What Bluetooth Will Do for You

You now know that Bluetooth is a technology for wireless connections and communications.

So what? It sounds neat and sufficiently high-tech, of course, but just how will this

technology impact your life?

The Bluetooth SIG—the organization pushing the development and adoption of the Bluetooth

The Bluetooth SIG—the organization pushing the development and adoption of the Bluetooth

technology—has developed several different “usage models.” These models attempt to define

the specific situations where consumers might utilize the Bluetooth technology.

While these usage models are discussed in more depth in Chapter 7, “Inside the Bluetooth

Specification,” here’s a brief overview of how you might be using Bluetooth in the future.

Specification,” here’s a brief overview of how you might be using Bluetooth in the future.

connections between your desktop PC and all manner of peripherals, from keyboards and

printers to scanners and LANs.

Internet connection, either to a mobile phone, portable PC, PDA, or some other portable

device.

(via Bluetooth wireless technology) is between a computer (either portable or desktop) and a

local area network.

device to another—from a PDA to a desktop computer, for example. This general model

creates several other scenarios with more specific uses—including the Forbidden Message,

Briefcase Trick, Interactive Conference, Automatic Synchronizer, and Instant Postcard

models.

PC is still in your briefcase—by transferring the messages, wirelessly, from your PC to your

mobile phone.

to call it the Flight Time With a Purpose model), it really has to do with composing e-mail

messages while on the fly—literally inside an airplane, or anyplace where you don’t have a

live phone or network connection—and then having them sent automatically when you land

(and walk by a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver in the airport).

to share electronic documents, business cards, contact and scheduling information, and

meeting notes with other meeting participants via their portable computers—as well as using

Bluetooth technology to facilitate control of a desktop PC or data projector via a Bluetoothenabled

PDA.

data located on separate Bluetooth-enabled devices are automatically synchronized when the

different devices come into radio range of each other. Thus you could synchronize the

calendar or address book on your mobile phone or PDA with your desktop PC, simply by

walking into your office.

camera are automatically sent over the Internet (via a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone) to a

Bluetooth-enabled personal computer.

different types of telephone services—as a cordless phone connected to the public switched

telephone service (your normal phone service), as a mobile phone connected to a cellular

service provider, and as a type of “walkie-talkie” connected directly to similarly equipped

Bluetooth phones.

headset that enables you to engage in telephone conversations without actually holding a

phone in your hand. This product could be used in the home (the headset acts in the place of a

traditional phone headset) or with your mobile phone—even when your phone is stuck in your

pocket or briefcase.

wireless connection between your cordless headset and your personal computer, to use the

PC’s built-in speaker as a speaker phone.

to a hands-free kit when you get into your car; the Bluetooth mobile phone in your pocket (or

briefcase) will automatically connect wirelessly to the hands-free kit built into your car, and

all dialing and answering is voice controlled.