Vehicle Gaze Control With Manual Confirmation for Safe Activation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gaze interaction methods in vehicles are inadequate for safe operation, as they require involuntary actions like eye blinking or prolonged dwell times, leading to potential distractions and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A gaze-based control system that combines gaze detection with manual inputs and voice commands to activate vehicle functions, using a short-dwell-time gaze-and-click mechanism to enhance safety and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If gaze tracking is used to detect driver alertness and control vehicle functions, then user attention and behavior can be monitored, but the driver may be distracted from main driving tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple input modalities (gaze tracking, manual button press, voice commands) into a unified control system. The gaze detection system works in conjunction with steering wheel buttons and voice recognition to create a multi-channel interaction framework that reduces reliance on any single input method, thereby maintaining safety while enabling automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary confirmation mechanism where gaze alone does not trigger commands. Instead, a manual button press or voice command acts as an intermediary step to confirm the driver's intent, preventing accidental activations and ensuring the driver remains engaged with the driving task.
2Ease of operation
If traditional click or trigger methods like eye blinking are used for gaze control, then hands-free interaction is enabled, but involuntary actions and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control process is segmented into distinct phases: gaze detection phase, confirmation phase (manual button press or voice command), and execution phase. This segmentation separates the attention-capturing function (gaze detection) from the action-triggering function (manual confirmation), allowing each phase to be optimized independently for safety and ease of use.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using involuntary actions like eye blinking to trigger commands, the system inverts the approach by using voluntary, controlled actions (manual button press or voice command) to confirm gaze-based selections. This inversion ensures that the driver maintains intentional control while still benefiting from hands-free gaze guidance.
3Reliability
If prolonged dwell time is required for gaze-based activation, then false activations are reduced, but driver distraction and response time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary gaze detection and object identification before requiring manual confirmation. By pre-processing the gaze data and preparing potential commands in advance, the system reduces the time needed for the confirmation step, thereby minimizing overall driver distraction while maintaining activation accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The dwell time threshold is made dynamic rather than fixed. The system adjusts the required gaze duration based on contextual factors such as the criticality of the target function, current driving conditions, and driver behavior patterns. This dynamic adjustment allows shorter dwell times for low-risk operations while maintaining longer thresholds for critical functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for gaze-based control of vehicle functions and related methods includes eye contact sensors for monitoring one or both eyes of a user, manual input devices, and circuits configured for tracking a gaze of a user located within a vehicle, identifying a gaze condition from the eye contact sensors in response to determining the gaze of the user is directed to an object of interest in the vehicle for at least a predetermined dwell-time, receiving a manual input from the manual input devices, activating a command interaction associated with the object of interest in response to identifying the gaze condition and receiving the manual input, receiving, while the command interaction is active, a command associated with the object of interest from the user, and initiating a vehicle function based on the received command.