An eye behavior measuring device for VR system

This work presents an eye-tracking and pupil size-measuring device that interfaces with a computer for applications useful in psychometry, ophthalmology, physiology and virtual reality (VR) systems. This system utilizes a change-coupled device (CCD) camera, appropriate lenses, PC with frame grabber and a DSP unit with various types of VR equipment, i.e., HMD, simulator or LCD projection device. The digital signal processing unit is used to calculate the average brightness and contrast of the VR video image. A CCD camera with various attachments can be mounted on various VR systems to capture the human eye image for testing. An image capture card and a personal computer are used to analyze the test image. From the eye digital image, the computer obtains data on the pupil size and a trace of the tested eye. A pattern recognition computer program and five measurement parameters are used to distinguish the position of the pupil, calculate the pupil location coordinate and analyze the physical conditions of the user. These data can be plotted against the average brightness and contrast of the VR video image in real time. This information is shown on the screen of a personal computer and used for cross-link analysis. This eye-tracking interface can determine the position of a subject's pupil and map that position into a display point on a computer screen. The pupil size and location data versus the average brightness and contrast of a VR video image are computed in real time. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.