Hi Would like to do bluetooth pairing request with the ALteBeacon library, in order to establish communication between two devices because I did a virtual beacon. Is it Possible?
The Android Beacon Library is designed for Bluetooth LE Beacon detection, ranging and monitoring. It is not designed for Bluetooth LE GATT communications. For that purpose, please use the built-in Android APIs. See the Connect to a GATT Server section here.
I am trying to establish a bluetooth connection between a Windows CE handheld device(A bank card reader) and iPhone. I want to make data transfer betweeen the two. I have read that prior to IOS 6.0 this was not possible. But with IOS 6.0 I can use core bluetooth to establish a connection.
I would like to know whether the handheld devices bluetooth should be of certain spec to make it work with IOS devices? Or are there any restriction fro any bluetooth device to communicate with an IOS device?
I have read here that the device should be Bluetooth LE. How can I detect whether my handheld device is bluetooth LE?
Thanks
It would be nice if you would provide more information about this Windows CE device.
Just search for the specs of it. If it supports Bluetooth 4.0 LE you have to look if it specifies any of the known profiles. If not the manufacturer may have implemented an own profile to provide certain services and characteristics.
If this is not the case, there is no possibility to establish a connection over CoreBluetooth.
But if its a bank card reader I can't imagine, that it supports BLE.
If the device just supports Bluetooth 2.x you can only connect via the External Accessories Framework. But this only works if the manufacturer bought the MFi (Made for iPod) license and implemented the required specs into the hardware (only then the device is "MFi approved").
The Bluetooth v2.1 specifies the so called "Secure Simple Pairings" methods - one of those methods is called Out of band (OOB) and according to Wikipedia This method uses an external means of communication, such as Near Field Communication (NFC) to exchange some information used in the pairing process.
Whatever is the "external means of communication" of getting the PIN, the handsfree device id, etc. - is it possible on iPhone to initiate the hands-free connection from the code? I.e. if i have all necessary information in my application can I say iPhone to connect to the handsfree using given information?
If it is not part of the public API, has Apple some process to allow some companies to get access to some additional non-public features?
If you want to connect a Bluetooth 2.1 device to your iOS device, you must do it through the Settings->General->Bluetooth screen.
However, for the iPhone4S and the New iPad, you can detect and connect Bluetooth devices that Low-Energy devices.
The Bluetooth Low-Energy specification is part of the (some-what) new Bluetooth 4.0 protocol and only these two Apple devices have the necessary components to connect with low energy devices.
I'm looking to write some Android or iOS applications to access a Bluetooth heart-rate monitor. There are currently some apps available like Android's "Heart Rate Monitor" that connect to heart-rate monitors like the Zephyr HxM, so I know it can be done.
What is the programming API like? If I write an app, would it be able to connect to any heart-rate device? Or would I have to follow some application-layer protocol from the device manufacturer and read and process Bluetooth packets?
Many of the bluetooth enabled Heart-rate monitors supports the SPP profile and you can use the Android Bluetooth SPP socket APIs to access the device.
The Android chat example is a good application to modify to start with.
I'm trying to figure out if an iPhone can connect to another non-iPhone device over wireless or Bluetooth and have seen conflicting information. Much of what I've found was before version 3.0 of the SDK came out, when it certainly wasn't possible. Looking at Stack Overflow questions, like Can the iPhone 3.0 SDK provide full access to Bluetooth devices (headsets)? mention you can't connect to an arbitrary device unless if it's part of the "Works for iPhone" device. Do I need hardware that is part of this program?
Looking through the Apple documentation, Peer-to-Peer Connectivity, it mentions connecting two iPhones, not an iPhone to another Bluetooth device. Then there are articles like iPhone SDK focus: Bluetooth enhancements that includes this quote
...and with the newly-announced "standard support" should allow file transfer between the iPhone and a computer, as well as between nearby iPhones
Another Stack Overflow question, GameKit in iPhone SDK 3.0, mentions Bonjour, and the Apple documentation for Bonjour talks about connecting to Bonjour devices, but can an iPhone connect to any Bonjour device? Does it have to have a Wi-Fi connection, or can it use Bluetooth?
Even if I could use Bluetooth to connect to another device, it won't be available on first generation iPhones and iTouches, I believe. Is that correct? I'm thinking of an iPhone application that would need to communicate with other non-iPhone devices in the area, probably using Bluetooth, but possibly a direct wireless connection. What are the possibilities and limitations of this approach? Is it not possible to have an iPhone connect to an arbitrary Bluetooth device? Does the other device have to be on a wireless Bonjour network that? I'm trying to figure out if it's even possible for this to work or if it's not worth the effort.
The only way to communicate with other Bluetooth devices via the External Accessory framework in iPhone OS 3.0 is if they are in the Made for iPod accessory program. Even though they communicate through standard Bluetooth connections, accessories need special hardware in order to process the data stream coming from the iPhone / iPod touch. Unfortunately, this means that your idea of communicating with generic Bluetooth devices won't work on iPhone OS 3.0.
If the devices you want to talk to are Bonjour-discoverable via Wi-Fi, they don't need to be part of the Made for iPod program. However, that doesn't sound like your case.
Third-party developers in the near future may produce dongles that connect through the 30-pin dock port and give access to existing Bluetooth devices. If these developers opened up their communication protocol, that might enable your goal of communicating with these devices.
You can use NSStream for opening IPv4/IPv6 sockets on the iPhone. The devices to which you're connecting do not have to be iPhones or use Wi-Fi necessarily. Because of how network communication protocols are laid out, you simply don't have to care what kind of device your iPhone is communicating with.
Bonjour, on the other hand, uses NSStream internally. It's basically a nifty little wrapper which allows for auto-discovery. You need the Bonjour protocol installed on all devices which you want to participate in the auto-discovery process. There is even an implementation for Windows.
As part of the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK, Apple announced the ability to control hardware accessories through either Bluetooth or the dock connector. The dock connector supports standard protocols (that is, play, pause, etc.) as well as any custom protocols the developer wants to implement.
As far as connecting via Bluetooth, you can talk to other iPhones or other devices. For example, you can use stereo Bluetooth to connect compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones, car kits, or other accessories.
As far as what devices support Bluetooth communication, everything except the first generation iPod Touch should be okay.
See also Apple's page on iPhone OS accessories.