Real-time Non-Intrusive Eyetracking and Gaze-point Determination for Human-Computer Interaction and Biomedicine

Eyetracking is one of the latest technologies that has shown potential in several areas including human-computer interaction for people with and without disabilities, and for non-intrusive monitoring, detection, and even diagnosis of physiological and neurological problems in individuals. Current non-intrusive eyetracking methods achieve a 30 Hz rate with possibly low accuracy in gaze estimation, that is insufficient for many applications. We propose a new non-intrusive visual eyetracking system that is capable of operating at speeds as high as 6-12 KHz. A novel fast image processing algorithm leverages specific features of the input CCD camera and system hardware to yield a real-time eyetracking system. Initial results show the excellent performance of our system under severe head motion and low contrast conditions. Key-Words: Detection, Eyetracking, Gaze mapping, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Image Processing, Tracking,