Eyewear eye-tracking using optical waveguide
Eyewear having an optical waveguide communicating infrared light from a remote infrared emitter in the eyewear to an optical output coupler that uniformly illuminates an eye for tracking eye movement of a user. An optical input coupler couples a light beam emitted by the remote infrared emitter into the waveguide. The remote infrared emitter simplifies industrial design and is a single light source. The remote infrared emitter is not in a peripheral vision of a user's eye and improves a cosmetic impact.
1. Eyewear, comprising:
a frame;
a temple adjacent the frame;
a see-through display supported by the frame;
a light emitter configured to emit both a non-visible light and a visible light, wherein the visible light is coupled to the see-through display;
an optical waveguide supported by the frame and directly coupled to the light emitter by a first optical coupler to receive the non-visible light without using the see-through display, and configured to communicate the non-visible light; and
an optical device coupled to the optical waveguide and configured to receive the non-visible light and direct a non-visible light beam to a user's eye.
2. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical device is a second optical coupler.
3. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the non-visible light beam is a spread infrared light beam.
4. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is coupled to the temple.
5. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising an eye tracker comprising the light emitter, and an infrared camera configured to capture reflection variations of the non-visible light beam from a user's eye to determine a gaze direction of the user's eye.
6. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical device is coupled to the frame.
7. The eyewear of claim 6 , wherein the optical device is located on the frame above the see-through display.
8. A method of configuring eyewear, the eyewear having a frame, a temple adjacent the frame, a see-through display supported by the frame, a light emitter configured to emit both a non-visible light and a visible light, wherein the visible light is coupled to the see-through display, an optical waveguide supported by the frame and directly receiving the non-visible light by a first optical coupler without using the see-through display, and an optical device coupled to the waveguide and configured to receive the non-visible light and direct a non-visible light beam to a user's eye, the method comprising:
directing, with the optical device, the non-visible light beam toward a user's eye;
directing the visible light to the see-through display, and
determining a gaze direction of the user's eye.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the optical device is a second optical coupler.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the non-visible light beam is a spread infrared light beam.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the light emitter is coupled to the temple.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the eyewear further comprises an eye tracker comprising the light emitter, and an infrared camera configured to capture reflection variations of the non-visible light beam from a user's eye, further comprising determining a gaze direction of the user's eye.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the optical device is coupled to the frame.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the optical device is located on the frame above the see-through display.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program code which, when executed by a processor, is operative to cause a computing device to perform the steps of:
directing a non-visible light from a light emitter of an eyewear device directly into a waveguide of the eyewear device using a first optical coupler to receive the non-visible light without using a see-through display, and also directing a visible light from the light emitter to the see-through display;
coupling the non-visible light from the waveguide using an optical device of the eyewear to create a non-visible light beam; and
directing the non-visible light beam from the optical device to a user's eye.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the optical device is a second optical coupler.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the light emitter is coupled to the temple.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the eyewear further comprises an eye tracker comprising the light emitter, and an infrared camera configured to capture reflection variations of the non-visible light beam from a user's eye, further including code operative to determine a gaze direction of the user's eye.