# US 2018/0027176 A1 · Method and a system for eye tracking > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0027176 A1 - Document ID: US20180027176A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/651,445 - Filed: 2017-07-17 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2016-07-19 - Assignees: Stichting IMEC Nederland - Applicants: Stichting IMEC Nederland - Inventors: Carlos AGELL; Pierluigi CASALE - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180027176A1 ## CPC - H04N 23/611: where the recognised objects include parts of the human body - A61B 3/113: for determining or recording eye movement - G06F 3/013: {Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence)} - G06F 3/017: {Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883)} - G06T 7/20: Analysis of motion (motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51) - G06T 7/74: {involving reference images or patches} - G06V 40/193: {Preprocessing; Feature extraction} - H04N 23/61: based on recognised objects - H04N 23/651: {for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera} - A61B 3/112: {for measuring diameter of pupils} - G06T 2207/10016: Video; Image sequence - G06T 2207/30041: Eye; Retina; Ophthalmic - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING ## Abstract According to an aspect of the present inventive concept there is provided a method for eye tracking, comprising: capturing a sequence of digital images of an eye of a user; outputting data including said sequence of images to an image processing unit; processing said data by the image processing unit to determine a sequence of positions of the eye, each position being indicative of a gaze direction, acquiring biosignal data representing an activity of the eye; and in response to detecting closing of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data, pausing at least one of said capturing, said outputting and said processing. A system for implementing the method is also disclosed. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for eye tracking, comprising: capturing a sequence of digital images of an eye of a user; outputting data including said sequence of images to an image processing unit; processing said data by the image processing unit to determine a sequence of positions of the eye, each position being indicative of a gaze direction, acquiring biosignal data representing an activity of the eye; and in response to detecting closing of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data, pausing at least one of said capturing, said outputting and said processing. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A method according to claim 1, further comprising: returning to an active state each of said at least one of said capturing, said outputting and said processing being in a paused state. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) A method according to claim 2, wherein said returning of an act to an active state includes transitioning said act from a paused state to a waiting state and transitioning said act from the waiting state to the active state. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) A method according to claim 3, wherein said act of A method according to claim 3, wherein said act of transitioning from the paused state to the waiting state is performed after a preset time delay from said act of pausing. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) A method according to claim 3, wherein said transitioning from the waiting state to the active state is performed in response to detecting opening of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) A method according to claim 2, wherein said returning to an active state is performed in response to detecting opening of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) A method according to claim 2, wherein said returning to an active state is performed after a preset time delay from said pausing. ### Claim 8 A system for eye tracking, comprising: an image capturing device configured to capture a sequence of digital images of an eye; an image processing unit configured to receive data including said sequence of images from the image capturing device and determine a sequence of positions of the eye, each position being indicative of a gaze direction; a biosignal acquisition unit configured to acquire biosignal data representing an activity of the eye; a biosignal processing unit configured to receive the biosignal data and detect closing of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data; and a control unit configured to, in response to the biosignal processing unit detecting closing of the eye, outputting a control signal for pausing at least one of: an image capture operation of the image capturing device, an image processing operation of the image processing unit, and a transfer of data including said sequence of images between the image processing unit and the image capturing device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) A system according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is further configured to output at least one control signal for returning to an active state (404) each of the image capture operation, the image processing operation, and the transfer of data being in a paused state. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) A system according to claim 9, wherein the control unit is further configured to output: a first control signal for transitioning each of the image capture operation, the image processing operation, and the transfer of data being in a paused state to a waiting state; and a second control signal for transitioning each of the image capture operation, the image processing operation, and the transfer of data being in the waiting state to the active state. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) A system according to claim 10, wherein the control unit is configured to output the first control signal after a preset time delay from said output of the control signal for pausing. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) A system according to claim 10, wherein the control unit is configured to output the second control signal in response to the biosignal processing unit detecting opening of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) A system according to claim 9, wherein the control unit is configured to output said at least one control signal after a preset time delay from said output of the control signal for pausing or in response to the biosignal processing unit detecting opening of the eye based on the acquired biosignal data. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) A system according to claim 8, further comprising a structure adapted to be head-mounted on the user, wherein the image capturing device and the biosignal acquisition unit are supported by the structure. ### Claim 15 (depends on 8) A system according to claim 8, wherein the biosignal acquisition unit includes a set of skin electrodes adapted to be arranged in an eye region of the user.