Tobii collaborates with Microsoft to create a USB HID standard for eye tracking

Tobii, a leader in eye tracking technology today announced that it has developed a USB HID (Human Interface Device) standard for eye tracking by working with Microsoft, Intel and others. This is an important step towards making eye tracking a standard control mechanism for consumer electronics, enabling more widespread adoption of eye tracking technology across a wide range of devices and applications. With this standard, eye tracking has joined the likes of mice, keyboards, game controllers, digitizers, touchpads, and other mainstream devices that have standardized HID usages.

Benefits of this standard:

• Developers of both applications and operating systems can be more confident that they can leverage and see return from investments in integrating eye tracking use cases into their software across a variety of different hardware devices for eye tracking.
• Device manufacturers can integrate eye tracking technology with increased confidence that there will be a rich eco-system of content available that utilizes the technology.
• End-users can obtain a consistent plug-and-play experience that they can trust and recognize across different devices and applications.

“The ratification of the new USB HID standard is a key milestone for Tobii and shows that eye tracking has formally joined the ranks of credible and future-proof interface technologies,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO, Tobii. “It ensures that the foundation is now in place to support mainstream adoption of eye tracking technology across operating systems, platforms, and devices.”

Source: Tobii