Etracker: A Mobile Gaze-Tracking System with Near-Eye Display Based on a Combined Gaze-Tracking Algorithm

Abstract

Eye tracking technology has become increasingly important for psychological analysis, medical diagnosis, driver assistance systems, and many other applications. Various gaze-tracking models have been established by previous researchers. However, there is currently no near-eye display system with accurate gaze-tracking performance and a convenient user experience. In this paper, we constructed a complete prototype of the mobile gaze-tracking system ‘Etracker’ with a near-eye viewing device for human gaze tracking. We proposed a combined gaze-tracking algorithm. In this algorithm, the convolutional neural network is used to remove blinking images and predict coarse gaze position, and then a geometric model is defined for accurate human gaze tracking. Moreover, we proposed using the mean value of gazes to resolve pupil center changes caused by nystagmus in calibration algorithms, so that an individual user only needs to calibrate it the first time, which makes our system more convenient. The experiments on gaze data from 26 participants show that the eye center detection accuracy is 98% and Etracker can provide an average gaze accuracy of 0.53° at a rate of 30–60 Hz.

GazeGuide: An Eye-Gaze-Guided Active Immersive UAV Camera

“…Hence, various studies on gaze tracking have been conducted beginning with a video-based eye tracking study on a pilot-operated airplane [22]. The state-of-the-art eye-tracking devices can be divided into two main categories: table-mounted and mobile (head-mounted) eye-tracking systems, while two-directional (2D) appearance-based and 3D model-based techniques are the two main methods for gaze estimation [23][24][25].…”

Gaze and Eye Tracking: Techniques and Applications in ADAS

“…Eyes' local features are detected and utilized in combination with a prior shape model to detect and track the eyes [42][43][44][45][46]. For instance, the approach proposed in [42] first located a specific edge and then employed steerable Gabor filters to trail the edges of the eye corners or the iris.…”

Optical Mouse Sensor for Eye Blink Detection and Pupil Tracking: Application in a Low-Cost Eye-Controlled Pointing Device

“…Examples of remote pupil gaze devices on the market are [21][22][23][24] which are expensive (> $6,000) due to the high-resolution camera, the lenses, and the dedicated illumination system cost. The head-mounted devices are mostly based on a custom structure holding a small intrusive low-resolution camera in front of the user's face [10,[25][26][27].…”

“…However, it requires a precise installation of infrared lights at the corners of the screen. A new low-cost alternative of eye gaze head-mounted device with a near-eye display is reported in [27]. This proposal can reach an eye gaze accuracy of 0.53°but needs a near-eye display degrading the quality of the user's view and reducing its field.…”

“…This is possible because the new proposal uses the same components of a common commercial optical mouse. Likewise, it avoids high-resolution cameras and the need of additional hardware parts, like [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. It is a lightweight (41 g) wearable plug and play (PnP) device with no additional software required and fully compatible (Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, etc.…”