![Bluetooth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Bluetooth.svg)
In order to use
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-based wireless communication between devices. It resides on top of the Bluetooth Core Specification and (optionally) additional protocols. While the profile may use certain features of the core specification, specific versions of profiles are rarely tied to specific versions of the core specification, making them independent of each other. For example, there are Hands-Free Profile (HFP) 1.5 implementations using both Bluetooth 2.0 and Bluetooth 1.2 core specifications.
The way a device uses Bluetooth depends on its profile capabilities. The profiles provide standards that manufacturers follow to allow devices to use Bluetooth in the intended manner. For the Bluetooth Low Energy stack, according to Bluetooth 4.0 a special set of profiles applies.
A host
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
can expose a basic set of profiles (namely OBEX, HID and Audio Sink) and manufacturers can add additional profiles to its driver and
stack to enhance what their Bluetooth device can do.
At a minimum, each profile specification contains information on the following topics:
* Dependencies on other formats
* Suggested user interface formats
* Specific parts of the Bluetooth protocol stack used by the profile. To perform its task, each profile uses particular options and parameters at each layer of the stack. This may include an outline of the required service record, if appropriate.
This article summarizes the current definitions of profiles defined and adopted by the Bluetooth SIG and possible applications of each profile.
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
This profile defines how multimedia audio can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection (it is also called Bluetooth Audio Streaming). For example, music can be streamed from a mobile phone to a wireless
headset, hearing aid/
cochlear implant
A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech und ...
streamer, or car audio; alternately from a laptop/desktop to a wireless headset; also, voice can be streamed from a microphone device to a recorder on a PC. The Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) is often used in conjunction with A2DP for remote control on devices such as headphones, car audio systems, or stand-alone speaker units. These systems often also implement
Headset (HSP) or
Hands-Free
Handsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands (for example via voice commands) or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the ...
(HFP) profiles for telephone calls, which may be used separately.
Each A2DP service, of possibly many, is designed to uni-directionally transfer an audio stream in up to 2 channel stereo, either to or from the Bluetooth host. This profile relies on
AVDTP
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
and
GAVDP
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
. It includes mandatory support for the low-complexity
SBC codec (not to be confused with Bluetooth's voice-signal codecs such as
CVSDM), and supports optionally
MPEG-1 Part 3/
MPEG-2 Part 3
Part 3 of the MPEG-2 standard (formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-3, also known as MPEG-2 Audio or MPEG-2 BC) defines audio coding:
* MPEG Multichannel - It enhances MPEG-1's audio by allowing the coding of audio programs with more than two channel ...
(
MP2 and
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
), MPEG-2 Part 7/
MPEG-4 Part 3
MPEG-4 Part 3 or MPEG-4 Audio (formally ISO/IEC 14496-3) is the third part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 international standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group. It specifies audio coding methods. The first version of ISO/IEC 14496-3 was publish ...
(
AAC and
HE-AAC), and
ATRAC
Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to h ...
, and is extensible to support manufacturer-defined
codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or da ...
s, such as
aptX
aptX (''apt'' stands for ''audio processing technology'') is a family of proprietary audio codec
An audio codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream (a codec) that encodes or decodes audio. In s ...
. For an extended list of codecs, see .
While designed for a one-way audio transfer -
CSR has developed a way to transfer a mono stream back (and enable using headsets with microphones), and incorporated it into
FastStream
SBC, or low-complexity subband codec, is an audio subband codec specified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP).Bluetooth SIG, Specification of the Bluetooth System, Profiles, Advanced A ...
and
aptX Low Latency
aptX (''apt'' stands for ''audio processing technology'') is a family of Proprietary software, proprietary audio codec compression algorithms owned by Qualcomm, with a heavy emphasis on wireless audio applications.
