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AppleGranted patentAI & softwareInterest 6/10

Apple patents adaptive gaze controls that adjust to room lighting

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Apple describes a system where a device uses sensors to track where you are looking on the screen. It adjusts the size of the areas needed to select items based on the brightness of the room, making eye-tracking more reliable in different lighting conditions.

Why it mattersThis could make eye-tracking interfaces more accurate and easier to use in everyday environments, reducing the need for precise head positioning.

In the filing’s own words

Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods for determining gaze activation regions for visual elements. In some implementations, a device includes a display, one or more sensors, a non-transitory memory, and one or more processors coupled with the display, the one or more sensors and the non-transitory memory. In various implementations, a method includes displaying, on the display, a plurality of visual elements. In some implementations, the method includes capturing, by the one or more sensors, sensor data. In some implementations, the method includes determining respective gaze activation regions for the plurality of visual elements based on the sensor data. In some implementations, the method includes, in response to a measured gaze target being within one of the respective gaze activation regions, performing a user interface operation associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of visual elements.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: at a device including a display, a gaze tracker, one or more environmental sensors, a non-transitory memory and one or more processors coupled with the display, the gaze tracker, the one or more sensors, and the non-transitory memory: displaying, on the display, a plurality of visual elements; capturing, by the one or more environmental sensors, environmental data including a lighting level of a physical environment of the device; in response to determining that a current performance of the gaze tracker is below a performance threshold, adjusting respective gaze activation regions for selecting the plurality of visual elements based on the lighting level; measuring, using the gaze tracker, a gaze target; and in response to the gaze target being within one of the respective gaze activation regions, performing a user interface operation associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of visual elements.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Adaptive gaze activation regions for visual elements
Patent number
US12754606B1
Application number
18203764
Filed
May 31, 2023
Granted
Oct 6, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
17

Classified under

G06F 3/013 Physics & computing

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.