VISUAL TRACKBALL SYSTEM

THE EYE-S ABILITY TO RAPIDLY SHIFT LINE OF GAZE IN A CHANGING VISUAL ENVIRONMENT MAKES IT POTENTIALLY AN IDEAL INPUT DEVICE FOR MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE APPLICATIONS. OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS, TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO MONITOR EYE POSITION. FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, INCLUDING COST, COMPLEXITY, AND OPERATIONAL INACCURACY, NONE HAS BEEN INTEGRATED INTO MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE APPLICATIONS OUTSIDE OF RESEARCH SETTINGS. THIS PROGRAM WILL DEMONSTRATE HARDWARE WHICH OVERCOMES THESELIMITATIONS AND MAKES POSSIBLE AN EYE-DRIVEN CURSOR OR "VISUAL TRACKBALL." CONCRETE IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS WILL BE DEVELOPED, DEMONSTRATED, AND TESTED BY IMBEDDING THE DEVICE IN SEVERAL WORKING APPLICATIONS. BEYOND REPLACEMENT OF THE TRACKBALL IN STANDARD WORKSTATIONS, THEEYE-DRIVEN CURSOR ALSO REDUCES THE REQUIREMENT FOR BOTH FLAT SPACE AND SPECIALIZED HAND-EYE COORDINATION SKILLS IN "HANDS-BUSY" AND OTHERRESTRICTED APPLICATIONS, MAKING POSSIBLE COMPLEX INTERACTION WITH THE COMPUTER WITH LITTLE OR NO "TACTILE DATA ENTRY."