Canon has another curved and self-bending sensor patent filed in Japan (see also this post) - the sensor can basically bend and turn into a curved sensor once triggered by an electrical signal. Curved sensors have several advantages and benefits including requiring smaller/faster/simpler lenses and overall better corner to corner IQ (curved sensors provide correction of field curvature):
A curved CMOS sensor has a few advantages over a planar sensor, Itonaga said. Because of the geometry, it can be paired with a flatter lens and a larger aperture, which lets in more light. Photodiodes at the periphery of a sensor array will be bent toward the center, which means light rays will hit them straight on instead of obliquely. What's more, the strain induced on a CMOS sensor by bending it alters the band gap of the silicon devices in the sensor region, lowering the noise created by "dark current" — the current that flows through a pixel even when it is receiving no external light. (IEEE)
Via Egami
