Bluetooth Programming

With the increase in the number of mobile devices came the problem of exchanging specific data between them. In many of these instances the use of cellular networks was unnecessary and more importantly deemed an unprofitable option. This led to the development of PAN (Personal Area Networks), reasonably fast, ad-hoc, temporary networks of relatively short range. Out of many standardized technologies Bluetooth proved to be the most successful platform, with its practical uses far exceeding the first modest predictions of its possibilities.

Psiloc was fortunate enough to learn the potential of this technology at its dawn. By having numerous projects with Bluetooth as the building blocks, we at Psiloc have gotten to know this technology inside out. As members of the Bluetooth community, we remain up to date with current Bluetooth standards. This allows us to fully comprehend the potential of Bluetooth connectivity.

A key component of the development of any Bluetooth application for our customers is the end user usability. This is achieved by the use of Bluetooth profiles. This non trivial approach to Bluetooth programming requires creating such profiles on the mobile device, in order to introduce a certain level of control over another Bluetooth enabled device. This eliminates the need for additional software and brings down the need for user setup and interaction to null.

Out of the numerous completed projects, the following are above all worth mentioning:

• Mobile Mouse is one of the first large scale projects involving Bluetooth developed by Psiloc. This solution allows the user to use his phone as a pointing device for the PC. The lack of wires appealed to the masses, and the application gained applause throughout the community. This solution uses the HID (Human Interface Device) profile created on the mobile device itself to control the PC class device.
• One of our range of synchronizing utilities, BlueSync uses the named technology as a means of keeping crucial information up to date on the users phone and PC. This synchronization is deployed seamlessly in the background whenever both authorized devices are in range.
• An absolute hit developed by Psiloc recently that uses Bluetooth at its core is Wireless Presenter. This application gained traction with a lot of users, and will be preinstalled on most top-end business Symbian phones. The basic idea behind this solution is to enable the users to control a PowerPoint presentation from their mobile devices, thus freeing users from the presentation PC and at the same time enabling greater interaction with the audience.
• Last, but not least is a complex solution of a Music Player developed for a media company. In this case Bluetooth is being applied as a means of exchanging and synchronizing music and playlists between peers and different devices.