US6421064B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System and methods for controlling automatic scrolling of information on a display screen
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 2000-05-26
•
Granted: 2002-07-16
•
Expires: 2020-05-26
Abstract
Abstract A system for controlling the automatic scrolling of information includes a screen, a computer system, gimbaled sensor system for following and tracking the position and movement of the user's head and user's eye, and a scroll activating interface algorithm using a neural network to find screen gaze coordinates implemented by the computer system so that scrolling function is performance based upon the screen gaze coordinates of the user's eye relative to a certain activation area on the screen. A method of controlling scrolling includes the acts of finding a screen gaze coordinates on the screen, determining whether the screen gaze coordinate is within at least one activated control region, and activating scrolling to provide a display of information when the gaze direction is within at least one activated control region.
Inventors
- 👤 Jerome H. Lemelson
- 👤 John H. Hiett
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 00:28
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/011; G06F3/013; G06F3/048; G06F3/0484; G06F3/0485; G02; G02B; G02B27/00; G02B27/0093
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
157 words
The method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a display or a screen wherein the acts of detecting a user that is closest to the display or the screen and focusing and magnifying a field of view of a camera on an eye of the user comprises: reading raw image data of an image of the user into the computer system, filtering the image of the user, segmenting the raw image data, forming clusters of the raw image data, determining head clusters from the clusters of the raw image data, determining eye regions of the head clusters, determining an eye center of gravity for each of the eye regions, adjusting a pan and a tilt of a camera for bringing an image center to the eye center, calculating an area for the eye cluster, and zooming the camera so that a large portion of an eye cluster is within a field of view of the camera.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
157 words
The method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a display or a screen wherein the acts of detecting a user that is closest to the display or the screen and focusing and magnifying a field of view of a camera on an eye of the user comprises: reading raw image data of an image of the user into the computer system, filtering the image of the user, segmenting the raw image data, forming clusters of the raw image data, determining head clusters from the clusters of the raw image data, determining eye regions of the head clusters, determining an eye center of gravity for each of the eye regions, adjusting a pan and a tilt of a camera for bringing an image center to the eye center, calculating an area for the eye cluster, and zooming the camera so that a large portion of an eye cluster is within a field of view of the camera.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
161 words
The method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a display or a screen including finding a screen gaze direction on the screen of the user, determining whether the gaze direction is within at least one activated control region, activating scrolling to provide a desired display of information when the gaze direction is within the activated control region; wherein the act of determining whether the gaze direction is within a static region defined by at least one of a number of concentric circles and an activated control region defined by another of the number of concentric circles further comprises the acts of: calculating a radius and an angle with respect to a center of the number of concentric circles to define a gaze vector, calculating horizontal and vertical scroll rates based on the gaze vector, and scrolling the information on the display or the screen in the horizontal and the vertical directions based on the calculated horizontal and vertical scroll rates.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
161 words
The method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a display or a screen including finding a screen gaze direction on the screen of the user, determining whether the gaze direction is within at least one activated control region, activating scrolling to provide a desired display of information when the gaze direction is within the activated control region; wherein the act of determining whether the gaze direction is within a static region defined by at least one of a number of concentric circles and an activated control region defined by another of the number of concentric circles further comprises the acts of: calculating a radius and an angle with respect to a center of the number of concentric circles to define a gaze vector, calculating horizontal and vertical scroll rates based on the gaze vector, and scrolling the information on the display or the screen in the horizontal and the vertical directions based on the calculated horizontal and vertical scroll rates.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
230 words
A method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a screen by a user comprising the acts of: detecting a user that is closest to the screen; focusing and magnifying a field of view of a camera on an eye of the user to provide a magnified image of the eye; inputting the magnified image into a computer system; determining physical coordinates of a center of a cornea of the eye and a glint center of the eye; determining a vector between the center of the cornea and a glint center on the screen; calculating gaze coordinates of the user on the screen; sending the gaze coordinates to the computer system for processing by an application program for controlling the scrolling of information on the screen; determining whether the gaze direction is within an activated control region defined by at least one of a number of concentric circles comprises the acts of: calculating a radius and an angle with respect to a center of the number of concentric circles to define a gaze vector, calculating horizontal and vertical scroll rates based on the gaze vector, and scrolling the information on the display or the screen in the horizontal and the vertical directions based on the calculated horizontal and vertical scroll rates; activating scrolling to provide a desired display of information when the gaze direction is within the activated control region.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
230 words
A method of controlling automatic scrolling of information on a screen by a user comprising the acts of: detecting a user that is closest to the screen; focusing and magnifying a field of view of a camera on an eye of the user to provide a magnified image of the eye; inputting the magnified image into a computer system; determining physical coordinates of a center of a cornea of the eye and a glint center of the eye; determining a vector between the center of the cornea and a glint center on the screen; calculating gaze coordinates of the user on the screen; sending the gaze coordinates to the computer system for processing by an application program for controlling the scrolling of information on the screen; determining whether the gaze direction is within an activated control region defined by at least one of a number of concentric circles comprises the acts of: calculating a radius and an angle with respect to a center of the number of concentric circles to define a gaze vector, calculating horizontal and vertical scroll rates based on the gaze vector, and scrolling the information on the display or the screen in the horizontal and the vertical directions based on the calculated horizontal and vertical scroll rates; activating scrolling to provide a desired display of information when the gaze direction is within the activated control region.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4059348A
Cited
US4102564A
Cited
US4075657A
Cited
US4145122A
Cited
US4373787A
Cited
US4303394A
Cited
US4702575A
Cited
US4513317A
Cited
US4568159A
Cited
US4585011A
Cited
US4648052A
Cited
US4582403A
Cited
US4613219A
Cited
US4659197A
Cited
US4735498A
Cited
US4973149A
Cited
US4836670A
Cited
US4958925A
Cited
US4848340A
Cited
US4988183A
Cited
US4852988A
Cited
US4950069A
Cited
US5070883A
Cited
US5210554A
Cited
US5196872A
Cited
US5434591A
Cited
US5048947A
Cited
US5196873A
Cited
US5150137A
Cited
US5367315A
Cited
US5331149A
Cited
US5204703A
Cited
US5293187A
Cited
US5491492A
Cited
US5422689A
Cited
US5311220A
Cited
US5345281A
Cited
US5336215A
Cited
US5455601A
Cited
US5471542A
Cited
US5625782A
Cited
US5410376A
Cited
US5481622A
Cited
US5629752A
Cited
US5798749A
Cited
US6127990A
Cited
US5912721A
Cited
US5731805A
Cited
US5850211A
Cited
US6067069A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-07-15 | 2006-01-14 | 2006-07-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-07-15 | 2010-01-14 | 2010-07-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-07-15 | 2014-01-14 | 2014-07-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |