Eye-tracking technology using polarization and its application to various display environments

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H03486
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 61020:Human interface and interaction-related
• Research Institution: Tokai University
• Principal Investigator: Takemura Kentaro 東海大学, 情報理工学部, 教授 (30435440)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 長松 隆 神戸大学, 海事科学研究科, 教授 (80314251)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 視線計測 / 偏光

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research proposes an eye-tracking method using polarization emitted from the display instead of glints, which is suitable for various display environments. Half-wave plates and liquid crystals are utilized to indicate imperceptible markers on the screen, and the marker IDs are identified using the angle of linear polarization. When the eyeball rotates significantly on a large display, traditional eye tracking fails due to the loss of glints. However, the eye-tracking method using imperceptible polarization markers on the screen works stably. We confirmed the feasibility of the proposed method through several experiments.

Free Research Field

知覚情報処理

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は，これまで従来の視線計測装置では利用が困難であった大型のディスプレイ環境等においても，視線計測の利用を可能にするものである．視線計測装置を用いたヒューマンコンピュータインタラクション技術は，今後利用の拡大が期待されている技術であることから，近接に配置された大型ディスプレイや複数のディスプレイなど，様々な環境で利用できるように技術開発を行った本研究の成果には社会的な意義がある．