Ultrasonic location determination

A computer-implemented method of determining a relative position between electronic devices, comprising:

• under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,
• detecting at least one electronic device over a communications channel;
• receiving a signature over the communications channel to a user device, the signature being associated with an identity of the user device;
• and
• transmitting an ultrasonic beacon including the signature from the user device, the beacon capable of being received by a receiver array on the at least one electronic device,
• wherein the at least one electronic device is enabled to determine a relative position and identity of the user device based at least in part upon a time difference of arrival determination for the ultrasonic beacon, and to correlate an identity associated with the user device with the determined relative position using the signature contained in the ultrasonic beacon.

A computer-implemented method of determining a relative position between electronic devices, comprising:

• under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,
• receiving an ultrasonic beacon from each of a plurality of electronic devices to an array of ultrasonic detectors, each ultrasonic beacon including a signature associated with an identify of the electronic device transmitting that beacon;
• based at least in part upon a time difference of arrival determination for at least the portion of the array of ultrasonic detectors receiving each ultrasonic beacon, determining a relative position of a corresponding electronic device;
• and
• correlating an identity associated with each electronic device with the corresponding determined relative position using the signature contained in the ultrasonic beacon;
• and
• sending the information about the relative position and identify of each electronic device over a communications channel,
• wherein the plurality of electronic devices is able to determine their relative positions and identities.

A computing device, comprising:

• a processor;
• a display element;
• at least one ultrasonic transmitting element;
• a plurality of ultrasonic receiving elements;
• and
• a memory device including instructions operable to be executed by the processor to perform a set of actions, enabling the computing device to:
• receive an ultrasonic beacon to the plurality of ultrasonic receiving elements;
• determine a relative position of an electronic device transmitting the ultrasonic beacon based at least in part upon a time difference of arrival analysis of the received ultrasonic beacon;
• determine an identity of the electronic device based at least in part upon extracting a signature from the received ultrasonic beacon;
• correlate an identity, associated with the electronic device, with the determined relative position of the electronic device using the signature contained in the received ultrasonic beacon;
• and
• transmit an ultrasonic signal using the at least one ultrasonic transmitting element, the transmitted ultrasonic signal including a signature associated with the computing device,
• wherein the computing device and electronic device are able to determine the relative position of each other using the transmitted ultrasonic beacons.

An electronic device, comprising:

• a processor;
• a plurality of ultrasonic receiving elements;
• and
• a memory device including instructions operable to be executed by the processor to perform a set of actions, enabling the computing device to:
• receive an ultrasonic beacon to the plurality of ultrasonic receiving elements for each of a plurality of transmitting devices;
• determine a relative position of each electronic device based at least in part upon a time difference of arrival analysis of the corresponding received ultrasonic beacon;
• determine a signature included in each received ultrasonic beacon, the signature being associated with an identity of the transmitting device;
• and
• transmit the determined relative position and signature for each beacon to the plurality of transmitting devices,
• wherein each of the plurality of transmitting devices is able to determine the relative positions and identities of the plurality of transmitting devices.