Electronic apparatus, method for controlling electronic apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12452518-B2
Application number	US-202217970634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2022
Priority date	Apr 30, 2020
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

An electronic apparatus includes: control means for performing control to record, in recording means, characteristic data on a line-of-sight; authentication means for authenticating a user; and detection means for detecting, in a case where characteristic data on a line-of-sight of the authenticated user is recorded in the recording means, a line-of-sight of the user by using the recorded characteristic data on the line-of-sight.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising
an eyepiece finder, and
at least one memory and at least one processor which function as:
a control unit configured to perform control to record, in a recording unit, calibration data for correcting a shift of a line-of-sight;
an imaging unit configured to acquire a first image of an eye of a user by receiving first light applied from a light source and reflected by the eye of the user;
a notification unit configured to notify the user to move the eye closer to the eyepiece finder in a case where brightness of ambient light around the electronic apparatus is darker than predetermined brightness;
an authentication unit configured to authenticate the user by detecting an iris pattern of the user based on the first image in a case where the eye of the user is close to the eyepiece finder; and
a detection unit configured to detect the line-of-sight of the user, after authenticating the user by the authentication unit, by using the calibration data which is associated with the user specified as a result of the authentication and is recorded by the recording unit.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the imaging unit acquires a second image of the eye of the user by receiving second light applied from a light source and reflected by the eye of the user, and
the detection unit detects the line-of-sight of the user on the basis of the second image.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a first light source configured to irradiate the eye of the user with the first light; and
a second light source configured to irradiate the eye of the user with the second light.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the first light source is an electrical viewfinder (EVF), and
the first light is visible light.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the first light and the second light have different wavelengths.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first light and the second light have different light amounts.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein light amounts of the first light is larger than light amounts of the second light.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the second light is infrared light.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
in a case where the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight of the authenticated user is not recorded in the recording unit, the detection unit makes the user to select whether or not to register the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 wherein
the authentication unit authenticates the user by detecting a pattern of a face of the user in a case where brightness of ambient light around the electronic apparatus is equal to or brighter than the predetermined brightness.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 wherein
in a case where the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight of the authenticated user is recorded in the recording unit, the detection unit detects the line-of-sight of the user by using the recorded calibration data,
in a case where the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight of the authenticated user is not recorded in the recording unit, the detection unit newly acquires calibration data for correcting a shift of a line-of-sight of the user, and detects the line-of-sight of the user by using the newly acquired calibration data, and
the control unit performs control to record, in the recording unit, the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight newly acquired by the detection unit.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight of the authenticated user is not recorded in the recording unit, the detection unit detects the line-of-sight of the user by using calibration data for correcting a shift of a line-of-sight set in advance.

13. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the authentication unit authenticates the user at a time of start of the electronic apparatus.

14. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the calibration data for correcting a shift of the line-of-sight of an authenticated user is not recorded in the recording unit, the control unit performs control to set average calibration data from a plurality of persons as the calibration data for the authenticated user.

15. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein if iris data of a user matches an iris pattern in the recording unit, the calibration data associated with the user is acquired from the recording unit to correct the shift of line-of-sight of the user.

16. A method for controlling an electronic apparatus, the method comprising:
a control step for performing control to record, in a recording unit, calibration data for correcting a shift of a line-of-sight;
an authentication step for authenticating a user by detecting an iris pattern of the user based on a first image of an eye of the user, the first image being acquired by receiving first light applied from a light source and reflected by the eye of the user;
a notification step for notifying the user to move the eye closer to an eyepiece finder in a case where brightness of ambient light around the electronic apparatus is darker than predetermined brightness; and
a detection step for detecting the line-of-sight of the user, after authenticating the user in the authentication step, by using the calibration data which is associated with the user specified as a result of the authentication.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which causes a computer to execute a method for controlling an electronic apparatus, the method comprising:
a control step for performing control to record, in a recording unit, calibration data for correcting a shift of a line-of-sight;
an authentication step for authenticating a user by detecting an iris pattern of the user based on a first image of an eye of the user, the first image being acquired by receiving first light applied from a light source and reflected by the eye of the user;
a notification step for notifying the user to move the eye closer to an eyepiece finder in a case where brightness of ambient light around the electronic apparatus is darker than predetermined brightness; and
a detection step for detecting the line-of-sight of the user, after authenticating the user in the authentication step, by using the calibration data which is associated with the user specified as a result of the authentication and is recorded by the recording unit.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Nishizawa Hideta

Classifications

• H04N5/77

  between a recording apparatus and a television camera · CPC title

• G06F21/32

  using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints · CPC title

• H04N23/53

  of electronic viewfinders, e.g. rotatable or detachable · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• G06V40/70

  Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities · CPC title