Gaze guidance degree calculation system, gaze guidance degree calculation program, storage medium, and gaze guidance degree calculation method

• US 7,931,602 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Yamada, Satoshi, Kayahara, Naoki
• Primary Examiner(s): HOEKSTRA, JEFFREY GERBEN
• Application Number:
  US11/087,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20050234323A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,225 Days
• Field of Search: 600/558, 600/587, 600/595, 351/209, 351/224, 340/471
• US Class Current: 600/558
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/00 Image analysis

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the invention provide a gaze guidance degree calculation system capable of implementing a compact and low-cost apparatus and surely obtaining a proper eye-flow. According to exemplary embodiments, a layout apparatus where a layout image is segmented into a plurality of regions, and positions of representative regions of the specific regions and gaze attraction strength indicating strength of gaze-attraction to the specific regions are calculated. Next, a plurality of the specific regions in the layout image are set by using a starting point as a reference, and gaze guidance strength indicating a degree of gaze-guidance from the starting point to the specific regions is generated based on the gaze-attraction strength of the representative points in the specific regions.

Claims

1. A gaze guidance degree calculation system for calculating a degree of gaze-guidance of a layout image based on image data, comprising:

a starting point determination device to determine, via a processor, an eye-gazing starting point of the layout image,

the starting point determination device segmenting the layout image into a plurality of segmented regions, calculating positions of symbolic points of each of the segmented regions, calculating initial gazing degrees of each of the segmented regions, and determining the eye-gazing starting point based on the positions of the symbolic points and the initial gazing degrees of each of the segmented regions;

a representative-point position acquisition device to acquire a position of a representative point of an object contained in the layout image;

a gaze attraction strength acquisition device to acquire a gaze attraction strength indicating a strength of gaze-attraction to the object; and

a gaze guidance degree calculation device to calculate a gaze guidance degree indicating a degree of gaze-guidance of the layout image from the eye-gazing starting point based on the position of the representative point acquired by the representative-point position acquisition device and the gaze attraction strength acquired by the gaze attraction strength acquisition device,

the gaze guidance degree calculation device calculating the gaze guidance degree based on the gaze attraction strength of the representative point in a specific region of the layout image.

2. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a specific region setting device to set the specific region based on the eye-gazing starting point,

the gaze guidance degree calculation device calculating the gaze guidance degree based on the gaze attraction strength of the representative point in the specific region set by the specific region setting device.

3. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 2, the specific region setting device setting a region surrounded by straight lines, curved lines, arcs, or other segmented lines or a region surrounded by rectangle, circle, ellipse or a geometrical shape, as the specific region.

4. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 1,

the gaze guidance degree calculation device further including:

a gaze guidance direction calculation device to calculate a gaze guidance direction indicating a direction of gaze-guidance from the eye-gazing starting point to the specific region;

a gaze guidance strength calculation device to calculate gaze guidance strength indicating strength of gaze-guidance from the eye-gazing starting point to the specific region,

the gaze guidance strength calculation device calculating the gaze guidance direction and the gaze guidance strength, which collectively represent the gaze guidance degree.

5. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 4, the gaze guidance direction calculation device calculating a predetermined direction from the eye-gazing starting point as the gaze guidance direction.

6. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 4, the gaze guidance direction calculation device calculating the gaze guidance direction based on the eye-gazing starting point and the position of the representative point in the specific region.

7. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 4,

a plurality of the representative points existing in the specific region, and

the gaze guidance direction calculation device calculating the gaze guidance direction based on a statistical value of gaze attraction strength of the representative points.

8. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 4, the gaze guidance strength calculation device calculating the gaze guidance strength based on the gaze attraction strength of the representative point in the specific region.

9. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 8,

a plurality of the representative points existing in the specific region, and

the gaze guidance strength calculation device calculating the gaze guidance strength based on statistical values of positions and gaze attraction strength of the representative points.

10. The gaze guidance degree calculation system according to claim 4,

the gaze guidance degree calculation device calculating the gaze guidance directions and the gaze guidance strength corresponding to a plurality of the specific regions of the layout image, and

the gaze guidance degree calculation device calculating the gaze guidance directions and gaze attraction strength of the specific regions, which collectively represent the gaze guidance degrees of the specific regions.