There are about 10 patents protecting Bluetooth technology according to the Centre for Business History in Stockholm, most of which are held by Ericsson. The patent which brings Haartsen his hall of fame acclaim is U. Patent No. The patent discloses a wireless network with a master unit and a slave unit, the master unit being capable of communicating with the slave unit by means of a virtual frequency hopping channel. The invention solved a need for a cost-effective wireless local network supporting both voice and data transmissions by enabling self-organization techniques to make efficient use of limited available radio spectrum.
The patent application was filed in September and was issued by the U. By the end of that year, there were already members. The first Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone, the Ericsson T36 , was brought to market in The following year saw the first Bluetooth-enabled printers, laptops and hands-free car kits. Bluetooth hit the wearable gadgetry wave early with Bluetooth chips implanted within watches and sunglasses in By , annual shipments of Bluetooth-enabled products reached 2 billion worldwide.
At the end of , membership in Bluetooth SIGS had reached 24, members and hit 90 percent penetration into the mobile phone market. Anyone who has followed our coverage of technological trends here on IPWatchdog will probably realize that the ubiquity of the Bluetooth data transmission system puts it squarely into the rapidly expanding Internet of Things sector.
In recent years, Bluetooth has developed the Bluetooth Smart system which improves battery power efficiency, enabling longer usage in devices with small batteries. Everyday objects like shoes, speakers or toothbrushes can be implanted with a Bluetooth Smart chip to connect directly with apps on a smartphone or tablet, making it a pretty valuable communications protocol for IoT technologies.
Bluetooth chips are already installed within a diverse array of things which are available in the consumer tech market. Short-range connectivity has already been used to introduce a collection of wireless computer peripherals like mice or keyboards.
A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a Bluetooth-enabled fingernail trackpad called NailO which allows a user to interact with a mobile phone or computer unobtrusively.
Steve Brachmann is a freelance journalist located in Buffalo, New York. RS was also rather power-hungry for a physical connection, so Bluetooth was built to require much less power. Anonymity was an issue due to compulsory address broadcasting. There were connection problems aplenty.
The 1. Once you factored in real-world performance, longer-range connection quality, and the rather hefty header packets, the actual data rate available to applications was notably slower. The standard originally offered profiles for wireless voice and headsets, dial-up networking, fax, and file transfers. Bluetooth use cases have vastly expanded since those early days.
To name just a few. Today, there is a wider range of supported profiles than ever before and the list keeps expanding. Probably the most common use for Bluetooth in modern products is audio, yet the original standard was never designed for anything close to full bandwidth music. However, the standard earned a reputation for dubious sound quality. Using higher bitrates and better compression methods to improve audio quality.
Bluetooth SIG eventually improved audio quality in the core specification in with the announcement of the LC3 codec and LE Audio protocol bundled into Bluetooth 5. LE Audio also has implications for hearing aids, broadcast audio, and HD voice calling. Although the verdict is still out on LC3 audio quality and adoption, while we wait for products to permeate the market. Want to know more about Bluetooth audio codecs? Check out our deep dive series on the biggest standards in the game:.
Most recently, Bluetooth SIG has been focusing on audio, mesh networking, lower energy profiles, and a longer range for IoT. In summary, the standard is faster and more secure, with more features than ever before.
Bluetooth technology is the wireless constant in all of them, and the key to making IoT solutions accessible to everyone. Learn More. The audio cable was one of the first cords Bluetooth cut. In , the first MP3 player with Bluetooth technology was sold, and in the first Bluetooth Low Energy music players hit the market.
Since then, Bluetooth has forever changed the way we consume media and experience the world. In , the first Bluetooth hands-free car kits were introduced.
Since then, Bluetooth has brought new levels of safety to our roads and more convenience to the in-car experience.
Bluetooth technology is now enabling exciting new use cases that increase fuel efficiency, protect drivers from the effects of fatigue, and better connect cars and drivers to the cities around them. Bluetooth Low Energy LE , introduced in , powers the connected device market. By connecting billions of everyday devices and enabling the invention of countless more, Bluetooth technology is helping make the IoT vision a reality.
Bluetooth technology is making intelligent building automation at scale a reality and is expanding the definition of the smart building by enabling indoor positioning and location services that focus on enhancing the visitor experience, increasing occupant productivity, and optimizing space utilization.
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