We have all heard the stories and read the headlines: Bluetooth technology is set to become the revolutionary communications tool that will affect all our lives in one form or another. It will simplify the operation and installation of both new and existing products. Despite numerous vendors providing a vast range of exciting wireless merchandise, its functionality will be, for the most part, invisible and seamless. After all, Bluetooth’s greatest gift will inevitably be its user-transparency. It will become an invisible friend that no-one sees yet whose presence will undoubtedly impact upon the lives of us all, leaving us wondering how we ever managed without it.
This book does not aim to provide you with a history of Bluetooth technology, nor does it explain why it was created. Instead, it embodies the firm belief that it is already here. Bluetooth Profiles is primarily intended for engineers who are about to embark upon developing new profiles, as well as those wishing to understand, in greater depth, the Bluetooth Profiles specification. However, its functionality goes far deeper than that. From a marketing point of view, the book aims to illustrate the importance of the user perspective within profile development. In essence, it will enable you to get a sense of what needs to be established from a consumer-oriented stance. There are a number of commercial models of the Bluetooth specification in action that reinforce the importance of the user. This, above all else, is crucial when considering the development of products that may well become ‘life-changing’ in their on-shelf significance.
The creation of the current specification is an acknowledgement of the dedication of a large community, which has committed both its time and effort to produce a new wireless philosophy. This introduction provides you with an overview of what you can expect to find within the book, summarising its structure and allowing it to be used as a useful reference.
In Part I, Building On Solid Foundations, we take a macro-view of the Bluetooth protocol stack and establish a basic understanding of its various dependent peripherals. An assumption is made here about the reader; it is assumed that you already have a Bluetooth protocol stack and that you are now ready to provide working applications. Bluetooth Profiles will help you overcome the deep-seated question of ‘how do I do it?’ With this in mind, we take a look at the currently available development kits and explore their contribution to the development process. The book by no means makes any recommendations or provides any bias, but merely offers you, the developer, a series of examples on which to base your own decision. Finally, this section discusses the value of Interoperability. The knowledge that vendorA will seamlessly interoperate with vendorB fills the user with confidence and promotes future utilisation. The Bluetooth Profiles specification acknowledges the need for applications and end-user functionality to have common characteristics. Users will be able to interact with many vendors’ products knowing that these characteristics will be an integral part of the final product.
The Profiles In Depth section explores how each profile might be perceived by the user. It is particularly concerned with what the user’s experience should be and what the dependencies are in each instance. Each profile chapter then summarises the contents into an easily digestible format aimed at both the intermediate and advanced developer; these may also be used as quick reference chapters. You will notice when reading through the section that the dependencies are shared between many profiles and that, consequently, the chapters have some duplication. This is entirely intentional and from a tutorial perspective has great value, as it will allow you to learn about each profile on an individual basis, without the constant need to flick between chapters for relevant information. I hope that this format will make your journey of discovery more enjoyable and will further demonstrate the simplistic nature of the profile composites. Without a doubt, it is an extremely important section of the book; the philosophy throughout is all about getting this user experience absolutely right. The user should be, for the most part, totally unaware of the technology that sits beneath such applications and devices, taking completely for granted that the product will do ‘exactly what it says on the box’.
Our last section, Part III, The New Profiles considers the newer profiles that are emerging from the Bluetooth Working Groups. Here, the book emphasises the notion that each company or developer has the power to create a profile; of course this is, as always, subject to the approval of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). There is great potential for us all to create innumerable diverse applications, limited only by our imaginations. This book will, I hope, encourage you to ‘spread your wings’ and let your imagination take flight. Perhaps the greatest message the book has to impart, or perhaps reinforce, is the knowledge that it takes a team of dedicated, imaginative software and hardware engineers to bring about better and more creative wireless products: always with the end user in mind. As part of this team, you have an amazing opportunity to become an integral contributor to the future success and diversity of Bluetooth.