Nokia Patents Eye & Hand Tracking Wearable Glasses

Amongst the recently filed patents by Nokia (which we missed last week), was one that was granted in late January 2014, regarding a very hot topic right now; wearables. This patent revolves around controlling a screen near the eye (near-to-eye display- NED) by both gazes/eye movements as well as hand gestures. The idea is based on giving hand gesture priority when one of the built in cameras detects a hand moving in front of the device, once the hand is no longer visible navigation is returned to gaze based, by a camera focused on the eye pupil.

The invention relates to a method, comprising tracking the gaze of an eye of a user by a first camera, wherein a position of the gaze determines a place for the cursor on the screen of a near-to-eye display (NED), wherein the movement of the gaze is configured to move the cursor on the screen and when the movement of the gaze is detected to be still or moving only slightly; observing a gesture of one hand of the user by a second camera, and executing a further operation if at least one gesture of the hand is detected. The invention further relates to an apparatus and a computer program product configured to perform the method.

Read the full patent description here: http://w.pat.tc/WO2014015521A1

All a great idea of course, but one major drawback I’ve found in my limited usage of Google Glass, is that it is very underwhelming when used; you think you’ll be greeted with an iron-man like interface that has so much going on, instead you really end up with a minuscule screen that’s hard to focus on.

Regardless, now that Nokia will be focusing more and more on advanced researches after the D&S deal goes through, we might continue to see more and more ideas like this that might eventually culminate in a real product.

Thanks for everyone who constantly tipped us on this!

Patent source

Category: Lumia, Nokia