Thursday, November 28, 2013

iOS Presentation App (iPad & iPhone) By Nordic nRF51822 BLE (BT4.0) Solution

More and more users now are carrying with iPad or iPhone for business or education purpose.
Not only easy carry to travel around but also cloud storage convenience and mobility, both devices now have been widely applied for presentation, conference and meeting.
Especially, with Apple's accessory of VGA or HDMI connector, people are getting much easier to perform the presentation by iPad or iPhone



        
                Apple VGA Connector                   Apple HDMI Connector


Unless people who must have both iPhone and iPad, then can remotely control the scrolling during the presentation.
For users who owned only either iPhone or iPad only, it is really a hard situation since have to stand out of audience and next to the projector of TV in order to control the scrolling on their iPad and iPhone directly.

Presentation is a kind of performance.

The most important key will be the interaction between Speaker and Audience.

To solve this problem and help all speakers to enhance the presentation effect, Raytac Corporation has developed an App which may work with our BLE (BT4.0) presenter.

By the new designed App, people can easily export PPT /Keynote/PDF file by email.or iTunes.
With simple click the App, you then can stand out of the TV or projector, sitting with audience and enjoy a successful presentation with brilliant interaction between.

iOS Presentation App For BLE(BT4.0) Presenter



Raytac Corporation
http://www.raytac.com/products.php?subid=16







Friday, November 15, 2013

Bluetooth ブルートゥース4.0 (BLE) モジュール サイズ VS CR2032 バッテリー

BLE (BT4.0) はエネルギー消費を減らすために設計された物。

よって、沢山CR2032バッテリーを使う製品は、BLEを内部装置として使う。

Raytacの BLE (BT4.0) を早く認識したい場合は、下の写真を御覧下さい。モジュールのサイズは水銀電池と比べると図紙よりわかりやすくなる。




Raytac Corporation
Solution by Nordic nRF51822

Thursday, November 14, 2013

"iBeacon" , the reason why Apple is going to dump on NFC and embrace the internet of things

Quoted from: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/10/with-ibeacon-apple-is-going-to-dump-on-nfc-and-embrace-the-internet-of-things/

What is iBeacon?

Using Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE), iBeacon opens up a new whole dimension by creating a beacon around regions so your app can be alerted when users enter them. Beacons are a small wireless sensors placed inside any physical space that transmit data to your iPhone using Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Smart).
For example, imagine you walk into a mall with an iPhone 5s (comes with iOS 7 and iBeacon). You are approaching a Macy’s store, which means your iPhone is entering into Macy’s iBeacon region. Essentially iBeacon can transmit customized coupons or even walking directions to the aisle where a particular item is located. It can prompt a customer with special promotions or a personalized messages and recommendations based on their current location or past history with the company. Smartphones that are in an iBeacon zone will benefit from personalized microlocation-based notification and actions. 
iBeacon demonstration example mobile shopping

In the age of context, iBeacon can provide the information you needed when it is needed. Just like NFC, iBeacons even allow you to pay the bill using your smart phone. The best part? iBeacon can run for up to two years on a single coin battery and it comes with accelerometer, flash memory, a powerful ARM processor and Bluetooth connectivity. Also, you can add more sensors to iBeacon to provide better context.

Why it might be a NFC killer?

iBeacon could be a NFC killer because of its range. NFC tags are pretty cheap compared to NFC chips, but NFC tags are required on each product because NFC works only in very close proximity. In theory, NFC range is up to 20cm (7.87 inches), but the actual optimal range is less than 4cm (1.57 inches). Also, mobile devices need to contain a NFC chip that can handle any NFC communications. On the other hand, iBeacons are a little expensive compared to NFC chips, but iBeacons range is up to 50 meters. Not all phones have NFC chips, but almost all have Bluetooth capability.

Google’s focus is on NFC; it just added BLE support to Android

Google has been heavily focused on NFC from the beginning and it didn't add platform support for BLE until the release of version 4.3. Lot of the apps that rely on BLE couldn’t release the apps for Android phones. Some Android OEM vendors recognized the need and rolled out their own implementations. Google finally listened to the demand and made it part of Android 4.3. But Google has continued to push on NFC and rolled out the NFC-based Android Beam in Android 4.0.

Apple’s focus on Bluetooth

Apple has avoided NFC, and all the rumors about NFC getting added to iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 are turned out to be false. Instead of NFC, Apple worked on alternatives using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. During the introduction of iOS 7′s AirDrop at WWDC, in June, 2013, Apple’s mobile development chief Craig Federighi said, “There’s no need to wander around the room, bumping your phone,” referring how NFC phones need to be very close to transfer the data.
BLE is the answer to internet of things
To make the internet of things a reality, a sensor’s form factor is very crucial. Size, affordability and internet connectivity are the key factors in a sensor. The possibilities are endless if you could control all sensors these remotely; switching on the AC on the way back home, controlling the refrigerator temperature based on the weather, controlling the room lighting from your smart phone, and so on. Estimote is also working on reducing the size of its beacons so that that they will be more affordable.
Apple has found a smart way to wirelessly transmit data over short distances using BLE. So why do you need to bump your phone with another? Why do you need NFC if you could share the data with anyone in the region with the existing bluetooth technology?
BLE can solve these microlocation data challenges in ways that NFC can’t duplicate.

