Patent ID: 8737168
Filing Date: 2014-05-27
Classification: G01S,H05K

Abstract:
1. A system for automatic discovery of the physical location of at least one device in a data center, the system including multiple devices each having an associated ultrasonic emitter that generates an ultrasonic signal, the system comprising: a first set of ultrasonic transducers having known locations in the data center, a first controller associated with the first set of ultrasonic transducers wherein the first controller initiates the generation of the ultrasonic signal from the ultrasonic emitter associated with the device, time of arrival circuitry that generates time of arrival information based on the time of receipt of the ultrasonic signal at each ultrasonic transducer in the first set of ultrasonic transducers, wherein the first controller determines the relative location of the device based on the known location of the first set of ultrasonic transducers within the data center and the time of arrival information associated with each ultrasonic transducer in the first set of ultrasonic transducers, wherein the first controller is operable to generate a map of the location of the device in the data center based on the time of arrival information derived from the ultrasonic signal generated by each ultrasonic emitter, and wherein the first controller is further ca able to decode the ultrasonic signal to retrieve data representing at least one of a device serial number, a device model number and a device status.