Tag: Bluetooth 4.0

Articles

Quick pairing to come to Windows 10 to simplify connecting Bluetooth headsets to these computers

Bluetooth quick pairing feature in the works for Windows 10 | Windows Central

Bluetooth “Quick Pair” Feature is Coming to Windows 10 | Thurrott blog

Previous coverage on Bluetooth quick-pairing

Bluetooth Fast Pairing–to be part of the Android platform

My Comments

Apple and Google have put up a simplified Bluetooth pair-up approach for commissioning newly-purchased Bluetooth headsets and other accessory devices with host devices based on their mobile operating systems.

This approach has the Bluetooth device sending out a short range “beacon” to compliant host devices, causing them to pop up a notification inviting the user to instigate the pair-up procedure. Google even had the ability to invite users to download and install any companion apps for devices designed with the “app-cessory” approach.

It is rather than having the user head to the Bluetooth menu on their host device and to make sure they choose the Bluetooth peripheral device they intend to pair to. This can be arduous where Bluetooth device names appear to be very confusing such as to only show a model number or the device is being set up in an area where other Bluetooth devices are being setup to be discoverable such as “always ready to pair” default setups like Alpine car stereos.

Now Microsoft is working on similar functionality that will appear in the next or subsequent feature release of Windows 10. In this case, Windows users will have the ability to enable or disable this feature and the notifications will appear as pop-up messages.

.. to make these easy to set up

The Windows 10 host computer would need to be equipped with a Bluetooth interface compliant to Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (Bluetooth Smart) standards for this function to work. It effectively makes the user experience for Bluetooth devices very similar to the “plug-and-play” experience that Microsoft achieved for peripherals directly connected to a Windows host computer.

Why would I suspect that a user be required to put a “fast-pair” Bluetooth device in setup mode?

One reason that I would see some manufacturers require a user to place a “fast-pair” Bluetooth peripheral device in a setup mode or specifically enable this feature on that device would be to conserve battery runtime on a portable device. Here, having a device broadcasting the beacon signal all the time may be taking power away from the device’s main functionality thus shortening the battery’s runtime.

It could also be a device security requirement to cater for environments where multiple compliant host devices are likely to exist and you want to make sure that your accessory device isn’t ending up pairing to someone else’s host device. It is an important issue with health and allied devices like fitness bands which work with your smartphone and these devices are dealing with very personal information. This can also be a user-experience issue regarding pop-up notificatiosn for other users’ devices.

What is showing up now is that a simplified user experience is being made available whenever you are commissioning a newer Bluetooth device.

Articles

Most recent Android smartphones may be able to support one-touch pair-up for Bluetooth accessories

Android ‘Fast Pair’ will quickly connect Bluetooth devices | Engadget

Announcing Fast Pair – effortless Bluetooth pairing for Android | Android Developers Blog

My Comments

Google has answered the setup method that Apple has implemented for their AirPod wireless in-ear headset by implementing a software-driven “quick-pair” setup that will be part of Android.

This method, called Bluetooth Fast Pairing, works on Android handsets and other devices that run Android 6.0 Marshmallow onwards and have Google Play Services 11.7 or newer installed and support Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (Bluetooth Smart) connectivity. You will have to enable Bluetooth and Location functionality in your handset, but you don’t have to look at Bluetooth device lists on your smartphone for a particular device identifier to complete the setup process.

Click or tap this image to see Google Fast Pairing in action

It is meant to provide quick discovery of your compliant Bluetooth accessory device in order to expedite the setup process that is involved with new devices or to “repair” Bluetooth connections that have failed. This latter situation can easily occur if data in the device regarding associated Bluetooth devices becomes corrupted or their is excessive Bluetooth interference.

The user experience will require you to put your accessory device like a Bluetooth headset, speakers or car stereo in to Bluetooth-setup mode. This may simply be through you holding down the “setup” or “pair” button till a LED flashes a certain way or you hear a distinct tone. On the other hand in the case of home and car audio equipment that has a display of some form, you using the “Setup Menu” to select “Bluetooth Setup” or something similar.

