Device and method for determining the orientation of an eye

• US 8,113,657 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2001
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Metaio GmbH (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Eberl, Heinrich A., Dickerson, David, Eberl, Roland H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Jack
• Application Number:
  US10/551,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20100045933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,781 Days
• Field of Search: 359/210, 359/200, 359/205, 359/206, 359/208, 359/209, 359/221, 359/246
• US Class Current: 351/210
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/12 for looking at the eye fundus, e.g. ophthalmoscopes A61B3/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/14 Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography apparatus or arrangements for taking photographs per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0174 holographic
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/32 Holograms used as optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

In a device or a method for determining the direction of vision of an eye, a starting point or a final point of a light beam reflected by a part of the eye and detected by a detector system, or of a light beam projected by a projection system onto or into the eye two-dimensionally, describes a pattern of a scanning movement in the eye. The inventive method uses a displacement device that guides the center of the pattern of movement into the pupil or macula center of the eye, and a determination device that uses the pattern of movement of the scanning movement to determine the pupil center or macula center.

Claims

1. A device for determining at least one of a position and an orientation of an eye, comprising:

a projection system for projecting infrared light onto or into the eye having a projection light guiding arrangement that deflects the projected light onto a specific part of the eye,

a detector system for detecting said light after it has been reflected by a part of the eye,

a determination device that determines a position of at least one characteristic of the eye from the detected light, and

an orientation determining device for determining the position or orientation of the device relative to the environment,

wherein the device is wearable.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the position and/or orientation of the eye with respect to its environment is determined in that the detector system detects the retinal structure of the eye as well as the environment reflex image superimposed thereon, detects the position of the fovea by way of the retina structure, and identifies the area of the environment sighted by the fovea by way of a pattern identification.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein an image identification is performed to identify an object within the area of the environment sighted by the fovea.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the relative position of at least one characteristic area of the retina with respect to the optical detector and/or projection system is determined, and wherein the deviations of determined position data of this characteristic area from previously stored position data of this characteristic area are used for the determination of the spatial position and/or orientation of the eye with respect to the optical detector and/or projection system.

5. The device according to claim 1, which uses the iris, the sclera, the cornea, and/or another structure of the eye instead of the retina or together with the retina.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic is at least one from the position of the pupillary center or the macula center.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the projection light guiding arrangement is a holographic element which reflects light in an infrared range.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the projection device projects the light into the eye in a frequency-modulated manner, and the determining device determines the distance between said part of the eye and the detector device and/or the device from the propagation time of the detected light.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the projection device projects the light into the eye in a frequency-modulated manner, and the determining device determines the three-dimensional position of the eye relative to the device from the frequency of the detected light.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the projection device or a second projection device projects perceivable information into the eye such that it is correlated with the determined orientation of the eye.

11. A method for determining at least one of a position and an orientation of an eye, comprising:

projecting infrared light onto or into the eye, the projected light being deflected onto a specific part of the eye,

detecting said light after it has been reflected by said part of the eye,

determining a position of at least one characteristic of the eye from the detected light, and

determining the position or orientation of the device relative to the environment,

wherein the device is wearable.

12. The method according to claim 11, which uses the iris, the sclera, the cornea and/or another structure of the eye instead of the retina or together with the retina.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the at least one characteristic is at least one from the position of the pupillary center or the macula center.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the light is deflected by a holographic element which reflects light in an infrared range.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the light is projected into the eye in a frequency-modulated manner, and comprising determining the distance between said part of the eye and the detector device and/or the device from the propagation time of the detected light.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the light is projected into the eye in a frequency-modulated manner, and comprising determining the three-dimensional position of the eye relative to the device from the frequency of the detected light.

17. The method according to claim 11, comprising determining the position and/or orientation of the eye with respect to its environment by detecting the retinal structure of the eye as well as the environment reflex image superimposed thereon, detecting the position of the fovea by way of the retina structure, and identifying the area of the environment sighted by the fovea by way of a pattern identification.

18. The method according to claim 17, comprising performing an image identification to identify an object within the area of the environment sighted by the fovea.

19. The method according to claim 11, comprising determining the relative position of at least one characteristic area of the retina with respect to a detector system and/or projection system, determining the deviations of determined position data of this characteristic area from previously stored position data of this characteristic area, and determining of the spatial position and/or orientation of the eye with respect to the detector system and/or projection system from said determined deviations.

20. The method according to claim 11, comprising projecting perceivable information into the eye such that it is correlated with the determined orientation of the eye.