Abstract
Gaze positions can provide important cues for natural computer interfaces. In this paper, we describe a new gaze estimation method based on a three dimensional analysis of the human eye which can be used in head-mounted display (HMD) environments. This paper presents four advantages over previous works. First, in order to obtain accurate gaze positions, we used a virtual eyeball model based on the 3D characteristics of the human eyeball. Second, we calculated the 3D position of the virtual eyeball and gaze vector by using a camera and three collimated IR-LEDs. Third, three reference frames (the camera, the monitor and the eye reference frames) were unified, which simplified the complex 3D converting calculations and allowed for calculation of the 3D eye position and gaze position on a HMD monitor. Fourth, a simple user-dependent calibration method was proposed by gazing at one position based on Kappa compensation. Experimental results showed that the eye gaze estimation error of the proposed method was lower than 1°.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azarbayejani, A., Starner, T., Horowitz, B., Pentland, A.: Visually controlled graphics. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 15(6), 602–605 (1993)
Gemmell, J., Toyama, K., Zitnick, C., Kang, T., Seitz, S.: Gaze awareness for video-conferencing: A software approach. IEEE Multimedia 7(4), 26–35 (2000)
Hutchinson, T.E., White, K.P., Martin, W.N., Reichert, K.C., Frey, L.A.: Human–computer interaction using eye-gaze input. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybernet. 19(6), 1527–1534 (1989)
Matsumoto, Y., Ino, T., Ogsawara, T.: Development of intelligent wheelchair system with face and gaze based interface. In: Proc. IEEE 10th International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, pp. 262–267, September 2001
Kim, J., Park, K.R., Lee, J.J., LeClair, S.R.: Intelligent process control via gaze detection technology. Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell. 13(5), 577–587 (2000)
Ishii, H., Okada, Y., Shimoda, H., Yoshikawa, H.: Construction of the measurement system and its experimental study for diagnosing cerebral functional disorders using eye-sensing HMD. In: Proc. 41st SICE Annual Conference, vol. 2, pp. 1248–1253, Auguest 2002
Aotake, Y., Sasai, H., Ozawa, T., Fukushima, S., Shimoda, H., Yoshikawa, H.: A new adaptive CAI system based on bio-informatic sensing: study on real-time method of analyzing ocular information by using eye-sensing HMD and method of adaptive CAI system configuration. In: Proc. IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, vol. 3, pp. 733–738, October 1999
Lin, C.S.: An eye behavior measuring device for VR system. Opt. Lasers Eng. 38(6), 333–359 (2002)
http://www.arringtonresearch.com/headmountframe.html. (Accessed on 25 Feb 2008)
http://www.nvisinc.com/product.php?id=13. (Accessed 25 Feb 2008)
Lee, J.J.: Three dimensional eye gaze estimation in wearable monitor environment. Ph.D Thesis, Yonsei University (2005)
Park, K.R., Lee, J.J., Kim, J.H.: Gaze position detection by computing the three dimensional facial positions and motions. Pattern Recognition 35(11), 2559–2569 (2002)
Gee, A., Cipolla, R.: Fast visual tracking by temporal consensus. Image Vision Comput. 14, 105–114 (1996)
Ballard, P., Stockman, G.C.: Controlling a computer via facial aspect. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybernet. 25(4), 669–677 (1995)
Wang, J.G., Sung, E.: Pose determination of human faces by using vanishing points. Pattern Recognition 34(12), 2427–2445 (2001)
Ji, Q.: 3D Face pose estimation and tracking from a monocular camera. Image and Vision Computing 20(7), 499–511 (2002)
Rikert, T.D., Jones, M.J.: Gaze estimation using morphable models. In: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Automatic Face Gesture Recognition, pp. 436–441, April 1998
Collet, C., Finkel, A., Gherbi, R.: CapRe: a gaze tracking system in man-machine interaction. In: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Engineering Systems, pp. 577–581, September 1997
