New method for face gaze detection in smart television

Abstract

Recently, gaze detection-based interfaces have been regarded as the most natural user interface for use with smart televisions (TVs). Past research conducted on gaze detection primarily used near-infrared (NIR) cameras with NIR illuminators. However, these devices are difficult to use with smart TVs; therefore, there is an increasing need for gaze-detection technology that utilizes conventional (visible light) web cameras. Consequently, we propose a new gaze-detection method using a conventional (visible light) web camera. The proposed approach is innovative in the following three ways. First, using user-dependent facial information obtained in an initial calibration stage, an accurate head pose is calculated. Second, using theoretical and generalized models of changes in facial feature positions, horizontal and vertical head poses are calculated. Third, accurate gaze positions on a smart TV can be obtained based on the user-dependent calibration information and the calculated head poses by using a low-cost conventional web camera without an additional device for measuring the distance from the camera to the user. Experimental results indicate that the gaze-detection accuracy of our method on a 60-in. smart TV is 90.5%. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.