I don't have first-hand experience in the programming of one, but in setting up
a Blackberry it did indeed have bluetooth drivers for a modem, as well as audio
playback device and a number of other things. My impression was that there are
certain defined types of devices under bluetooth, which probably dictate the
various hooks a driver would use. The devices seem to be either a DCE or DTE
similar situation when actually connected in a particular connection, so there
should be pre-defined states each will be in depending on role.

For instance, a headset may not be defined to have a dialer, or the audio
stream only goes from 'base' to 'attachment' in a playback mode like
'headphones'. I did see that I could use the blackberry as a headphone with one
driver, and the PC as a speakerphone with another IIRC. Maybe not drivers per
se, but defined devices within the entire app-driver-whatever it installed. It
just had defined roles.

As such, since an earpiece will change the volume displayed on the phone, and
the PC seems capable of taking on almost any role from what I saw installed as
options, I would assume it would know everything normally known for the
respective role it is playing. One could test with an earpiece and dongle.

BTW, Broadcom makes the most popular (I'm told) drivers for PC bluetooth
outside of Microsoft, but at least in the Blackberry case, they were very
incompatible with whatever RIM wrote, and some tricks had to be played to force
it to use the Microsoft bluetooth stack. It probably isn't the only conflict
out there in the bluetooth world, so if something doesn't work, that might be
it as well.

-Skip



On 1/13/2010 2:44 AM, William "Chops" Westfield wrote:
> I am wondering if a bluetooth headset (of the sort sold for cell phone  
> use) can be used as a sort of low-cost low-data-rate wireless  
> connection between a microcontroller and a desktop computer.  My Mac  
> at least will happily detect such a headset and re-route audio to it,  
> which is a good sign, but I'm wondering if I can get more data to/from  
> the headset programatically:
> 
> 1) Can a program use the bluetooth headset as an audio device without  
> making it the default audio input/output path?  (how DO the various  
> popular operating systems deal with multiple audio devices anyway?)   
> My first thought was to implement some simple MODEM to send/receive  
> data sent on the audio stream.
> 
> 2) What about the assorted buttons on most headsets?  Can their status  
> be detected programatically on the desktop side?  I guess this would  
> imply a need for access to bluetooth devices at a level a bit lower  
> than a simple "audio device."
> 
> (PC-side bluetooth dongle: <$10, cheap bluetooth headset: <$10.   
> Bluetooth "serial adapter": $55...)
> 
> Thanks
> BillW
> 
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