System and method for automatic eye tracking calibration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9715781-B2
Application number	US-201414498989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for calibrating the location of a player's gaze at a video display of a gaming machine. The system and method includes capturing images of the player's gaze with a camera while displaying a plurality of reference symbols at locations on the display during serial display of game video content. Also, a processor creates control signals that represent the direction of the player's gaze relative to the location of the plurality of symbols on the display of the gaming machine. The processor develops a data set based on the control signals and the locations of the plurality of reference symbols to develop a data set. Further, the system and method includes calibrating the location of the player's gaze using the data set with the location s of the plurality of reference symbols on the display.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method of calibrating a location of a player's gaze at a video display comprising:
providing, by a least one processor, game play on a display of a gaming machine, the game play including a serial display of game video content having a plurality of reference symbols and non- reference symbols displayed on the display;
capturing, by at least one image capturing device coupled to the gaming machine, images of the player's gaze while displaying the plurality of reference symbols at positions on the display during the serial display of the game video content;
creating, by the at least one processor, control signals representing a direction of the player's gaze relative to the positions of the plurality of reference symbols;
creating, by the at least one processor, a data set based on the control signals and the positions of the plurality of reference symbols;
calibrating, by the at least one processor, the location of the player's gaze at the display of the gaming machine using the data set; and
improving, by the at least one processor, calibration of the location of the player's gaze by removing a weakest member of the data set and replacing the weakest member with new calibration event data, wherein the weakest member is determined based upon a spread size of raw gaze data, with a small spread she being better, and a shortness of time of a fixation event, with a shorter time indicating less accuracy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference symbols have a greater significance to the game play on the gaming machine than the non-reference symbols displayed on the display of the gaming machine.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the serial display of the game video content includes a spinning reel game.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the plurality of reference symbols is selected from a group consisting of a Wild symbol and a Jackpot symbol.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of reference symbols is animated.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an audio cue through speakers of the gaming machine; and
capturing images of the player's gaze while providing the audio cue.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising saving the data set in a profile for the player.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing images of the player's gaze includes capturing images of the player's left and right eye.

9. A method for tracking a location of a player's eye at a video display comprising:
providing, by at least one processor, game play on a display of a gaming machine, the game play including a serial display of game video content;
capturing, by an image capturing device coupled to the gaming machine, images of the player's eye during game play;
storing, by a memory device coupled to the gaming machine, captured images of the player's eye when an indicator for a calibration point is displayed on the display of the gaming machine during game play;
creating, by at least one processor, control signals representing the location of the player's eye relative to a position of the indicator displayed on the display of the gaming machine;
processing, by the at least one processor, the control signals and the position of the indicator on the display to develop a data set;
calibrating, by the at least one processor, a location of a gaze of the player's eye at the display of the gaming machine using the data set; and
improving, by the at least one processor, calibration of the location of the phyer's gaze by removing a weakest member of the data set and replacing the weakest member with new calibration event data, wherein the weakest member is determined based upon a spread size of raw gaze data, with a small spread size being better, and a shortness of time of a fixation event, with a shorter time indicating less accuracy.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the indicator for the calibration point is a special gaming symbol with a greater significance to the game play on the gaming machine than a non-special gaming symbol on the display of the gaming machine.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the special gaming symbol is selected from a group consisting of a Wild symbol and a Jackpot symbol.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the special gaming symbol is an animation.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the display of the gaming machine is a touchscreen display and the indicator for the calibration point is the location of a touch on the touchscreen display.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising storing captured images of the player's eye preceding the occurrence of the indicator for the calibration point.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein storing captured images of the player's eye 0.5 seconds before the occurrence of the indicator for the calibration point.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising saving the data set in a profile for the player.

17. A system for calibrating a player's gaze during game play, comprising:
a gaming machine including a display, the gaming machine providing game video content on the display, and the gaming machine providing a plurality of reference symbols and non-reference symbols on the display during game play, wherein the plurality of reference symbols have a greater significance to the game play than the plurality of non-reference symbols;
a camera positioned adjacent to the display of the gaming machine, wherein the camera captures images of the player's gaze when at least one of the plurality of reference symbols is displayed on the display of the gaming machine;
a memory device in communication with the camera that stores images of the player's gaze when at least one of the plurality of reference symbols is displayed; and
a processor in communication with the gaming machine and the memory device, the processor creating a data set based on the stored images and one or more positions on the display of the at least one of the plurality of reference symbols, wherein the data set represents a location at the display of the player's gaze;
wherein a calibration of the location of the player's gaze is improved by removing a weakest member of the data set and replacing the weakest member with new calibration event data, wherein the weakest member is determined based upon a spread size of raw gaze data, with a small spread size being better, and a shortness of time of a fixation event, with a shorter time indicating less accuracy.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the memory device and processor are associated with a remote server.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the remote server is in communication with multiple gaming machines.

20. the method of claim 19 , wherein the memory device stores the data set created by the processor in a profile for the player.

Assignees

• Bally Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Lyons Martin S
• Kelly Bryan M

Classifications

• G07F17/3258

  Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots · CPC title

• G07F17/3237

  about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players · CPC title

• G07F17/326

  Game play aspects of gaming systems · CPC title

• G07F17/3206 Primary

  Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics · CPC title

• G07F17/3209

  Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen · CPC title