History
The original aptX al ...
codecs. The patent has expired
Some Bluetooth stacks enforce the
SCMS-T digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
(DRM) scheme. In these cases, it is impossible to connect certain A2DP headphones for high quality audio, while some vendors disable the A2DP functionality altogether to avoid devices rejecting A2DP sink.
Attribute Profile (ATT)
The ATT is a wire application protocol for the
Bluetooth Low Energy
Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in ...
specification. It is closely related to Generic Attribute Profile (GATT).
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
This profile is designed to provide a standard interface to control TVs, Hi-fi equipment, etc. to allow a single
remote control
In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...
(or other device) to control all of the A/V equipment to which a user has access. It may be used in concert with A2DP or VDP. It is commonly used in car navigation systems to control streaming Bluetooth audio.
It also has the possibility for vendor-dependent extensions.
AVRCP has several versions with significantly increasing functionality:
* 1.0 — Basic remote control commands (play/pause/stop, etc.)
* 1.3 — all of 1.0 plus metadata and media-player state support
** The status of the music source (playing, stopped, etc.)
** Metadata information on the track itself (artist, track name, etc.).
* 1.4 — all of 1.3 plus media browsing capabilities for multiple media players
** Browsing and manipulation of multiple players
**Browsing of media metadata per media player, including a "Now Playing" list
**Basic search capabilities
** Support for Absolute volume
* 1.5 — all of 1.4 plus specification corrections and clarifications to absolute volume control, browsing and other features
* 1.6 — all of 1.5 plus browsing data and track information
** Number of items that are in a folder without downloading the list
** Support for transmitting cover arts through the BIP over OBEX protocol.
** 1.6.1 and 1.6.2 correct minor errors in tables.
Basic Imaging Profile (BIP)
This profile is designed for sending images between devices and includes the ability to resize, and convert images to make them suitable for the receiving device. It may be broken down into smaller pieces:
; Image Push: Allows the sending of images from a device the user controls.
; Image Pull: Allows the browsing and retrieval of images from a remote device.
; Advanced Image Printing: print images with advanced options using the
DPOF DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) is a format which allows the user of a digital camera or other device such as a mobile phone or PDA to define which captured images on the storage card are to be printed, together with information on the number of ...
format developed by
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
,
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
,
Fujifilm
, trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals.
The offerings from th ...
, and
Matsushita
; Automatic Archive: Allows the automatic backup of all the new images from a target device. For example, a
laptop
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
could download all of the new pictures from a camera whenever it is within range.
; Remote Camera: Allows the initiator to remotely use a
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
. For example, a user could place a camera on a tripod for a group photo, use their phone handset to check that everyone is in frame, and activate the shutter with the user in the photo.
; Remote Display: Allows the initiator to push images to be displayed on another device. For example, a user could give a presentation by sending the slides to a
video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signalling (telecommunication), signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens (optics), lens system. Video projectors use a very bright ultra-high-per ...
.
Basic Printing Profile (BPP)
This allows devices to send text, e-mails,
vCard
vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging, NFC ...
s, or other items to
printers
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person or a company
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* Jam ...
based on print jobs. It differs from HCRP in that it needs no printer-specific drivers. This makes it more suitable for embedded devices such as
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s and
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
s which cannot easily be updated with drivers dependent upon printer vendors.
Common ISDN Access Profile (CIP)
This provides unrestricted access to the services, data and signalling that
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Wo ...
offers.
Cordless Telephony Profile (CTP)
This is designed for
cordless phones to work using Bluetooth. It is hoped that mobile phones could use a Bluetooth CTP gateway connected to a
landline
A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...
when within the home, and the mobile phone network when out of range. It is central to the
Bluetooth SIG
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) is the standards organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers. The SIG is a not-for-profit ...
's "3-in-1 phone" use case.
Device ID Profile (DIP)
This profile allows a device to be identified above and beyond the limitations of the Device Class already available in Bluetooth. It enables identification of the manufacturer, product id, product version, and the version of the Device ID specification being met. It is useful in allowing a PC to identify a connecting device and download appropriate
drivers. It enables similar applications to those the
Plug-and-play
In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving reso ...
specification allows.
