Electrical engineers are developing an on-chip imaging sensor with small pixels and 12,616 mini-optic lenses that are created as part of the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Used in a digital camera, these lenses will record overlapping views of the scene, creating an electronic "depth map" as well as a photograph.

Downloaded to a computer, the map can be used in many ways. The camera technology produces a "depth map" of a scene.

The possible uses range from facial recognition to 'in...