A Method of Free-Space Point-of-Regard Estimation Based on 3D Eye Model and Stereo Vision

This paper proposes a 3D point-of-regard estimation method based on 3D eye model and a corresponding head-mounted gaze tracking device. Firstly, a head-mounted gaze tracking system is given. The gaze tracking device uses two pairs of stereo cameras to capture the left and right eye images, respectively, and then sets a pair of scene cameras to capture the scene images. Secondly, a 3D eye model and the calibration process are established. Common eye features are used to estimate the eye model parameters. Thirdly, a 3D point-of-regard estimation algorithm is proposed. Three main parts of this method are summarized as follows: (1) the spatial coordinates of the eye features are directly calculated by using stereo cameras; (2) the pupil center normal is used to the initial value for the estimation of optical axis; (3) a pair of scene cameras are used to solve the actual position of the objects being watched in the calibration process, and the calibration for the proposed eye model does not need the assistance of the light source. Experimental results show that the proposed method can output the coordinates of 3D point-of-regard more accurately.