Heinzmann, J., Zelinsky, A.: 3-D facial pose and gaze point estimation using a robust real-time tracking paradigm. In: Proc. Third IEEE Int. Conf. on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, pp. 142–1 47, April 1998
Colombo, C., Andronico, S., Dario, P.: Prototype of a vision-based gaze-driven man-machine interface. In: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 188–192, August 1995
Colombo, C., Del Bimbo, A.: Interacting through eyes. Robot. Autonomous Syst. 19(3–4), 359–368 (1997)
Betke, M., Kawai, J.: Gaze detection via self-organizing gray-scale units. In: Proc. Int. Workshop on Recognition, Analysis, and Tracking of Faces and Gestures in Real-Time Systems, pp. 7–76, September 1999
Zhu, J., Yang, J.: Subpixel eye gaze tracking. In: Proc. Fifth IEEE Int. Conf. on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, pp. 124–129, May 2002
Morimoto, C.H., Koons, D., Amit, A., Flickner, M., Zhai, S.: Keeping an eye for HCI. In: Proc. XII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Graphics and Image Processing, pp. 171–1 76 (1999)
Mimica, M.R.M., Morimoto, C.H.: A computer vision framework for eye gaze tracking. In: Proc. XVI Brazilian Symposium on Computer Graphics and Image Processing, pp. 406–412, October 2003
Ebisawa, Y.: Improved video-based eye-gaze detection method. IEEE Trans. Instrumen. Measure. 47(4), 948–955 (1998)
Sugioka, A., Ebisawa, Y., Ohtani, M.: Noncontact video-based eye-gaze detection method allowing large head displacements. In: Proc. 8th Int. Conf. of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, vol. 2, pp. 526–528 (1996)
Yoo, D.H., Kim, J.H., Lee, B.R., Chung, M.J.: Non-contact eye gaze tracking system by mapping of corneal reflections. In: Proc. Fifth IEEE Int. Conf. on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, pp. 101–1 06, May 2002
Baluja, S., Pomerleau, D.: Non-intrusive gaze tracking using artificial neural networks. Technical report (CMU-CS-94-102) of School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, January 1994
Kaufman, A.E., Bandopadhay, A., Shaviv, B.D.: An eye tracking computer user interface. In: Proc. Res. Frontier Virtual Reality Workshop, pp. 78–84, October 1993
Gips, J., Olivieri, P., Tecce, J.: Direct control of the computer through electrodes placed around the eyes. In: Proc. Fifth Int. Conf. Human Computer Interaction, pp. 630–635 (1993)
Wang, J.G., Sung, E.: Study on eye gaze estimation. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybernet. B 32(3), 332–350 (2002)
Shih, S.W., Liu, J.: A Novel Approach to 3-D Gaze Tracking Using Stereo Cameras. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybernet. B 34(1), 234–245 (2004)
Ohno, T., Mukawa, N., Yoshikawa, A.: FreeGaze: a gaze tracking system for everyday gaze interaction. In: Proc. Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, pp. 125–132 (2002)
http://www.i-glassesstore.com/iglassespc-3d.html. (Accessed 25 Feb 2008)
Park, K.R.: Robust Gaze Estimation for Human Computer Interaction. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (PRICAI), vol. 4099, pp. 1222–1226. Guilin, China (2006)
Zhu, Z., Ji, Q.: Eye and Gaze Tracking for Interactive Graphic Display. Machine Vision and Application 15(3), 139–148 (2004)
Zhu, Z., Ji, Q.: A head motion free gaze tracker with one-time calibration. In: IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), San Diego, CA, June 2005
Guestrin, et al.: General theory of remote gaze estimation using the pupil center and corneal reflections. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. (2006)
Zhu, Z., Ji, Q.: Novel eye gaze tracking techniques under natural head movement. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. (in press, 2008)
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R.: A study on eye gaze estimation method based on cornea model of human eye. In: MIRAGE 2007, INRIA Rocquencourt, France, March, 28–30, 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Lee, S.J., Park, K.R., Kim, J.H.: A study on fake Iris detection based on the reflectance of the Iris to the Sclera for Iris recognition. In: ITC-CSCC 2005, Jeju, Korea, July 4–7 , 2005 pp. 1555–1556
