Eye tracking and user reaction detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9552064-B2
Application number	US-201414556051-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2014
Priority date	Nov 27, 2013
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for optical sensing and tracking of eye movement. In one aspect, a device for obtaining a user's eye dynamics data includes a display screen to present at least one content. The device includes an eye sensing module to obtain the user's eye dynamics data including the user's eye movement while presenting to the user the at least one content on the display screen. The device includes a processor in communication with the eye sensing module. The processor can determine the user's reaction to the at least one content presented on the display screen based at least partly on the obtained user's eye dynamics data.

First claim

What is claimed are techniques and structures as described and shown, including:

1. A device for eye-tracking, the device comprising:
a photodetector module;
two groups of light sources disposed on the device at respective locations relative to a location of the photodetector module, each group of light sources configured to emit a modulated light;
wherein the respective modulated lights emitted by the two groups of light sources are modulated at a substantially same modulation frequency and out of phase with each other;
responsive to emitting the modulated lights by the two groups of light sources, the photodetector module is configured to receive a return light including at least a partial retroreflected light from an eye of the user; and
a processor in communication with the photodetector module and the two groups of light sources, the processor is configured to process an output signal from the photodetector module to determine positional and dimensional parameters of the eye of the user based at least on the received partial retroreflected light.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the location of one of the groups of light sources is closest to the photodetector module than any other in the two or more groups of light sources such that the partial retroreflected light received by the photodetector module is based more on the modulated light emitted by the group of light sources having the closest location than any other in the two or more groups of light sources.

3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a receiving lens positioned in front of the photodetector module to collect the received partial retroreflected light and direct the collected partial retroreflected light onto the photodetector module.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein one group of light sources is disposed in proximity of an optical axis of the receiving lens and another group of light sources is disposed away from the optical axis of the receiving lens.

5. The device of claim 3 , wherein the receiving lens and the two or more groups of light sources are configured such that the retroreflected light from the eye based on the modulated light emitted by one of the groups of light sources projects substantially onto the receiving lens, and wherein the retroreflected light from the eye based on the modulated light emitted by another group of light sources projects substantially off the receiving lens.

6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising filtering circuitry communicatively linked to photodetector module to filter the photodetector module output signal to reject background light and scattered light based on the respective modulated lights.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the scattered light is generated when the respective modulated lights scatter off the user's face and other surfaces near the user's face.

8. The device of claim 6 , wherein the scattered light based on the modulated light emitted by one of the groups of light sources is substantially 180° out of phase with respect to the scattered light based on the modulated light emitted by another group of light sources.

9. The device of claim 6 , wherein the filtering circuitry includes a bandpass filter to reject the background light.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the two or more groups of light sources are configured to emit respective modulated lights at substantially the same wavelength.

11. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a display interface, wherein the processor is configured to determine a location of gaze of the eye of the user based on the determined positional parameters, and the display interface is configured to display a cursor on the display interface at the determined location of gaze.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the display interface and the processor in combination are configured to actively adjust the position of the cursor based on updated positional parameters.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein a strength of the output signal from the photodetector module is proportional to a strengthen of the retroreflection of the eye, which is further proportional to the pupil size of the eye.

14. A mobile device for controlling a cursor based on a user's gaze, comprising:
a display interface;
a surface area adjacent to the display interface;
a first group of light sources placed at a first location on the surface area and operable to emit a first modulated light;
a second group of light sources placed at a second location on the surface area and operable to emit a second modulated light;
wherein the first modulated light and the second modulated light have substantially the same modulation frequency, and wherein the modulation phases of the first modulated light and the second modulated light are substantially opposite to each other,
wherein the first group of light sources and the second group of light sources are configured to emit the first and second modulated lights toward an eye of a user of the user-operated device;
a photodetector module configured to receive a return light including at least a partial retroreflected light from an eye of the user based on the first and second modulated lights emitted from the first and second groups of light sources; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the photodetector module and the first and second groups of light sources, the processor is configured to process an output signal from the photodetector module to determine a location of gaze of the eye of the user based at least on the partial retroreflected light corresponding to the first and second modulated lights,
wherein the display interface is configured to display a cursor at the determined location of gaze.

15. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the display interface in collaboration with the processor is further configured to continuously adjust the position of the cursor based on updated locations of gaze of the eye.

16. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the photodetector module is configured to track relative linear motions and rotational motions between the mobile device and the eye of the user, and generate the output signal which reflects effects of the relative linear motions and rotational motions on the location of gaze.

17. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the strength of the output signal from the photodetector module is proportional to the strengthen of the retroreflection of the eye, which is further proportional to the pupil size of the eye.

18. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the output signal to determine the size of the pupil of the eye.

19. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the output signal to determine a distance between the mobile device and the eye of the user.

20. The mobile device of claim 14 , further comprising:
a device exterior; and
one or more buttons located on the mobile device to perform mouse functions at the location of the displayed cursor.

21. The mobile device of claim 20 , wherein the one or more buttons are placed on the left side, right side, or back side of the device exterior.

22. The mobile device of claim 20 , wherein the one or more buttons are displayed on the display interface.

23. The mobile device of claim 20 , wherein the one or more buttons are operable in combination with existing buttons of the mobile device.

24. The mobile device of claim 20 , wherein the one or more

Assignees

• Shenzhen Huiding Technology Co

Inventors

• He Yi
• Pi Bo

Classifications

• G06V10/141

  Control of illumination · CPC title

• G06F3/013 Primary

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

• G06F3/0304

  Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means (constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042) · 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

• G06F3/0325

  using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image · CPC title