SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATION WITHOUT TOUCH BY OPERATORS

• US 20060281969A1
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vimicro Corporation
• Original Assignee: Vimicro Corporation
• Inventors: XIA, Yu, HUANG, Ying, WANG, Hao
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/103
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor

Abstract

Techniques to control computing systems without the physical touches by operators are disclosed. According to one aspect of the techniques, a non-touch operation system comprises a display unit for displaying operating objects, a capture unit for capturing images of an operator, an image processing unit, a line of sight analysis unit, a notification unit, an action analysis unit and an operation execution unit. The image processing unit is provided for calculating head'"'"'s position parameters and eye'"'"'s position parameters according to the captured images. The line of sight analysis unit is provided for determining a watching point of the operator on the display unit according to the calculated head'"'"'s and eye'"'"'s parameters and further determining one operating object according to the watching point. The notification unit is provided for informing the operator of the determined operating object in an apperceive way. The action analysis unit is provided for identifying an action of the operator according to one parameter of the calculated head'"'"'s and eye'"'"'s position parameters and further determining an action instruction corresponding to the action of the operator. The operation execution unit is provided for executing operation depending on the determined operator object and the determined action instruction.

Claims

1. A non-touch operation system comprising:

a display unit for displaying operating objects;

a capture unit for capturing images of an operator;

an image processing unit for calculating position parameters of the operator'"'"'s head and position parameters of the operator'"'"'s one eye looking at an object according to the images captured by the image capture unit;

a line of sight analysis unit for determining a watching point of the operator on the display unit according to the calculated position parameters and further determining the object according to the watching point of the operator;

a notification unit for informing the operator of the determined object;

an action analysis unit for identifying an action of the operator according to at least one parameter of the calculated position parameters and further determining an action instruction corresponding to the action of the operator;

an operation execution unit for executing an operation depending on the object determined by the line of sight analysis unit and the action instruction determined by the action analysis unit.

2. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the line of sight analysis unit is provided for storing a plurality of groups of reference parameters of the operator'"'"'s head and eye, each group corresponding to one reference point on the display unit, and wherein the line of sight analysis unit determines the watching point by comparing the calculated position parameters with the reference parameters, and interpolating the position parameters.

3. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the action analysis unit is provided for storing a plurality of reference actions, and identifies the action of the operator by matching one of the position parameters varying along with time with the stored reference action.

4. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the action analysis unit is provided for storing a plurality of reference action instructions corresponding to the reference actions, so that once the operator'"'"'s action is determined, one corresponding action instruction is determined.

5. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position parameters pertaining to the operator'"'"'s head comprise a pitching parameter related to a head'"'"'s pitching angle of the operator and a horizontal turning parameter related to a head'"'"'s horizontal turning angle of the operator.

6. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position parameters pertaining to the operator'"'"'s eye comprise a horizontal watching direction parameter related to a horizontal watching direction of a line of sight of the operator and a vertical watch direction parameter related to a vertical watching direction of a line of sight of the operator.

7. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image processing unit identifies a face position and a size of the operator'"'"'s face from every single frame image, and further identifies a position and a size of the operator'"'"'s one eye depending on the identified face position and size, and still further identifies a pupil position depending on the identified eye position and size, and wherein the image processing unit calculates the head'"'"'s position parameters according to the identified face position and size as well as the identified eye position and size;

the image processing unit calculates some of the position parameters according to the identified eyes position and size as well as the identified pupil position.

8. The non-touch operation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the notification unit informs the operator of the determined object by darkening the object.

9. A method used in a non-touch operation system, the method comprising:

capturing images of the operator'"'"'s face;

calculating position parameters of the operator'"'"'s head and position parameters of the operator'"'"'s one eye looking at an object according to the captured images;

determining a watching point of the operator on the display unit according to the calculated position parameters and further determining the object according to the watching point;

informing the operator of the determined object;

identifying an action of the operator according to at least one parameter of the calculated position parameters and further determining an action instruction corresponding to the action of the operator; and

executing an operation depending on the determined object and the determined action instruction.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the non-touch operation system stores a plurality of groups of reference parameters of the operator'"'"'s head and eye, each group corresponding to one reference point on the display unit;

and wherein the determining of the watching point of the operator is performed by comparing the calculated position parameters with the groups of reference parameters, and interpolating the position parameters.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the non-touch operation system stores a plurality of reference actions, and

the identifying of the action of the operator is performed by matching at least one of the position parameters varying along with time with the stored reference action.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the non-touch operation system stores a plurality of reference action instructions corresponding to the reference actions.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the calculating of the position parameters pertaining to the operator'"'"'s head and one eye comprises:

identifying an operator'"'"'s face position and size from every single frame image;

further identifying an operator'"'"'s eyes position and size depending on the identified face position and size,

identifying a pupil position depending on the identified eyes position and size;

calculating the head'"'"'s position parameters according to the identified face position and size as well as the identified eyes position and size information, and the eye'"'"'s position parameters according to the identified eyes position and size as well as the identified pupil position.

14. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the position parameters pertaining to the operator'"'"'s head comprise a pitching parameter related to a head'"'"'s pitching angle of the operator and a horizontal turning parameter related to a head'"'"'s horizontal turning angle of the operator.

15. The non-touch operation method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the position parameters pertaining to the operator'"'"'s one eye comprise a horizontal watching direction parameter related to a horizontal watching direction of a line of sight of the operator and a vertical watch direction parameter related to a vertical watching direction of a line of sight of the operator.

16. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising darkening the object as displayed.