Head pose assessment methods and systems

A system comprising:

• a display device;
• an image capturing device;
• and
• a computing device operatively coupled to the display device and the image capturing device, and including:
• a display module configured to output at least one signal suitable for causing the display device to display at least two different selectable regions;
• and
• an iterated pose estimation module configured to determine a first head pose based on a first image and at least a second head pose based on a second image temporally subsequent to the first image, and automatically switch an operative user input focus between the at least two selectable regions based on at least one difference between the first head pose and at least the second head pose,
• the iterated pose estimation module being configured to estimate a configuration for a plurality of key facial points associated with at least one of the first image or the second image, and iteratively optimize one or more pose parameters to minimize a distance between a projection of the estimated configuration for the plurality of key facial points and a corresponding actual configuration of the plurality of key facial points.

A computer-implemented method operable on a processor, the method comprising:

• receiving a first image and at least a second image from an image capturing device, the second image temporally subsequent to the first image;
• determining, at the processor, a first head pose based on the first image;
• determining, at the processor, at least a second head pose based on the second image;
• switching an operative user input focus between at least two selectable regions of a display device based on at least one difference between the first head pose and at least the second head pose, the switching including storing a present work status associated with the first head pose and restoring a previously stored work status associated with the second head pose.