Flexible Illumination Lookup for Pose-Adaptive Eye Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional eye tracking and biometric authentication systems face challenges in capturing high-quality images due to varying lighting conditions, device positioning, and optical imperfections, leading to inefficiencies and reduced accuracy in gaze tracking and authentication processes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing flexible illumination methods with pre-generated lighting configurations and a lookup table to adapt to user poses and conditions, dynamically selecting optimal lighting settings for improved image capture and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional eye tracking systems focus on specular reflections or glints for gaze tracking, then gaze tracking can be performed, but image quality is reduced under varying lighting conditions and device positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts lighting configurations based on detected eye pose and gaze direction. Multiple lighting configurations are pre-generated for different poses, and the system selects the appropriate configuration in real-time, making the lighting adaptive rather than static. This resolves the contradiction by ensuring optimal illumination regardless of varying device positioning or user head movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes multiple lighting parameters simultaneously including which LEDs are enabled, their intensity levels, wavelength selection, and spatial arrangement. By pre-generating lighting configurations with different parameter combinations for various poses and selecting based on current eye position, the system maintains high image quality across different conditions without compromising gaze tracking reliability.
2Measurement precision
If multiple lighting configurations are pre-generated for different poses, then image quality is improved across varying conditions, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Lighting configurations are pre-generated offline for a range of predetermined poses and stored in a lookup table. During actual operation, the system only needs to detect the current pose and retrieve the corresponding pre-configured lighting settings, avoiding the need for complex real-time lighting optimization algorithms. This preliminary preparation reduces computational complexity while maintaining high image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of implementing a single complex adaptive lighting system, the patent creates multiple simplified lighting configuration profiles that can be selectively applied. Each configuration is a pre-computed copy optimized for specific pose ranges, making the overall system more manageable and less complex than a fully dynamic real-time optimization system would be.
3Measurement precision
If lighting configurations are dynamically adjusted based on user pose, then biometric authentication accuracy is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
All lighting configurations are pre-computed and stored before authentication begins. During the authentication process, the system rapidly determines user pose and retrieves the appropriate pre-configured lighting settings from memory, avoiding time-consuming real-time optimization calculations. This preliminary preparation significantly reduces processing time while maintaining high authentication accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex real-time computational optimization with a simpler lookup-based retrieval system. Instead of performing intensive calculations during authentication, the system substitutes mathematical computation with memory access operations, which are much faster and reduce processing time while preserving authentication accuracy through pose-based configuration selection.
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 performance and robustness of imaging systems by ensuring high-quality image capture across varying conditions and user setups, improving biometric authentication and gaze tracking accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
an illumination source that includes a plurality of light-emitting elements
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus for flexible illumination that improve the performance and robustness of an imaging system are described. Multiple different lighting configurations for the imaging system are pre-generated. Each lighting configuration may specify one or more aspects of lighting. A lookup table may be generated via which each pose is associated with a respective lighting configuration. A user may put on, hold, or otherwise use the device. A process may be initiated in which different lighting configurations may be selected by the controller to capture images of the user's eye, periorbital region, or face at different poses and in different conditions for use by a biometric authentication or gaze tracking process.