Systems and methods for position estimation

1. A method comprising:

receiving glint-location data indicating a location for each of one or more glints that are reflected from an eye, wherein the glint-location data is captured by an imaging device that is associated with a head-mountable display (HMD);

determining a plurality of normalized pupil locations comprising at least a first and a second normalized pupil location, wherein each normalized pupil location is determined based on the glint-location data for a different combinatoric subset of the one or more glints;

determining a regression model to fit the plurality of normalized pupil locations to an expected gaze location; and

performing, by a computing device, a gaze-tracking process based on the regression model.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more glints include reflections of an infrared light on a corneal surface.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising providing the infrared light in a clockwise manner.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising providing the infrared light in a counterclockwise manner.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the glint-location data includes location data for four glints that are positioned to form a square.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of normalized pupil locations further comprises:

determining a relative vector from the first normalized pupil location to the glint-location data using a translation normalization.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of normalized pupil locations further comprises:

determining a coordinate framework with two glints from the one or more glints; and

determining the first normalized pupil location on the coordinate framework using a similarity normalization of the two glints.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of normalized pupil locations further comprises:

determining a coordinate framework with three glints from the one or more glints; and

determining the first normalized pupil location on the coordinate framework using an affinity normalization of the three glints.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of normalized pupil locations further comprises:

determining a coordinate framework with four glints from the one or more glints; and

determining the first normalized pupil location on the coordinate framework using a homography normalization of the four glints.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the regression model is a polynomial regression model.

11. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to cause the system to:

receive glint-location data indicating a location for each of one or more glints that are reflected from an eye, wherein the glint-location data is captured by an imaging device that is associated with a head-mountable display (HMD);

determine a plurality of normalized pupil locations comprising at least a first and a second normalized pupil location, wherein each normalized pupil location is determined based on the glint-location data for a different combinatoric subset of the one or more glints;

determine a regression model to fit the plurality of normalized pupil locations to an expected gaze location; and

perform a gaze-tracking process based on the regression model.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to cause the system to:

determine an estimation error associated with at least the first and the second normalized pupil location; and

determine the estimated gaze location by taking a median of at least the first and the second normalized pupil locations having the estimation error less than a threshold.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein determining the estimation error further comprises:

determining an average estimation error associated the first normalized pupil location;

comparing the average estimation error to a threshold; and

eliminating the first normalized pupil location when the average estimation error exceeds the threshold.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein determining the estimation error further comprises:

determining a maximum estimation error associated with the first normalized pupil location;

comparing the maximum estimation error to a threshold; and

eliminating the first normalized pupil location when the maximum estimation error exceeds the threshold.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing device having at least one processor to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving glint-location data indicating a location for each of one or more glints that are reflected from an eye, wherein the glint-location data is captured by an imaging device that is attached to a head-mountable display (HMD);

determining a plurality of normalized pupil locations comprising at least a first and a second normalized pupil location, wherein each normalized pupil location is determined based on the glint-location data for a different combinatoric subset of the one or more glints;

determining a regression model to fit the plurality of normalized pupil locations to an expected gaze location; and

performing, by a computing device, a gaze-tracking process based on the regression model.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the regression model is a polynomial regression model.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the glint-location data includes location data for four glints.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

determining an average estimation error associated with the second normalized pupil location;

comparing the average estimation error to a threshold; and

eliminating the second normalized pupil location when the average estimation error associated with the second normalized pupil location exceeds the threshold.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

determining an estimation error associated with at least the first and the second normalized pupil location; and

determining the estimated gaze location by taking a median of at least the first and the second normalized pupil locations having the estimation error less than a threshold.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

determining an average estimation error associated the first normalized pupil location;

comparing the average estimation error to a threshold; and

eliminating the first normalized pupil location when the average estimation error exceeds the threshold.