Is it possible to pair an iDevice to an rs232-bluetooth adapter for the purpose of sending serial commands like it would through an iDevice dock connector to rs232 (just like the Redpark Serial Cable does)? I ask because the company I work for is thinking of having an iDevice control one of our systems for demo. I know it doesn't relate to anything specific but any information would be greatly appreciated.
(See also iPhone to RS-232 via Bluetooth)
Bluetooth modules exists that support MFi (Made For iPhone) such as this one from connectBlue http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-modules/bluetooth-iphone-ios-accessory-module-obs414/ So the standard iPhone Bluetooth stack can make a SPP/RFCOMM connection to that device. That device could be added to a board along with RS232 level-conversion etc... And thus success.
I don't know whether someone sells such a device. The RS232 device that connectBlue sells seems not to support MFi, http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-devices/bluetooth-rugged-serial-port-adapter-rbs433/
Not really. The GameKit is one way to access bluetooth in iOS, but it is very limited in what that API allows you to do.
Depending on what you are building, you might be able to use the Apple Made for iPod program, but it's probably a long shot.
http://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/
The best way to go is probably to design a device that connects via WiFi. I've gone this route, and it worked out well. If you must interface with something with an RS-232 interface, you might design an intermediary "adapter" that connects via WiFi to the iOS device, and via RS-232 to the other device.
If you don't have a need to distribute your app via the App Store, you can use Redpark's iOS serial cable: http://redpark.com/c2db9.html. (Disclaimer, I've never tried one, but according to someone at Redpark, jailbreaking is not required, you just can't distribute your app on the app store.)
You could design a small dongle that attaches via the dock connector, and broadcasts over bluetooth to your other device.
Or you could use WiFi instead of bluetooth... perhaps communicating over WiFi to something that's physically plugged into whatever you want to control.
I worked on a jailbroken app which used BTStack to communicate with a serial device. You might be able to use this for your demo.
If you're still looking to use bluetooth, this helped me out alot to facilitate the standard serial connection for prototyping without jailbreaking:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/bleshield-based-on-bluegigas-ble112-module-p-1367.html
It works on the Bluetooth 4.0 enabled iOS devices and all of the schematic, boardfiles, firmware sources and the iOS App sources are available here:
https://github.com/michaelkroll/BLE-Shield
Related
I want to get data from glucose meter devices by connecting into iPhone or iPad devices. I have different vendors glucose meters some uses simple HID interface for communicate and other uses serial communication.
These are the two possible ways of communication:
USB to 30-Pin connector.
3.5 jack to 30-Pin Connector.
USB or 3.5 jack will be connected to glucose meter and 30 pin connector will be attached with iDevice.
After having hours of research I did not find much help on internet for iOS specific.
I do find ORSSerialPort but I think it is for OS X apps only.
There is RedPark serial Cable but that is for RS232 to 30-Pin communication and secondly that can be only used in internal projects. I want to sell my application on Apple Store.
Someone also was discussing about using IOKit framework. We can communicate with iDevie but that is private framework.
Someone help me with this issue or let me know if that is even possible in iOS application.
Do Apple have any consideration on this type of working?
An iOS device can talk to external devices by following means of communications only:
Wifi
Bluetooth
GPRS &
GSM
USB (Don't exactly know what it is called)
There is no possible way to have RS232 serial port communication with iOS device.
Now What are the options left then?
Get a communication convertor in between your external device & iOS device. It can be
Serial to ethernet adapter
serial to USB adapter etc.
Embedd a wifi/bluetooth module in the external device (If it is being manufactured by you/your firm)
Have something with USB cable & mfi .(Never worked on this, but have seen stuff working with this). By something I meant, register your external device under MFI license & implement USB between devices (Again lack of clarity about USB stuff). Menwhile, I would appreciate edits on my answer by people who might improve it with USB stuff.