Apple iBeacon VS. Android NFC

Quote http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/info/2013-09/15/c_132721362.htm

什麼是iBeacon技術?

  通過使用低功耗藍牙技術(Bluetooth Low Energy,也就是通常所說的Bluetooth 4.0或者Bluetooth Smart),iBeacon基站可以創建一個信號區域,當設備進入該區域時,相應的應用程序便會提示用戶是否需要接入這個信號網路。通過能夠放置在任何物體中的小型無線傳感器和低功耗藍牙技術,用戶便能使用iPhone來傳輸數據
舉個例子,假如你帶著一部iPhone 5s(運行iOS 7並支持iBeacon)走入一家大型商場的店鋪,同時這也意味著你已經進入了這家店鋪的iBeacon信號區域。然後iBeacon基站便可以向你的iPhone傳輸各種訊息,比如優惠券或者是店內導航信息,甚至當你走到某些櫃臺前面時,iBeacon還會提供個性化的商品推薦信息。也就是說在iBeacon基站的信息區域內,用戶通過手中的智慧手機便能夠獲取個性化的微型位置信息以及通知。
  結合上面的例子不難看出iBeacon能夠為用戶提供他們所需要的信息,甚至和NFC技術一樣,用戶也能通過iBeacon來完成支付。除此之外,每個iBeacon基站內置有加速度計、閃存、ARM架構處理器以及藍牙模塊,而一小塊紐扣電池便能為一個iBeacon基站提供長達兩年的續航時間。

為什麼iBeacon會成為NFC殺手?

  從技術角度講,更廣的信息傳輸范圍是iBeacon相比于NFC最大的優勢。對于如今的NFC技術,雖然NFC標簽的價格要比NFC芯片便宜得多,但是NFC標簽的理論有效距離只有20cm,而最理想的使用距離只有4cm,範圍可謂非常之小。同時,手機等移動設備必須搭載NFC芯片才能支持NFC通訊。此外,雖然iBeacon基站要比NFC芯片的價格稍微昂貴一些,但是iBeacon的信息傳輸距離可達50m左右,而且如今幾乎每部手機都支持藍牙技術,但卻不一定配備有NFC芯片。

為什麼使用iBeacon的成本並不昂貴?

  讓我們回到前面的那個例子中去,假設一家店鋪的面積為16000平方米左右,而如果每個iBeacon基站的最遠傳輸距離為50m的話,那麼可以覆蓋的面積大約在2500平方米左右,因此這家店鋪只需要購買7個iBeacon基站便能夠滿足要求。

Android :專注于NFC技術

  相比于蘋果來說,安卓似乎更專注于NFC技術。而在使用藍牙技術方面,由于在Android 4.3以前Android係統並不支持低功耗藍牙技術,因此很多需要使用該技術的應用程序無法推出Android版本。而在一些OEM廠商的建議下,安卓終于意識到了這個問題,並最終在Android 4.3中加入了對低功耗藍牙技術的支持。相比之下早在Android 4.0就已經支持NFC技術了。

Apple 的做法:專注于藍牙技術

 在每次新款iPhone發布之前,外界都有人預測新款iPhone將會搭載NFC技術,不過事實證明這都只是外界一廂情願的想法罷了。在iOS 7中,蘋果增加了AirDrop無線分享功能,而Craig Federighi認為“沒有必要為了分享文件而走到某個人的面前,然後僅僅是為了觸碰一下手機”,而這也是蘋果對于NFC技術的看法。

將有一係列新應用誕生?

  從iBeacon的特點來說,該技術很可能會促進一係列室內地圖應用的誕生。由于在室內時,有各種障礙物的阻擋,因此GPS信號非常微弱,因此無法實現導航。這也是為什麼雖然谷歌現在已經建立了部分地區的室內地圖,但是還無法實現室內導航的原因。而這也正是iBeacon技術的優勢所在。
  借助智能手機,用戶可以連接到最近的iBeacon基站,從而獲得該基站的GPS位置信息,從而知道目前所處的地點。當用戶進入或離開某個iBeacon基站的通信范圍時都會收到相應的通知信息,從而實現導航的目的。

低功耗藍牙技術才是將網絡帶進現實的最好方法

  為了讓網絡與現實世界結合到一起,各種傳感器的起到了非常重要的作用。對于一個傳感器來說,尺寸、價格、網絡連接性都是很關鍵的指標。如果能夠遠程遙控各種傳感器的話,那麼傳感器的用途可以說是無窮無盡的。比如在回家的路上開啟家中的電源,根據天氣控制冰箱的溫度,通過手機控制房間的燈光等等。Estimote表示他們正在努力改進iBeacon基站以進一步縮減價格和體積,從而使iBeacon更加實用。
  既然蘋果能夠通過使用低功耗藍牙技術的iBeacon來解決數據的短距離傳輸問題,那麼又有什麼理由讓人們互相觸碰手機呢?而且相比于NFC技術來說,藍牙能夠提供NFC無法實現的功能。