Foveated display eye-tracking system and method

• US 20040227699A1
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian T. Mitchell
• Original Assignee: Optimetrics, Inc (DCS Corporation)
• Inventors: Mitchell, Brian T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,872,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/44
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/398 Electrooculography [EOG], e.g. detecting nystagmus; Electroretinography [ERG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0093 with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor

Abstract

A system for detecting and recording eye-tracking data by presenting to an observer a display image with an area in focus surrounded by blurred areas. The observer may shift the focus area within the image by head movements which are wirelessly transmitted to a receiver and used to modify the displayed image. This system solves that part of the eye-tracking problem that is most critical for measuring cognitive processes.

Claims

1. A system for recording eye movements necessary for a user to acquire information from an image, comprising:

a display screen;

an image generator operative to generate an image on the display screen with a first portion in-focus and other portions blurred with respect to the first portion;

a transmitter attached to the user'"'"'s head;

a receiver for detecting signals from the transmitter relating to motion of the user'"'"'s head;

circuitry for providing the motion signals to the display generator to control the region of the generated image which is in-focus as a function of the head movements; and

a recorder to record the in-focus positions on the display screen.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the communication between the transmitter and the receiver is wireless.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the image generated by the display generator comprises areas of successively increased blurring surrounding the in-focus portion.

4. An eye-tracking method, comprising the steps of:

generating an image in which a selected foveated region is more focused than the balance of the image;

displaying the generated image to a user;

tracking movements of the user'"'"'s head; and

changing the area of the image which is in-focus relative to the balance of the image as a function of the user'"'"'s head movements to obtain information about the image.

5. The method of claim 4, including the step of recording the movements of the position of the in-focus area on the display screen while acquiring information from the image.

6. The method of claim 5, further including the steps of:

playing back the recorded in-focus display positions; and

generating a display comprising the full image, in-focus, with tracings representing the change in the user'"'"'s gaze during the process.

7. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of wirelessly transmitting signals relative to the user'"'"'s head position to a receiver.

8. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of deriving eye movements through the head movements.

9. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of using combined head movement data and EOG derived data to control the foveated region.

10. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of time-synchronizing the foveated region as a function of position.

11. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of processing the foveated region movements for analysis purposes.

12. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of providing a user-comfortable initial position of the foveated region.

13. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of calculating the distance between the head and the display to change the foveated region display characteristics to mirror those associated with HVS perceptual capabilities.

14. The method of claim 5, including further including the step of correlating the position of the foveated region to display screen pixels.