Update:
I visited the site of your vendor "glooko". I could not find any clue about them having any libraries for developers. So according to my opinion, they have kept their library private. They don't want you to develop apps based on their communication protocol. If you still need to develop apps for them, contact them here & let them know about your zeal.. M sure they will give you their private code. Anyhow, you don't need to register for any MFI or anything now. What you need is just the code they are using for communication & about that, nobody other than them can help you. So, all the best .. :)
Update 2:
What I understood from your updated question is, you want to create an iOS application that works with various Glucose meters, from different vendors. In a way you can call it as "universal Glucose meter app"
The short and straight answer for this is .."You Can't" . But wait, apple is not responsible for this. Neither it is impossible.
Let me tell you why. When you want your application to talk with a hardware device, there must be a communication channel between you too. You are well aware of those two options available. now, if your app must run on iDevices, the communication channel cables must be registered for mfi. Here that is also not the issue.
What is the issue then?
Different vendons don't generally follow the same communication protocols between their hardware & softwares. What happens if a german commander commands to indian soldier. Obviously, nobody will understand.
So, to achieve your objective, the only way is, you have to include SDK provided by each supported vendors in your app. Let me know if you are not yet clear..:)
There is a device called Lightning Serial Cable, the link is following.Take a look at their SDK.
http://redpark.com/lightning-serial-cable-l2-db9v/
It seems work with your application. I'm also looking for the solution that iOS device can talk to another device via serial port. In PC world, all PC has USB ports, so there is large amount of USB to serial port devices and vendors, such as FTDI and Prolific. I don't know if similar situation happens in iOS world.
Unless you join the Made For iPhone program you can not directly connect anything to an iOS device unless you use Bluetooth or TCP/IP.
I am doing some experimenting with robotics and have a USB servo controller that I would like to connect to my iPad. Does anyone know if it's possible to access USB devices such as this on the iPad? And if so, what mechanisms can I use to talk to it? The servo controller's manufacturer has made the controller's protocol open so if I can talk to it, I should be able to use it.
It is most likley you will not be able to control the servo DIRECTLY form the iphone.
A servo is controller by some sort of "servo-controller"
And this server is controlled using an RS232 interface that accepts commands in some sort of characters or bits.
So I found this rs-232 app that looks interesting on app-store but not sure how to use it?
But you can buy cables like this for iphones and ipads Keep in mind that RS232 and TTL use different voltages.
Instead of getting more hardware for the iPhone / iPad, use the built in Bluetooth and the SPP (Serial Port Interface) with some code and this excellent piece of kit (i use it often it great) This just needs some power (it runs on TTL#9600bps not RS232 so check for voltage compatibility) you pair it and get a proper virtual COM port to communicate over Bluetooth without any special programming! You need to check if you iOS allows you to use SPP Bluetooth Profile. A lot of older iOS devices do not allow much over Bluetooth- so you might need a cable.
There is nice project here on how to use serial on iOS
And here is way to use Bluetooth HID included in most iPhones / iPad with a clever device that re transmits it using Bluetooth SPP .. hehehe - Suck on that Steve
And here on spark fun is a ready product. whatever you type on the iPhone (or using a programme that pushes characters to Bluetooth HID) which get converted to TTL...
You can use the ExternalAccessory.framework and its APIs.
There's also a brief guide on External Accessories.
I am working on a major product release for my company. We are designing a new device that we would like to integrate into an iOS app. (FYI, we have recently been accepted into the Apple MFi program so we are past that step.)
What we desire is to create a hardware/software eco-system where our users can start our iPad app (yes, it is specific to the iPad and the not iPhone or iPod Touch devices) and the application will automatically discover and link up with any close-proximity hardware that we've developed.
This means that I will need to implement some form of device connection process on both the iPad and within the hardware.
Is there any way to code automatic connectivity to a Bluetooth device from within an iOS application?
I am aware of the Core Bluetooth Framework which has this capability, however, it only works with the new iPhone 4S. That's not an option.
