According to foreign media September 30 news, Apple's recent new patents were approved, among which the most noticeable is a new breakthrough in human-machine interface, users can control the desktop computer or TV through the eyes, "space", the so-called eyeball Tracking technology.
According to reports, the US Patent and Trademark Office recently approved a total of 48 new Apple patents covering human-machine interface and other related fields, especially multi-user interactive interfaces. One of the patents numbering 9454225 is particularly eye-catching. The patent is called "Galt Display Operation". This patent determines the direction of the user's gaze by receiving the user's eye image, and then finds the computer screen based on the direction of the gaze. The corresponding area on the top and operate on the content within the area.
It is speculated that Apple will use eye-tracking new patents on PCs, even on Apple's future TVs. This technology is also expected to become a new selling point for Apple's new products to attract buyers, further stimulating sales, Apple iMac desktop computer assembly plant Da, Hon Hai and others are expected to benefit.
Apple's patent filed the relevant application documents in the third quarter of 2013, but it was not approved until September this year. The patent was signed by an Israeli PrimeSense engineer previously acquired by Apple. It is reported that Apple has applied for a similar new technology for human-machine interface in May this year. At the time, 23 patents were approved, mainly focusing on finger manipulation.
As a popular technology in the past two years, the "eyeball tracking" technology firstly tracks the changes according to the characteristics of the eyeball and the periphery of the eyeball, the second is to track according to the change of the iris angle, and the third is to actively project infrared rays and other beams to the iris to extract features.
The main equipment for eye tracking includes infrared devices and image acquisition devices. In terms of accuracy, the infrared projection method has a relatively large advantage, and can be accurate to within 1 cm on a 30-inch screen, supplemented by techniques such as blink recognition and gaze recognition, which can replace the mouse and touchpad to a certain extent. Some limited operations. In addition, other image acquisition devices, such as cameras on computers or mobile phones, can also achieve eye tracking with the support of software, but there are differences in accuracy, speed and stability. At present, the carrier of this technology is mainly mobile phones, computers, and automobiles.
[Three major eye tracking main carriers]
Mobile phone
In daily life, the most popular carrier of eye tracking technology is mobile phones. Both Samsung and LG have launched products with eye tracking technology. For example, Samsung's previous generation of the flagship Samsung Galaxy S III can control the lock screen time by detecting the user's eye state. As long as it detects that the user is staring at the screen of the mobile phone, the screen will not be closed even if the user does not perform any operation. The release of the Samsung Galaxy s III extends this feature further: the page can be controlled by the eyeball to scroll up and down.
In addition, LG's Optimus phone also supports video playback through eye movements, as long as the user shifts the line of sight, the video player will automatically pause until the line of sight returns to the screen.
Computer
The Swedish company Tobii plans to launch a product that allows old computers to access eye tracking. The device, called Rex, is a computer peripheral device. Just place it on the top of the screen and access it through the USB interface. Users can use the line of sight to control the computer to complete some operations, such as manipulating IE page scrolling and using Windows 8 map. Application, etc.
Car
In addition to computers and mobile phones, cars are also likely to be the first places where people are exposed to eye tracking technology. Both GM and Toyota have invested heavily in this area. It can simulate the driver's field of vision in real time, reminding the driver of the dangers of blind spots in the line of sight; when the driver's eyelids are drooping (sleeping) or the number of blinks is reduced (going away), it also sounds a reminder.
