IP Library Granted Patent US 12694530
Granted Patent B2
US 12694530 · App. 18/282,910 · Granted Jul 28, 2026

Electronic device and display system recognizing eye fatigue and looking away

Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki (Tokyo, JP); Tetsuya Kakehata (Isehara, JP)
Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
G06T7/0016A61B5/0077A61B5/1072A61B5/1079A61B5/1103A61B5/163A61B5/165A61B5/6803A61B5/7264A61B5/742G06F3/01G06F3/013G06T2207/20081G06T2207/20084G06T2207/30041G09B5/065G09B5/14H04R1/1041
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12694530
App. No.
18/282,910
Granted
Jul 28, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An electronic device capable of estimating a user's situation is to be provided. The electronic device includes a camera, a processing portion, and a display portion. The camera has a function of capturing an image of a user's eye and his/her periphery repeatedly to generate a plurality of pieces image data. The processing portion has a function of detecting, from the plurality of pieces of image data, a change over time in information including at least one of a frequency of eye blinks, a time taken for one blink, a distance between an upper eyelid and a lower eyelid, a sight direction, and an area of a pupil, a function of estimating a level of user's eye fatigue on the basis of the change over time in information, and a function of generating string information in accordance with the estimated level of user's eye fatigue. The display portion has a function of displaying string information.

Claims (74)

1 . An electronic device comprising:

a communication portion;

an arithmetic circuit; and

a display portion comprising a pixel and a pixel circuit electrically connected to the pixel,

wherein the communication portion is configured to receive a plurality of images from a plurality of sensors, wherein each of the plurality of images includes an eye and a periphery of the eye of each of a plurality of users,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured:

to detect, from the plurality of images received via the communication portion, a change over time in information including at least one of a frequency of eye blinks, a time taken for one blink, a distance between an upper eyelid and a lower eyelid, a sight direction, and an area of a pupil;

to determine, from the plurality of images received via the communication portion, whether each of the plurality of users is a user with high-level fatigue and to determine whether each of the plurality of users is a user who is looking away on the basis of a change over time in information including a sight direction; and

to generate status information to recognize a user with high-level fatigue and a user who is looking away on the basis of the determined result among the plurality of users,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to distinguish the user with high-level fatigue from the user who is looking away as different situations, and

wherein the display portion is configured to display the status information.

2 . The electronic device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the determination of whether each of the plurality of users has high-level fatigue is performed by estimating a level of the user's eye fatigue,

wherein the level of user's eye fatigue is estimated using a learned model, and

wherein the learned model is generated through supervised learning performed on a neural network.

3 . The electronic device according to claim 2 ,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to perform a product-sum operation, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to estimate the level of the user's eye fatigue on the basis of the change over time in information.

4 . The electronic device according to claim 3 , wherein the arithmetic circuit comprises a transistor comprising a metal oxide in a channel formation region.

5 . An electronic device comprising:

an arithmetic circuit;

a display portion comprising a pixel and a pixel circuit electrically connected to the pixel; and

a plurality of headphones configured to be put on a plurality of users,

wherein each of the plurality of headphones comprise a sensor portion comprising a plurality of sensors,

wherein the sensor portion is configured to obtain a change over time in information including at least one of a pulse, a blood pressure and a body temperature of a user putting on the headphones,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured:

to estimate a user's stress situation on the basis of the change over time in information for the determination of whether each of the plurality of users is a user with high-level stress;

to determine whether each of the plurality of users is a user with high-level stress on the basis of the estimated user's stress situation;

to determine whether each of the plurality of users is a user who is looking away on the basis of a change over time in information including a sight direction of the user; and

to generate string information in accordance with the determination of whether each user is a user with high-level stress and the determination of whether each user is a user who is looking away,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to distinguish the user with high-level fatigue from the user who is looking away as different situations, and

wherein the display portion is configured to display the string information.

6 . The electronic device according to claim 5 ,

wherein the user's stress situation is estimated using a learned model, and

wherein the learned model is generated through supervised learning performed on a neural network.

7 . The electronic device according to claim 5 ,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to perform a product-sum operation, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to estimate the user's stress situation on the basis of the change over time in information.

8 . The electronic device according to claim 7 , wherein the arithmetic circuit comprises a transistor comprising a metal oxide in a channel formation region.

9 . A display system comprising a first electronic device and a second electronic device,

wherein the first electronic device comprises a camera and an arithmetic circuit,

wherein the second electronic device comprises a display portion,

wherein the display portion comprises a pixel and a pixel circuit electrically connected to the pixel,

wherein the camera is configured to obtain eye information of a user of the first electronic device by capturing an image including an eye of the user of the first electronic device,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to determine whether the user of the first electronic device is a user with high-level fatigue and to determine whether the user of the first electronic device is a user who is looking away, so that the first electronic device generates status information of the user of the first electronic device,

wherein the determination of whether the user of the first electronic device is a user with high-level fatigue is estimated from the eye information on the basis of a change over time in information including at least one of a frequency of eye blinks, a time taken for one blink, a distance between an upper eyelid and a lower eyelid, and an area of a pupil of the user of the first electronic device,

wherein the determination of whether the user of the first electronic device is a user with taking eyes off is estimated from the eye information on the basis of a change over time in information including a sight direction of the user of the first electronic device,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to distinguish the user with high-level fatigue from the user who is looking away as different situations, and

wherein the display portion is configured to display the status information accepted from the first electronic device.

10 . The display system according to claim 9 ,

wherein a level of the user's eye fatigue is estimated using a learned model,

wherein the determination of whether the user of the first electronic device is a user with high-level fatigue is estimated on the basis of the level of the user's eye fatigue, and

wherein the learned model is generated through supervised learning performed on a neural network.

11 . The display system according to claim 9 ,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to perform a product-sum operation, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit estimates the level of the user's eye fatigue on the basis of the change over time in information.

12 . The display system according to claim 9 ,

wherein the camera is configured to capture an image of an eye and a periphery of the eye of the user of the first electronic device repeatedly in order to obtain the eye information of the user of the first electronic device, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured:

to detect, from the image, a change over time in information including said at least one of the frequency of eye blinks, the time taken for one blink, the distance between the upper eyelid and the lower eyelid, the sight direction, and the area of the pupil;

to estimate a level of user's eye fatigue on the basis of the change over time in information; and

to generate string information corresponding to the status information in accordance with the estimated level of the user's eye fatigue.

13 . The display system according to claim 9 ,

wherein the first electronic device further comprises headphones,

wherein the headphones comprise a sensor portion,

wherein the sensor portion is configured to obtain a change over time in information including at least one of a pulse, a blood pressure and a body temperature of a user putting on the headphones,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to estimate a user's stress situation on the basis of the change over time in information obtained by the camera and the change over time in information obtained by the sensor portion, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to generate string information in accordance with the user's stress situation.

14 . The display system according to claim 13 ,

wherein the user's stress situation is estimated using a learned model, and

wherein the learned model is generated through supervised learning performed on a neural network.

15 . The display system according to claim 13 ,

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to perform a product-sum operation, and

wherein the arithmetic circuit is configured to estimate the user's stress situation on the basis of the change over time in information.