Shuriken: User Grouping and Data Transfer for Collaborative Shopping and Offline Meetings Based on Inter-Device Relative Positioning

We present Shuriken, a method for user grouping and data transfer based on relative position estimates of smart devices that are in close proximity. The relative positions are then used for identifying the recipient of transferred data by performing a swipe on the screen of the sending device towards the physical direction of the recipient. Shuriken is built upon the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) framework and only uses built-in sensors of typical smart devices. Users link their devices by pointing them towards each other to form a group and to create a BLE connection. The received radio signal strength and the digital compass readings are obtained and then distributed to estimate the relative positions of the devices. Additional devices can be included in an existing group by performing the same action with any device in the group. Devices in the group can perform data transfer and the data is passed through linked devices in a multi-hop approach. We envision practical uses of Shuriken in collaborative shopping in a café, data transfer in business meetings and localisation of multiple smart devices that are in close proximity. To the best of our knowledge, Shuriken is the first approach that performs user grouping and data transfer based on the inter-device relative positions calculated from sensor readings available in off-the-shelf smart devices.