JPS60126140A - Sight information analytical apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention is a visual information analysis method that processes information such as eye movement speed, movement direction, movement distance, and gaze time in real time and displays the information in different colors on a gaze display. It is related to the device.

[Prior Art] With regard to eyeball movement, there is already a device that detects the position of the eyeball and displays a gaze point on a cathode ray tube or film, and is known as a so-called eye camera. However, the current situation is that little is done to analyze and utilize this information. Furthermore, when evaluating television images, conventionally, the residence time and travel distance have been calculated frame by frame, taking a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to compare the results frame by frame with the original image.

[Purpose] Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to determine the moving speed, moving direction, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a visual information analysis device that can simultaneously and quickly process information such as moving distance and gaze time, and analyze gaze point distribution, speed distribution, moving distance distribution, vector distribution, etc. in real time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a visual information analysis device capable of displaying the various information and distribution obtained as described above in real time, color-coded by stage.

[Structure of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the invention provides a means for detecting the position of the eyeball, a means for sampling the data of the detected position of the eyeball, and a means for digitally converting the data of the sampled sample value. A means for converting into a quantity, a means for calculating the difference between the sample values converted into a digital quantity, and the amount of movement of the eyeball determined by the difference is compared with a stop limit determined in consideration of perturbation of the eyeball, means for determining whether the eyeball is stationary or moving; in the case of eyeball movement, means for calculating the movement speed, movement distance, and movement direction of the eyeball from digital quantities; and in the case of eyeball movement; , means for integrating the dwell time of the eyeball from a digital quantity;
and means for displaying at least one of moving speed, moving distance, moving direction, and residence time.

Here, it is preferable that the sampling period in the sampling means be approximately 50 m5ec or less. Further, it is preferable that the retention limit is set within the range of the eyeball movement angle of 0 to 20 degrees/sec.

Furthermore, using a television monitor that displays the image viewed by the subject as the above-mentioned display means, the movement speed and residence time are displayed on the display screen in stages, color-coded and superimposed on the image viewed by the subject. You can also do it.

[Example] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the present invention, in which an eyeball position detecting means 1 such as an eye camera is installed with respect to the eye E of a subject who stares at a monitor screen, and an eyeball position detecting means 1 such as an eye camera is installed. The eyeball position data is supplied to the sampling means 2, and sampled and held at an appropriate sampling period, for example, approximately 50 m5ec or less. The sample and hold output is converted into a digital quantity by the digitizing means 3.

The calculation means 4 calculates the difference between temporally preceding and succeeding digitized sample values.

The difference data determined in this way is supplied to the movement/stop determination means 5. The determination means 5 includes reference data indicating the retention limit, for example, the eyeball movement angle of 0 to 20 degrees/sec.
Data in the range c is stored in advance, and the above-mentioned difference is compared with this retention limit. When the difference is larger than the retention limit, it is determined that the eyeball is moving, and on the other hand, when the difference is smaller than the retention limit, it is determined that the eyeball is stationary.

When it is determined that the eyeballs have moved, the calculation means 6 calculates
The moving speed, distance, and direction of the eyeball are calculated based on the digitized sample values described above. When it is determined that the eyeball is stationary, the accumulation means 7 integrates the stationary time. Display means 8 displays the calculation outputs from these means 6 and 7.
Display at.

Next, one embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2, and its electric circuit portion is shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a control procedure for such an electric circuit.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 indicates an eyeball position detection unit, that is, a so-called eye camera part, which irradiates, for example, infrared rays onto the eyeball, detects the reflected light, and measures the position data of the eyeball. The eye camera 11 is detachable from the visual information analysis device main body 12, and is preferably attached to the eye with glasses or goggles in the case of large-scale imaging or field experiments. Reference numeral 13 represents a display surface of a television monitor that displays the screen that the subject is staring at, and reference numeral 14 represents a display that displays the moving speed, distance, and direction of the eyeballs, as well as the dwell time. The device main body 12 has a built-in electric circuit section 15 that performs various calculations and processes based on position data from the eye camera 11.

