US 11,983,310 B2
Gaze tracking apparatus and systems
Sahin Serdar Kocdemir, London (GB); and Philip Cockram, London (GB)
Assigned to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Jun. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/344,312.
Claims priority of application No. 2009541 (GB), filed on Jun. 23, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0397253 A1, Dec. 23, 2021
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G02B 27/00 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/013 (2013.01) [G02B 27/0093 (2013.01); G02B 27/0172 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gaze tracking system comprising:
one or more cameras operable to capture one or more images of a side view of one or both of a user's eyes;
a cornea identification unit operable to identify the location and size of a cornea based on detection of a protrusion of the cornea from a side-view in one or more of the captured images; and
a gaze detection unit operable to determine a direction of the user's gaze in dependence upon the identified location and size of the cornea in the one or more captured images, wherein:
the cornea identification unit is operable to determine a representative colour of one or more regions of a captured image, and the representative colour is used to determine the gaze direction in conjunction with the detection of the protrusion of the cornea,
both of the user's eyes are imaged, and
the gaze detection unit is operable to identify an amount of vergence between the user's eyes in dependence upon the user's gaze direction of each eye as determined using the representative colour in conjunction with the detection of the protrusion of the cornea from the side-view.