I've also researched about the External Accessory Framework, which can be used to connect to external devices whether they are connected via the iPod port or Bluetooth. This is an option but, if my understanding is correct, our hardware must already be paired with iPad before the iOS software can connect to it. This is less than preferable because although many of our devices may not be in immediate vicinity at one point in time, our customers could potentially own 100's devices that they may desire to connect to with our software.
What are my reasonable options or alternatives? The end goal is to provide a very easy means for our users to be able to connect to our devices, from within our software, on an iPad.
NOTE: I MUST NOT jailbreak the iPad or break any Apple TOS agreements.
UPDATE (3-7-2012) I saw today that the 'New iPad' (as it is being officially called) will be Bluetooth 4.0 capable. I assume this means that this iPad device will be able to use the Core Bluetooth Framework. This doesn't immediately solve my problem because we do want remain compatible with at least the "last generation" iPad device, but this is worth pointing out for others who may be looking for such an answer.
You cannot connect an iOS device to a bluetooth device without pairing first. It is purposely built that way by Apple to reduce the likelihood that someone could connect a bluetooth device without the user knowing about it. If pairing each device is unacceptable (and it sounds like it is), and you don't want to develop a dongle, the only remaining path I can see is to make your devices capable of relaying data between them like a mesh network. That way the user would only have to pair with a single device, and that paired unit would relay communications between the other devices and the iPad.
One of your alternatives would be going WiFi (AdHoc or Infrastructure) with Bonjour. For example you would be able to detect the device nearby (if it is maintaining it's own AdHoc then by SSID; if it's in infrastructure network then by service being announced). One big drawback would be that you couldn't connect directly (from app) to the device's network - user would have to do it manually.
As for BT: big drawback is lack of a serial protocol (not implemented in iPhone/iPod/iPad).
I was wondering, if there is a way to use IPhone as an HID device, with some other device like PS3. I checked out the Bluetooth specification and IOS Devices do support HID Profile. So I thought it would be easy to pair my iPhone using passkey mechanism and should be able to start using my iPhone as keyboard or mouse without much hassle. But I found very soon that this assumption is naive and I need to develop custom solution.
I was initially thinking about using GameKit framework, but I think it only works between two compatible IOS Devices. If I want to extend this capability, then I have to use iPhone External Accessory API .In my analysis, I also found that iPhone will only communicate and pair with devices that are licensed by Apple. (Made for iPhone\iPod program). Does it mean that, if I want to use iPhone with another device, I need to get that device approved by Apple. ( Which will not surprise me one bit). Also if someone could point me to more detailed documentation on this, that will also be helpful.( What is an MFI developer board ??)
I do not want a solution that needs me to jailbreak an iPhone. (or any solution that will disqualify my app by Apple).
So to summarize:
1- Please validate my findings, correct them if they are wrong?
2a- How does External Accessory API Work?
b- Can I use this to connect to third party accessories ? (or is this only for accessory developers).
3- Or is there a better solution without using External Accessory API?
Please provide supportive documentation or link if you can. Thank You.
You are unlikely to get on the External accessory program from apple unless you are a big company ( you can try, but I have read this a number of places) . iPhones use a proprietary Bluetooth interface that and hardware must also implement this interface, so not much chance of getting it to connect to any other hardware directly.
Most apps like this (Remote Mouse) for example, connect to your wifi network, and have another application installed on your computer. The iphone can then talk to this application over the wi-fi network, but not bluetooth. I would suggest that the only way I can see this would be possible to to create the server app that you install on a computer on the wi-fi network that then in turn controls the 3rd party device if there is an API that you can use from the desktop app to control the 3rd party device.
This is just what I have found when I researched about this for making an app for iPhone to control a bluetooth watch. I had to jailbreak in the end to replace the bluetooth stack on the iPhone with one that could connect to any hardware device. Not limited by apple.
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.