Then you receive a notification message on your Android device which refers to the device you just enabled for pairing, showing its product name and a thumbnail image of the device. Tap on this notification to continue the setup process and you may receive an invitation to download a companion app for those devices that work on the “app-cessory” model for extended functionality.

Google implements this by using Bluetooth Low Energy “beacon” technology to enable the device-discovery process. This is similar to the various beacon approaches for marketing and indoor navigation that are being facilitated by Bluetooth Low Energy, but they only appear while your accessory device is in “Bluetooth setup” mode.

The Google Play servers provide information about the device such as its thumbnail image, product name or link to a companion app based on a “primary-key” identifier that is part of the Bluetooth Low Energy “beacon” presented by the device. Then, once you tap the notification popup on your Android device, the pairing and establishment process takes place under Bluetooth Classic technology.

I see this also as being similar to the various “Plug And Play” discovery process implemented in Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS whenever you connect newer peripherals to your computer. This is where Microsoft and Apple keep data about various peripherals and expansion cards that are or have been on the market to facilitate installation of any necessary drivers or other software or invocation of class drivers that are part of the operating system. For Google and the Android platform, they could take this further with USB-C and USB Micro-AB OTG connectivity to implement the same kind of “plug and play” setup for peripherals connected this way to Android devices.

This system could be taken further by integrating similar logic and server-hosted databases in to other operating systems for regular and mobile computer platforms to improve and expedite the setup process for Bluetooth devices where the host device supports Bluetooth Low Energy operation. Here, I would like to see it based on the same identifiers broadcast by each of the accessory devices.

The Bluetooth Fast Pairing ability that Google gave to the Android platform complements NFC-based “touch and go” pairing that has been used with that platform as another method to simplify the setup process. This is more for manufacturers who don’t have enough room in their accessory device’s design to provide an NFC area for “touch-and-go” setup thanks to very small devices or where NFC doesn’t play well with the device’s aesthetics or functionality.

It may be a point of confusion for device designers like Alpine with their car stereos who place their devices in “discoverable” or “pairing” mode all the time so you can commence enrolling your accessory device at your phone’s user interface. Here, the device manufacturer may have to limit its availability to certain circumstances like no devices paired or connected, or you having to select the “Bluetooth” source or “Setup” mode to invoke discoverability.

At least Google have put up a way to allow quicker setup for Bluetooth accessories with their Android platform devices without the need to build the requirement in to the hardware.

Article

Bluetooth beacon technology is relevant with rally racing and similar sports

From the horse’s mouth

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Press Release

My Comments

This year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Coloradio Springs, Colorado, USA has become an interesting race when it comes to enriching the spectator’s experience.

It has been facilitated by the use of Bluetooth Beacons or iBeacons along with an iOS 8+ iPhone app which provides detailed up-to-date information about the competitors and where the place during the race. This includes the ability for users to favourite a competitor and be notified when they hit the finish. The Bluetooth Beacon technology is pitched as being Internet-independent because there isn’t the need to have the vehicles equipped with GPS-capable devices and spectators’ smartphones can pick up these beacon signals easily.

.. like bike races of the Tour De France calibre

But I do see more potential for this in rallies, hill-climb races, road-based cycle races, marathons and similar point-to-point races. This is where competitors are required to race from one point to another and following a known route or series of waypoints. Here, spectators would typically be spread across the (typically long) course and would want to know when their favoured competitors are coming past them as well as knowing how they are placed in the competition.

The same technology can work with other computer systems to accurately determine who has won the race without requiring the use of proprietary transponder technology. As well, there isn’t a requirement for competitors to carry and use GPS devices that need continual mobile-broadband links for uploading real-time position data, something that would be difficult with events held in country areas where such service isn’t all that reliable. The other bonus is that the Bluetooth beacons are very lightweight which adds very little weight to the competitor or competing vehicle where any extra weight carried can slow the competitor down.

But the hillclimb allowed spectators with suitably-equipped mobile devices that supported beacon detection to detect these beacons themselves when it comes to when “their” competitors are near. As well, computing devices with Bluetooth Smart functionality and Wi-Fi / mobile-broadband Internet access can be located at key points in the course to report the competitors’ positions for real-time updates for broadcast and online use.

It does show that the idea of using the Bluetooth Beacon technology for tracking the competition in point-to-point races has been proven thus allowing for systems that are more affordable for providing real-time competition updates for the spectators. It could be that as you watch that car rally you could have you phone notify you when that rally legend is near and about to perform that 3-point turn in the WRX. Similarly, your phone would notify you as the Tour De France péléton is about to arrive in your street so you can flip open those shutters and windows on the front of your house to have a look as it comes past.

For it to work effectively, the Bluetooth Beacon technology needs to be able to work on the client side with iOS, Android and Windows platforms with the necessary client apps written to work on each of those platforms.

Article

Can Wearable Tech Combat Sexual Assault? | FastCompany

From the horse’s mouth

Roar

Product Page

Video

Safelet

Product Page

Video

My Comments

The concept of connected wearables has primarily focused either on smartwatches that serve as an auxiliary control surface for your smartphone or fitness bands of the Jawbone or Fitbit ilk that measure how you are performing on your workout.

Now three companies have focused on personal safety as an application for the connected wearable. This is in the form of personal alarm or “panic-button” devices that interlink with your smartphone.

They are not your garden-variety attack alarm which was typically a white box which had a built-in battery-operated alarm with a loud piezo sounder that you activated by pressing a button or pulling a cord. Rather they communicate by Bluetooth with a special app on your iOS or Android smartphone to contact a predefined list of contacts if you press a panic button on the wearable. This is in addition to the ROAR Athena having their own alarm and flashing light.

These devices place emphasis on elegant style that underscores the value women place on aesthetics and designed to be pieces of jewellery that they can wear. The Safelet is styled to look like a silver bracelet while the ROAR Athena is styled like an attractive brooch that can be attached to one’s clothing.

The ROAR Athena also works with a Web-based intelligence database about those areas that are safe and those that aren’t. Here, people can identify and report areas that are potential troublespots as far as personal safety is concerned like streets that are poorly lit or known troublemaker hangouts.

It’s early days yet but I would like to see these device able to integrate with related applications like workplace personal-safety systems or home security so that they can “map” to these systems when one is in their scope.

What I see of this is the concept of wearable technology and platform-based computing encouraging innovation for the common good.

Article – French language / Langue Française

La Poste vend aussi des serrures connectées (The Post Office also sells smart locks) | Le Figaro (France)

From the horse’s mouth

La Poste

PostAccess Product Page

Press Release

Video (Click to play – French language)

My Comments

At the moment, most smart-lock solutions are catering towards the “bore-through” cylindrical deadbolt that is common in the USA and some other countries.

But there is an established “open-frame” cylinder-mortice-lock platform, known as the “Euro-profile” platform, which has a strong presence “across the board” in most of Britain and Europe and has some presence in Oceania. This is based around a single-piece module that houses the key cylinder and / or a thumb-turn which slides in to a mortice lock or multi-bolt locking system already installed in to a door. This platform hasn’t been served by this technology until now.

La Poste, the French post-office, have started marketing a smart-lock kit as part of their foray in to the connected-home scene. This is based around a “swap-in” module that replaces the cylinder module or cylinder / thumbturn module that is part of a European-standard mortice lock or multi-point locking system and, like some of the other smart locks, works with a fob or your Bluetooth-linked smartphone dependent on the package.

Here, the hardware based around a high-security outside cylinder module which “drives” the lock’s bolt and provides access using a traditional key. This interlinks with an inside module that has a thumbturn along with the electronics including the Bluetooth Smart radio subsystem that is part of the PostAccess system. It also has an integrated door-alarm which can be set up to work as a simple “buzzer alarm” that sounds when someone opens the door, or it can simply be set to sound if someone attempts to force the door open.

It also works with an NFC card reader that looks like a wireless doorbell and comes with the PostAccess Sérénité package. This card reader actually links with the lock using Bluetooth Smart technologies so it can read NFC cards, badges or wristbands and use these as keys.

People who buy the PostAccess Services Connectée package also receive a Wi-Fi – Bluetooth bridge that links the lock to your home network, This allows for you to manage your PostAccess lock remotely through a Web portal that is set up by La Poste in France. The standards around the online service encompass a high-security data transfer setup between the PostAccess smart lock and the servers which are located in France.

What I like of this smart lock is that it is the first product of its kind to work with the Euro-profile cylinder-mortice-lock platform purely on a retrofit basis in a manner that suits a “screwdriver expert”. As well, it is the first product of its type to be a hub for two peripheral devices i.e. the NFC card reader and a home-network bridge while working with smartphones for authentication and management purposes.

Like other early entrants in to the network-based connected-home or “Internet Of Things” idea, it will show the problems and bugs associated with these devices. This is where you rely on particular vendor-supplied equipment, smartphone apps and services to get the full benefit from them and they don’t work on an “open-frame” platform. To approach this better, the manufacturers would need to make the PostAccess smart lock software-upgradeable to newer “open-platform” standards

La Poste could be seeing this as a way to get their foot in the door to the connected home rather than trying to run their own “n-box” triple-play Internet service in to a highly-competitive Internet-service market. They could take this further with other products of the connected-home class and / or build out their Services Connectée package for remote home management.

To make the “smart-lock” idea work, there has to be an emphasis on seeing more products of this class appear on all of the commonly-used form-factors that the typical door lock appears in. As well, there has to be the ability to see the connected-home “Internet-Of-Things” concept mature on a level playing field along with encouraging a distinct role for these devices in the connected home.

Article

16 Year Old Develops Bluetooth Smart Solution to Keep Alzheimer’s Patients from Wandering | Bluetooth Blog

From the horse’s mouth

SafeWander (SensaRx)

Home Page

Video

Overview (Click / Tap to play in YouTube)

NBC 4 New York News report (Click / Tap to play in YouTube)

My Comments

A 16-year-old had developed a device which alerts someone else if a person like an Alzheimer’s patient wanders out of bed. This boy, Kenneth Shinozuka, was inspired to develop this device because of an incident where he was out with his grandfather at age 4 and Grandpa wandered off and was lost. Here, this brought to his family’s attention that Grandpa had Alzheimer’s disease.

A situation that was very common for him and his family was that his aunt who was his Grandpa’s primary carer wasn’t sleeping properly because she worried that if she slept, he would climb out of bed and wander absent-mindedly.

Here, he designed the device to be attached to the patient’s sock, slipper or foot to sense foot pressure associated when they climb out of bed to start wandering. This device uses a Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy) link to a suitable smartphone that is equipped with an “alarm” app that audibly alerts the carer and shows up a timer to show how long they have been off the bed. There is the ability to set up a threshold and a “hold time” so as to allow for situations like the patient going to the bathroom at night to do what he has to do.

He developed this device through a few science fairs including the Google Science Fair where he got the respect and was given the Google Science Fair Global Finalist prize amongst a few other awards. Scientific American and Popular Mechanics, both respected science and technology magazines even gave him awards for this device. He was able to use the prototype with his Grandpa and his aunt in this situation and she was able to claim a lot more sleep each night because of not worrying if he was about to get the wanders overnight.

Kenneth saw this as being important for the “ageing at home” phenomenon where older people are staying at home in the care of family members and friends rather than going in to care at nursing homes or similar facilities. He is evolving the technology towards other aspects of this phenomenon like a bathroom floor that senses if someone is falling and a medicine box which alerts the older person to take their pills at the right time.