FAST WAKE-UP IN A GAZE TRACKING SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method in a gaze tracking system for controlling a computer device associated with a visual display, said eye tracking system comprising at least one sensor with a light-sensitive surface arranged to receive light from the head of a viewer of the visual display, wherein:
- in response to a gaze tracking activation signal from input means of said computer device at said gaze tracking system, leaving a low power mode of said gaze tracking system;
capturing an overview picture of at least a portion of the head of the viewer and locating an eye region of the viewer in the overview picture;
capturing, at a first frame rate, a plurality of pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor, from which data are read out in restricted regions, which are positioned in accordance with the eye region location and the union of which occupies at most 10% of the area of the light-sensitive surface;
determining a first gaze point value of said viewer on the visual display based on information from said plurality of pictures only and optionally on additional information from the overview picture;
providing a first control signal to the computer device based on said first gaze point value;
capturing, at a second frame rate, being lower than said first frame rate, further pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor;
determining, for a further picture, a further gaze point value of said viewer on the visual display based on information from said further picture and additionally on information from at least one previous picture; and
providing a further control signal to the computer device based on said further gaze point.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A gaze tracking system, leaving a low power mode in response to an activation signal, captures an initial burst of eye pictures in short time by restricting the image area of a sensor, with the purpose of enabling an increased frame rate. Subsequent eye pictures are captured at normal frame rate. The first gaze point value is computed memorylessly based on the initial burst of eye pictures and no additional imagery, while subsequent values may be computed recursively by taking into account previous gaze point values or information from previous eye pictures. The restriction of the image area may be guided by a preliminary overview picture captured using the same or a different sensor. From the gaze point values, the system may derive a control signal to be supplied to a computer device with a visual display.
100 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method in a gaze tracking system for controlling a computer device associated with a visual display, said eye tracking system comprising at least one sensor with a light-sensitive surface arranged to receive light from the head of a viewer of the visual display, wherein:
-
in response to a gaze tracking activation signal from input means of said computer device at said gaze tracking system, leaving a low power mode of said gaze tracking system; capturing an overview picture of at least a portion of the head of the viewer and locating an eye region of the viewer in the overview picture; capturing, at a first frame rate, a plurality of pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor, from which data are read out in restricted regions, which are positioned in accordance with the eye region location and the union of which occupies at most 10% of the area of the light-sensitive surface; determining a first gaze point value of said viewer on the visual display based on information from said plurality of pictures only and optionally on additional information from the overview picture; providing a first control signal to the computer device based on said first gaze point value; capturing, at a second frame rate, being lower than said first frame rate, further pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor; determining, for a further picture, a further gaze point value of said viewer on the visual display based on information from said further picture and additionally on information from at least one previous picture; and providing a further control signal to the computer device based on said further gaze point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
12. A gaze tracking system for controlling a computer device associated with a visual display, the system comprising a processor and being communicatively connected:
-
to at least one sensor with a light-sensitive surface arranged to receive light from the head of a viewer of the visual display, the at least one sensor being selectively operable to read out the light-sensitive surface at a second frame rate or a restricted region at a first frame rate, being higher than said first frame rate; and to an overview imaging device configured to capture an overview picture of at least a portion of the head of the viewer, wherein the processor is configured to respond to receipt, in a low power mode of the eye tracking system, of a gaze tracking activation signal from input means of said computer device by performing the following; causing the eye tracking system to leave the low power mode; capturing an overview picture of at least a portion of the head of the viewer using said overview imaging device and locating an eye region of the viewer in the overview picture; capturing a plurality of pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor, from which data are read out at a first frame rate and in restricted regions, in which an image of an eye of the viewer is to be found and the union of which occupies at most 10% of the area of the light-sensitive surface; determining a first gaze point value of said viewer on the visual display based on information from said plurality of pictures only and optionally on additional information from the overview picture; providing a first control signal to the computer device based on said first gaze point value; capturing further pictures of at least a portion of the viewer'"'"'s head using said at least one sensor, from which data are read out at a second frame rate; determining, for each further picture, a further gaze point value of said viewer on the basis of said further picture and additionally of at least one previous picture; and providing a further control signal to the computer device based on said further gaze point. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
Specification