The interpretations provided by the Engine can help a researcher filter through the enormous amount of data that a normal reading session can generate. Different patterns of eye-movement can trigger different events to occur on a computer screen. Children who need to learn the concept of Cause and Effect can use a program that displays pictures, animations, and special effects dependent on the child's eye-movements. Alternately, areas of the computer screen can be selectively magnified if the user has difficulty only with certain regions of the display. By using the Eye Interpretation Engine's ability to recognize when a person has fixated for longer than is normal for that individual, small details on the screen can be magnified if a user is having an especially difficult time perceiving them.
Users can try out different interface options and their eye-movements can be recorded and analyzed.
Descriptive text in help systems can be tested by users, and developers can know how much of the text was read, as well as what areas of text caused confusion in the user. Despite the money being poured into developing for the Web, designing information and advertising for the Web is not well understood. Eyetracking can offer a more accurate picture of what users do on-line, and, in particular, the Eye Interpretation Engine can help capture and describe the rich interaction that users experience. By knowing when a user is reading or searching for answers, and knowing what caused these behaviors, a better understanding of how people interact with the Internet can be gained. The Eye Interpretation Engine is implemented as a 32-bit DLL that currently runs under Windows95.