Portable Terminal Gaze-Activated Input Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing portable terminal operation methods, such as voice recognition and touch pads, are prone to erroneous operations due to environmental noise and accidental touches, which can impair usability.
Innovation Solution
A portable terminal equipped with a touch pad, cameras for line of sight detection, and a system that uses face recognition and point of view tracking to ensure accurate icon selection and activation without impairing operability, utilizing a cursor display and input condition management to prevent unintended inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If voice recognition function is used for operation, then hands-free operation is enabled, but operation is affected by surrounding noise and other people's voice
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces line-of-sight detection as an intermediary verification mechanism between the user and the touch pad operation. The camera detects whether the user is looking at the touch pad, and this detection result serves as a mediator to validate whether the touch operation should be executed, preventing erroneous operations caused by noise-activated voice commands
2Ease of operation
If touch pad operation is used, then intuitive icon selection is enabled, but hand slip causes accidental operation of nearby icons
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the system detects the user's line of sight direction using the camera, provides visual feedback by displaying a cursor at the detected gaze position, and requires confirmation before executing the operation. This feedback loop ensures that even if the user's hand slips, the operation will only be executed if the line of sight was directed at the intended icon
Solution Approach 2:
The line-of-sight detection function serves as an intermediary verification layer between the user's intent and the actual operation execution. The system checks whether the user is looking at the touch pad and the specific icon before allowing the operation to proceed, preventing accidental selections caused by hand slips
3Reliability
If line of sight detection is added to prevent erroneous operation, then operation accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reuses the smartphone's built-in camera, which is a standard component for photography and video calls, and applies it to line-of-sight detection. By making the camera serve multiple functions (photography, video calling, and gaze detection), the system achieves improved operation accuracy without adding dedicated hardware, thus minimizing the increase in device complexity
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
This solution effectively prevents erroneous operations while maintaining high usability by using built-in camera functions for user face recognition and line of sight detection, allowing for reliable one-hand operation without accidental inputs.
Implementation Method 1
a camera 120 that images a direction in which light of a display of the touch pad 110 travels
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5A~5B
AI summary
A portable terminal includes a touch pad that displays an icon and detects a touch, a camera that images a direction in which light of a display of the touch pad travels, a detecting unit that detects a point of view to which an eye of a face imaged by the camera is turned, an information management unit that outputs a position of the point of view detected by the detecting unit on the touch pad, a cursor display unit that performs control such that a cursor is displayed on the touch pad according to the position of the point of view on the touch pad output from the information management unit, an input condition management unit that determines whether or not a preset input condition is satisfied for an input by a touch to a preset special region of the touch pad and an input of the position of the point of view on the touch pad output from the information management unit, and an application program executing unit that activates an application program corresponding to the icon according to the determination of the input condition management unit.