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 Title: |
US6393136:
Method and apparatus for determining eye contact
[ Derwent Title ]
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| Country: |
US United States of America
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| Inventor: |
Amir, Arnon; Cupertino, CA
Flickner, Myron Dale; San Jose, CA
Koons, David Bruce; San Jose, CA
Morimoto, Carlos Hitoshi; San Jose, CA
Zhai, Shumin; San Jose, CA
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| Assignee: |
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY
other patents from INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION (280070) (approx. 44,393)
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| Published / Filed: |
2002-05-21
/ 1999-01-04
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| Application Number: |
US1999000225476
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| IPC Code: |
Advanced:
G06F 3/00;
G06F 3/01;
G06T 7/00;
Core:
more...
IPC-7:
G06K 9/00;
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| ECLA Code: |
G06F3/01B; G06T7/00P;
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| U.S. Class: |
Current:
382/103;
348/014.01;
348/169;
382/107;
382/116;
382/128;
382/173;
Original:
382/103;
382/107;
382/173;
382/128;
382/116;
348/014;
348/169;
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| Field of Search: |
382/103,166,173,118
348/015,169
351/226,210
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| Priority Number: |
| 1999-01-04 |
US1999000225476 |
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| Abstract: |
A method and apparatus determine when a subject is looking at a specific target area by estimating a divergence angle between (1) the direction in which the subject is looking and (2) the direction from the subject directly to the target area. This technique accesses whether the subject is looking at a particular area. The invention may further condition this determination according to the subject's distance from the target area, because there is less tolerance for divergent angles when the subject is farther away. In one embodiment, the divergence angle is estimated using the position of a glint of light in the subject's pupil. The glint is created by a light source located in the target area. If the glint is sufficiently central to the pupil, with the camera and light source being near the target area, the subject is looking at the target area. At long distances, when the glint is not sufficiently discernable from the pupil, another technique may be employed to estimate divergence angle. Namely, the plane of the subject's face is computed, and analyzed with respect to a vector between the subject's face and the target area. If the plane is substantially normal to the vector, the subject is looking at the target area.
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| Attorney, Agent or Firm: |
Dan Hubert & Assoc. ;
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| Primary / Asst. Examiners: |
Boudreau, Leo; Choobin, M B
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| INPADOC Legal Status: |
Show legal status actions
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| Family: |
None
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First Claim:
Show all 22 claims |
What is claimed is:
1. A method for determining whether a subject is looking at a target area, the subject having a face including an eye with a pupil, the method comprising the operations of:
- if distance between the subject and the target area is less than a predetermined range, performing operations comprising:
- operating a light source to create a glint upon the subject's eye;
- using a light sensor to detect the glint and measure glint position;
- receiving a machine-readable representation of the pupil;
- analyzing relative position of the glint with respect to the pupil to determine whether the relative position satisfies predetermined criteria; and
- only if the relative position satisfies the predetermined criteria, providing an eye contact output declaring that the subject is looking at the target area;
- otherwise, if distance between the subject and the target area is less than the predetermined range, performing operations comprising:
- receiving a machine-readable input representing three-dimensional positions of multiple points on the face;
- using the points to compute a face plane describing an average orientation of the face;
- determining alignment between the face plane and the target area; and
- if the alignment between the face plane and the target area meets predetermined criteria, providing an eye contact output declaring that the subject is looking at the target area.
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| Background / Summary: |
Show background / summary
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| Drawing Descriptions: |
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| Description: |
Show description
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| Forward References: |
Show 5 U.S. patent(s) that reference this one
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| Foreign References: |
None
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| Other References: |
Ebisawa et al., "Effectiveness of Pupil Area Detection Technique Using Two Light Sources and Image Difference Method", Proc. of the 15th Ann. Int'l Conf. of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, vol. 15, (Jan. 1993), pp. 1268-1269.
Ebisawa, "Unconstained Pupil Detection Technique Using Two Light Sources and the Image Difference Method", Visualization and Intelligent Design in Engineering and Architecture (1995), pp. 79-89.
Fieguth et al., "Color-Based Tracking of Heads and Other Mobile Objects at Video Frame Rates", Proc. IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (1997), pp. 21-27.
Govindaraju et al., "A Computational Model For Face Location," Proc. of the Int'l Conf. on Computer Vision (Dec. 1990), pp. 718-721, Osaka, Japan.
Harville et al., "Tracking People With Integrated Stereo, Color, and Face Detection,", Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Jun. 1998, pp. 601-608.
Kothari et al., "Detection of Eye Locations in Unconstrained Visual Images", Proc. Int'l Conf. on Image Processing (1996), Switzerland, pp. 519-522.
Poggio et al., "Example-Based Learning for View-Based Human Face Detection," MIT Al Lab TR-Al-1521 (1994), pp. 1-20.
Scassellati, "Eye Finding via Face Detection for a Foveated, Active Vision System," Proceedings of the 15th Conf. on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-98), ISBM 0-262-51098-7, Jul. 26-30, 1998.
Scassellati, "Real-Time Face and Eye Detection," world-wide-web, 1998.
Stiefelhagen et al., "A Model-Based Gaze Tracking System," Proc. Joint Symposium on Intelligence and Systems (1996), pp. 304-310.
Sirohey, "Human Face Segmentation and Identification", CAR-TR-695, CS-TR-3176, (1993 ), pp. 1-33.
Waibel et al., "A Real-Time Face Tracker", Proc. of the 3rd IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (1996), Sarasota, FL, pp. 142-147.
Aizawa et al., "Detection and Tracking of Facial Features," Proc. of the SPIE Com. and Image Proc. (1995), v. 2501, Taipei Taiwan, pp. 1161-1172.
Baluja et al., "Neural Network-Based Face Detection," Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (1996), San Francisco, CA, pp. 203-208.
Baluja et al., "Rotation Invariant Neutral Network-Based Face Detection," Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (Jun. 1998), Santa Barbara, CA, pp. 38-44.
Berard et al., "LAFTER: Lips and Face Real Time Tracker," Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (Jun. 1997), Puerto Rico, pp. 123-129.
Birchfield, "Elliptical Head Tracking Using Intensity Gradients and Color Histograms," Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (1998), pp. 232-237.
Cohen et al., "Feature Extraction From Faces Using Deformable Template," International Journal of Computer Vision (1992), vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 99-111.
(13 pages)
Cited by 13 patents
[ISI abstract]
Darrell et al., "Active Face Tracking and Pose Estimation in an Interactive Room," MIT Media Lab, TR-356 (1996), pp. 1-16.
Darrell et al., "A Virtual Mirror Interface Using Real-Time Robust Face Tracking," Proc. Int'l conf. on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (Apr. 1998), Japan, pp. 616-621.
Darrell et al., "Integrated Person Tracking Using Stereo, Color, and Pattern Detection," Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (Jun. 1998), Santa Barbara, CA, pp. 601-608.
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