Eye gaze tracker system and method
First Claim
1. A method for tracking movement of an eye of an operator comprising:
- providing an eye camera, and a processing device;
capturing a frame by frame image of said eye utilizing said camera and said processing device;
creating a custom template of said eye utilizing said eye camera, wherein said custom template resembles at least a portion of said eye of said operator, and said custom template comprises at least one of a group comprising a shape, a size, and an illumination of said portion of said eye; and
utilizing a tracking algorithm to determine a substantially real-time gaze angle of said eye, wherein said tracking algorithm utilizes data pertaining to both said frame by frame image of said eye and to said custom template.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to systems and methods for tracking the movement of an operator'"'"'s eyes in order to determine the real-time gaze angle of the eyes of the operator. In one embodiment, the invention may utilize an eye camera and a processing device. A frame by frame image of the eye may be captured utilizing the camera and the processing device, and a custom template resembling the operator'"'"'s eye may be created utilizing the image produced by the eye camera. The custom template may be substantially the shape and size of the pupil of the eye of the operator, or may also represent additional features of the eye of the operator, such as the iris, sclera, cornea, or eye-lids. A tracking algorithm may determine a substantially real-time gaze angle of the eye.
44 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for tracking movement of an eye of an operator comprising:
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providing an eye camera, and a processing device; capturing a frame by frame image of said eye utilizing said camera and said processing device; creating a custom template of said eye utilizing said eye camera, wherein said custom template resembles at least a portion of said eye of said operator, and said custom template comprises at least one of a group comprising a shape, a size, and an illumination of said portion of said eye; and utilizing a tracking algorithm to determine a substantially real-time gaze angle of said eye, wherein said tracking algorithm utilizes data pertaining to both said frame by frame image of said eye and to said custom template. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for tracking movement of an eye of an operator comprising:
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providing a head tracking device, an eye camera, and a processing device; capturing a frame by frame image of said eye utilizing said camera and said processing device; determining a focal point of said eye relative to said head tracking device; having the operator look at a plurality of calibration points, wherein said calibration points are each displayed at gazes which are determined utilizing pre-determined gaze angles for each of the calibration points, and the determined focal point; and determining a position of a portion of said eye of said operator at each of said calibration points. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for tracking movement of an eye of an operator comprising:
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providing an eye camera, and a plurality of processing devices; capturing a frame by frame image of said eye utilizing said camera and at least one of said processing devices; and utilizing a tracking algorithm to determine a location of a portion of said eye, wherein said tracking algorithm does a correlation calculation at a low resolution of the eye image to determine an approximate location of said portion of said eye, said tracking algorithm does multiple correlation calculations at a high resolution of the eye image by splitting the high resolution eye image into multiple pieces and having parallel correlation calculations of each of said multiple pieces conducted by said processing devices, and said tracking algorithm determines said location of said portion of said eye in the frame by frame eye image utilizing the low and high resolution correlation calculations. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification