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Hardware-independent
Bluetooth software offers low-cost
platform for next-generation
portable devices
Cambridge Consultants today
launches its Bluetooth v1.2-compliant
Mezoe software, comprising a
protocol stack and extensive
library of application profiles.
Drawing on Cambridge Consultants’
strong pedigree in Bluetooth
and meeting all mandatory and
optional v1.2 specification
features, the highly modular
software offers a hardware-independent
platform for the rapidly-expanding
Bluetooth product market.
The
profiles and protocol stack
- Interface Express and BlueStack
- are optimised for deeply-embedded
applications with limited hardware
resources. The software offers
a highly efficient and simple-to-apply
platform for embedding Bluetooth
at minimal cost, an approach
that has resulted in major success
for the technology - with implementations
on around half of today's qualified
Bluetooth designs.
"Bluetooth is now growing
rapidly in markets outside of
its mobile phone and headset
roots, such as automobiles and
home electronics", comments
Steve Pearce, Software Development
Manager at Cambridge Consultants.
"These are highly cost-sensitive
areas, where factors such as
minimising the hardware costs
and second-sourcing are critical.
This software provides an optimised
platform to support OEMs in
these emerging areas".
The interaction between profiles
and the host application is
reduced through an optimised
API design. For example, a single
API call registers a profile,
providing a multitude of settings
such as security, device visibility
and service discovery records.
Such features minimize the need
to understand Bluetooth protocol
specifications in detail, and
can substantially speed product
development. The Mezoe software
also features a compact and
efficient memory management
subsystem, giving developers
complete control over how much
system RAM is used by the Bluetooth
firmware.
The load on the host's processing
resources is also minimised
by 'zero copy' data transmission
and reception functionality,
which ensures that data is not
copied unnecessarily between
RAM locations. This attention
to detail helps make it easy
to add Bluetooth to existing
designs, and to expand the capabilities
of the Bluetooth system with
minimal impact on the host processor.
Interface Express and BlueStack
have been engineered for portability,
and will run on virtually any
platform and operating system.
Among the processors that the
software has already been ported
to are ARM, HC6811, MIPS, XAP
and V850. The list of operating
system implementations includes
Windows, WinCE, QNX, Linux,
Nucleus Plus and Bare-board.
The software also comes with
its own real-time scheduler,
making it easy to use without
an operating system - providing
significant savings for cost-sensitive
products.
The library of application profiles
available to OEMs is extensive
and includes: BIP, BPP, CTP,
DUN, FAX, FTP, HCRP, ICP, HFP,
HID, HSP, LAN, OPP, PAN, SAP,
SPP and SYNC. This wide choice
includes many key utilities
for realising emerging wireless
products for markets outside
of the core mobile phone and
headset Bluetooth applications,
such as HFP and SAP (Hands free
and SIM access) for automotive
applications, and CTP (cordless
telephony) for home applications.
Further profiles are in development.
Cambridge Consultants is able
to offer Bluetooth design assistance,
including complete turnkey product
design, if required. Its design
partnership with CSR enables
it to write native software
for the market-leading BlueCore
range of chips, giving great
flexibility to create single-chip
designs for new applications.
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