This is important in order to make best use of the features on the device identified. A few examples illustrating possible uses of this information are listed below:
# In PC-to-PC usage models (such as conference table and file transfer), a PC may use this information to supplement information from other Bluetooth specifications to identify the right device to communicate with.
# A cellular phone may use this information to identify associated accessories or download Java apps from another device that advertises its availability.
# In PC to peripheral usage models (such as dial up networking using a cellular phone), the PC may need to download device drivers or other software for that peripheral from a web site. To do this the driver must know the proper identity of the peripheral. Note that devices are expected to provide some basic functionality using only the Bluetooth profile implementation, and that additional software loaded using the Device ID information should only be necessary for extended or proprietary features. Likewise, devices which access a profile in another device are expected to be able provide the basic services of the profile regardless of the presence or absence of Device ID information.
Dial-up Networking Profile (DUN)
This profile provides a standard to access the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
and other
dial-up
Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...
services over Bluetooth. The most common scenario is accessing the Internet from a
laptop
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
by dialing up on a
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
, wirelessly. It is based on
Serial Port Profile
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
(SPP), and provides for relatively easy conversion of existing products, through the many features that it has in common with the existing wired
serial protocols for the same task. These include the
AT command
AT or at may refer to:
Geography Austria
* Austria (ISO 2-letter country code)
* .at, Internet country code top-level domain
United States
* Atchison County, Kansas (county code)
* The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
set specified in
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of Information and communications technology, information and communications. ETSI supports the developmen ...
(ETSI) 07.07, and
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP).
DUN distinguishes the initiator (DUN Terminal) of the connection and the provider (DUN Gateway) of the connection. The gateway provides a modem interface and establishes the connection to a PPP gateway. The terminal implements the usage of the modem and PPP protocol to establish the network connection. In standard phones, the gateway PPP functionality is usually implemented by the access point of the Telco provider. In "always on" smartphones, the PPP gateway is often provided by the phone and the terminal shares the connection.
Fax Profile (FAX)
This profile is intended to provide a well-defined interface between a mobile phone or
fixed-line phone and a PC with Fax software installed. Support must be provided for ITU T.31 and / or ITU T.32
AT command
AT or at may refer to:
Geography Austria
* Austria (ISO 2-letter country code)
* .at, Internet country code top-level domain
United States
* Atchison County, Kansas (county code)
* The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
sets as defined by
ITU-T
The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Commu ...
. Data and voice calls are not covered by this profile.
Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile (GAVDP)
GAVDP provides the basis for
A2DP
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
and
VDP, the basis of the systems designed for distributing video and audio streams using Bluetooth technology.
The GAVDP defines two roles, that of an Initiator and an Acceptor:
* Initiator (INT) – This is the device that initiates a signaling procedure.
* Acceptor (ACP) – This is the device that shall respond to an incoming request from the INT
Note: the roles are not fixed to the devices. The roles are determined when you initiate a signaling procedure, and they are released when the procedure ends. The roles can be switched between two devices when a new procedure is initiated.
The Baseband, LMP, L2CAP, and SDP are Bluetooth protocols defined in the Bluetooth Core specifications. AVDTP consists of a signaling entity for negotiation of streaming parameters and a transport entity that handles the streaming.
Generic Access Profile (GAP)
Provides the basis for all other profiles. GAP defines how two Bluetooth units discover and establish a connection with each other.
Generic Attribute Profile (GATT)
Provides profile discovery and description services for
Bluetooth Low Energy
Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in ...
protocol. It defines how ATT attributes are grouped together into sets to form services.
Generic Object Exchange Profile (GOEP)
Provides a basis for other data profiles. Based on
OBEX
OBEX (abbreviation of OBject EXchange, also termed IrOBEX) is a communications protocol that facilitates the exchange of binary objects between devices. It is maintained by the Infrared Data Association but has also been adopted by the Bluetooth S ...
and sometimes referred to as such.
