Wearable Camera Gaze Tracking with Area-Based Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wearable electronic devices, such as augmented reality glasses, face challenges in efficiently capturing and processing images of both the user's gaze area and surrounding environment with varying resolutions, which affects the quality and effectiveness of augmented reality services.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a first camera for gaze tracking and a second camera with image processing circuitry to capture images of different resolutions, allowing the device to identify and process a gaze area and surrounding areas separately through multiple channels, enabling high-resolution imaging of the gaze area and lower-resolution imaging of the surroundings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single camera is used to capture both gaze area and surrounding environment, then device complexity is reduced, but image quality and resolution for different areas cannot be optimized simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the imaging system into two separate cameras: a first camera dedicated to capturing the gaze area at high resolution, and a second camera for capturing the surrounding environment. This segmentation allows each camera to be optimized for its specific function, with the first camera providing detailed images of the user's focus area while the second camera captures broader contextual information, thereby resolving the contradiction between device simplicity and image quality optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different resolution requirements to different spatial areas: the gaze area (where the user is looking) receives high-resolution capture through the first camera, while the surrounding environment is captured at lower resolution by the second camera. This localized quality differentiation optimizes overall system performance by concentrating high-resolution resources where most needed while reducing complexity in peripheral areas.
2Manufacturing precision
If high-resolution imaging is applied to both gaze area and surrounding areas, then image quality is improved, but data processing load and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by capturing the gaze area at high resolution through the first camera while capturing the surrounding environment at lower resolution through the second camera. This approach ensures that computational resources and energy are concentrated on processing high-resolution data only where necessary (in the gaze area), while reducing processing load for peripheral areas, thereby optimizing the balance between image quality and energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by providing high-resolution imaging only to the extent necessary for the gaze area, rather than uniformly across the entire field of view. The first camera focuses computational and energy resources on the specific region of interest (gaze area), while the second camera handles surrounding areas with reduced resolution, avoiding the excessive energy consumption that would result from high-resolution capture of all areas.
3Productivity
If separate processing channels are implemented for gaze area and surrounding areas, then processing efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing system into two distinct processing channels: a first processing channel that receives high-resolution images from the first camera and processes gaze area information, and a second processing channel that receives lower-resolution images from the second camera and processes surrounding environment information. This segmentation enables parallel processing of different image data streams, improving overall processing efficiency while keeping each individual channel relatively simple and manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable electronic device may comprise: a first camera, a second camera including an image processing circuit, a memory, and at least one processor, comprising processing circuitry, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction which, when executed by at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, cause the wearable electronic device to: identify a gaze area of the user via the first camera; acquire an image of a first resolution by photographing an external object via the second camera; determine, in the image, a first area corresponding to the gaze area of the user and a second area corresponding to an area other than the gaze area; acquire a first image corresponding to the first area from the image through a first channel among a plurality of channels between the processor and the second camera, the first image having the first resolution; and acquire a second image corresponding to the second area through a second channel among the plurality of channels, the second image having a second resolution lower than the first resolution.