Next, an example of such an electric circuit part is No. 31m i 75
<S. In the figure, parts similar to those in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals. Here, the horizontal and vertical position data X and y of the eyeball from the eye camera 11 are sampled by the sample and hold circuit 21.

As mentioned above, it is preferable that the sampling period is 59 m5 ec or less. I will explain the reason. When humans read text or stare at a given object, they gaze at the point of fixation for about 200 to 300 m5ec, and then immediately move their eyeballs around the point of fixation and look around. It is necessary to sample at least one sample, preferably several samples, during the dwell time of the eyeball at the gaze point of 2,007,300 m5 eC, and from this point of view, experiments have shown that it is better to set the upper limit of the sampling period to 50 m5 eC or less. was confirmed.

Next, the sample value from the sample hold circuit 21 is converted into a digital quantity by the analog-digital converter 22, and the digital data is transferred to the microcomputer. i, S to the central processing unit 23. The central processing unit 23 performs steps Sl, S2 . of the control procedure as shown in FIG. S3. Each part 11,2 in S8
1.22 and 14 are controlled. At the same time, this central processing unit 23 executes processing corresponding to the means 4 to 7 shown in the first diagram. That is, in step S3, the current data X and y and the previous data X.

and yρ differences Δx=x−Xp and Δy=V V
Calculate p. Next, the process advances to step S5, where the difference Δ
From X and Δy, it is determined whether the eyeball is moving or stationary.

Here, the stopping limit of the eyeball, that is, the movement range when the eyeball is gazing at one point, is determined experimentally as follows. First, the human eye moves at a maximum speed of 600 degrees/sec.
However, the results of the movement speed when watching a television program are as shown in Figure 5. Here, the vertical axis represents the frequency of movement speed (degrees/5ec) when the solid line shows the "Oshin" program for 15 minutes, and the broken line shows the frequency of movement speed (degrees/5ec) when the "World Soccer" program is watched for the same <15 minutes. It is a characteristic curve diagram shown for. This figure shows peaks at moving speeds of 10 degrees/see or less and 30 to 40 degrees/sec. The movement of 30 to 40 degrees/sec is the result of the eyeball following the movement component of the screen, and in the case of TV viewing, the movement peaks at 30 to 40 degrees/sec.

Therefore, even if the eyeball is in a fixed state, the state is not just 0 degrees/sec, but 30 to 40 degrees/sec.
Approximately 20 degrees/sec suitable for comparison of movement data of @c
It is considered appropriate to set this as the highest stopping limit.

From this point of view, in this example, the eyeball retention limit, that is, the allowable range is set to 20 degrees/sec or less in both the horizontal direction xc and the vertical direction yc, and is written in the central processing unit 23.

Therefore, in step S5, the differences ΔX and Δy determined as described above are compared with the retention limits xc and Vc. When ΔX>XC or Δy>Vc, it is determined that the eyeball is moving. When ΔX>Xc or Δy>yc, in other words, only when ΔX≦XQ and Δy≦3'c, it is determined that the eyeball is in a stationary state.

When the eyeball is moving, the process proceeds to step S6, where the moving speed, moving distance, and direction (
vector). Step S if the eyeballs are stuck
Proceed to step 7 and count the dwell time here. The calculation results in steps S6 and S7 are displayed on the display 14 in the next step S8. Next, in step S9, it is determined whether or not the measurement has been completed. If the measurement has not been completed, the process returns to step S2. If it has been completed, the process proceeds to step SIO to save the data displayed up to that point and to perform the process as desired. Perform statistical processing such as creating frequency graphs.

In the present invention, it is possible to perform high-speed processing in which the processes of steps 83 to S8 are completed within the sampling time, and the measurement results are displayed in real time without any time delay in accordance with the image that the subject is actually viewing on the monitor display 14. can be displayed.

In FIG. 1g3, 24 indicates a control bus, and various control signals from the central processing unit 23 are supplied to each section 11, 14, 21, and 22 via this control bus 24.

FIG. 6 shows another example of the present invention, in which the various measurement results described above are superimposed and displayed in real time on the display screen of the display 13 for projecting an image that the subject looks at. For this purpose, a video signal 25 of the image for the subject to gaze at and display data 28 from the central processing unit 23 are supplied to the synthesizer 27, the display data 26 is superimposed on the video signal 25, and the output is sent to the display 1.
Supply to 3.

