Fujitsu develops eye tracking technology

TOKYO —Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd announced development of eye tracking technology that takes advantage of compact, inexpensive cameras and light-emitting diodes (LED) embedded in PCs.
Up until now, tracking eye movements required a specialized camera and LED, the prohibitive cost and size of which made it difficult to use in PCs and other general-purpose products. Moreover, less expensive equipment was of insufficient quality, and blurred images meant poor detection accuracy.

Now, however, using a near-infrared LED and the type of compact, inexpensive camera that comes as a standard feature in many PCs, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed image processing technology that can overcome blurred images to accurately detect the pupil of the eye. As a result, an eye tracking device can be embedded into the frame of a PC screen without detracting from the PC’s design, enabling a new and natural non-contact PC interface in which, for example, screen zooming and scrolling based on where one is looking are possible.