Eye tracking wearable devices and methods for use
Devices and methods are provided for eye-tracking, e.g., including a freeform optical assembly and/or a modular design. In an exemplary embodiment, a device and method are provided that includes a wearable device on a user's head, the wearable device including a scene camera oriented to capture images of the user's surroundings. The user may perform a predetermined action with the user's eye to activate a photo feature of the wearable device, gaze at a region within the user's surroundings, the wearable device determining a focal point and limited field-of-view for the camera imaging field based on the center point, and activate the camera to capture an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
1. A method for taking a digital photo, comprising:
activating, at a wearable device comprising a scene camera oriented to capture images of a user's surroundings, a photo feature of the wearable device in response to a predetermined action by the user's eye, wherein the predetermined action comprises the user gazing at a Take Photo LED on the wearable device to activate a photo feature;
determining, by the wearable device, a focal point and limited field-of-view for an imaging field of the camera based on a center point of a region within the user's surroundings in response to the user gazing at the center point; and
capturing an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
2. A method for taking a digital photo, comprising:
activating, at a wearable device comprising a scene camera oriented to capture images of a user's surroundings, a photo feature of the wearable device in response to the user gazing at a predetermined location of the wearable device;
determining, by the wearable device, in response to the user gazing at opposite corners of a virtual frame of a region within the user's surroundings, a focal point and limited field-of-view for an imaging field of the camera based on a center point and based upon the opposite corners; and
capturing an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein activating a photo feature is in response to a user gazing at a Take Photo LED on the wearable device until the wearable device changes the LED to indicate the photo feature is active.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the LED changes color to indicate that the photo feature is active.
5. A device for taking a digital photo, comprising:
a wearable device configured to be worn on a user's head;
an endo-camera on the wearable device configured to obtain eye tracking images of the eye when the wearable device is worn by the user;
an exo-camera on the wearable device configured to obtain images of the user's surroundings when the wearable device is worn by the user; and
one or more processors coupled to the endo-camera configured to determine when the user performs a predetermined action with the user's eye to activate a photo feature of the wearable device, wherein the predetermined action comprises the user gazing at a Take Photo LED on the wearable device, the one or more processors coupled to the exo-camera configured to determine when the user gazes at a region within the user's surroundings in a predetermined manner, the one or more processors configured to determine a focal point and limited field-of-view for an imaging field of the exo-camera based on the predetermined manner, and to activate the exo-camera to capture an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the one or more processors are coupled to the Take Photo LED such that the one or more processors change a color of the LED to indicate the photo feature is active in response to the user gazing at the Take Photo LED.
7. A method for taking a digital photo, comprising:
activating, at a wearable device comprising a scene camera oriented to capture images of a user's surroundings, a photo feature in response to the user gazing at a predetermined location of the wearable device;
determining, by the wearable device, a focal point and limited field-of-view for an imaging field of the camera based on a center point of a region within the user's surroundings in response to the user gazing at the center point, wherein determining the limited field-of-view is further in response to the user gazing at opposite corners of a virtual frame; and
capturing an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein activating the photo feature is in response to the user gazing at a Take Photo LED on the wearable device until the wearable device changes the LED to indicate the photo feature is active.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the LED changes color to indicate that the photo feature is active.
10. A device for taking a digital photo, comprising:
a wearable device configured to be worn on a user's head;
an eye tracking camera on the wearable device configured to obtain eye tracking images of the eye when the wearable device is worn by the user;
a scene camera on the wearable device configured to obtain images of the user's surroundings; and
one or more processors coupled to the eye tracking camera and the scene camera to determine when the user gazes at a predetermined location of the wearable device to activate a photo feature of the wearable device and when the user gazes at opposite corners of a virtual frame of a region within the user's surroundings, the one or more processors configured to determine a focal point and a limited field-of-view for an imaging field of the camera based on the gazed-upon opposite corners and to activate the scene camera to capture an image of the limited field-of-view centered around the focal point.
11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined location comprises a Take Photo LED.
12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are coupled to the Take Photo LED such that, when user gazes at the Take Photo LED, the one or more processors change a color of the LED to indicate the photo feature is active.