A three-dimensional gazing point detection system for communication analysis

It is well known that one´s consciousness is reflected to his or her gazing point during communication. Therefore, gazing point analysis of a person who is talking to the acquaintance is useful for analyzing his or her emotion to the person. We are now developing a three-dimensional (3D) gazing point detection system that continuously measures 3D-coordinates of the gazing point of a person who is making a conversation with the other person. We developed and reported before a technique for enabling continuous measurement of a gazing point of a person. According to the method, gazing point is determined by measuring a cornea curvature center and three-dimensional coordinates of the head by use of near infrared LED and CCD cameras. The major advantages of the hardware-based gazing point detection systems are free from a mental- and physical-load for not being asked to wear any sensors and free body movement that is allowed during measurement. Accordingly, so big calculating power is not needed that the production cost remains very low. The hardware-based system was replaced with a new software-based system and improved to make the gazing point measurement with both eyes. In this paper, we have demonstrated that the accuracy of the new system is sufficient for measuring three-dimensional gazing point. Hence, it has been concluded that the new system is used for communication analysis by measuring the movement of the gazing point.