Systems and methods for processing data entered using an eye-tracking system

An electronic device comprising:

• a plurality of data input keys, wherein each input key is associated with at least one input data value and at least one data input key is a multi-value key associated with at least two input data values;
• an eye-tracking system for determining an area where a user is gazing by monitoring an eye movement of the user, wherein the eye-tracking system determines an area covering portions of at least two data input keys, at least one of which is a multi-value key;
• and
• an input value selection module coupled to the plurality of data input keys and to the eye-tracking system;
• wherein the input value selection module determines which input data value was entered based on a manually pressed data input key and on the area where the user is gazing.

An electronic device comprising:

• a plurality of data input keys, wherein each input key is associated with at least one input data value and at least one data input key is a multi-value key associated with at least two input data values;
• a plurality of defined gaze areas, at least one gaze area overlapping at least two multi-value keys, each defined gaze area associated with one input data value in each of a first and a second multi-value key;
• an eye-tracking system for determining an area where a user is gazing by monitoring an eye movement of the user, wherein the eye-tracking system determines an area covering portions of at least two data input keys, at least one of which is a multi-value key;
• and
• an input value selection module coupled to the plurality of data input keys and to the eye-tracking system;
• wherein the input value selection module determines which input data value was entered based on a manually pressed data input key and on the area where the user is gazing and enters the input data value that is associated with the gaze area and the manually pressed multi-value key.

A method for processing data entered at an electronic device having at least one multi-value key associated with at least two input data values, the method comprising:

• assigning a plurality of units to each multi-value key, wherein each input data value corresponds to at least one unit;
• determining an area where a user is gazing by tracking the user's eye movement;
• detecting a manual selection of a multi-value key;
• and
• determining probabilistically an input data value entered based on a value received from at least one unit and on the area where the user is gazing.

A method for processing data entered at an electronic device having a plurality of data input keys, each data input key being associated with at least one input data value and at least one data input key being a multi-value key associated with at least two input data values, the method comprising:

• determining an area where a user is gazing by tracking the user's eye movement, wherein the area covers portions of at least two data input keys, at least one of which is a multi-value key;
• detecting a manual selection of a data input key;
• and
• determining which input data value was entered based on the manually pressed data input key and on the area where the user is gazing.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for entering data using an electronic device having a plurality of data input keys, wherein each data input key is associated with at least one input data value and at least one data input key is a multi-value key associated with at least two input data values, the computer readable medium comprising program instructions for:

• determining an area where a user is gazing by tracking the user's eye movement, wherein the area covers portions of at least two data input keys, at least one of which is a multi-value key;
• detecting a manual selection of a data input key;
• and
• determining which input data value was entered based on the manually pressed data input key and on the area where the user is gazing.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for entering data using an electronic device having at least one multi-value key associated with at least two input data values, the computer readable medium comprising program instructions for:

• assigning a plurality of units to each multi-value key, wherein each input data value corresponds to at least one unit;
• determining an area where a user is gazing by tracking the user's eye movement;
• detecting a manual selection of a multi-value key;
• and
• determining probabilistically which input data value was entered based on a value received from at least one unit and on the area where the user is gazing.