Head-mount eye tracking system with improved determination of gazing position

• US 9,213,406 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2013
• Issued: 12/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Chiao Tung University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Original Assignee: National Chiao Tung University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Inventors: Ou-Yang, Mang, Chiou, Jin-Chern, Huang, Ting-Wei, Hu, Chun-Cheng, Jhuang, Jyun-Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Sternbane, Larry
• Application Number:
  US14/139,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20150035745A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0138 comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection

Abstract

A head-mount eye tracking system including a first light source, a first pupil image capturing device, a first and a second environmental image capturing devices, a fixing device and an image identification system. The first light source is applied to illuminate a first eye of a user. The first pupil image capturing device is applied to capture a first pupil image of the first eye. The first and the second environmental image capturing devices are respectively applied to capture a first and a second environmental images in front of the user. The fixing device is mounted to the head of the user to fix the first light source, the first pupil image capturing device, the first and the second environmental image capturing devices on the head of the user. The image identification system is applied to map the first or the second environmental images to the first pupil image.

Claims

1. A head-mount eye tracking system, comprising:

a first light source, sending a first light beam to illuminate a first eye of a user;

a first pupil image capturing device, disposed on a transmission path of the first light beam reflected by the first eye to capture a first pupil image of the first eye;

a first environmental image capturing device, adapted to capture a first environmental image in front of the user;

a second environmental image capturing device, adapted to capture a second environmental image in front of the user;

a fixing device, disposed on the head of the user for fixing the first light source, the first pupil image capturing device, the first environmental image capturing device and the second environmental image capturing device on the head of the user; and

an image identification system, adapted to map at least one of the first environmental image and the second environmental image to the first pupil image, so as to determine a gazing position of the user, wherein the fixing device is a pair of glasses, the pair of glasses comprises a glasses frame and two lenses fixed on the glasses frame, the glasses frame comprises two lens frame portions, a first connection portion, two second connection portions and two ear hooking portions, wherein the first connection portion connects the two lens frame portions, each of the second connection portions connects the ear hooking portion with the adjacent lens frame portion, and the lenses are located in the lens frame portions, the first environmental image capturing device and the second environmental image capturing device are disposed on the first connection portion, and the first pupil image capturing device is disposed on the ear hooking portion adjacent to the first eye, and the first light source is disposed on one of the first connection portion, the second connection portion adjacent to the first eye and the ear hooking portion adjacent to the first eye.

2. The head-mount eye tracking system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first light source is selected from a visible-light light source or an invisible-light light source.

3. The head-mount eye tracking system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the invisible-light light source is selected from an infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED), an ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) or laser.

4. The head-mount eye tracking system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pupil image capturing device, the first environmental image capturing device and the second environmental image capturing device are respectively selected from a charge coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device or an infrared (IR) camera.

5. The head-mount eye tracking system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a second light source, sending a second light beam to illuminate a second eye of the user; and

a second pupil image capturing device, disposed on a transmission path of the second beam reflected by the second eye to capture a second pupil image of the second eye, wherein the second light source and the second pupil image capturing device are fixed on the fixing device, and the image identification system is adapted to map at least one of the first environmental image and the second environmental image to the second pupil image.

6. The head-mount eye tracking system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a data storage system, adapted to store the first pupil image, the first environmental image and the second environmental image, or store the gazing position of the user that is identified by the image identification system; and

a transmission element, wherein the gazing position of the user that is identified by the image identification system or the first pupil image, the first environmental image and the second environmental image are transmitted to the data storage system through the transmission element.