Eye-gaze interaction for mobile phones

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the use of eye-gaze tracking technology for mobile phones. In particular we investigate how gaze interaction can be used to control applications on handheld devices. In contrast to eye-tracking systems for desktop computers, mobile devices imply several problems like the intensity of light for outdoor use and calibration issues. Therefore, we compared two different approaches for controlling mobile phones with the eyes: standard eye-gaze interaction based on the dwell-time method and gaze gestures. Gaze gestures are a new concept, which we think has the potential to overcome many of these problems. We conducted a user study to see whether people are able to interact with applications using these approaches. The results confirm that eye-gaze interaction for mobile phones is attractive for the users and that the gaze gestures are an alternative method for eye-gaze based interaction.