A human-computer interface design using automatic gaze tracking

This paper describes the design and implementation of a human-computer interface using an in-house developed automatic gaze tracking system. A focus has been placed on developing an inexpensive non-invasive gaze-tracking computer interface by which the user can control his/her computer input in a hands-free manner. In the underlying project, infrared (IR) light emitting diodes (LEDs) are placed around a computer monitor to produce reference corneal glints from the user´s eye and to illuminate the user´s pupil. An IR-sensitive video camera is then used to capture images of these glints. A graphical user interface is used to gather calibration glint information from the user when gazing at six strategically place calibration points. A linear model is derived from these data and utilized to map the vertical and horizontal displacements of the glints with respect to certain physical landmarks of the user´s pupil onto the corresponding point of gaze on the monitor. The design is capable of real-time performance and was evaluated with many volunteers with good success rate.