BMW Technology - BlueTooth

Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

Bluetooth wireless technology provides accessible and up to date access to the global information network, even with different pieces of equipment. The idea for Bluetooth was created in 1994 by the Swedish company Ericsson Mobile Communications. The name of Bluetooth was chosen by the inventors of this cable-free technology in order to honor one of their ancestors, the Viking King Harald Blåtand who dedicated himself to the unity of the Scandinavian peoples in the 10th century. The unity of a cable-free network thus commemorates his achievements. Information connections which up to now have been made by means of cables will in future be made without them, including computers, printers, mobile phones, laptops and organizers.

Bluetooth is a radio standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power-class-dependent: 1 metre, 10 metres, 100 metres) based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Bluetooth lets these devices communicate with each other when they are in range. The devices use a radio communications system, so they do not have to be in line of sight of each other, and can even be in other rooms, so long as the received transmission is powerful enough.

With BMW Assist, you have a direct connection to the BMW Assist Response Center, any time, day or night. If you're in an accident, need roadside assistance or have a customer service question, just push a button from within your vehicle to speak with a response specialist. If you're in a serious accident, crash sensors will trigger the system for you. And, if your car is stolen, you can access stolen vehicle recovery services by phone.

In addition, BMW Assist includes:

• TeleService, an exclusive BMW feature that allows your car to communicate its service needs directly to your preferred BMW Center.
• Bluetooth® Hands-Free Calling, which links a compatible Bluetooth® enabled mobile phone to your vehicle for hands-free calling. You can make and answer calls, and browse and select phonebook contacts using steering wheel controls, radio keys or voice commands.

Bluetooth chips can be embedded in electronic devices. These chips have two-way transmitters which can communicate over short distances by means of radio waves. The chips can transmit voices and data over short distances without the use of cables. The chips will have the following features:

• Inexpensive
• Usable internationally
• High rate of transmission
• Low degree of energy consumption
• Ability to correct transmission errors
• Safe encoding functions for sensitive documents
• Devices with Bluetooth chips can be set to automatically find and contact each other when within range

Using Bluetooth Technology, BMW intends to make the automobile into a mobile information platform. The installation of a Bluetooth chip allows simple connections to be made from navigation systems, audio systems and car telephones to other consumer appliances such as laptops, mobile phones and organizers. With the Bluetooth standard, the customer can buy a new piece of equipment at any time and use it in the car without any additional installations.

Bluetooth is in a variety of new products such as phones, printers, modems, and headsets. Bluetooth is acceptable for situations when two or more devices are in proximity to each other and don't require high bandwidth. Bluetooth is most commonly used with phones and hand-held computing devices, either using a Bluetooth headset or transferring files from phones/PDAs to computers.

Bluetooth also simplified the discovery and setup of services. Wi-Fi is more analogous to the traditional Ethernet network and requires configuration to set up shared resources, transmit files, set up audio links (for example, headsets and hands-free devices), whereas Bluetooth devices advertise all services they actually provide; this makes the utility of the service that much more accessible, without the need to worry about network addresses, permissions and all the other considerations that go with typical networks.

A mobile telephone with the appropriate technology could be used at home as a cordless telephone at regular network call rates, away from home as a mobile phone and within range of another Bluetooth telephone as a walkie-talkie free of charge. Or a Bluetooth headphone set automatically makes the connection to mobile phone, laptop, home telephone or car.

You can get into cyberspace via laptop, telephone or mobile phone without any cables.

In the office, the manager will no longer have to check his calendar with the secretary in the morning, the sales rep will not have to update his customer orders from the company network, the service rep will not have to constantly compare her telephone book with the latest lists. With Bluetooth, all computers connect up with each other as soon as you enter the office, taking care of all these tasks on their own. And at conferences, participants can exchange documents between their computers without cable connections.

In the automobile, you can exchange travel route data and additional travel information between the navigation system and a laptop. You can then be reached outside the vehicle to do other tasks. You can make telephone numbers and addresses from the organizer database available via the car telephone or the navigation system. You can update appointments and use the hands-free system of the mobile phone without cable connections, or your kids can watch TV in the rear seat, listen to music on headphones or surf the Internet.

List of applications

More prevalent applications of Bluetooth include:

• Wireless control of and communication between a cell phone and a hands-free headset or car kit. This was one of the earliest applications to become popular.
• Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little bandwidth is required.
• Wireless communications with PC input and output devices, the most common being the mouse, keyboard and printer.
• transfer of files between devices with OBEX.
• transfer of contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices with OBEX.
• Replacement of traditional wired serial communications in test equipment, GPS receivers, medical equipment and traffic control devices.
• For controls where infrared was traditionally used.
• Sending small advertisements from Bluetooth enabled advertising hoardings to other, discoverable, Bluetooth devices.
• Wireless controllers of game consoles—Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 use Bluetooth for their wireless controllers.