Hard Copy Cable Replacement Profile (HCRP)
This provides a simple wireless alternative to a cable connection between a device and a printer. Unfortunately it does not set a standard regarding the actual communications to the printer, so
drivers are required specific to the printer model or range. This makes this profile less useful for embedded devices such as digital cameras and palmtops, as updating drivers can be problematic.
Health Device Profile (HDP)
Health Thermometer profile (HTP) and Heart Rate Profile (HRP) fall under this category as well.
Profile designed to facilitate transmission and reception of Medical Device data. The APIs of this layer interact with the lower level Multi-Channel Adaptation Protocol (MCAP layer), but also perform
SDP behavior to connect to remote HDP devices. Also makes use of the Device ID Profile (DIP).
Hands-Free Profile (HFP)
This profile is used to allow car hands-free kits to communicate with mobile phones in the car. It commonly uses Synchronous Connection Oriented link (
SCO) to carry a
monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
audio channel with
continuously variable slope delta modulation Continuously variable slope delta modulation (CVSD or CVSDM) is a voice coding method. It is a delta modulation with variable step size (i.e., special case of adaptive delta modulation), first proposed by Greefkes and Riemens in 1970.
CVSD encode ...
or
pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the ...
, and with logarithmic
a-law
An A-law algorithm is a standard companding algorithm, used in European 8-bit PCM digital communications systems to optimize, i.e. modify, the dynamic range of an analog signal for digitizing. It is one of two versions of the G.711 standar ...
or
μ-law quantization. Version 1.6 adds optional support for wide band speech with the mSBC codec, a 16 kHz monaural configuration of the
SBC codec mandated by the
A2DP
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
profile. Version 1.7 adds indicator support to report such things as headset battery level.
In 2002
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
, with the
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
, was the first motor vehicle manufacturer to install Bluetooth technology in a car, enabling the passenger to use a wireless in-car phone. The following year
DaimlerChrysler
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
and
Acura
Acura is the luxury vehicle, luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched in the United States and Canada on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. It ...
introduced Bluetooth technology integration with the audio system as a standard feature in the third-generation
Acura TL in a system dubbed HandsFree Link (HFL). Later,
BMW added it as an option on its
1 Series,
3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a line of compact executive cars manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. It is the successor to the 02 Series and has been produced in seven generations.
The first generation of the 3 Series was only avail ...
,
5 Series
The BMW 5 Series is an executive car manufactured and marketed by BMW since 1972, succeeding the New Class Sedans, and currently in its seventh generation.
The 5 Series was initially available as a sedan, with a wagon/estate body style (market ...
,
7 Series and
X5 vehicles. Since then, other manufacturers have followed suit, with many vehicles, including the
Toyota Prius
The is a car built by Toyota which has a Hybrid vehicle drivetrain, hybrid drivetrain, combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Initially offered as a four-door Sedan (automobile), sedan, it has been produced only as ...
(since 2004), 2007
Toyota Camry
The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry ...
, 2006
Infiniti G35
The Infiniti G Line is a series of compact executive cars produced by Infiniti, a luxury division of Nissan, for the 1991–1996 and 1999–2016 model years. The first two generations of the Infiniti G (P10 and P11) were sedans based on the Nis ...
, and the
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
LS 430 (since 2004). Several
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
models (
Versa
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network solut ...
, X-Trail) include a built-in Bluetooth for the Technology option.
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
started introducing support in some vehicles in 2007, and as of 2009 all Bluetooth-enabled vehicles support HFP.
Many Car Audio Consumer Electronics manufacturers like Kenwood, JVC, Sony, Pioneer and Alpine build car audio receivers that house Bluetooth modules all supporting various HFP versions.
