Distributed Real-Time Computation of the Point of Gaze

Abstract

This paper presents a minimally intrusive real-time gaze-tracking prototype to be used in several scenarios, including a laboratory stall and an in-vehicle system. The system requires specific infrared illumination to allow it to work with variable light conditions. However, it is minimally intrusive due to the use of a carefully configured switched infrared LED array. Although the perceived level of illumination generated by this array is high, it is achieved using low-emission infrared light beams. Accuracy is achieved through a precise estimate of the center of the user's pupil. To overcome inherent time restrictions while using low-cost processors, its main image-processing algorithm has been distributed over four main computing tasks. This structure not only enables good performance, but also simplifies the task of experimenting with alternative computationally-complex algorithms and with alternative tracking models based on locating both user eyes and several cameras to improve user mobility.