Gaze tracking for a vehicle operator

摘要

A gaze tracking system captures images of a vehicle operator's face using an image sensor device positioned within a vehicle. The gaze tracking system may be detect facial features from each image and track the position of facial features over time. The gaze tracking system may use the detected facial features to track the vehicle operator's head pose and gaze direction. The images may be captured and analyzed in near-real time. By tracking movement of the driver's head and eyes over time, the gaze analysis system may predict or estimate head position and/or gaze direction when one or more facial features are not detectable. The gaze tracking system may generate a report regarding the vehicle operator's gaze distribution. The report may be saved to memory and may be graphically displayed at a screen.

主权项

1. A gaze tracking system, the gaze tracking system comprising:
an image sensor device positioned on or within a vehicle such that the image sensor device may capture an image of an operator interface area in the vehicle; one or more processors communicatively coupled to the image sensor device; and one or more memory devices, communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, including instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to (i) perform a calibration and (ii) perform gaze tracking; the instructions to perform a calibration including instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to:
(a) transmit a signal to cause the image sensor device to capture a first image of an operator interface area in the vehicle,(b) receive the first image from the image sensor device,(c) detect in the first image three facial features of a person, the three facial features including two-eye pupils,(d) identify a first triangle including vertices positioned according to locations of the three facial features in the first image, and(e) associate the first triangle with a first gaze direction; the instructions to perform gaze tracking including instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to:
(a) transmit a signal to cause the image sensor device to capture a second image of an operator interface area in the vehicle,(b) receive the second image from the image sensor device,(c) detect the three facial features in the second image,(d) identify a second triangle including vertices positioned according to locations of the three facial features in the second image,(e) determine a transformation from the first triangle to the second triangle,(f) determine a second gaze direction based, at least in part, on the determined transformation from the first triangle to the second triangle by identifying a surface normal for the second triangle, wherein a change from the first gaze direction to the second gaze direction can be tracked regardless of whether the person's head pose changed from the first image to the second image, and(g) store, at the one or more memory devices, report data including data representing the second gaze direction.