Northern Telecom Limited

H. K. Eyecan Ltd.

Jan Heynen

David A Kahn

In an eye-directed communications device which displays characters, for example symbols or letters, and determines a user's selection by monitoring eye position to determine which of the characters is being observed, difficulties in providing for selection of the usual characters and functions of a conventional 101 key computer keyboard are overcome by dividing the required characters/functions into three sets, designated as lower case, upper case and 'command' case. In order to select a particular character, the user first selects the case and then selects the character. Only one set need be displayed to the user, the characters in the other sets having spatial correspondence with those in displayed set. The system may also, or alternatively, display the characters in groups and define position selection fields corresponding to the positions of the characters in each group. The user then determines the position of the desired character in its group and makes a character selection by first selecting the corresponding position field. The apparatus then limits subsequent character selection by the user to the subset of characters in the corresponding positions in their groups. Limitation to the subset allows subsequent detection of the selected character to use a larger area than that occupied by the character in the display.

Visual communications apparatus employing eye-position monitoring

An eye-position sensor for use in an eye-activated optical transducer in which a spatial filter is used to modify light reflected from the eye to form a substantially rectangular pattern on a quadrantal array of contiguous sensors. This arrangement provides a substantially linear change in the output signal from the sensors in response to an equivalent movement of the eye.

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Ottawa, Canada

Jan Heynen