Eye-position sensor

• US 4,720,189 A
• Filed: 01/07/1986
• Issued: 01/19/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Northern Telecom Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northern Telecom Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Heynen, Jan, Kahn, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bovernick, Rodney B.
• Application Number:
  US06/816,787
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 351/209, 351/210, 250/203 R
• US Class Current: 351/210
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement

Abstract

An eye-position sensor for use in an eye-activated optical transducer in which a spatial filter is used to modify light reflected from the eye to form a substantially rectangular pattern on a quadrantal array of contiguous sensors. This arrangement provides a substantially linear change in the output signal from the sensors in response to an equivalent movement of the eye.

Claims

1. In an eye-position sensor which provides a signal representative of the X and Y coordinates of light reflected from the cornea of an eye;

said eye-position sensor comprising;

a substantially point source of light for illuminating the eye; and

a light sensor including;

a quadrantal array of contiguous photo detectors each of which generates a signal which is proportional to the illuminated area thereof;

a lens for collimating the light from the point source of light reflected from the cornea of the eye, onto the quadrantal array of contiguous photo detectors;

said light sensor characterized by;

a spatial filter for providing a substantially rectangular pattern of light from said source which is specularly reflected from the eye onto the array so that each corner of the rectangular pattern lies in a different quadrant of the array;

the filter being disposed so that movement of the eye changes the position of the pattern illuminating the array.

2. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 1 in which the light sensor is further characterized by:

each of the photodetectors has a sensing surface of a size at least as great as the substantially rectangular pattern of light which is incident thereon.

3. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 2 in which the pattern of light from the filter is a substantially square annulus of light having substantially the same orientation as that of the array.

4. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 3 which additionally comprises:

a display panel having an array of characters thereon;

said lens is disposed between the display panel and the eye for focusing the eye on the characters;

a partial light reflecting surface disposed between the lens and the display panel; and

an array of lights which produces a virtual image from reflections from the partial light reflecting surface;

the virtual image of each one of the array of lights being superimposed on respective ones of each of the characters on the display panel as seen by the eye to provide highlighting thereof.

5. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 4 in which the point source of light is disposed in the middle of the lens, and the light sensor is disposed in the middle of the display panel, and in which the light sensor is further characterized by:

a further lens disposed between the spatial filter and the quadrantal array to condense the specularly reflected infrared light on the array.

6. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 5 further comprising:

an aperture disposed between the further lens and the array for limiting spurious reflections from reaching said array.

7. An eye-position sensor as defined in claim 4 further comprising:

control means responsive to the signals from each of the photo sensors for illuminating one of the array of lights to produce a virtual image which is aligned with the character on the display board on which the eye is focused.