Canon Patent Application: Another Quad Pixel AF Sensor Patent

I know there's been alot of fuss over the possibility of a global shutter sensor in the EOS-R1, however, I feel this is probably far more of an appropriate sensor for Canon to put in the R1.

Right now with dual pixel AF (DPAF) sensors, you can focus reliably while the camera is in the horizontal position and your edge of contrast that you are locking on are vertical.  If the edge is horizontal (or parallel to the camera orientation) then it has extreme difficulty in locking on.  This is because all the pixels are arranged in one direction for dual pixel AF.  What Canon needs is a quad pixel, where the pixel is split up, not once but twice, allowing for different phase different arrangements.

This for a sports camera, in my opinion is significantly more important than providing a global shutter sensor (which by all the information I've seen didn't even have DPAF).  The last thing a sports photographer wants to have to screw around with is the AF refusing to lock because of the contrast edge orientation is wrong.

This patent application is about suppressing the deterioration of the optical characteristics and acquiring a highly accurate focus detection.

Japan Patent Application 2020-171060