Eye Tracking Glance Offset for Natural In-Game Viewing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing eye tracking systems in gaming environments, particularly for screen-based displays, struggle to replicate the natural glancing function of users, leading to cumbersome and unnatural methods for controlling in-game camera movements, which can cause discomfort and reduce the gaming experience.
Innovation Solution
An eye tracking system that integrates head and eye tracking to dynamically adjust the presentation of displayable content based on gaze and head pose signals, allowing for natural glancing effects by applying a glance-induced offset to expand the visible content range beyond the display boundaries, mimicking real-life eye and head coordination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional head-tracking methods are used to control in-game camera movements, then the system can detect head position and orientation, but the method becomes cumbersome and unnatural, causing discomfort and reducing gaming experience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines head-tracking and eye-tracking systems into a unified eye tracking system that integrates both head pose signals and gaze signals to control in-game camera movements. This merging allows the system to detect natural glancing behavior by analyzing the coordination between head position and eye gaze direction, thereby achieving more natural and comfortable control without increasing operational complexity for the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from both head pose sensors and eye tracking sensors to dynamically adjust the in-game camera position and orientation. By continuously monitoring head position and gaze direction, the system provides real-time feedback control that replicates natural glancing behavior, making the control method more intuitive and comfortable while maintaining system responsiveness.
2Adaptability or versatility
If eye tracking is used to detect glancing function, then the system can reveal displayable content outside display boundaries, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The eye tracking system is designed to serve multiple functions: it tracks head pose, detects gaze direction, identifies glancing behavior, and controls both the in-game camera and the presentation of displayable content. By making the system multi-functional, the patent achieves versatile content presentation flexibility without proportionally increasing system complexity, as the same hardware and algorithms serve multiple purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that receives signals from both head tracking and eye tracking sensors, processes them to detect glancing behavior, and then translates this into appropriate camera movements and content revelations. This intermediary function acts as a mediator between the raw sensor data and the final user experience, enabling flexible content presentation while managing system complexity through centralized processing.
3Loss of information
If the display screen shows only the portion of displayable content within current viewing angle, then the display remains simple and focused, but the user cannot access content outside the display boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the visible portion of displayable content based on real-time head pose and gaze signals. Instead of showing a fixed portion of content, the display adapts its content range to match the user's current viewing angle and glancing direction. This dynamic adjustment allows users to access content outside the traditional display boundaries while maintaining a focused and simple display presentation at any given moment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the gaming experience by providing a more immersive and comfortable way to look around in-game, reducing motion sickness and improving usability compared to traditional head-tracking methods.
Implementation Method 1
The infrared light is directed towards eye(s) of a user and the reflection of the light is captured by an image sensor
Data Source
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Figure 5a
AI summary
A method of operating an eye tracking system to present a portion of displayable content to a user on a display screen. The displayable content covers a range of relative angles. The method comprises: receiving a head-pose-signal; receiving a gaze-signal; using the head-pose-signal to determine a sub-range of the relative angles of the displayable content; causing the display screen to present a portion of the displayable content to the user based on the determined sub-range of relative angles; and upon detecting that the gaze-signal represents a trigger location on the display screen: calculating a glance-induced offset based on the position of the trigger location; applying the glance-induced offset to the determined sub-range of relative angles to calculate an offsetted-sub-range of relative angles; and causing the display screen to present a portion of the displayable content to the user based on the calculated offsetted-sub-range of relative angles.