Apple ‘glint-assisted gaze tracker’ involves ‘Apple Glasses’

Apple has filed for another patent (number 20200326777) involving “Apple Glasses,” the rumored augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality head-mounted display (HMD). It’s for a “glint-assisted gaze tracker.”

It involves methods and apparatus for glint-assisted gaze tracking in a HMD. Images of a user’s eyes captured by gaze tracking cameras may be analyzed to detect glints (reflections on the cornea of light sources that illuminate the user’s eyes) and the pupil. The glints are matched to particular ones of the light sources.

The glint-light source matches are used to determine the cornea center of the eye, and the pupil center is determined. The optical axis of the eye is reconstructed from the cornea center and the pupil center, and the visual axis is then reconstructed from the optical axis and a 3D model of the user’s eye. The point of gaze on the display is then determined based on the visual axis and a 3D model of the HMD.

 When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive next year or 2022, depending on which rumor you believe. It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be available in both. The Apple Glasses may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that Apple Glasses could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.”

(Dennis Sellers has been covering the Apple industry since 1996. In addition to“Apple World Today,” he also runs his own freelance writing/editing service. If you want more info about the latter, email him at dennis.sellers@comcast.net.)