The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced the adoption of updates to the Bluetooth Core Specification. The updates will improve consumer usability with increased co-existence support for LTE and bulk data exchange rates. The new release will also aid developer innovation by allowing devices to support multiple roles simultaneously, and also lays the groundwork for IP-based connections — extending Bluetooth technology’s role in device communication.
Bluetooth 4.1 is engineered to work cooperatively with the latest generation cellular technologies like LTE. Bluetooth and LTE radios can communicate in order to ensure transmissions are coordinated and therefore reduce the possibility of near-band interference. The coordination between the two technologies happens automatically, with no user configuration or intervention required.
Additionally, the upgrade provides manufacturers with more control over creating and maintaining Bluetooth connections by making the reconnection time interval flexible and variable. This allows devices to reconnect automatically when in proximity of one another. The user can leave the room and upon returning, two recently used devices reconnect without user intervention.
Bluetooth 4.1 extends the Bluetooth Smart development environment by providing product and application developers with even more flexibility to create products that can take on multiple roles. With this new capability, a single device can act as both a Bluetooth Smart peripheral and a Bluetooth Smart Ready hub at the same time. As the Bluetooth Smart ecosystem grows, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group expects more solutions to play both a hub and peripheral role.
Bluetooth 4.1 peripherals will be backward-compatible to the 4.0 spec. Full implementation of the new 4.1 version of Bluetooth depends on the chipset and hardware manufacturer.
