Using Eye- and Gaze-tracking to Interact with a Visual Display

The analysis presented covers three broad areas of implementation of eye- and gaze-tracking (with the description of current research and functional prototypes): 1) Gaze-tracking for mobile devices: Recent advances in eye- and gaze-tracking make it possible to use Web-cams or smart phone cameras for eye-tracking. 2) Gaze-tracking in a museum/gallery context: Ability to track visitors’ gaze direction offers a wide range of new possibilities for enhancing visitor experience in a museum. Just focusing (looking) at a detail of a painting a visitor can gain more detailed information. Collecting visitors gaze direction data also opens up a whole new area of research. 3) Gaze-tracking for medical information display: Most of the information in medical imaging field already exists in digital format (PET, CAT, MRI scans). This information is crucial when performing surgery and so far has been delivered by hand. The use of a gaze-sensitive display would allow a surgeon to access relevant information just by looking at a display. The author of the paper holds US patent for “interacting with visual display using eye and gaze-gestures” (US 7,561,143 ‘B1).