Gaze tracking system, eye-tracking assembly and an associated method of calibration

A system for tracking a gaze of an operator, said gaze tracking system comprising:

• a head-mounted eye tracking assembly comprising a visor having an arcuate shape including a concave surface and an opposed convex surface, wherein said visor is capable of being disposed such that the at least one eye is located proximate the concave side, wherein said visor is at least partially reflective such that said visor is capable of reflecting an image of the at least one eye, wherein said visor is capable of being disposed such that at least a portion of said visor is located outside a field of view of the operator, and wherein the head-mounted eye tracking assembly is capable of repeatedly determining a position of the at least one eye based upon the image of the at least one eye reflected by said visor to thereby track movement of the at least one eye;
• a head-mounted head tracking sensor capable of repeatedly determining a position of the head to thereby track movement of the head, wherein each position of the head is associated with a position of the at least one eye;
• and
• a processing element capable of repeatedly determining the gaze of the operator to thereby track the gaze of the operator, wherein said processing element repeatedly determines the gaze of the operator based upon each position of the head and the associated position of the at least one eye.

A method of calibrating a gaze tracking system relative to an object, wherein the gaze tracking system includes an eye tracking assembly capable of tracking movement of at least one eye of an operator and a head tracking sensor capable of tracking movement of a head of the operator, said method comprising:

• repeatedly moving the head tracking sensor to a plurality of different positions;
• measuring a position of the at least one eye and an angle offset of a line of sight of the at least one eye relative to a first reference point, and measuring the position of the head tracking sensor and an angle offset of the head tracking sensor relative to a second reference position, wherein measuring occurs for each of the plurality of different positions;
• and
• calibrating the gaze tracking system based upon the measured positions of the at least one eye, the offset angles of the at least one eye, the positions of the head tracking sensor and the offset angles of the head tracking sensor relative to the second reference position.

A visual display system comprising:

• a background image projector having a predetermined field of view, said background image projector generating a background image having a predetermined size and resolution that at least partially fills the field of view;
• at least one inset image projector for generating an area of interest (AOI) image having a smaller size and a higher resolution than the background image, said inset image projector having a predetermined field of view that is capable of being movably disposed at least partially within the field of view of said background image projector;
• and
• a gaze tracking system capable of directing the movement of the field of view of said inset image projector based upon the direction in which an operator is looking, said gaze tracking system comprising a head-mounted eye tracking assembly comprising:
• a visor having an arcuate shape including a concave surface and an opposed convex surface, wherein said visor is capable of being disposed such that the at least one eye is located proximate the concave surface, wherein said visor is at least partially reflective such that said visor is capable of reflecting an image of the at least one eye, and wherein said visor is capable of being disposed such that at least a portion of said visor is located outside a field of view of the operator;
• and
• a camera disposed proximate the concave surface of said visor, wherein said camera is capable of tracking movement of the at least one eye based upon the image of the at least one eye reflected by said visor.