Towards Around-Device Interaction using Corneal Imaging

Around-device interaction techniques aim at extending the input space using various sensing modalities on mobile and wearable devices. In this paper, we present our work towards extending the input area of mobile devices using front-facing device-centered cameras that capture reflections in the human eye. As current generation mobile devices lack high resolution front-facing cameras we study the feasibility of around-device interaction using corneal reflective imaging based on a high resolution camera. We present a workflow, a technical prototype and an evaluation, including a migration path from high resolution to low resolution imagers. Our study indicates, that under optimal conditions a spatial sensing resolution of 5 cm in the vicinity of a mobile phone is possible.