Transmitting device for use in location determination systems

A method associated with a real-time locating system, the method comprising:

• transmitting by a first transducer first acoustic signals having a first frequency, the first acoustic signals including an identifying code of a transmitting device, wherein the identifying code represents a location of the transmitting device;
• transmitting by a second transducer second acoustic signals having a second frequency, the second acoustic signals including the identifying code of the transmitting device;
• transmitting by a beacon device beacon data via a short-range wireless communication technique, wherein the beacon data includes timeslot values and information that may be used by a receiving device in decoding the transmitted first and second acoustic signals, the information describing a subset of location codes in use in a vicinity of the beacon device, wherein the identifying code is a member of the subset of location codes, and wherein the timeslot values represent transmission timing data associated with the subset of location codes;
• and
• selecting by one or more control devices the first or second acoustic signals based at least in part on one or more operating capabilities of one or more mobile units associated with the real-time locating system, and causing transmission of the selected first and second acoustic signals and the beacon data,
• wherein the first transducer, the second transducer, the beacon device and the one or more control devices form a part of the real-time locating system.

A wireless communication device associated with a real-time locating system, the wireless communication device comprising:

• a first transducer configured to receive first acoustic signals from a transmitting device, the first acoustic signals having a first frequency, and the first acoustic signals including an identifying code that represents a location of the transmitting device;
• a first wireless receiver configured to receive beacon data from the transmitting device via a short-range wireless communication technique, wherein the beacon data is provided in table form, the beacon data including timeslot values and information that is used by the wireless communication device in decoding the first acoustic signals, the information describing a subset of location codes in use in a vicinity of the transmitting device, and wherein the identifying code is a member of the subset of location codes, and wherein the timeslot values may be used by the wireless communication device to adjust its timing of receipt of either RF or acoustic receptions;
• and
• a wireless transmitter configured to transmit location information to a server via a wireless protocol.