The convergence of computing and communications has been predicted for many years. Today's explosion of a myriad of new types of personal computing and communications devices—notebook computers, personal digital assistants, "smart" phones, two-way pagers, digital cameras and so on—has resulted in new ways for people to communicate and gain access to data. The advent of this pervasive computing, especially via wireless communications, enables these devices to be used in new settings: not only can people make voice calls from their automobile using a mobile phone, but also they can access the World Wide Web from a wireless notebook or handheld computer while at the airport or a shopping mall. We are rapidly moving toward a world where computing and communications become ubiquitous—not only at work but also in the home, in public places and in personal surroundings.
Until recently, enabling all of these devices to communicate with each other has been cumbersome, often involving the use of special cables to connect the devices together along with device-specific software that might use proprietary protocols. To exchange information among all of her personal devices, a person might need to carry as many cables as devices and still lack assurance that all the devices could interconnect. The inability to share information among devices or the difficulty in doing so limits their usefulness.
The Bluetooth™ technology enables devices to communicate seamlessly without wires. While Bluetooth wireless communication is first and foremost a means for cable replacement, it also enables many new applications—the use of a single mobile telephone as a cellular phone, cordless phone or intercom and the use of a notebook computer as a speakerphone, just to name two. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed in early 1998 by Ericsson®, Intel®, IBM®, Nokia® and Toshiba® to develop an open specification for globally available short-range wireless radio frequency communications. The SIG has published a specification for the Bluetooth radio and baseband along with a set of communication protocols comprising a software stack used with the Bluetooth radio hardware. The Bluetooth radio module design is optimized for very low power consumption, low cost, small footprint and use anywhere in the world. In addition to the core specification, the SIG has also published Bluetooth profiles that describe how to use the software protocols such that interoperability among all kinds of devices can be achieved, regardless of who manufactures these devices. Version 1.0 of the specification was published in July 1999. Today the Bluetooth Special Interest Group consists of nine promoter companies (joining the five founding companies noted above in the SIG's core group are 3Com®, Lucent®, Microsoft® and Motorola®) and well over 1,800 adopter companies from around the world, representing a diverse set of industries.
The specification and profiles continue to evolve as the SIG develops new ways to use the Bluetooth technology. The first products with Bluetooth wireless communications arrived in 2000 led by development tools, mobile telephones, audio headsets, notebook computers, handheld computers and network access points.
A great deal of interest, talent and energy has marshaled around this exciting new technology. Until now most of the information available about Bluetooth wireless communications has been from the SIG's official web site (http://www.bluetooth.com) or from brief press articles or newsletters. This book aims to be at once authoritative and accessible. Besides discussing background, history and potential future developments, Bluetooth Revealed: The Insider's Guide to an Open Specification for Global Wireless Communications delivers practical explanations of the specification by people who helped to develop it. It is a broad discussion of the topic, containing information that should be of value to industry practitioners, professionals, students and any others who are interested in this topic. No matter what your particular interest is, Bluetooth Revealed is intended to give you the information you need to become a "Bluetooth Insider."
We already knew that developing the Bluetooth technology was a tremendous undertaking, and we now have discovered that writing a book is a lot of work. The fun part is being able to include a short list of people who supported, encouraged or otherwise aided in the development of this book or of the Bluetooth technology that makes this book relevant.
At the risk of omitting those who deserve mention, both authors acknowledge all of the members of the Bluetooth SIG who worked passionately and tirelessly as a team to make the technology possible, especially our Air and Software Working Group colleagues who made a major difference: Jon Inouye of Intel; Thomas Muller, Stephane Bouet and Riku Mettälä of Nokia; Johannes Elg, Jaap Haartsen and Tobias Melin of Ericsson; Dale Farnsworth of Motorola; Shaun Astarabadi of Toshiba; Paul Moran and Ned Plasson of 3Com; and most of all our IBM colleagues around the globe who worked to advance the Bluetooth technology, most notably our teammates Peter Lee, Mahmoud Naghshineh, Nathan Lee, Parviz Kermani, Brian Gaucher and Toru Aihara and former IBM colleague Pravin Bhagwat. We are also indebted to Bouet, Elg and Aihara-san, along with Gabriel Montenegro of Sun Microsystems, for their exemplary and valuable technical review of the book. We also acknowledge Mary Franz and her team at Prentice Hall PTR, whose support, expertise and responsiveness made it possible to carry out this project.
Brent Miller thanks Sandeep Singhal for his experienced author advice; his co-author Chatschik Bisdikian, who wrote all the hard parts; his wife Laurie and sons Benjamin and Andrew for their encouragement and support; and God who makes this and all things possible.
Dr. Chatschik Bisdikian thanks co-author Brent for inviting him to contribute to this project and patiently rewriting in plain English what he wrote; his manager Mahmoud Naghshineh for encouraging him (rather strongly and persistently) to get involved with the Bluetooth wireless technology from the outset; and last but not least his wife Teresa and sons Eugene and Theodore for their unconditional encouragement and support through long nights and weekends of working on this project.
Bluetooth is a trademark owned by Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson, Sweden and licensed to promoters and adopters of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
Ericsson is the trademark or registered trademark of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation.
Toshiba is a registered trademark of Toshiba Corporation.
3Com is a registered trademark of 3Com Corporation.
Lucent and Lucent Technologies are registered trademarks of Lucent Technologies Incorporated.
Microsoft, Windows and Universal Plug and Play are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Motorola is a registered trademark of Motorola Incorporated.
IrDA is a registered trademark of the Infrared Data Association.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Symbian is a trademark of Symbian, Ltd.
Jini is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems Incorporated in the United States, other countries, or both.
Salutation is a registered trademark of the Salutation Consortium, Incorporated.
PUMATECH is a trademark or registered trademark of Puma Technology, Incorporated, also dba PUMATECH, Inc.
Extended Systems is a trademark of Extended Systems Incorporated.
HomeRF is a trademark of the HomeRF Working Group
Hewlett-Packard is a trademark or registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company in the United States and/or other countries.
Philips is a trademark or registered trademark of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Sony is a trademark or registered trademark of Sony Electronics Inc.