Gaze-Guided Haptic Touchscreen Control for Driver Attention
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge of maintaining driver attention on the road while operating complex and dynamically changing touchscreen-based UIs in vehicles, exacerbated by the need to locate virtual UI elements without physical feedback, is addressed by enhancing haptic feedback systems to distinguish intended UI elements based on eye gaze.
Innovation Solution
A computing device that integrates gaze detection to select and haptically highlight intended touchscreen UI elements, using haptic actuators to provide tactile feedback, thereby reducing the need for prolonged visual attention on the screen.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If touchscreen-based UIs are used in vehicles to reduce physical controls, then device complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but the driver's attention is diverted from the road and safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting the user's gaze direction before touch input occurs and pre-highlighting the intended UI element with haptic feedback. This allows the driver to locate and select UI elements through gaze alone, without needing to visually search or manually adjust, thereby maintaining driver attention on the road while enabling easy operation.
2Ease of operation
If haptic feedback is applied to all UI elements to provide tactile sensation, then ease of operation is improved, but the complexity of the haptic control system increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying uniform haptic feedback to all UI elements, the system applies haptic feedback locally and selectively only to the UI element that the user is gazing at. This localized approach provides tactile guidance where needed while keeping the haptic control system simple and avoiding unnecessary complexity from managing haptic feedback across multiple elements simultaneously.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the spatial arrangement of UI elements is made dynamic to adapt to context, then adaptability is improved, but the difficulty of locating intended UI elements increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses real-time feedback by continuously monitoring the user's gaze direction and immediately providing haptic feedback at the corresponding UI element location. This feedback loop allows the driver to locate intended UI elements quickly even when the spatial arrangement is dynamic, as the haptic feedback serves as a tactile marker that confirms the identity and location of the targeted element without requiring visual attention.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3B
Figure 3C~4
AI summary
A computing device (100) for controlling a haptic touchscreen (110) is provided. The computing device comprises processing circuitry which causes the computing device (100) to become operative to display a plurality of user-interface (UI) elements on the touchscreen (110), acquire information pertaining to a point of gaze (132) of a user (130) gazing at the touchscreen (110) from a gaze detector (120), select at least one of the displayed UI elements based on the point of gaze (132), and control the touchscreen (110) to render the selected UI elements haptically distinguishably from the other UI elements, i.e., with a haptic contrast relative to the other UI elements.