An angle-sensitive CMOS imager for single-sensor 3D photography

Conventional cameras capture 2D photographs at a single plane of focus. Acquisition of a 3D photograph with multiple planes of focus typically requires scanning the focus of a single camera, or using arrays of cameras or lenses. This paper demonstrates a 150kpixel image sensor, which captures 3D scenes. The chip is manufactured in commodity 0.18μm CMOS and requires only a single convex lens at a fixed focal length in ambient light. As traditional image sensors only capture the intensity of the light at each location, they lose significant information about out-of-focus objects. Recovering the angular distribution of incident light permits recovery of the blurred, out-of-focus objects. This paper presents a CMOS imager that locally captures both the intensity and incident angle of the light striking it.