{
  "patent_number": "US 10692210",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Computers Find Your Pupil Even With Glare",
  "original_title": "Recording medium storing computer program for pupil detection, information processing apparatus, and pupil detecting method",
  "summary": "This patent describes a computer method to accurately find the outline of a person's eye pupil by using radial search lines and handling bright reflections differently from clear areas.",
  "what_it_does": "The patent describes a method for a computer to precisely locate a user's pupil from an eye image. First, it identifies the general \"eye area\" and any \"bright spot areas\" within it, which are often reflections (Claim 1). It then sets a central \"reference point\" within the assumed pupil and draws many \"first search lines\" extending outwards like spokes on a wheel. For lines that hit a bright spot (a \"second search line\"), the system figures out how much the bright spot overlaps the pupil by checking brightness around the bright spot's circumference. This helps it set a specific \"search range\" to find a \"first point\" on the pupil's edge. For lines that don't hit a bright spot (a \"third search line\"), it directly finds a \"second point\" on the pupil's edge. Finally, it uses both the first and second points to map out the entire pupil. For example, if a camera needs to track where a user is looking, this method helps it find the pupil accurately even if there's a camera flash reflection.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Pupil detection methods that do not use radial search lines extending from a central reference point.",
    "Systems that do not differentiate between search lines passing through bright spots and those that do not.",
    "Methods that do not determine a \"degree of overlapping\" for bright spots or set a \"search range\" based on it.",
    "Pupil detection based solely on overall brightness thresholds without specific bright spot handling logic.",
    "Methods that rely purely on machine learning models without the explicit radial search line and bright spot differentiation steps."
  ],
  "filed": "2018-05-25",
  "granted": "2020-06-23",
  "expires": "2038-05-25",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Fujitsu",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/fujitsu",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Osafumi Nakayama",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/osafumi-nakayama"
    },
    {
      "name": "Daisuke Ishii",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/daisuke-ishii"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "telecommunications",
    "ai_ml"
  ],
  "abstract": "A recording medium storing a program causing a computer to execute: detecting an eye area of the eye; detecting bright spot areas in the eye area; setting a reference point in a pupil; setting a first search lines radially; determining whether each first search lines passes through the bright spot areas; determining, for a second search line that passes through the bright spot area, a degree of overlapping between the bright spot area and the pupil based on brightness on a circumference of the bright spot area; setting a search range for a point on a contour of the pupil based on the degree; detecting a first point on the contour; detecting, for a third search line that does not pass through the bright spot areas, a second point on the contour on the third search line; and detecting the pupil, based on the first and second points.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10692210/recording-medium-storing-computer-program-for-pupil-detection-information-proces",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10692210/recording-medium-storing-computer-program-for-pupil-detection-information-proces/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US10692210",
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