Canon working on completely new technology of sensors, the sensor can electronically bend itself to behave like a curve sensor.
Take a look at the translated text – Canon is in a patent for electrically bending the bending sensor. Perhaps even lenses with curvature of field curvature can be supported.
Patent Details
Patent Publication No. 2016-201425
Release date 2016.12.1
Application date 2015.4.8
Canon patent
Coupling the imaging element and the expansion / contraction section
As the stretchable portion expands, the amount of curvature of the imaging surface increases
The expansion and contraction section is electrically controlled
As the stretchable portion of the sensor expands, the amount of curvature of the imaging surface increases.
Below you have the links of the Canon curve sensor patents #1, #2 and #3
Very interesting idea!
The actual sensor structure is very thin, maybe a thousandth of a millimeter, so it could flex. It is the substrate that is the problem, it is usually silicon maybe a few tenth of a millimeter thick. That does not bend so readily, rather it breaks.
Apparently Canon has found a way to fix the sensor structure on a more flexible underlayment. That is a very significant advance which would have major impact throughout the electronics industry, not just in the camera sensor space. However, nothing about this has been published to date afaik in the semiconductor technology journals.