The US Patent and Trademark Office has officially announced 60 new licensed Apple patents, including advanced eye tracking technology for future Apple AR/VR headsets.
It is reported that the patent is called "Method and Device for Eye Tracking Using Event Camera Data", and the patent involves another aspect of advanced eye tracking/gaze technology for future head-mounted display (HMD) devices. This Apple patent introduces us to how the eye tracking system can obtain user biometrics based on event camera data, and then automatically adjust parameters such as the brightness of the image generated on the HMD display.
Apple Patent Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an example operating environment #100, where the controller (#110) is configured to manage and coordinate the user AR/VR experience.
Apple Patent Figure 4 shows a block diagram of a head-mounted device (#400), and the housing (#401) also includes one or more light sources #422, camera 424, and eye tracking systems of controller 480; this working principle is that one or more light sources 422 emit light to the "user 10" eyes, which reflects a light pattern (e.g., a circle of flashes) that can be detected by camera 424; based on the light mode, controller 480 can determine the user's eye tracking characteristics: for example, controller 480 determines the user's gaze direction and/or the user's blinking state (open or closed eyes); as another example, controller 480 can determine the user's pupil center, pupil size, or focus.
Apple Patent Fig. 5A shows a user eye with a first gaze direction; Fig. 5B shows a user eye with a second gaze direction.
For more patent details, please see the Apple authorized patent "US 11474348 B2".
Source: patentlyapple
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