Eye Gaze Determination

• US 20150177833A1
• Filed: 12/23/2014
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tobii Technology AB
• Original Assignee: Tobii Technology AB
• Inventors: SKOG, Mrten, ELVESJ, John, VENNSTRM, Anders
• Granted Patent: US 9,829,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods

Abstract

There is provided methods, systems and computer program products for identifying an interaction element from one or more interaction elements present in a user interface, comprising: receiving gaze information from an eye tracking system; determining the likelihood that an interaction element is the subject of the gaze information from the eye tracking system; and identifying an interaction element from the one or more interaction elements based on said likelihood determination.

Claims

1. A computer system providing a gaze-controlled interface, the computer system comprising:

an operating system for executing an application,

a display module for displaying at least one interaction element on a visual display,

an eye tracking system operable to provide gaze information of a user,

an identification module operable to determine an interaction element displayed on the visual display that is the subject of the gaze information, wherein the identification module comprises a processor configured to determine an interaction element by;

assigning a first weighting to an interaction element based on at least one property of the interaction element, and

identifying an interaction element dependent on the assigned first weighting.

2. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the likelihood that a user will direct its gaze to an interaction element dependent on said gaze information;

and to calculate a weighting to said interaction element dependent on said likelihood.

3. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

assign a second weighting to an interaction element giving weights to different parts of said interaction element dependent on the likelihood of a user directing its gaze to said parts;

generating a resulting weighting dependent on said first weighting and on said second weighting; and

identifying an interaction element dependent on said resulting weighting.

4. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one property comprises a selection of:

intended use; and

/or

visual context; and

/or

interaction context; and

/or

collected data indicating how often one or more users interacts with the interaction element.

5. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the determination is further based on the distance from a determined eye gaze position to a selected coordinate, point or area of one or more interaction elements on the visual display.

6. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the determination is further based on information on the physiological properties of the human eye.

7. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the weighting of a first and a second interaction element;

comparing the difference in the weighting between said first and second interaction elements with a threshold value;

identifying an interaction element from said first and second interaction elements dependent said comparison with said threshold value.

8. A computer system providing a gaze-controlled interface, the computer system comprising:

an operating system for executing an application,

a display module for displaying at least one interaction element on a visual display,

an eye tracking system operable to provide gaze information of a user,

an identification module operable to determine an interaction element displayed on the visual display that is the subject of the gaze information,

wherein the determination of an interaction element comprises;

assigning a weighting to at least a subset of interaction element(s) displayed in a plane according to a distribution function describing a surface covering said subset of displayed interaction element(s), the height of said surface indicating the likelihood for a user to direct its gaze to the corresponding part of said subset of interaction elements in said plane.

9. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein assigning by a distribution function weights for at least a subset of displayed interaction elements, wherein the weights are distributed such that if represented by a surface or a volume in three dimensions (x-y-z), the z axis of the three dimensional representation indicates the weight of a portion of the interaction element.

10. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein the weights are determined based on a selection of:

properties of the user interface; and

/or

properties of the interaction element; and

/or

physiological properties of the user; and

/or

physiological properties of the human eye; and

/or

the gaze offset.

11. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein the weights are determined on at least one property comprising a selection of:

intended use; and

/or

visual context; and

/or

interaction context; and

/or

collected data indicating how often one or more users interacts with the interaction element.

12. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein the determination is further based on the distance from a determined eye gaze position to a selected coordinate, point or area of one or more interaction elements on the visual display.

13. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein the determination is further based on information on the physiological properties of the human eye.

14. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the weighting of a first and a second interaction element;

comparing the difference in the weighting between said first and second interaction elements with a threshold value;

identifying an interaction element from said first and second interaction elements dependent said comparison with said threshold value.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium with instructions for causing a programmable computer to perform the functions or steps of any claims 1-14.