Lee, S. et al.: Robust fake iris detection based on variation of the reflectance ratio between the Iris and the Sclera. In: BSYM (Biometrics Symposium) 2006, Baltimore, USA, September 19–21, 2006
Gullstrand, A.: Helmholz’s Physiological Optics pp. 350–358. Optical Society of America (1924)
Breglia, D.R.: Helmet mounted eye tracker using a position sensing detector. United States Patent 4702575, 1987
Park, R.S., Park, G.E.: The center of ocular rotation in the horizontal plane. Am. J. Physiol. 104, 545–552 (1933)
Gonzalez, R.C., Woods, R.E.: Digital Image Processing pp. 587–591, 2nd edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (2002)
Gonzalez, R.C., Woods, R.E.: Digital Image Processing. 1st edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Shah, M.: Fundamentals of Computer Vision. pp. 9–14 (1992)
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R., Whang, M.C., Park, J.S.: Robust gaze tracking method for stereoscopic virtual reality system. HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, July 22–27, 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science
http://www.vision.caltech.edu/bouguetj/calib_doc/. Accessed on 25 Feb 2008
Tsai, R.Y.: A versatile camera Calibration technique for high-accuracy 3D machine vision metrology using off-the-shelf TV Cameras and Lenses. IEEE J. Robot. Automat. RA-3(4) (1987)
Zhang, Z.: Flexible camera calibration by viewing a plane from unknown orientations. In: Proceedings of ICCV (1999)
Heijjila, J., Silben, O.: A four-step camera calibration procedure with implicit image correction. In: Proceedings of CVPR (1997)
Strum and Maybank, On plane-based camera calibration : a general algorithm, singularities, applications. In: Proceedings of CVPR (1999)
Jain, R., Kasturi, R., Schunck, B.G.: Machine Vision. McGraw-Hill International Editions, New York, pp. 301–302 (1995)
Guil, N., Zapata, E.: Lower order circle and ellipse hough transform. Pattern Recognition 30(10), 1729–1744 (1997)
Anton, H., Rorres, C.: Elementary Linear Algebra pp. 333–335. Wiley International (2005)
Chapra, S.C. et al.: Numerical Methods for Engineers. McGraw-Hill, New York (1989)
Grand, Y.L.: Light, Color and Vision. Wiley, New York (1957)
Eskridge, J.B. et al.: The Hirschberg test: a double-masked clinical evaluation. Am. J. Optometry Physiol. Opt. (1988)
Schaeffel, F.: Kappa and Hirschberg ratio measured with an automated video gaze tracker. Optometry Vis. Sci. 79(5), 329–334 (2002)
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R., Kim, J.: Fake Iris detection by using the Purkinje image. Lecture Notes Comput. Sci. (ICB’06), vol. 3832 (January), pp.397–403 (2006)
Lee, J.J., Park, K.R., Kim, J.H.: Gaze detection system under HMD environments for user interface. In: ICANN/ICONIP, Istanbul, Turkey, June 26–29, 2003
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R.: 3D first person shooting game by using eye gaze tracking. J. KIPS 12B(4), 465–472 (2005)
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R.: A study on manipulating method 3D game in HMD environment by using eye tracking. J. Ins. Electron. Eng. Korea (in press, 2008)
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R., Whang, M.C., Lim, J.S.: Near infra-red vision-based facial and eye gaze estimation method for stereoscopic display system. In: 10th International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Seoul, Korea, September 4–6, 2007
Lee, E.C. et al.: Method and apparatus for tracking gaze position. US Patent pending, number: 11/91813, 6 Dec 2007
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R.: Manipulating character’s view direction of three dimensional first person shooting game by using gaze tracking in HMD environment. In: 2nd Next Generation Computing Conference, KINTEX, Ilsan, Korea, November 16–17, 2006
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, E.C., Park, K.R. A robust eye gaze tracking method based on a virtual eyeball model. Machine Vision and Applications 20, 319–337 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-008-0129-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-008-0129-z