ECTtracker (EyeComTecTracker) is an eye-tracking program, allowing the trace the state of the user's eye (open or closed). The program is used in conjunction with applications for capturing video from webcams or other devices connected to your computer (for example, ECTcamera). The program assigns different key codes to different states of the user’s eye, which can later be transmitted to any management application (ECTMorse, ECTkeyboard and others). Thus, by opening and closing one or both eyes, the user can control programs and type texts.
Using a special recognition structure ECTtracker compares the image received in real-time from the camera with pre-stored user samples. Samples are small static images with accurate focus on the area of the user’s eyes: on some samples the user's eyes are open, on other - one or both eyes are closed. The program selects the samples with the highest match through comparing the image samples obtained with the camera.
ECTtracker is fully customizable. The program contains more than 45 settings with which you can change the appearance and functionality. The user has a full control over the video processing speed (frames per second). Some settings can significantly reduce the requirements for computer resources, so the program runs stably even on low-end computers.
ECTtracker doesn't require installation or modifying the registry of the operating system and works with portable devices. Supports simultaneous launch of multiple copies of the program; Possibility to save all table samples and user settings in separate files, allowing to speeds up work with the program. The main interface of the program is shown in Fig. 1.
The illustration above displays the standard interface of ECTtracker, as well as the active window of the video capturing software ECTcamera through which ECTtracker receives the images required to analyze the sample. Various elements of the program are marked with numbers:
- The main window of ECTtracker displays the processed portion of the image; coordinate recognition grid and fields of statistics;
- The window of ECTcamera, which displays the image from the connected to the computer camera, webcam or other video recording device;
- Sample matrix is a special ECTtracker table in which are entered fragments of images on which the eyes of the user are open, closed, or only one eye closed. They are used for further recognition.
- ECTtracker window of graphic indicators shows which of the samples in the matrix match with the current image in the main window.
For the program to successfully analyze the images obtained from an external device or windows media player, some additional settings must be made. This is particularly important at the first start of the application.