Bluetooth Glossary

A

• Ad Hoc Network
  A network typically created in a spontaneous manner. An ad hoc network requires no formal infrastructure and is limited in temporal and spatial extent.

B

• Bluetooth wireless technology
  Bluetooth wireless technology is a wireless communication link, operating in the unlicensed ISM band at 2.4 GHz using a frequency hopping transceiver. It allows real-time AV and data communications between Bluetooth enabled hosts. The link protocol is based on time slots.
• Bluetooth Enabled Device
  A Bluetooth enabled device is a device that is capable of short-range wireless communications using the Bluetooth system.
• Bluetooth Host
  A Bluetooth Host is a computing device, peripheral, cellular telephone, access point to PSTN network or LAN, etc. A Bluetooth Host attached to a Bluetooth Controller may communicate with other Bluetooth Hosts attached to their Bluetooth Controllers as well.

C

• Connecting
  A phase in the communication between devices when a connection between them is being established.
• Connection Establishment
  A procedure for creating a connection mapped onto a channel.
• Coverage Area
  The area where two Bluetooth enabled devices can exchange messages with acceptable quality and performance.

D

• Device Discovery
  A procedure for retrieving the Bluetooth device address, clock, class-of-device field and used page scan mode from discoverable devices.
• Discoverable Device
  A Bluetooth enabled device in range that periodically listens on an inquiry scan physical channel and will respond to an inquiry on that channel. Discoverable device are normally also connectable.

E

• Encryption
  Method of encoding data to prevent others from being able to interpret the information.

L

• Link Establishment
  A procedure for establishing the default ACL link and hierarchy of links and channels between devices.

P

• Pairing
  The process of establishing a new relationship between two Bluetooth enabled devices.
• Passcode
  When pairing devices, it is strongly recommended to use a passcode to authenticate incoming connections. Also, in certain connection situations you may desire additional assurance that you are connecting to the device or person you expect. A passcode can normally be any combination of keys (letters or numbers).
• Personal Area Networking Profile (PAN)
  PAN describes how two or more Bluetooth enabled devices can form an ad-hoc network and how the same mechanism can be used to access a remote network through a network access point. The profile roles include the network access point, group ad-hoc network and personal area network user.
• Piconet
  A collection of devices occupying a shared physical channel where one of the devices is the piconet master and the remaining devices are connected to it.
• PIN
  A user-friendly number that can be used to authenticate connections to a device before paring has taken place.

R

• Range
  Area that a Bluetooth enabled radio can cover with signal. This area can be affected by many different factors.