KR-20260062879-A - A Systems for early screening of autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking

KR20260062879AKR 20260062879 AKR20260062879 AKR 20260062879AKR-20260062879-A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for the early screening of autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking. According to the present invention, autism spectrum disorder can be diagnosed early by applying response data regarding a user's gaze reacting to an image or video displayed on a screen to an autism spectrum disorder screening model. Furthermore, the present invention can be utilized in the fields of early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of childhood autism by allowing the degree of suspected autism spectrum disorder to be easily checked at home.

Inventors

김민영
전형민
조은영

Assignees

의료법인 성광의료재단
차의과학대학교 산학협력단

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251029
Priority Date: 20241029

Claims (9)

In a method for screening autism performed by an autism screening device, (a) acquiring the user's gaze coordinates for calibration through a camera while K points of different locations are output on a display; and (b) a step of acquiring response data by recording the point of gazing at unique content capable of screening for autism spectrum disorder; and (c) a step of screening for autism spectrum disorder by applying gaze coordinates obtained in step (a) and response data obtained in step (b) to a pre-established autism spectrum disorder screening model; comprising a method for screening for autism spectrum disorder.
In claim 1, A screening method for autism spectrum disorder, wherein the gaze coordinates obtained in step (a) and the response data obtained in step (b) are obtained by using a camera to acquire pattern data reflected from the pupil and cornea by shining near-infrared light on the user.
In claim 1, (d) a step of obtaining result data by applying the above real-time gaze coordinates to a fine-tune model; further comprising an autism spectrum disorder screening method.
In claim 3, A screening method for autism spectrum disorder, wherein in step (d) above, the fine-tuning model is a model that is pre-trained with images for object recognition and then additionally trained with images for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
In claim 1, (e) A step of monitoring the user's gaze and movement while social and non-social images are simultaneously displayed on a display and acquiring the user's real-time gaze coordinates; (f) A step of monitoring the user's gaze and movement while images of LAI objects and HAI objects are simultaneously displayed on a display and acquiring the user's real-time gaze coordinates; (g) A step of monitoring the user's gaze and movement while a joint gaze test image is displayed on a display and acquiring the user's real-time gaze coordinates; (h) a step of diagnosing autism spectrum disorder by applying the real-time gaze coordinates of (f) to (h) above to a previously constructed autism spectrum disorder screening model; further comprising an autism spectrum disorder screening method.
In claim 5, A screening method for autism spectrum disorder, wherein the social image in step (e) above is an image featuring one or more people, and the non-social image is a figure or pattern image.
In claim 5, A screening method for autism spectrum disorder, wherein in step (f) above, additional data is obtained regarding i) whether the reaction time to the image of the HAI object is fixed at 600ms or more compared to the reaction time to the image of the LAI object, or ii) whether the HAI is gazed at 0.2 times more frequently than the LAI.
In claim 5, A screening method for autism spectrum disorder, wherein the above step (g) is a step of obtaining the user's real-time gaze coordinates for an object that a person in a video for a joint gaze test speaks to, looks at, or points to.
In an autism spectrum disorder screening device based on user eye gaze monitoring, A user monitoring unit that monitors the user's gaze and movement through a camera while an image or video is displayed on a screen and acquires the user's real-time gaze coordinates; A time series data derivation unit that derives time series response data by recording the time intervals during which the user gazed at an element of interest on the display based on the above real-time gaze coordinates; and An autism spectrum disorder screening device comprising: a discrimination unit that determines whether there is an autism spectrum disorder by applying time-series response data derived in response to the above-mentioned user to a pre-established autism spectrum disorder screening model.

Description

A System for Early Screening of Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Eye Tracking The present invention relates to a system for early screening of autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking. Recently, the number of children with developmental disabilities, typified by the autism spectrum, has been increasing and is emerging as a social issue. While some argue that this phenomenon is caused by advancements in diagnostic techniques and stricter criteria rather than an actual increase in numbers compared to the past, there is no disagreement that early screening and diagnosis are crucial as they significantly influence the development of social and communication skills, given the nature of developmental disabilities where the likelihood of improvement increases the earlier they are detected and treated. Korea is currently conducting national screenings for infants and toddlers to identify children with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, and similar developmental screenings are being carried out at both national and private levels in other countries overseas. While children exhibit behaviors and language appropriate for their age during their growth, it is difficult for parents, who lack knowledge and experience regarding developmental processes, to identify specific developmental anomalies. This is particularly challenging for experts to make a judgment when the degree of anomaly is ambiguous or the child is young. Furthermore, even specialized institutions often rely on surveys completed by caregivers and observe the child for a relatively short period to provide an opinion; as there are variations in developmental speed among children, some cases may simply involve delayed development, making it difficult to hastily diagnose autism. Furthermore, due to insufficient social systems for developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder and a shortage of relevant institutions and specialists, there are often significantly long waiting periods for professional screening and diagnostic evaluations. This can lead to missed opportunities for timely treatment, and the substantial costs involved place a heavy burden on the individual. In addition, early intervention through early screening is associated with better intervention effectiveness and positive prognosis, and there is a continuous demand for screening tools for early screening before the age of two. However, despite this situation, there is currently no early screening tool capable of performing validated early screening on the domestic population that possesses excellent discriminative power and cost-effectiveness. Figure 1 is a diagram showing a system for early screening of autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking. Figure 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an early screening method for autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking. Figure 3 is a figure showing the K point locations for acquiring calibration data for eye tracking. Figure 4 is a flowchart of a calibration method for autism spectrum disorder according to an embodiment. Figure 5 is a flowchart of an inference method for autism spectrum disorder according to an embodiment. Figure 6 is an example of a social/non-social object test content screen. Figure 7 is an example of an inspection screen for LAI (Low autism interest objects)/HAI (High autism interest objects) content. Figure 8 is an example of a test screen of the Joint Attention Test content. The present invention will be explained in more detail below through examples. However, these examples are intended to illustrate the invention and the scope of the invention is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, in order to clearly explain the invention in the drawings, parts unrelated to the explanation have been omitted, and similar parts throughout the specification have been given similar reference numerals. Throughout the specification, when a part is described as being "connected" to another part, this includes not only cases where they are "directly connected," but also cases where they are "electrically connected" with other components interposed between them. Furthermore, when a part is described as "including" a certain component, this means that, unless specifically stated otherwise, it does not exclude other components but may include additional components. The present invention relates to a method and device for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder based on user gaze monitoring. It proposes a technique capable of determining and diagnosing the possibility of autism spectrum disorder by tracking the position of a user's gaze while viewing a display using AI, and applying the user's gaze response data, which reacts to an image or video being displayed on the display, to a pre-trained autism spectrum disorder diagnostic model. One aspect is a method for screening autism performed by an autism screening device, (a) acquiring the user's gaze coordinates for calibration through a camera whil