Eye tracking with detection of adequacy of lighting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9329684-B2
Application number	US-201414293892-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2014
Priority date	Jun 2, 2014
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods and storage media for track an eye of a user are described. In one instance, an apparatus may include an image capturing device to generate a captured image of a user's eye, light sources to illuminate the user's eye, and an eye tracker to track a user's eye that includes identification of intensity of reflection of light off the user's eye, from the captured image of the user's eye, in response to illumination of the user's eye by at least one of the light sources; determination of whether the identified intensity is inadequate, based at least in part on a result of the identification; and taking a corrective action based at least in part on a result of the determination with indication of inadequate intensity. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a computing device, cause the computing device to track an eye of a user of the computing device, which includes the computing device caused to:
identify intensity of reflection of light off the user's eye, from a captured image of the user's eye, in response to illumination of the user's eye by at least one of one or more light sources;
determine that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold;
detect a touch event in an area of a touch screen of the computing device proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources, wherein the one or more light sources are disposed around the touch screen of the computing device;
establish that the at least one of the light sources is obstructed, based on the determination that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold and on the detection of a touch event in the area of the touch screen proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources; and
initiate a corrective action to improve tracking of the user's eye, based at least in part on a result of the determine, wherein to initiate a corrective action includes to activate another one of the light sources, to compensate for the lower than expected intensity of the at least one of the one or more light sources.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to calculate the expected intensity of reflection of light, based at least in part on one or more characteristics associated with the computing device.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein to calculate the expected intensity is based on at least one of: optical power characteristics of the light sources, environmental conditions, geometric properties associated with the light projected by the light sources, or optical characteristics of an image capturing device associated with the computing device.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein to detect a touch event includes to determine a change in resistive, capacitive, or acoustic characteristics associated with the area of the touch screen.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions that cause the computing device to initiate a corrective action based at least in part on a result of the determine further cause the computing device to: deactivate the obstructed light source.

6. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing device, further cause the computing device to: capture the image of the user's eye, with an image capturing device associated with the computing device.

7. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein to initiate a corrective action further includes to generate an alert to indicate the inadequate intensity of reflected light.

8. An apparatus having an eye tracking feature, comprising:
an image capturing device to generate a captured image of a user's eye; and
an eye tracker coupled with the image capturing device and one or more light sources to track the user's eye, wherein to track the user's eye is to:
identify intensity of reflection of light off the user's eye, from the captured image of the user's eye, in response to illumination of the user's eye by at least one of the one or more light sources;
determine that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold;
detect a touch event in an area of a touch screen of the computing device proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources, wherein the one or more light sources are disposed around the touch screen of the computing device;
establish that the at least one of the light sources is obstructed, based on the determination that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold and on the detection of a touch event in the area of the touch screen proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources; and
initiate a corrective action to improve tracking of the user's eye, based at least in part on a result of the determination, wherein to initiate a corrective action includes to activate another one of the light sources, to compensate for the lower than expected intensity of the at least one of the one or more light sources.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the eye tracker is to calculate the expected intensity based at least in part on one or more characteristics associated with the apparatus.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein to initiate the corrective action further includes to generate an alert to indicate the inadequate intensity of reflected light.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more light sources are co-located with the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more light sources are disposed on a bezel around the touch screen.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a touch screen controller coupled to the eye tracker and the touch screen to detect a touch event in an area of the touch screen proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the eye tracker to initiate the corrective action through:
deactivation of the obstructed light source.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is a tablet computing device, wherein the light sources comprise at least two infrared (IR) light sources, and wherein the image capturing device comprises an IR camera.

16. A computer-implemented method for tracking a user's eye, comprising:
identifying, by a computing device, intensity of reflection of light off the user's eye, from a captured image of the user's eye, in response to illumination of the user's eye by at least one of one or more light sources;
determining, by the computing device, that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold;
detecting, by the computing device, a touch event in an area of a touch screen of the computing device proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources, wherein the one or more light sources are disposed around the touch screen of the computing device;
determining, by the computing device, that the at least one of the light sources is obstructed, based on the determination that the identified intensity is lower than an expected intensity of reflection of light by at least a threshold and on the detection of a touch event in the area of the touch screen proximate to the at least one of the one or more light sources; and
initiating, by the computing device, a corrective action to improve tracking of the user's eye based at least in part on a result of the determining that the light source is obstructed, wherein the initiating a corrective action includes deactivating the obstructed light source.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the determining includes:
calculating, by the computing device, the expected intensity of reflection of light, based at least in part on one or more characteristics associated with the computing device.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Horesh Nizan

Classifications

• G06K9/00604

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/043

  using propagating acoustic waves · CPC title

• G06F3/045

  using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact · CPC title

• G06F3/013 Primary

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

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title