US 12,455,621 B1
Optimizations in associating user gaze with user interface elements
Chase B Lortie, San Francisco, CA (US); David J Meyer, Menlo Park, CA (US); Paul A Lacey, Davie, FL (US); Julian K Shutzberg, San Francisco, CA (US); Ali Ercan, San Jose, CA (US); and Wei-Kang Hsu, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on May 31, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/679,790.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/470,623, filed on Jun. 2, 2023.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G06F 3/0482 (2013.01)
CPC G06F 3/013 (2013.01) [G06F 3/017 (2013.01); G06F 3/0482 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
at an electronic device having a processor and one or more sensors:
obtaining gaze data regarding a gaze, the gaze data generated based on sensor data of an eye captured by the one or more sensors;
generating an association between the gaze and a user interface element;
detecting that the gaze is outside of a region associated with the user interface element;
initially maintaining the association between the gaze and the user interface element when the gaze is detected outside of the region associated with the user interface element; and
discontinuing the association between the gaze and the user interface element based on determining that a criterion is satisfied based on the gaze being detected fixed for a number of frames outside of the region.