Bluetooth car kits allow users with Bluetooth-equipped cell phones to make use of some of the phone's features, such as making calls, while the phone itself can be left in the user's pocket or hand bag. Companies like
Visteon Corp.,
Peiker acusticRAYTEL Parrot SA
Parrot SA is a French wireless products manufacturer company based in Paris, France. It was founded in 1994 by Christine/M De Tourvel, Jean-Pierre Talvard and Henri Seydoux.
Since 2017, it has focused exclusively on drone manufacturing.
T ...
,
Novero
Novero is a company making Telematics products for automotive clients. Novero has customers including Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ford of Europe, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and others.
Founded in 2008 by Romanian entrepreneur Razvan ...
, Dension, S1NN and Motorola manufacture Bluetooth hands-free car kits for well-known brand car manufacturers.
Most Bluetooth headsets implement both Hands-Free Profile and Headset Profile, because of the extra features in HFP for use with a mobile phone, such as last number redial, call waiting and voice dialing.
The mobile phone side of an HFP link is Audio Gateway or HFP Server. The automobile side of HFP link is Car Kit or HFP Client.
Human Interface Device Profile (HID)
Provides support for devices such as
mice
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
,
joystick
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...
s,
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
s, and simple buttons and indicators on other types of devices. It is designed to provide a low
latency link, with low power requirements.
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
controllers and
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
remotes also use Bluetooth HID.
Bluetooth HID is a lightweight wrapper of the
human interface device
A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device usually used by humans that takes input from humans and gives output to humans.
The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Fl ...
protocol defined for
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
. The use of the HID protocol simplifies host implementation (ex: support by
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s) by enabling the re-use of some of the existing support for
USB HID
In computing, the USB human interface device class (USB HID class) is a part of the USB specification for computer peripherals: it specifies a device class (a type of computer hardware) for human interface devices such as keyboard (computing), key ...
to also support Bluetooth HID.
Keyboard and keypads must be secure. For other HIDs security is optional.
Headset Profile (HSP)
This is the most commonly used profile, providing support for the popular Bluetooth headsets to be used with mobile phones and gaming consoles. It relies on SCO audio encoded in 64 kbit/s CVSD or PCM and a subset of
AT command
AT or at may refer to:
Geography Austria
* Austria (ISO 2-letter country code)
* .at, Internet country code top-level domain
United States
* Atchison County, Kansas (county code)
* The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
s from GSM 07.07 for minimal controls including the ability to ring, answer a call, hang up and adjust the volume.
iPod Accessory Protocol (iAP)
iAP and later iAPv2 protocol are proprietary protocols developed by
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
for communication with 3rd party accessories for iPhones, iPods and iPads. Most bluetooth drivers and stacks for Windows don't support the iAP profile since using such protocols requires a
MFi license from Apple and thus is displayed as "Bluetooth Peripheral Device" or "Not Supported Bluetooth Function" in Device Manager.
Intercom Profile (ICP)
This is often referred to as the
walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie, more formally known as a handheld transceiver (HT), is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, ...
profile. It is another
TCS TCS may refer to:
Organisations
* Tata Consultancy Services, an IT company headquartered in India
* Taxpayers for Common Sense, a US nonpartisan federal budget watchdog organization
* TCS Courier, a Pakistani courier service
* Touring Club Suisse ...
based profile, relying on SCO to carry the audio. It is proposed to allow voice calls between two Bluetooth capable handsets, over Bluetooth.
The ICP standard was withdrawn on 10-June-2010.
LAN Access Profile (LAP)
LAN Access profile makes it possible for a Bluetooth device to access
LAN,
WAN or
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
via another device that has a physical connection to the network. It uses
PPP over
RFCOMM to establish connections. LAP also allows the device to join an ad-hoc Bluetooth network.
The LAN Access Profile has been replaced by the
PAN profile in the Bluetooth specification.
Mesh Profile (MESH)
Mesh Profile Specification allows for many-to-many communication over Bluetooth radio. It supports data encryption, message authentication and is meant for building efficient smart lighting systems and IoT networks.
