Method and apparatus for image display control according to viewer factors and responses

1. An image display mechanism for controlling the display of images on an image display device in accordance with attention characteristics of a viewer to a displayed image, comprising:

an image control mechanism for:

determining attention characteristics for the viewer to a currently displayed image on the image display device;

classifying the attention characteristics as exogenous attention or endogenous attention; and

controlling the display of one or more images on the image display device responsive to whether the attention characteristics are exogenous attention or endogenous attention.

2. The image display mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the image control mechanism comprises:

an image capture device for capturing at least one viewer image in a spatial region potentially containing a viewer of the image display device;

a viewer detection mechanism for analyzing the at least one viewer image and determining whether a viewer of the image display screen is present in the spatial region; and

a line of vision process for determining whether a viewer present in the spatial region is gazing at the image display screen;

and wherein the attention characteristics for the viewer are determined include an indication of whether the viewer present in the spatial region is gazing at the image display screen.

3. The image display mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the image control mechanism comprises:

a gaze pattern analysis mechanism for determining a gaze pattern for a viewer gazing at the image display screen;

and wherein the attention characteristics for the viewer include the determined gaze pattern.

4. The image display mechanism of claim 1 , wherein:

the display of the one or more images is controlled by modifying at least one image, by controlling the timing between the display of successive images, by controlling the transitions between images, by controlling the display sequence for a set of images, by adding sound accompaniment or by controlling the selection of an image or a set of images from an image library.

5. The image display mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the attention characteristics for the viewer are determined based on the changes in the viewer's facial features, body language characteristics, vocal or verbal reactions, gaze pattern, or combinations thereof,

in response to the content of the currently displayed image.

6. The image display mechanism of claim 2 , further comprising:

a viewer facial library for storing facial features of at least one user, and

a viewer identification mechanism for extracting viewer facial features from the viewer image and comparing the viewer facial features from the viewer image with the facial features for the at least one user, and

wherein when the viewer identification mechanism identifies a correspondence between the viewer facial features extracted from the viewer image and the facial features for a particular user, the display of the one or more images is controlled by selecting at least one image to be displayed from an image set associated with the particular user.

7. The image display mechanism of claim 6 , wherein the image set associated with the particular user contains imaged subjects that correspond in a predefined manner with the particular user.

8. The image display mechanism of claim 7 , wherein:

personalized content associated with the particular user is displayed on the image display device.

9. A method for controlling the display of images in accordance with attention characteristics of a viewer, comprising the steps of:

displaying at least one image from an image library on an image display device,

determining attention characteristics for the viewer to the displayed at least one image;

classifying the attention characteristics as exogenous attention or endogenous attention; and

controlling the display of one or more images on the image display device responsive to whether the attention characteristics are exogenous attention or endogenous attention.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the control of the display of one or more images on the image display device is also responsive to an analysis of a displayed image being viewed by the viewer.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:

capturing at least one viewer image of a spatial region potentially containing a viewer of the image display device,

analyzing the at least one viewer image and determining whether a viewer of the image display screen is present in the spatial region,

determining whether the spatial region includes a region identifiable as a face,

determining whether the viewer present in the spatial region is observing the image display screen, and

determining a gaze pattern for the viewer present in the spatial region and observing the image display screen and wherein the control of the display of the one or more images on the image display device is further responsive to the determined gaze pattern.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the control of the display of the one or more images includes:

modifying the selection of images from the image library in accordance with the determined gaze pattern.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the classification of the attention characteristics as exogenous attention or endogenous attention is made according to-predefined data stored in a data storage medium of exogenous or endogenous attention.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the display of the one or more images is controlled by modifying image data for at least one image, by controlling the timing between the display of successive images, by controlling the transitions between images, by controlling the display sequence for a set of images, by adding sound accompaniment or by controlling the selection of an image or a set of images from an image library.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the control of the display of the one or more images includes, selecting an image having a predetermined relationship to the current image in accordance with the attention characteristics.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:

accessing a viewer facial library for storing facial features of at least one user, and

extracting viewer facial features from the viewer image and identifying a user by comparing the viewer facial features from the viewer image with the facial features for the at least one user;

selecting or modifying at least one next image associated with the identified user.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising the steps of selecting images to be displayed from an image set corresponding to image subjects having a predetermined association with the user.