Iris Feature-Based 3-D Gaze Estimation Method Using a One-Camera-One-Light-Source System

Multicamera or multilight-source is generally used to estimate the 3-D coordinates of the cornea center for 3-D gaze estimation in the existing gaze trackers. Although some model-based methods use one-camera systems to estimate 3-D gazes, which include some user-dependent eye parameters preset by fixed values, a one-camera-one-light-source system is still unable to achieve 3-D gaze estimation by considering individual differences. In this article, an iris feature-based method using one camera and one light source for 3-D gaze estimation is proposed. The iris radius and the kappa angle are determined during user calibration. The optical axis is reconstructed by the iris center and its normal vector from only the iris features. Therefore, with the real-time estimation of kappa angle, the 3-D gaze is estimated by an optimization method. Computer simulations and practical experiments have been performed to analyze the feasibility and robustness of the proposed method. This article’s innovation lies in achieving 3-D gaze estimation based on only one-camera and one-light source with calibrated eye-specific parameters, which breaks through the limitation of the existing methods using a 3-D cornea center on the system’s hardware requirements of 3-D gaze estimation. The simplified hardware system has great application values, especially in the portable mobile devices widely used today. Moreover, a binocular model is used to optimize the results of the point of regard, which improves the accuracy of 3-D gaze estimation effectively.