What are Bluetooth Profile Definitions?
The Bluetooth technology, which is used for wireless connectivity, was an original concept by the Swedish phone maker Ericsson. Developed in 1994, the Bluetooth technology was a way to connect mobile devices with one another over short distances, typically up to 30 feet. Four years after, in 1998, Bluetooth pioneer Ericsson along with Nokia, IBM, Toshiba and Intel formed the consortium called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in order to come up with a no-royalty and open Bluetooth specification.
Today, over 2000 mobile device manufacturers have joined the group and because of the broad range of devices using the Bluetooth technology, its specification includes all the information necessary to make sure that different devices that support the Bluetooth technology will be able to communicate and connect with each other around the globe.
The Bluetooth Specification document has two volumes- Volume I contains the Core Specification and Volume II contains the Profile Definitions. Bluetooth technology profiles are designed to ascertain the interoperability between applications and devices enabled by Bluetooth and manufactured by different providers.
Bluetooth profile definitions clearly indicate the function and capability of a profile for a specific application type. Take note that a Bluetooth-enabled devices will not be able to interact with each other unless the devices corresponds to a specific profile. The Bluetooth Specifications Volume II lists all the profiles defining specific procedures for Bluetooth. Below are some examples of profile definitions:
Generic Access Profile: this profile defines the procedures for connection, discovering the device and managing links. It also defines security-related procedures and includes common requirements of format for related to use of different security models and common format requirements for user-interface accessible parameters. The above profile definitions suggest that this is most basic profile and that any type of Bluetooth device should be able to support it.
Service Discovery Application Profile: this profile states the features of and methods used by a Bluetooth device application in order to discover particular services that are registered in other existing Bluetooth devices, and then retrieve data that is related to the services.
Synchronization Profile: this profile defines the requirements of an application in a Bluetooth-enabled device that needs to sync information on two devices, or more. Other profile definitions explain the Serial Port Profile, which indicates the requirements for emulating serial cables and using RFCOMM to connect a Bluetooth device.
The list of Bluetooth profile definitions is long, largely due to the fact that defining the numerous profiles is critical to ensuring that vendor implementations worldwide will be 100 percent compatible and Bluetooth devices will be totally interoperable regardless of manufacturer.
