Peer-to-peer group re-formation

1. A method comprising:

detecting, at a first peer device of a peer-to-peer group, that a Group Owner (“GO”) device of the peer-to-peer group is lost;

detecting one or more disconnected peer devices of the peer-to-peer group;

accessing a group detection report that indicates, for each peer device in the peer-to-peer group, peer devices in the peer-to-peer group that the peer device is able to detect; and

selecting a disconnected peer device with a highest number of detected peer devices in the group detection report as a next GO device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the group detection report further includes, for each peer device in the peer-to-peer group, a detected signal strength of each of the detected peer devices.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the detected signal strength comprises a received signal strength indicator.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein selecting further comprises, if two or more disconnected peer devices have the same number of detected peer devices in the group detection report:

for each of the two or more disconnected peer devices, aggregating the detected signal strengths of each detected peer device in the corresponding peer-detection report; and

selecting the peer device of the two or more peer devices as the next GO device based on the aggregated detected signal strengths.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising activating autonomous GO at the first peer device to enable the other peer devices to detect the first peer device.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

dissolving the autonomous GO at the first device; and

connecting to the next GO device to re-form the peer-to-peer group.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein selecting comprises selecting the first peer device as the next GO device, and wherein the method further comprises maintaining the autonomous GO at the first peer device to enable the other peer devices to connect to the first peer device to re-form the peer-to-peer group.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to detecting that the GO device of the peer-to-peer group is lost:

receiving a control signal from the GO device to generate a peer-detection report;

scanning for the other peer devices of the peer-to-peer group;

detecting one or more peer devices of the peer-to-peer group;

detecting a signal strength of the one or more detected peer devices;

generating the peer-detection report, the peer-detection report identifying each detected peer device and the corresponding signal strength of each detected peer device;

transmitting the peer-detection report to the GO device, the GO device configured to generate the group detection report by combining the peer-detection report with one or more other peer-detection reports received from the other peer devices in the peer-to-peer group; and

receiving the group detection report from the GO device.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising prior to receiving the control signal from the GO device:

detecting a loss of connectivity with the GO device; and

transmitting a request to the GO device to generate the group detection report, the request causing the GO device to transmit the control signal to each peer device in the peer-to-peer group.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the loss of the GO device comprises suddenly detecting the loss of the GO device due to the GO device being powered off or losing battery power.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the loss of the GO device comprises gradually detecting the loss of the GO device as the GO device moves out of range of the first peer device.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the next GO device further comprises selecting the next GO device based at least in part on one or more device capabilities of the next GO device.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the next GO device further comprises selecting the next GO device based at least in part on the number of devices that can connect to the next GO device.

14. A method comprising:

measuring, at a first peer device in a peer-to-peer group, distances from the first peer device to a Group Owner (“GO”) device and other peer devices in the peer-to-peer group;

generating a distance report that includes the measured distances;

transmitting the distance report to the GO device;

receiving additional distance reports from the GO device, the additional distance reports including additional measured distances between peer devices measured by other peer devices in the peer-to-peer group; and

determining relative positions of the GO device and the other peer devices using the distance report and the additional distance reports.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein measuring the distances comprises measuring distances using time-of-arrival-based inter-device round-trip time ranging or using 802.11v reports.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the relative positions further comprises constructing a position map that indicates how the GO device and the other peer devices are relatively oriented by triangulating the measured distances and the additional measured distances.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining motion of at least one of the GO device or another peer device by monitoring changes in the relative positions of the GO device and the other peer device; and

detecting movement of the at least one of the GO device or the other peer device out of the group based on the determined motion.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising selecting a next GO device based on the detected movement of the GO device or the other peer device out of the peer-to-peer group.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting movement further comprises:

determining that a cluster of peer devices are moving in a same direction as the first peer device; and

selecting a next GO device from the peer devices in the cluster of peer devices based on a highest number of detected peer devices or a highest aggregate signal strength of the next GO device.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

determining that an additional cluster of peer devices are moving out of the peer-to-peer group; and

selecting an additional next GO device from the peer devices in the additional cluster of peer devices.