I really need to know whether a iOS device can transfer a huge file to a embedded OS device through USB via my app. It is like the embedded os device has only a usb port. So is it achievable like the file transfer happens through the iOS device's data cable, through iOS USB programming?
In order to use the 30 pin or Lightning connectors on an iOS device you will need to join the Mfi program and use MFi chips in your embedded device, so the short answer is probably "no".
Related
Environment
Windows Desktop
iOS8.* USB Connected to the Desktop machine
libmibiledevice
C++
Use-case
Desktop to programatically Simulate an iOS HID keyboard.
With Android this can be achieved using the AOA2 protocol, Does an equivalent exist for iOS? ( one that doesn't req HW implementation or re-packaging/hacking )
Your best bet is to not go down the USB path but rather use Bluetooth as iOS devices have support for pairing Bluetooth keyboards with them. Any "real" Bluetooth keyboard can be paired with an iOS device, so assuming you can get another system to simulate a Bluetooth keyboard, you should be able to get it to pair with your iOS device.
A quick search turned up this question which might be of interest to you:
Is it possible to make a computer behave as a bluetooth HID device?
I have a specific requirement to communicate an iOS device with a wifi/bluetooth enabled device. At this moment, I'm confused with some points and requires an expert advice.
Can I use adhoc wifi method for communicating? but in this case, can I connect to another network? On my research, I found no so I'm opting for Bluetooth.
If I go in bluetooth communication,
Do the device need MFI licensing or can we use classic bluetooth?
From few blogs I found out that Bluetooth low enrgy devices with 4.0 can be used to communicate with ios without licensing. Will this work?
PS: My requirement is to send strings of data to and fro from the ios and other wifi/bluettoth enabled devices.
An iOS device can only be connected to a single Wi Fi network at a time, so an Ad-hoc network connection probably won't work for you.
If you join the MFi program you can use the Wireless Accessory Configuration (WAC) feature to simply the process of connecting your device to the user's existing network.
If you use Bluetooth Low Energy/Bluetooth Smart/Bluetooth 4.0 then you don't need to go through the MFi program, but you are limited to iPhone 4S and later and iPad 3 and later. If you use "classic Bluetooth" (Say Bluetooth 2.1 Serial Port Protocol) then it will work with all devices but you need to go through MFi.
Bluetooth Low Energy isn't great for high data volumes (say video streaming) but is fine for smaller amounts of data (you talk about "strings" so it will probably be suitable for you).
The other advantage of BLE is that it is independent of the iOS device's Internet connection so the user can cary the BLE device around and maintain communication regardless of their WiFi connection.
Aim
I want to pass data from iOS device to a PC using Bluetooth. The data should look as a keyboard input to the desktop. I have been doing some background research about the same and thought of using any HID keyboard emulator dongle. One can pass the data over using the Bluetooth and the dongle will show it as keyboard input to the PC.
Outcome of some related research:
Initially I tried to pair an ios device with a windows PC directly. I was unsuccessful. After some research and reading many questions, it turns out that an ios device can only be paired with a MFI( Made for ipad/ipod/iphone) compliant device/accessory, i.e those which have signed NDA with Apple and have joined the MFI program. It can also ofcourse be paired with a Mac.
Question:
With the release of Bluetooth 4.0, it seems that this restriction
can be overcome and it can be paired with any device compliant with
BLE 4.0. Is it so?
If one can use a Bluetooth to HID keyboard emulator dongle using BLE 4.0, is it possible to pair an iOS device which support BLE 4.0 with it and how?
Has anyone tried any particular HID keyboard emulator dongle supporting
BLE 4.0? If yes then any preferences. I came across Bluegiga USB Dongle but not sure if it will solve the purpose.
I would be thankful for your input.
Even with a Bluetooth 4.0-compliant device, communication via standard ("high energy") Bluetooth with an iOS device is still only allowed with MFi-compliant devices. Bluetooth Low Energy communication with iOS devices is the part that's now completely open and unrestricted by Apple. If you wish to send data to another computing device (Windows, Mac, Android, etc.), Bluetooth LE is what you're going to need (short of someone reverse-engineering the Bonjour over Bluetooth PAN connections).
As of iOS 6.0, iOS devices can make themselves look like Bluetooth LE peripherals, so desktop computers set up as Bluetooth LE central devices can connect to them. You could put together your own profile for communication, since you'd control the iOS and Windows sides of things, or you could make your iOS device mimic a standard keyboard, heart rate sensor, etc.
As far as compatible dongles, the answers to this question list several Bluetooth LE dongles that are known to work with Core Bluetooth on the Mac. The CSR ones seem to be the most frequently cited there and among other people I've talked to. I can't speak for Windows support, but I'd assume there would be driver support there, and I hear Windows 8.1 expands support for Bluetooth LE.
I do have the BLED112 (the Bluegiga USB dongle), and that shows up as a comm port when its drivers are installed. You might talk to that in a slightly different way than you would one of these other Bluetooth LE dongles. I know Bluegiga uses it on the Windows side to capture a little more data than I think you'd normally get from one of these other dongles. The other dongles might present a more universal interface for interacting with Bluetooth LE on the Windows side.
I'm looking into the iOS sdk for examples of the ExternalAccessory framework to use the iphone/ipad as an USB device that can be plugged into a PC or Mac and present as external device (like a midi controller or something else)
The App i want to create requires connecting to a host (PC or Mac) the iphone via USB or bluetooth and present to the host a functionality. How can i implement this?
You'll probably have an easier time connecting via WiFi. You need to be part of the Apple Made for iPhone program, which is not easy to get into, to use Bluetooth or the dock connector to talk to peripherals. There's no such restriction on the use of WiFi. Also, you'll find a lot more helpful examples of connecting via WiFi on the web.
CoreMIDI is the appropriate API for emulating a MIDI device, which may be possible over USB using Apples Camera Connection kit.
I am planning to develop an iPhone application to transfer files/data to/from my Windows Desktop using Bluetooth.
Please let me know whether the programming interface(SDK)is available in iPhone SDK for this purpose.
In Windows Mobile, I can transfer the file either using a FTP profile or writing application on top of Serial Port Profile(RFComm).
Can anybody tell me, whether this can be possible with an iPhone by writing appropriate application. If not, please let me know alternative way to transfer files/data over bluetooth from iPhone to a Windows Desktop PC.
No, FTP or SPP bluetooth profile are not open in iPhone...
If you get into the made for ipod program, you might develop a bluetooth dongle for a computer (it can't use the normal one built into the computer as it needs a custom apple chip for encoding). This is the only method that could do something like what you want over bluetooth and get your app into the app store. You can implement a similar functionality more readily over wifi.
Yes you can. Use the Human Interface Device profile, and have your USB device pretend to be a keyboard. You can then have your app receive text input from the "keyboard". simply encode your data as ASCII encoded hex or base 64 and transmit. Whether or not your app would be allowed in the app store is a different matter.
There are 2 requirements to use iOS BT Classic for data transmission over RFCOMM.
1) You need to be enrolled in Apple MFi program.
2) The BT accessory which will be connected to iPhone needs to have a special HW chip called "MFi Coprocessor".
Both requirements need to be satisfied if you are developing FW for the BT accessory.
The latter one is required when you are coding iOS app.
BTW, you will not be able to communicate with Windows machine unless you have a BT dongle with MFi chip inside - see the second requirement.