Interpreting eye gaze direction as user input to near-eye-display (NED) devices for enabling hands free positioning of virtual items

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• causing a display component of a NED device to render a virtual item within a field of view of a user;
• receiving an indication of the user performing a predetermined facial gesture that corresponds to a user input command for repositioning the virtual item based on a gaze direction of the user;
• receiving, from at least one spatial mapping sensor, spatial mapping data associated with a real-world environment surrounding the NED device;
• receiving, from at least one eye tracking sensor, eye tracking data associated with the gaze direction of the user;
• determining, based on the gaze direction and the spatial mapping data, a positional reference for the virtual item with respect to the real-world environment surrounding the NED device;
• and
• responsive to the indication of the user performing the predetermined facial gesture, causing the display component of the NED device to reposition the virtual item within the field of view of the user in accordance with the positional reference.

A computing system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• at least one computer storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which are executable by the one or more processors to:
• cause a display component to render a virtual item within a field of view of a user;
• receive an indication of the user performing a predetermined facial gesture that corresponds to a user input command associated with repositioning the virtual item based on a gaze direction of the user;
• receive, from at least one eye tracking sensor, eye tracking data that indicates the gaze direction of the user;
• determine, based on the gaze direction, a positional reference for the virtual item with respect to at least one coordinate system;
• and
• responsive to the indication of the user performing the predetermined facial gesture that corresponds to the user input command, cause the display component to reposition the virtual item within the field of view of the user in accordance with the positional reference.