Status-Q

Paul Bissex writes about his desire for a Focus Follows Eyeballs system.

I once almost patented the idea of ‘Processing Resources Follow Eyeballs’, where the computer devotes most resources to the thing you’re looking at.

This came up when I was working on in-car systems. The idea was that a computer in a car might be doing all sorts of things which required lots of processing – recording video of your route, trying to read the signposts you pass, answering your phone, etc.

But it’s important that whenever you have to look at its screen, you’re distracted from the road for the shortest time possible. And so, when it sees your eyes moving in that direction, it should be devoting all of its power towards making sure the screen is up to date… and that any information you request by interacting with it appears as quickly as possible. When you’re not looking at the screen, it really doesn’t matter

I never patented ‘operating system scheduling based on the eye movements of the user’, so perhaps the best thing is to publish it here so nobody else can. 🙂