Real-time non-intrusive eye tracking for human-computer interaction

A real-time eye tracking method was introduced. The method integrates several algorithms such as AdaBoost, optical flow, and Camshift. First, lighting condition was standardized, and the camera was placed below face. Second, the nostril tracking points were localized and taken as reference points. Third, the Camshift algorithm and Lucas-Kanade optical flow algorithm were respectively utilized to track the face and nostrils, and the pupils were positioned using gradient Hough circle transform. Finally, with the coordinates of nostrils and pupils, the velocity and trajectory of eye movement were calculated. The experiments on a video of resolution at 640*480 result a tracking speed of 25 frames per second. Results prove the effectiveness and efficiency of this method.