Eyewear for determining an eye direction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12399557-B2
Application number	US-202218551058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2022
Priority date	Mar 31, 2021
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

An eyewear is adapted for fitting a user's face and for determining an eye direction of a user's eye. The eyewear is provided with at least three light sensors each configured for outputting a measured light intensity value that corresponds to ambient light originating from surroundings of the user outside the eyewear and reflected or scattered by the user's eye. A processing unit of the eyewear determines the eye direction from the measured light intensity values.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An eyewear configured to fit a face of a user and to determine eye directions of eyes of a user, said eyewear comprising:
two sets of at least three light sensors, each set arranged in the eyewear for a respective eye of said eyes, each light sensor of one of the sets of light sensors being configured to output, for each determination of a corresponding eye direction, at least one measured light intensity value that corresponds to ambient light originating from surroundings of the user outside the eyewear and reflected or scattered by the respective eye of the user within a field of view effective for said light sensor; and
processing circuitry configured to receive the measured light intensity values output by each set of sensors for each determination of the corresponding eye direction, and determine each corresponding eye direction from said measured light intensity values,
wherein the light sensors are arranged so that, when the eyewear is worn by the user:
each field of view relating to one of the light sensors has an apex at the eyewear and a cross-section increase direction oriented towards the face of the user, a field-of-view cross-section increasing continuously from the eyewear towards the face of the user,
each field of view contains at least part of the respective eye of the user and
each field of view has an integrated aperture value between 0.006 steradian and 0.22 steradian, and the respective eye of the user occupies at least 30% of said field of view,

wherein respective axial directions of a first subset of the fields of view all pass through one first common convergence point located within the respective eye of the user and another subset of the fields of view all pass through one second common convergence point also located within the respective eye of the user, said first and second common convergence points being located at different depth values within the respective eye of the user when the eyewear is worn by the user, and
each set of light sensors has fields of view oriented so that the set is efficient for determining the corresponding eye direction for a position of the eyewear on the face of the user, the respective eyewear positions that correspond separately to all light sensor sets being different from each other.

2. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein each light sensor comprises a photodiode, a phototransistor, an ambient light sensor, or a photovoltaic cell.

3. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the respective fields of view of the at least three of the light sensors have conical shapes with circular cross-sections, and aperture angles between 5° and 30°.

4. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising a see-through area dedicated to the respective eye of the user when the eyewear is worn by the user,
wherein each light sensor is located near a peripheral edge of the see-through area, or light from the face of the user is reflected towards the at least three light sensors of one of the sets by a holographic mirror that extends across the see-through area.

5. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of the following components for determining the field of view of each light sensor:
a lens with a fixed focal length coupled to the light sensor;
a variable focal lens coupled to the light sensor, said variable focal lens having a focal length value adjusted by a controller of the eyewear;
an optical fiber segment coupled to the light sensor; and
a hole with a slanted peripheral wall or an aperture stop arranged above a photosensitive surface of the light sensor.

6. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the light sensors are arranged so as to determine pairs of fields of view, with each pair containing two fields of view having a common axial direction and apex, but different aperture values, and
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate, for each pair, a combination between the respective light intensity values measured for both fields of view of said pair, and determine the corresponding eye direction from results of said differences related to at least three pairs of fields of view.

7. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising additional light sensors with respective fields of view oriented away from the respective eye of the user when the eyewear is worn by the user, to assessing a light map of the surroundings of the user or of the face of the user, and
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine the corresponding eye direction from the measured light intensity values relating to the light reflected or scattered by the respective eye of the user in combination with the light map as assessed by the additional light sensors.

8. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine the corresponding eye direction using one of the following algorithm types:
a regression type, being at least one of linear and polynomial regression, support vector regression, or neural network type;
a nearest neighbor method, a gaussian process, or a correlation method; and
an algorithm based on a 3D-model of the face of the user and/or an arrangement of the light sensors in the eyewear.

9. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to output successive sets of measured light intensity values, each set corresponding to a corresponding eye direction determination sequence, and
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine successive filtered eye directions by implementing a time-filter, either with the successive sets of measured light intensity values, or with successive eye directions as determined separately from one of the successive sets of measured light intensity values.

10. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform a calibration step prior to determining the corresponding eye direction, the calibration step including acquiring labeled training sets, which are each comprised of measured light intensity values and the corresponding eye direction, and adjusting parameters of an algorithm that is implemented by the processing circuitry for determining the corresponding eye direction, based on the labeled training sets.

11. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the eyewear is one among the following types:
spectacles provided with electrochromic lenses, and configured to adjust a transmission of each lens based on the corresponding eye direction determined for the corresponding eye of the user,
a mask provided with an electrochromic glass, and configured to adjust an absorption of the glass based on the eye direction determined for at least one of the eyes of the user;
an augmented reality eyewear, an informative eyewear, or a mixed reality and virtual reality eyewear;
an eyewear provided with variable focal lenses, and configured to adjust a focal length of each lens based on the corresponding eye direction determined for the respective eye of the user: and
spectacles or mask provided with at least one active filter and configured to adjust a spectral transmission or a polarization filtering operation of said filter based on the corresponding eye direction determined for at least one of the eyes of the user.

12. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising a corrective system configured to provide, to the processing circuitry, contextual data relating to a context of measured light intensity values by the at least three light sensors for a given determination of the corresponding eye direction,
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine the corresponding eye direction further based on the co

Assignees

• Essilor Int

Inventors

• Combier Jessica
• Bouchier Aude
• Cano Jean-Paul

Classifications

• A61B3/113

  for determining or recording eye movement · CPC title

• G06F3/0346

  with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a three-dimensional [3D] space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors · CPC title

• G06F3/013 Primary

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title