Keith Fife Features in CNET

CNET: Keith Fife and his colleagues from Stanford University presented a multi-aperture image sensor on the recent ISSCC. Fife's 3MP prototype divides the pixel array into slightly overlapping 16x16-pixel patches called subarrays. Each subarray has one common microlens - thus the term multi-aperture.

The image differences from one subarray to the next can be used to extract the distance information from the image. Keith also claims other potential advantages, like improved noise filtering.

I don't think this sensor has its market yet, but it's always interesting to see fresh ideas, very different from what others are doing. This is why I like Keith Fife's papers.