Apple's latest eye-tracking patent may allow users to control their devices using eye movements

Apple has recently acquired US Patent number 8,937,591, titled: “Systems and methods for counteracting a perceptual fading of a movable indicator” opens new possibilities for controlling digital screens by using eye movement instead of touch or input devices.

The patent itself, however, does not explicitly describe such application, as its primary aim is that of solving an optical phenomenon known as “Troxler Fading”.

This effect was first identified by Swiss physician Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler, and it’s an optical illusion created by the ability of neurons to adapt to known, unchanging tactile and visual states.

This effect can be experienced through this image, by focusing on the black cross-hair in the center of the grey square. Given a few seconds, the array of purple shapes surrounding the cross-hair will begin to fade away, as the human brain deems those shapes less important.

The patent, might bring two fundamental changes on how we interact with larger screens, like iPads and Mac displays.

The first change would be a way to enhance the user’s focus, which equates to an increase in the amount of information one is able to perceive. For instance, when browsing a website, the human eye is able to focus only on very specific areas of interest, such as large bodies of text, video content and large, crisp images, while everything else will be, quite literally, blurred out, as it is deemed unimportant on a neuron activity level. By tracking eye movement in OS X, for example, the device could create subtle visual feedback on other relevant sections of the screen, or as it happens in many cases, when a user loses track of the position of the mouse cursor on the screen in OS X, the system could automatically move the cursor by a few pixels, to bring it to the user’s attention.

The second significant change could create a new way to control devices, using our eyes, by bestowing users with the ability to re-position a mouse cursor on a screen, and perhaps use blinks to trigger click events.

People with disabilities would be most likely the first to benefit from this type of technology, which could be implemented in any Apple device fitted with a camera, such as iPads, Macbooks and iMac's, using the high definition built into i-Sight hardware.