Gaze tracking variations using selective illumination
AssigneeSony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
InventorEric J. Larsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to eye tracking systems and methods which track eyes by illuminating the eyes using a light source and detecting the eye illuminations using a sensor. Implementations of the present disclosure may utilize wide angle lighting via a plurality of individual light sources which are each oriented in different orientations. A wide area may be illuminated by the different light sources, and these light sources may be selectively turned on and off based on a current location of a user.
Claims20
a) emitting light from an eye tracking device, wherein said emitting the light includes initially emitting the light from all light sources of a plurality of light sources of the eye tracking device, each said light source of the plurality being oriented to emit light at a different angle;
- b) detecting an area illuminated by the light with a sensor of the eye tracking device;
- identifying one or more of the light sources of the plurality as contributing light sources from analysis of data gathered from said detecting the area, said identifying the light sources as the contributing light sources being based on a determination that the contributing light sources illuminate one or more eyes, wherein identifying one or more of the lights sources of the plurality as contributing light sources comprises pulsing one or more of the plurality at a different pulse frequency than a pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality and detecting the presence of reflections at the different pulse frequency or the pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality;
- c) turning off one or more light sources of the plurality not identified as the contributing light sources while emitting the light from the contributing light sources;
- and
- subsequently repeating a), b), and c) one or more times.
A system comprising:
- an eye tracking device having a sensor and a plurality of light sources, each said light source being oriented to emit light at a different angle;
- and
- a computing device, wherein the system is configured to perform a method, the method comprising:
- a) emitting light from the eye tracking device, wherein said emitting the light includes initially emitting the light from all light sources of the plurality of light sources;
- b) detecting an area illuminated by the light with the sensor;
- c) identifying, with the computing device, one or more of the light sources of the plurality as contributing light sources from analysis of data gathered from said detecting the area, said identifying the light sources of the plurality as the contributing light sources being based on a determination that the contributing light sources illuminate one or more eyes, wherein identifying one or more of the lights sources of the plurality as contributing light sources comprises pulsing one or more of the plurality at a different pulse frequency than a pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality and detecting the presence of reflections at the different pulse frequency or the pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality;
- d) turning off one or more light sources of the plurality not identified as the contributing light sources while emitting the light from the contributing light sources;
- and
- subsequently repeating a), b), c) and d) one or more times.
A non-transitory computer readable medium having processor-executable instructions embodied therein, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
- a) emitting light from an eye tracking device, wherein said emitting the light includes initially emitting the light from all light sources of a plurality of light sources of the eye tracking device, each said light source being oriented to emit light at a different angle;
- b) detecting an area illuminated by the light with a sensor of the eye tracking device;
- identifying one or more of the light sources of the plurality as contributing light sources from analysis of data gathered from said detecting the area, said identifying the one or more light sources of the plurality as the contributing light sources being based on a determination that the contributing light sources illuminate one or more eyes, wherein identifying one or more of the lights sources of the plurality as contributing light sources comprises pulsing one or more of the plurality at a different pulse frequency than a pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality and detecting the presence of reflections at the different pulse frequency or the pulse frequency of the rest of the light sources of the plurality;
- c) turning off one or more light sources of the plurality not identified as the contributing light sources while emitting the light from the contributing light sources;
- and
- subsequently repeating a), b), and c) one or more times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.