Eye-tracking method and eye-tracking system for implementing the same

An eye-tracking system, comprising:

• an image-analyzing module configured
• to acquire an image of an eye of a user captured by an image-capturing module while the user is gazing at a gazing location on a screen module and a pair of light sources emit light toward the eye of the user, the image including a pupil of and a pair of reflected light spots on the eye of the user, and
• to determine an angle and an area based on positions of the pupil and the reflected light spots in the image acquired thereby, wherein the angle and the area determined by said image-analyzing module correspond to the gazing location;
• a coordinate-converting module coupled to said image-analyzing module, and configured to determine coordinates on the screen module based on the angle and the area determined by said image-analyzing module, wherein the coordinates determined by said coordinate-converting module correspond to the gazing location;
• and
• a processing module coupled to said coordinate-converting module, and configured to perform an operation associated with the coordinates determined by said coordinate-converting module.

A correcting method for an eye-tracking system, comprising:

• A) configuring the eye-tracking system to partition a screen module into predefined locations, each of which has corresponding coordinates;
• B) while a user is gazing at one of the predefined locations and a pair of light sources emit light toward an eye of the user, configuring the eye-tracking system to acquire an image of the eye of the user captured by an image-capturing module, the image including a pupil of and a pair of reflected light spots on the eye of the user;
• C) configuring the eye-tracking system to determine an angle and an area based on positions of the pupil and the reflected light spots in the image acquired in step B) wherein the angle and the area determined in step C) correspond to the predefined location which the user is gazing at in step B);
• D) configuring the eye-tracking system to repeat steps B) and C) until the angles and the areas corresponding to all of the predefined locations are determined;
• and
• E) configuring the eye-tracking system to obtain coefficients based on the angles and the areas corresponding to the predefined locations and the corresponding coordinates of the predefined locations,
• wherein the eye-tracking system determines coordinates on the screen module corresponding to a gazing location on the screen module which the user is gazing at based on the coefficients obtained in step E) and an angle and an area determined thereby from another image of the eye of the user captured by the image-capturing module while the user is gazing at the gazing location, and performs an operation associated with the coordinates determined thereby.

A correcting module for an eye-tracking system, comprising:

• a first controller configured to indicate one of predefined locations on a screen module, each of the predefined locations having corresponding coordinates;
• a second controller configured to control an image-capturing module to capture an image of an eye of a user while the user is gazing at the indicated one of the predefined locations and a pair of light sources emit light toward the eye of the user, the image including a pupil and a pair of reflected light spots on the eye of the user,
• wherein the eye-tracking system is configured to determine an angle and an area corresponding to each of the predefined locations, the eye-tracking system determining the angle and the area corresponding to one of the predefined locations based on positions of the pupil and the reflected light spots in the image captured by the image-capturing module, wherein the angle and the area determined by the eye-tracking system correspond to the indicated one of the predefined locations;
• and
• a coefficient calculator configured to obtain coefficients based on the angles and the areas corresponding to the predefined locations and the corresponding coordinates of the predefined locations,
• wherein the eye-tracking system is further configured to determine coordinates on the screen module corresponding to a gazing location on the screen module which a user is gazing at based on the coefficients obtained by said coefficient calculator and an angle and an area determined thereby from another image of the eye of the user captured by the image-capturing module while the user is gazing at the gazing location, and to perform an operation associated with the coordinates determined thereby.