Spec Check
Profiles in Technology
By David English
Over the next few years, Bluetooth technology’s expansion will be driven in large part by the new high speed and low energy versions of the specification. While much of the work has already been completed, there is still a lot of work ahead to optimize the specs and enable new applications to come to market. Take a look at the many profile developments currently under way (see sidebar for expected completion date).
The Need for Speed For Bluetooth high speed technology, the Bluetooth SIG is enhancing existing profiles that utilize the OBEX (Object Exchange) communications protocol. The new specification achieves faster speeds by switching to the device’s 802.11 radio (or high speed AMP). With the enhancements to existing OBEX-based profiles and architectural updates to OBEX, the data will move even more efficiently. “These architectural improvements to OBEX, when used with a high speed AMP, will enable a 60 percent throughput improvement,” explains Peter Cook, specification director for the Bluetooth SIG.
The File Transfer Profile (FTP) and Object Push Profile (OPP) will be the first profiles to take advantage of the optimized OBEX. What are the primary use cases?
“With FTP, it would be sending a file device-to-device,” says Cook. “And with OPP, it would be pushing images device-to-device.” With both profiles, users should see an increase in the speed of data transfer whether or not a high speed AMP is used. Those enhancements are scheduled for the first quarter of this year.
“In the second quarter and later,” Cook continues, “we’ll add high speed printing through the BPP (Basic Printing Profile), as well as the ability to transfer and display an image using the BIP (Basic Imaging Profile).” Although BIP is an overlapping use case with OPP, it is customized for various image types.
High speed image transfer could allow cameras to transmit gigabytes of images wirelessly. “We’re hoping to enable kiosks, such as a Kodak station at Walgreens,” explains Cook. “You could pair your camera with the kiosk, send all the images you want printed, and then pay at the counter.” Another scenario would be sending images from a laptop to a projector.
Other updated profiles set for this second stage include the Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP), Message Access Profile (MAP) and Synchronization Profile (SYNC). Cook gives an example of how a car kit and mobile phone could use Bluetooth high speed technology. “The PBAP is written for two options,” he explains. “It can push a single phone book record from the mobile phone to the car kit, or it can push the entire phone book. But it doesn’t synchronize.” However, with the faster throughput enabled by the new spec and the enhanced OBEX, you might choose to transfer the entire phone book as a quick way to accomplish the same result as synchronization.
Energy Star For the Bluetooth low energy specification, the Bluetooth SIG is developing several new profiles for use cases that don’t yet exist. Think small networked Bluetooth enabled sensors that can run for years on an embedded battery. How might this change the world around us? The Proximity Profile could, say, “open your garage door as your car approaches, or it could be the catalyst to begin synchronizing your contacts when your phone comes in range of your laptop,” says Cook, while the Time Profile might synchronize a watch with a mobile phone and a laptop so that all the devices could be synchronized.
Other profiles, like the Browse Over Bluetooth Profile, might enable a remote control to conduct a range of operations, including selecting and displaying additional information about a television program. The Battery Status Profile could be applied across a wide variety of Bluetooth enabled devices. “You might use it to communicate the battery life remaining on a headset that doesn’t have a user interface, for example,” says Cook. “We anticipate it will be popular in the classic Bluetooth technology realm, as well as with low energy devices.”
The initial profiles being developed by the Medical Devices Working Group are designed to meet the standards of the Continua Health Alliance, but these and other medical profiles could also find their way into other consumer products that can measure and monitor all kinds of conditions or activity levels.
“The Heart Rate Monitor Profile could have use cases in hospitals, but it could just as easily be in a watch that continuously transmits to the machine you’re working out on,” Cook explains. “The Physical Activity Monitor Profile could collect or transmit the number of steps a person has taken, while the Cycling Sensor Profile might track the distance a bicycle has covered based on the number of tire revolutions.”
Cook points out that, while some of the profiles are designed to work only over a Bluetooth low energy wireless link, others will also operate over the classic Bluetooth radio, giving manufacturers even more flexibility in designing new applications.
David English is a technical writer whose articles have appeared in publications such as CNET, Forbes, Fortune, PC Magazine and ZDNet. |