Information processing on a head-mountable device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354445-B1
Application number	US-201213601900-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 31, 2012
Priority date	Sep 16, 2011
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

Example methods and systems determine a position of a portion of a human eye based on electromagnetic radiation reflected from the surface of the human eye. A sensor associated with a computing device can be calibrated in response to an event. The computing device can receive data indicative of electromagnetic radiation reflected from a human eye. The computing device can determine a position of a portion of the human eye based on the received data indicative of electromagnetic radiation. The computing device can generate an indication including the position of the portion of the human eye. The computing device can transmit the indication from the computing device. In some embodiments, the data indicative of electromagnetic information can be provided by electromagnetic emitter/sensors mounted on a wearable computing device directed toward a human eye of a wearer of the wearable computing device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a head-mountable device (HMD), a measure of ambient light at each of one or more ambient light sensors (ALSs) arranged on the HMD, wherein each ALS is configured to measure ambient light corresponding to a respective location of one of a plurality of electromagnetic-radiation emitter/sensors (EESs) arranged on the HMD, and wherein ambient light comprises electromagnetic radiation other than electromagnetic radiation emitted by the plurality of EESs;
based on the one or more determined measures of ambient light at the one or more ALSs, determining, by the HMD, (i) a first number of EESs to use for emitting electromagnetic radiation toward an eye and (ii) a second number of EESs to use for detecting electromagnetic radiation reflected from the eye;
selecting, by the HMD from among the plurality of EESs, a first group of particular EESs based at least on the first group having the first number of EESs;
selecting, by the HMD from among the plurality of EESs, a second group of particular EESs based at least on the second group having the second number of EESs;
causing, by the HMD, each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the eye;
receiving, by the HMD from the particular EESs of the second group, data indicative of electromagnetic radiation reflected from the eye; and
determining, by the HMD, a position of a portion of the eye based on the received data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
further based on the one or more determined measures of ambient light at the one or more ALSs, determining by the HMD, for each of the particular EESs of the first group, respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics to use when emitting electromagnetic radiation toward the eye,
wherein causing each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the eye comprises causing each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit toward the eye electromagnetic radiation having the determined respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics comprise one or more of: (i) a power at which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye, (ii) a duration for which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye, and (iii) a frequency at which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the eye comprises a pupil of the eye.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first group comprises for each particular EES from among the plurality of EESs:
(i) if the determined measure of ambient light at a particular ALS associated with the particular EES exceeds a threshold measure of ambient light, including the particular EES in the first group, and
(ii) if the determined measure of ambient light at the particular ALS associated with the particular EES is below the threshold measure of ambient light, excluding the particular EES from the first group.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the second group comprises for each particular EES from among the plurality of EESs:
(i) if the determined measure of ambient light at a particular ALS associated with the particular EES exceeds a threshold measure of ambient light, including the particular EES in the second group, and
(ii) if the determined measure of ambient light at the particular ALS associated with the particular EES is below the threshold measure of ambient light, excluding the particular EES from the second group.

7. A head-mountable device (HMD), comprising:
a processor;
a plurality of electromagnetic-radiation emitter/sensors (EESs);
one or more ambient light sensors (ALSs), wherein each ALS is configured to measure ambient light corresponding to a respective location of one of the plurality of EESs, and wherein ambient light comprises electromagnetic radiation other than electromagnetic radiation emitted by the plurality of EESs;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by the processor to cause the HMD to perform functions comprising:
determining a measure of ambient light at each of the one or more ALSs;
based on the one or more determined measures of ambient light at the one or more ALSs, determining (i) a first number of EESs to use for emitting electromagnetic radiation toward an eye and (ii) a second number of EESs to use for detecting electromagnetic radiation reflected from the eye;
selecting, from among the plurality EESs, a first group of particular EESs based at least on the first group having the first number of EESs;
selecting, from among the plurality of EESs, a second group of particular EESs based at least on the second group having the second number of EESs;
causing each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the eye;
receiving, from the particular EESs of the second group, data indicative of electromagnetic radiation reflected from the eye; and
determining a position of a portion of the eye based on the received data.

8. The HMD of claim 7 , the functions further comprising:
further based on the one or more determined measures of ambient light at the one or more ALSs, determine for each of the particular EESs of the first group, respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics to use when emitting electromagnetic radiation toward the eye,
wherein causing each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the eye comprises causing each of the particular EESs of the first group to emit toward the eye electromagnetic radiation having the determined respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics.

9. The HMD of claim 8 , wherein the respective electromagnetic radiation characteristics comprise one or more of: (i) a power at which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye, (ii) a duration for which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye, and (iii) a frequency at which the electromagnetic radiation is emitted toward the eye.

10. The HMD of claim 7 , wherein selecting the first group comprises for each particular EES from among the plurality of EESs:
(i) if the determined measure of ambient light at a particular ALS associated with the particular EES exceeds a threshold measure of ambient light, including the particular EES in the first group, and
(ii) if the determined measure of ambient light at the particular ALS associated with the particular EES is below the threshold measure of ambient light, excluding the particular EES from the first group.

11. The HMD of claim 7 , wherein selecting the second group comprises for each particular EES from among the plurality of EESs:
(i) if the determined measure of ambient light at a particular ALS associated with the particular EES exceeds a threshold measure of ambient light, including the particular EES in the second group, and
(ii) if the determined measure of ambient light at the particular ALS associated with the particular EES is below the threshold measure of ambient light, excluding the particular EES from the second group.

12. The HMD of claim 7 , wherein the portion of the eye comprises a pupil of the eye.

13. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if the instructions are executed by a head-mountable device (HMD), cause the HMD to perform functions comprising:
determining a measure of ambient li

Assignees

• Weaver Joshua
• Starner Thad Eugene
• Biffle Cliff L
• Keyes Edward Allen
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Weaver Joshua
• Starner Thad Eugene
• Biffle Cliff L
• Keyes Edward Allen

Classifications

• G02B2027/0178

  Eyeglass type (eyeglass details G02C) · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• A61B3/113

  for determining or recording eye movement · CPC title

• G02B27/01

  Head-up displays · CPC title

• G02B27/0093 Primary

  with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking · CPC title