How a 3d sensor for a single lens reflex camera might be possible

I thought this wasn't possible. Two ccds spaced apart are required to make 3D images in a single shot. This requires two lenses so professional 3D photography would involve massive cameras.

I was being an idiot. There is a way. It's based on Babek Parviz's proposed solution to the minimum focusing distance of the eye and the proximity of the bionic contact lens. He proposed microlenses on each of the pixels in the photoelectronic visual array.

Currently microlenses are already used on top of each pixel. An advance in manufacturing precision and materials useful for microphotonics could make a novel solution possible. Each pixel could have a lens which refracts the light left or right. Instead of 2 sensors spaced apart the microlense would shift the light hitting the sensor to be left or right orientated to create the stereoscopic view. The pixels would be in a binary format with two closely spaced pixels creating one 3D pixel.

I include manufacturing processes because they need to be able to make these microlenses precisely orientated. I wonder if calibration at the factory might provide an alternative. The firmware and internal processing or external computer would apply the correction from know factors established by testing each sensor once fabbed. This is expensive but could be automated.

What this means is professional 3D slrs might not need two lenses. The same is true of video cameras. They might even be able to use lenses available now for videography and photohraphy.