Home » FAQ » IDBLUE Signs N4 Systems Inc. as IDBLUE.HF Authorized Reseller / What is Bluetooth SPP and HID? Which device version do I need?

IDBLUE Signs N4 Systems Inc. as IDBLUE.HF Authorized Reseller / What is Bluetooth SPP and HID? Which device version do I need?

When connected via Bluetooth, our devices are configured to use one of the following Bluetooth predefined profiles:

  • Serial Port Profile (SPP) – The IDBLUE device is configured using the Bluetooth serial port driver that can send and receive commands using our IDBLUE API. This allows:
    • total UI control and access to all features
    • integration with any 3rd party application
    • ability to read the Tag ID or read/write to the tag’s user memory
    • requires our IDBLUE API to communicate with our device.
  • Human Interface Device Profile (HID) – The IDBLUE device is configured using the Bluetooth HID driver as an input device that can only send specific tag information of the first successful tag scanned as text output when the Action Button is pressed. Because the device is not configurable over Bluetooth and operates similar to a keyboard wedge, it doesn’t need extra development time for integration and works “out of the box” using existing Bluetooth drivers for many host OS’s (including Google Android, Apple iOS,  RIM Blackberry, MS Windows, etc…).  When scanning tags, the device will output:
    • HF tags – the Tag ID.
    • UHF tags – the EPC code from the EPC memory bank.

Available Communication Methods

Bluetooth:

If you need to just scan the Tag ID/EPC  code into an application, we recommend our IDBLUE HID Bluetooth versions of the IDBLUE.HF and IDBLUE.UHF reader without any additional software needed. If you need to integrate more functionality over Bluetooth, we recommend our IDBLUE SPP Bluetooth versions of our IDBLUE.HF or IDBLUE.UHF readers which will require our API via our IDBLUE SDK to control the device.

NOTE: If you want to use our SPP Bluetooth version as a keyboard wedge:

  • Microsoft Windows –  you can download our IDBLUE Keyboard Sender for Windows available on our Device Drivers and Software page.
  • Google Android – you can download our IDBLUE Keyboard Wedge for Google Android on our Device Drivers and Software page.
  • Apple iOS – Due to OS limitations and restrictions, a keyboard wedge for iOS is not available.

USB:

Both types of our devices operate the same when connected over USB via Windows using our IDBLUE USB driver for Windows and have access to the full feature set of our readers.

For more information, you can contact our IDBLUE Sales team to see what device is the best match for your requirements.

Posted in: Bluetooth Questions, IDBLUE Questions