The term Bluetooth TM 1 refers to an open specification for a technology to enable short-range wireless voice and data communications anywhere in the world. This simple and straightforward description of the Bluetooth technology 2 includes several points that are key to its understanding:
Open specification: The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has produced a specification for Bluetooth wireless communication that is publicly available and royalty free. To help foster widespread acceptance of the technology, a truly open specification has been a fundamental objective of the SIG since its formation.
Short-range wireless: There are many instances of short-range digital communication among computing and communications devices; today much of that communication takes place over cables. These cables connect to a multitude of devices using a wide variety of connectors with many combinations of shapes, sizes and number of pins; this plethora of cables can become quite burdensome to users. With Bluetooth technology, these devices can communicate without wires over a single air-interface, using radio waves to transmit and receive data. Bluetooth wireless technology is specifically designed for short-range (nominally 10 meters) communications; one result of this design is very low power consumption, making the technology well suited for use with small, portable personal devices that typically are powered by batteries.
Voice and data: Traditional lines between computing and communications environments are continually becoming less distinct. Voice is now commonly transmitted and stored in digital formats. Voice appliances such as mobile telephones are also used for data applications such as information access or browsing. Through voice recognition, computers can be controlled by voice, and through voice synthesis, computers can produce audio output in addition to visual output. Some wireless communication technologies are designed to carry only voice; others handle only data traffic. Bluetooth wireless communication makes provisions for both voice and data, and thus it is an ideal technology for unifying these worlds by enabling all sorts of devices to communicate using either or both of these content types...
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