Generic Gaze Interaction Events for Web Browsers Using the Eye Tracker as Input Device

In the last decade much research has been conducted on analyzing human eye and gaze movements using eye tracking technology, not only in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and marketing, but also in the field of human computer interaction. However, no flexbile framework exists to integrate eye tracking directly into web applications to easily create and test new interaction concepts. We have created a JavaScript library based on the latest HTML5 Web technology and the jQuery library to close this gap. Facilitated by HTML5 WebSocket, the browser directly receives gaze input samples from an eye tracker, generating events that are similar to those of a mouse input device. Events like gazeOver/-Out or fixationStart/-End can be attached to any HTML element in the DOM tree. New custom events derived from the eye tracking data, e.g. blink or read, can easily be added. Using this library we have successfully implemented a number of Web applications, allowing the users to interact with their eyes. This paper also describes our gaze enabled Web-based eLearning environment. Our JavaScript library is used within the eLearning environment to capture and interpret eye gaze events for the purpose to support users in the acquisition of new knowledge.