THEREFOR

An intelligent input/output (I/O) temperature sensor includes a temperature sensing element which generates a plurality of digital data indicative of the temperature at the temperature sensing element, a processor directly coupled to the temperature sensing element which generates a plurality of compensated digital data from respective the digital data and a digital delta value, and a memory directly coupled to the processor which stores the digital delta value and the compensated digital data. According to one aspect of the invention, the memory is an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). According to another aspect of the invention, the memory, the temperature sensing element and the processor are all disposed within a unified structure, i.e., on a single chip. A method for calibrating an intelligent input/output (I/O) temperature sensor is also described.