Eye/Head Controls for Camera Pointing

Abstract

A setting of a video camera is remotely controlled. Video from a video camera is displayed to a user using a video display. At least one eye of the user is imaged as the user is observing the video display, a change in an image of at least one eye of the user is measured over time, and an eye/head activity variable is calculated from the measured change in the image using an eyetracker. The eye/head activity variable is translated into a camera control setting, and an actuator connected to the video camera is instructed to apply the camera control setting to the video camera using a processor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for remotely controlling the illumination of a scene being viewed by a video camera comprising:
 a scene illuminator controlled by an illuminator actuator;   a video display that displays video from the video camera to a user;   an eyetracker that measures a pupil diameter of at least one eye of the user; and   a processor that is in communication with the eyetracker and illuminator actuator, and that commands the illuminator actuator to adjust illuminator intensity so as to obtain desired pupil diameters.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein when the eyetracker measures a large pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is under-illuminated, and the illuminator actuator is instructed to increase the illuminator intensity to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein when the eyetracker measures a small pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is over-illuminated, and the illuminator actuator is instructed to decrease the illuminator intensity to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the scene illuminator is a light source that is part of the video camera. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the scene illuminator is a light source that is separate from the video camera. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the eyetracker includes one eyetracker that images two eyes of the user. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the eyetracker includes two eyetrackers each images one of two eyes of the user. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the eyetracker utilizes a separate head tracking device. 
     
     
         9 . A system for controlling the brightness of a video display comprising:
 a video display with a brightness-control actuator;   an eyetracker that measures the pupil diameter of the at least one eye; and   a processor that is in communication with the eyetracker and video-display's brightness-control actuator, and that commands the brightness-control actuator to adjust video display's brightness so as to obtain desired pupil diameters.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein when the eyetracker measures a large pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is under-illuminated, and the brightness-control actuator is instructed to increase the video display's brightness to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein when the eyetracker measures a small pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is over-illuminated, and the brightness-control actuator is instructed to decrease the video display's brightness to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the eyetracker includes one eyetracker that images two eyes of the user. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the eyetracker includes two eyetrackers each images one of two eyes of the user. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the eyetracker utilizes a separate head tracking device. 
     
     
         15 . A method for remotely controlling the illumination of a scene being viewed by a video camera comprising:
 controlling the illumination of a scene using a scene illuminator controlled by an illuminator actuator;   displaying video from the video camera to a user using a video display;   imaging at least one eye of the user and measuring a pupil diameter of the at least one eye of the user using an eyetracker; and   instructing the illuminator actuator to adjust illuminator intensity so as to obtain desired pupil diameters using a processor.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the instructing step comprises, when the eyetracker measures a large pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is under-illuminated, instructing the illuminator actuator to increase the illuminator intensity to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the instructing step comprises, when the eyetracker measures a small pupil diameter that indicates that the scene is over-illuminated, instructing the illuminator actuator to decrease the illuminator intensity to provide optimum lighting conditions. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the scene illuminator is a light source that is part of the video camera. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the scene illuminator is a light source that is separate from the video camera.