This type of message is usually sent by an eye-tracker controller. This data type describes the point the user is looking at on the screen for a defined timecode. The point is sent only if the coordinates are considered reliable by the eye-tracker. It consists of the gaze coordinates in pixels on the screen where the user’s eyes are looking at. The type also has an optional fixed information specifying whether the gaze point belongs to a fixation.

type=eyetracking:point
Long tc  timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
Integer x x-axis coordinate of the point in the screen (pixels)
Integer y y-axis coordinate of the point in the screen (pixels)
Boolean fixed (optional) fixation indication (true or false)

This type of message is usually sent by an eye-tracker controller. This data type describes the diameters of the two pupils of the user for a defined timecode. The diameters values are expressed in the device-specific format of the eye-tracker system, and should be considered as relative to the distance between the user and the eye-tracker, unless otherwise indicated.

type=eyetracking:pupils
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
Double left left pupil diameter (device-specific format)
Double right right pupil diameter (device-specific format)

This type of message is usually sent by an eye-tracker controller. This type represents the current time of the eye-tracker device real time clock. The value may be different than the host computer system time. This message may be used for synchronization purposes. The device parameter is not required since the real time clock is not linked with a specific screen.

type=eyetracking:time
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)

This type of message is usually sent by the system that manages the screen seen by the user. This type describes the dimensions of the screen the user is looking at. This message is usually sent at the beginning of data collection to setup graphical monitoring systems.

type=eyetracking:device
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
Integer width width of the screen (pixels)
Integer height height of the screen (pixels)

This type of message is usually sent by the eye movement analysis system. This type describes a fixation in the sense of the result of the analysis of eye movements. The type contains the position of the fixation on the screen, the mean radius, the maximum radius, and the duration of the fixation. Fixations are detected by a selectable ad-hoc algorithm. The timecode refers to the first point that belongs to the fixation.

type=eyetracking:fixation
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
Integer x x-axis coordinate of the center of the fixation in the screen (pixels)
Integer y y-axis coordinate of the center of the fixation in the screen (pixels)
Integer meanradius mean radius of the fixation (pixels)
Integer maxradius maximum radius of the fixation (pixels)
Long duration duration of the fixation (milliseconds)

This type of message is usually sent by the target application that implements the user interface seen by the user. The zone represents an area of interest to analyse. Four types of zones are defined: rectangular, circular, elliptical, and punctual. Two virtual types of zones are defined: zone-to-remove and zone-to-remove-all to indicate the disappearance of one or all zones respectively. The type contains the position, the dimensions, and the name of the zone. The name of the zone must be unique for a specific device. The optional widget parameter can be used for the expanded eye-tracking monitor.

This message is usually sent by the eye movement analysis system. The fixation in zone type describes the zone that a user fixed during a certain amount of time.

type=eyetracking:fixinzone
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
String name name of the zone (alphanumeric)
Long duration duration of fixation in the zone (milliseconds)

This type of message is usually sent by an eye-tracker controller. The type represents the data of the right and left Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA).

type=eyetracking:load
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
Double lICA left index of cognitive activity (numeric in 0..1)
Double rICA right index of cognitive activity (numeric in 0..1)

This type of message is usually sent by the cognitive load monitor. The type represents the current user task.

type=eyetracking:task
Long tc timecode (milliseconds since the epoch)
String device name of the device (alphanumeric)
String taskname name of the task (alphanumeric)

The Eye Tribe Controller interfaces any “Eye Tribe” (https://theeyetribe.com) eye-tracker device to the data exchange bus.

Data types received: none

Data types sent:
- eyetracking:point
- eyetracking:pupils
- eyetracking:time
- eyetracking:device

User interface:


Executable: under construction

Source code: under construction

Required software: Eye Tribe SDK (https://github.com/eyetribe/sdk-installers/releases)

The Widget Tracker library is a utility library that tracks the positions of the widgets in a graphical user interface, and sends the geometry of these widgets as Zone messages on the bus. The library is not, strictly speaking, an agent since is it not a stand-alone application, but the library, when used by an application, enables that application to automatically create an agent on the bus. The library is compatible with any application that uses the Java Swing graphical library.

Data types received: none

Data types sent:
- eyetracking:zone

User interface: N/A

Executable: N/A

Source code: under construction

The Eye Tracking Analyzer is composed of two virtual agents, an Eye Gaze Fixations Filter and a Fixations in Zones Detector, which share the same user interface. The Eye Gaze Fixations Filter agent captures data concerning eye gaze points and returns new data concerning the eye fixations to the bus. The analysis can be performed with several algorithms such as the Dispersion-Threshold Identification (I-DT) algorithm. The Fixations in Zones Detector agent captures the fixations and zones, and returns the fixations in zones, that is which zones have been fixed, and for how long time the fixation lasts in them.

Data types received:
- eyetracking:point
- eyetracking:zone

Data types sent:
- eyetracking:fixation
- eyetracking:fixinzone

User interface:


Executable: under construction

Source code: under construction

The Pupils Sizes Monitor agent is a simple monitoring agent displaying the pupil size for both eyes. This agent is often used to monitor whether the eye-tracker "sees" the user, since pupil size is the first data an eye-tracker captures when detecting user’s eyes.

Data types received:
- eyetracking:pupils

Data types sent: none

User interface:


Executable: under construction

Source code: under construction

The Eye Tracking Monitor agent is a monitoring agent that displays in real time the gaze points, the fixations, the zones, and the fixations in the zones. As the Eye Tracking Monitor agent displays almost all eye-tracking related data that are available on the bus, it is primarily used for debugging or for monitoring an experiment.

Data types received:
- eyetracking:point
- eyetracking:fixation
- eyetracking:zone
- eyetracking:fixinzone
- eyetracking:device

Data types sent: none

User interface:


Executable: under construction

Source code: under construction