On the display screen of the display 13, the moving speed, distance,
Based on the direction and dwell time data, it is possible to display the desired form, for example, a stepwise color-coded trajectory and stop points.

According to this example, all measurement information is displayed in real time on the image that the subject is viewing, making it possible to perform image analysis in the true sense of the word.

[Effects] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, the gaze state and movement information of the eyeball can be grasped in real time. Further, according to the present invention, the influence of blinking can be removed from display analysis. That is, in the present invention, the trajectory on the screen corresponding to a blink is such that a bright spot moves in the vertical direction from a certain point of gaze at a moving speed of 200 degrees or more for 7 seconds, and the bright spot returns to the original point at an acute angle of 80 degrees or less. The object returns to the viewpoint and is drawn in such a way that no other points of interest are included in the trajectory than the original point of interest. Therefore, on the display screen, the blink trajectory is clearly distinguishable from the gaze point trajectory, and can be easily excluded from display analysis. Therefore,
According to the present invention, unlike conventional eye cameras, there is no need to ask the subject not to blink during measurement, and the subject is allowed to blink, so they can view the monitor image more freely. can.

As described above, the present invention can be applied to ergonomics such as image processing and proper placement of equipment, and system science, and can be used as a visual function tester in the field of ophthalmology or as a visual psychological experiment. It can be effectively used as a device in a wide range of applications, and can also be used for learning and education using displays, monitoring and guidance of blast furnaces, and determining the effectiveness of posters.

Alternatively, the problem of proper placement of road signs, etc. while driving can be solved by using the device of the present invention.

This can be easily solved by analyzing the movement speed and movement vector.

In addition, considering that it has been found that the degree of fatigue can be determined by the distance traveled by eyeball movements when looking at a certain screen, the device of the present invention can be used as a new fatigue measurement device.
It can also be used as a vision testing machine that can provide results without making patients wait.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the external appearance of the device of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the electric circuit portion thereof; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the control procedure, FIG. 85 is a characteristic curve diagram showing the measurement results of the moving speed of the eyeball, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Eyeball position detection means, 2...Sampling means, 3...Digitization means, 4...Sample value difference calculation means, 5...Moving platform stoppage determination means. 6... Moving speed, distance, direction calculating means, 7... Residence time accumulating means, 8... Display means, 11... Eye camera, 12... Visual information analysis device body, 13p... Television Monitor, 14... Display, 15... Electric circuit portion, 21... Sample hold circuit, 22... A/D converter, 23... Central processing unit, 24... Control bus, 25 ...Video signal. 26...Display data, 27...Synthesizer. Patent applicant: Japan Broadcasting Corporation

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] l) means for detecting the position of the eyeball, means for sampling the data of the detected position of the eyeball, means for converting the data of the sampled sample value into a digital quantity, and the above-mentioned. means for calculating the difference between the sample values converted into digital quantities, and comparing the amount of movement of the eyeball calculated from the difference with a stop limit determined in consideration of perturbations of the eyeball to determine whether the eyeball is still fixed. means for determining whether the eyeball is moving; in the case of eyeball movement, means for calculating at least one of a moving speed, a moving distance, and a moving direction of the eyeball from the digital quantity; and in the case of eyeball fixation, Visual information analysis characterized by comprising means for integrating the dwell time of the eyeball from the digital quantity, and means for displaying at least one of the moving speed, moving distance, moving direction, and the dwell time. Device. 2. In the visual information analysis device according to claim 1, in the sampling means. A visual information analysis device characterized in that a sample period of approximately 50 m5ec or less is set. 3) In the visual information analysis device according to claim 1 or 2, the retention limit is set to an eyeball movement angle of 0 to 0.
A visual information analysis device characterized in that the range is set at 20 degrees/sec. 4) In the visual information analysis device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the display means also displays the image viewed by the subject, and adjusts the moving speed and the residence time in stages. A visual information analysis device characterized in that the visual information analysis device displays the images in a color-coded manner superimposed on the image. (Hereafter, margin)