Patent ID: 8419654

Claim:
An eye gaze tracking apparatus which detects a gaze-path direction of a user from an electro-oculogram, said eye gaze tracking apparatus comprising: an electro-oculogram measuring unit configured to measure the electro-oculogram resulting from an eye movement, and to output an electro-oculogram original signal; a calibration index presenting unit configured to present a calibration index to the user; a saccade detection unit configured to (i) detect saccadic movements from the electro-oculogram original signal, each of the saccadic movements being a rapid eyeball movement which occurs when a gaze-point of the user moves to the calibration index presented by said calibration index presenting unit, and (ii) output an electro-oculogram change amount signal based on the detected saccadic movements, the electro-oculogram change amount signal indicating an amount of change, for each of the detected saccadic movements, between (a) a value of the electro-oculogram original signal prior to the detected saccadic movement and (b) a value of the electro-oculogram original signal at a time of the detected saccadic movement, the amount of change indicated by the electro-oculogram change amount signal reflecting a change in potential difference; a calibration parameter calculating unit configured to calculate a calibration parameter based on a position of the calibration index presented by said calibration index presenting unit and the electro-oculogram change amount signal that has been output from said saccade detection unit; and a calibration unit configured to detect the gaze-path direction of the user from the electro-oculogram original signal based on the calibration parameter.