OPERATING AN ELECTRONIC PERSONAL DISPLAY USING EYE MOVEMENT TRACKING

• US 20160124505A1
• Filed: 11/05/2014
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Kobo Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rakuten Kobo Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: LIU, Stanley Xiaodong
• Application Number:
  US14/533,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20160124505A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0291 for reading, e.g. e-books constructional details of portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An electronic personal display is operated using a camera of an electronic personal display to track a user'"'"'s eye movement. Based on the tracking, the user'"'"'s gaze is correlated with a selectable region of the electronic personal display. Responsible to the gaze being correlated with the selectable region for at least a predetermined time, an operation of the electronic personal display is implemented wherein the operation is associated with the selectable region. Various embodiments do not require any external device, such as eye wear, as a part of tracking the user'"'"'s eye movement.

Claims

1. A method of operating an electronic personal display, the method comprising:

tracking eye movement of a user of an electronic personal display with a camera of the electronic personal display;

based on the tracking, correlating a gaze of the user with a selectable region of the electronic personal display; and

responsive to the gaze being correlated with the selectable region for at least a predetermined time, implementing an operation of the electronic personal display which is associated with the selectable region.

2. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises executing a training routine on said electronic personal display to model the tracking and correlation with respect to the electronic personal display.

3. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the implementation of the operation further comprises:

implementing the operation selected from a group consisting of opening a menu, selecting an option from a menu, opening an e-book for display on the electronic personal display, closing an e-book that is currently displayed on the electronic personal display, scrolling through pages of an e-book currently displayed on the electronic personal display, turning a page of an e-book currently displayed on the electronic personal display, adding a bookmark to an e-book that is displayed on the electronic personal display, turning off the electronic personal display, and changing a setting of the electronic personal display.

4. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

illuminating an eye of the user with a light emission from a light source, wherein a location of the light source is selected from a group consisting of part of the electronic personal display and external with respect to the electronic personal display.

5. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

responsive to absence of a tracked gaze for a predetermined period of time, turning off the electronic personal display.

6. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

responsive to a tracked gaze moving away from a currently displayed item in less than the predetermined time, not performing an operation associated with the currently displayed item.

7. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the camera is selected from a group consisting of an infrared camera and a non-infrared camera.

8. A system that tracks user eye movement, the system comprising:

an electronic personal display that includes, a camera, a gaze to selectable region correlation logic, and operation implementation responsive to gaze logic;

the camera tracks eye movement of a user of the electronic personal display;

the gaze to selectable region correlation logic correlates a gaze of the user with a selectable region of the electronic personal display; and

the operation implementation responsive to gaze logic implements an operation of the electronic personal display in response to the gaze being correlated with the selectable region for at least a predetermined time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the camera is selected from a group consisting of an infrared camera and a non-infrared camera.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a light source.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the light source is selected from a group consisting of an infrared light source and a non-infrared light source.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the light source is selected from a group consisting of a light source that is part of the electronic personal display and is part of an external device that is external with respect to the electronic personal display.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the light source illuminates at least one eye of the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the light source continuously illuminates the at least one eye.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the light source intermittently illuminates the at least one eye.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor of a computing device, cause the hardware processor to perform operations that include:

tracking eye movement of a user of an electronic personal display with a camera of an electronic personal display;

based on the tracking, correlating the eye movement of the user with a selectable region of the electronic personal display based on a library of entries correlating each electronic personal display operation with a pattern of eye movement; and

responsive to the eye movement being correlated with the selectable region for at least a predetermined time, implementing an operation of the electronic personal display which is associated with the selectable region.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited by claim 16, wherein the operations further comprises executing a training routine on said electronic personal display to model the tracking and correlation with respect to the electronic personal display.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited by claim 16, wherein the implementation of the operation further comprises:

implementating the operation selected from a group consisting of opening a menu, selecting an option from a menu, opening an e-book for display on the electronic personal display, closing an e-book that is currently displayed on the electronic personal display, scrolling through pages of an e-book currently displayed on the electronic personal display, turning a page of an e-book currently displayed on the electronic personal display, adding a bookmark to an e-book that is displayed on the electronic personal display, turning off the electronic personal display, and changing a setting of the electronic personal display.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited by claim 16, wherein the operations further comprises:

illuminating an eye of the user with a light emission from a light source, wherein a location of the light source is selected from a group consisting of part of the electronic personal display and external with respect to the electronic personal display.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited by claim 16, wherein the camera is selected from a group consisting of an infrared camera and a non-infrared camera.