Application layer for Bluetooth Mesh has been defined in a separate Mesh Model Specification. As of release 1.0 lighting, sensors, time, scenes and generic devices has been defined.
Additionally, application-specific properties has been defined in Mesh Device Properties Specification, which contains the definitions for all mesh-specific GATT characteristics and their descriptors.
Message Access Profile (MAP)
Message Access Profile (MAP) specification allows exchange of messages between devices. Mostly used for automotive handsfree use. The MAP profile can also be used for other uses that require the exchange of messages between two devices. The automotive Hands-Free use case is where an on-board terminal device (typically an electronic device as a Car-Kit installed in the car) can talk via messaging capability to another communication device (typically a mobile phone). For example, Bluetooth MAP is used by HP Send and receive text (SMS) messages from a Palm/HP smartphone to an HP TouchPad tablet. Bluetooth MAP is used by Ford in select SYNC Generation 1-equipped 2011 and 2012 vehicles and also by BMW with many of their iDrive systems. The Lexus LX and GS 2013 models both also support MAP as does the Honda CRV 2012, Acura 2013 and ILX 2013. Apple introduced Bluetooth MAP in iOS 6 for the iPhone and iPad. Android support was introduced in version 4.4 (KitKat).
OBject EXchange (OBEX)
Object Push Profile (OPP)
A basic profile for sending "objects" such as pictures,
virtual business cards, or
appointment details. It is called push because the transfers are always instigated by the sender (client), not the receiver (server).
OPP uses the APIs of OBEX profile and the OBEX operations which are used in OPP are connect, disconnect, put, get and abort. By using these API the OPP layer will reside over OBEX and hence follow the specifications of the Bluetooth stack.
Personal Area Networking Profile (PAN)
This profile is intended to allow the use of Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol on
Layer 3
In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, the network layer is layer 3. The network layer is responsible for packet forwarding including routing through intermediate routers.
Functions
The network layer provides the means of transfe ...
protocols for transport over a Bluetooth link.
Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP, PBA)
Phone Book Access (PBA). or Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) is a profile that allows exchange of Phone Book Objects between devices. It is likely to be used between a car kit and a mobile phone to:
* allow the car kit to display the name of the incoming caller;
* allow the car kit to download the phone book so the user can initiate a call from the car display.
The profile consists of two roles:
* PSE - Phone Book Server Equipment for the side delivering phonebook data, like a mobile phone
* PCE - Phone Book Client Equipment, for the device receiving this data, like a personal navigation device (PND)
Proximity Profile (PXP)
The Proximity profile (PXP) enables proximity monitoring between two devices. This feature is especially useful for unlocking devices such as a PC when a connected Bluetooth smartphone is nearby.
Serial Port Profile (SPP)
This profile is based on
ETSI
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...
07.10 and the
RFCOMM protocol. It emulates a serial cable to provide a simple substitute for existing
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such a ...
, including the familiar control signals. It is the basis for
DUN
A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse.
Etymology
The term comes from Irish language, Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), ...
,
FAX
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
, HSP and
AVRCP
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
. SPP maximum payload capacity is 128 bytes.
Serial Port Profile defines how to set up virtual serial ports and connect two Bluetooth enabled devices.
Service Discovery Application Profile (SDAP)
SDAP describes how an application should use SDP to discover services on a remote device. SDAP requires that any application be able to find out what services are available on any Bluetooth enabled device it connects to.
SIM Access Profile (SAP, SIM, rSAP)
This profile allows devices such as car phones with built-in
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
transceivers to connect to a
SIM card
file:SIM-Karte von Telefónica O2 Europe - Standard und Micro.jpg, A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)
file:Sim card.png, A smart card taken from a Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM mobile phone
file:Simkarte NFC SecureE ...
in a Bluetooth enabled phone, thus the car phone itself doesn't require a separate SIM card and the car external antenna can be used.
This profile is sometimes referred to as rSAP (remote-SIM-Access-Profile),
though that name does not appear in the profile specification published by the
Bluetooth SIG
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) is the standards organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers. The SIG is a not-for-profit ...
. Information on phones that support SAP can be found below:
Currently the following cars by design can work with SIM-Access-Profile:
Many manufacturers of GSM based mobile phones offer support for SAP/rSAP. It is supported by the
Android,
Maemo
Maemo is a software platform originally developed by Nokia, now developed by the community, for smartphones and Internet tablets. The platform comprises both the Maemo operating system and SDK. Maemo played a key role in Nokia's strategy to com ...
, and
MeeGo
MeeGo is a discontinued Linux distribution hosted by the Linux Foundation, using source code from the operating systems Moblin (produced by Intel) and Maemo (produced by Nokia). Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances ...
phone OSs. Neither Apple's
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
nor Microsoft's
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
support rSAP; both use PBAP for Bluetooth cellphone-automobile integration.
Discontinued systems
Synchronization Profile (SYNCH)
This profile allows
synchronization
Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...
of
Personal Information Manager
A personal information manager (often referred to as a PIM tool or, more simply, a PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to personal information manag ...
(PIM) items. As this profile originated as part of the
infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
specifications but has been adopted by the Bluetooth SIG to form part of the main Bluetooth specification, it is also commonly referred to as
IrMC
{{Refimprove, date=August 2021
IrMC or Infrared Mobile Communications was an early infrared synchronisation standard for mobile devices that was created and/or pioneered by Ericsson.
According to IrDA, it ''defines easy exchange of business cards ...
Synchronization.
Synchronisation Mark-up Language Profile (SyncML)
For Bluetooth, Synchronization is one of the most important areas. The Bluetooth specifications up to, and including 1.1, has Synchronization Profile that is based on IrMC. Later, many of the companies in the Bluetooth SIG already had proprietary synchronization solutions and they did not want to implement IrMC -based synchronization also, hence
SyncML
SyncML (Synchronization Markup Language) is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as ''Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management''. The purpose o ...
emerged. SyncML is an open industry initiative for common data synchronization protocol. The SyncML protocol has been developed by some of the leading companies in their sectors, Lotus, Motorola, Ericsson, Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Nokia, IBM, Palm Inc., Psion and Starfish Software; together with over 600 SyncML Supporter companies. SyncML is a synchronization protocol that can be used by devices to communicate the changes that have taken place in the data that is stored within them. However, SyncML is capable of delivering more than just basic synchronization; it is extensible, providing powerful commands to allow searching and execution.
Video Distribution Profile (VDP)
This profile allows the transport of a video stream. It could be used for streaming a recorded video from a PC media center to a portable player, or a live video from a digital video camera to a TV. Support for the
H.263 baseline is mandatory. The
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related tec ...
Visual Simple Profile, and
H.263 profiles 3 and 8 are optionally supported, and covered in the specification.1
Wireless Application Protocol Bearer (WAPB)
This is a profile for carrying
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) over
Point-to-Point Protocol over Bluetooth.
Future profiles
These profiles are still not finalised, but are currently proposed within the Bluetooth SIG:
* Unrestricted digital information (UDI)
* Extended service discovery profile (ESDP)
* Video conferencing profile (VCP): This profile is to be compatible with
3G-324M 3G-324M is the 3GPP umbrella protocol for video telephony in 3G mobile networks.
The 3G-324M protocol operates over an established circuit switched connection between two
communicating peers. 3G-324M is an umbrella specification to enable conve ...
, and support
videoconferencing
Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...
over a
3G high-speed connection.
* Tempow Audio Profile (TAP): this new audio profile was presented at Bluetooth World 2017 in Santa Clara. It enables new audio functions, upgrading current
A2DP
In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
profile.
Compatibility of products with profiles can be verified on th
Bluetooth Qualification Program website
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
the official Bluetooth SIG member website
Bluetooth