I send the text file to multiple devices using the following code,
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
String filePath1 =Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString()+"/filename.txt";
values.put(BluetoothShare.URI, Uri.fromFile(newFile(filePath1)).toString());
values.put(BluetoothShare.DESTINATION,itDevices.getAddress()); values.put(BluetoothShare.DIRECTION, BluetoothShare.DIRECTION_OUTBOUND);
Long ts = System.currentTimeMillis();
values.put(BluetoothShare.TIMESTAMP, ts);
Uri contentUri = getContentResolver().insert(BluetoothShare.CONTENT_URI, values);
I want the same type of code for sending a message. By using the Bluetooth API application when i try to send the message to multiple devices first i connect to a device and send message to that device and again disconnect and connect to another device and send message to another device in this way this goes.
Is it possible to send a message to multiple devices one by one without disconnect the communication ?
Yes, I believe it is possible to exchange messages with multiple Android Bluetoooth devices simultaneously - without disconnecting and reconnecting.
Leaving the Android API aside for starters, Bluetooth definitely allows you to connect to and communicate with multiple devices simultaneously. All Bluetooth connections happen in piconets which include a master and up to 7 slaves. A device can be part of more then one piconet but this is inefficient (the timing of the two piconets isn't coordinated) and can be unreliable, so if you want to connect to multiple other devices you must make sure you are the master.
I've done this sort of thing with BlueZ (the Bluetooth stack on most Linux and Android devices including AOSP) so I can verify that it is fairly straight-forward and works reliably.
However, I've only done one-to-one connections on Android, so I can't say for sure how you control the master-slave assignment there. Android provides much less power and control compared to regular Linux, and it provides no way to directly read or change the master slave role assignment.
In theory, you should be able to control the roles based on the rule that which-ever side initiates the connection will be the master, but I would want to do some testing to see what else might be going on. My concern comes mainly from the possibility that one of the client devices (that you expect to be a slave) might already have a connection to e.g. a headset or keyboard, so when it receives the incoming connection request it might request to switch to master role so it can add your server to its piconet.
What I would suggest is, when you are testing, get access to hcitool on one of your devices (e.g. a Linux box or a rooted Android) and do 'hcitool con' and it will give you a list of the current connections and I think this includes the role. (hcitool is a standard tool on Linux and is included in AOSP.) I guess you could also just use the empirical approach: if you are able to create a bunch of simultaneous connections that work reliably then it doesn't matter much how it works - just make sure you test situations where some of the devices have existing connections to other devices.
Sorry about going on, but I think this is a good question and would be interested to hear from people who have done this on Android. I think I've heard of multi-player Bluetooth games for Android - I wonder if those work reliably.
Simple Answer, It is not possible to send to multiple devices without disconnecting from the current one. Bluetooth API uses One-To-One Connection, which is synchronized itself. So you can not achieve multiple sending using Bluetooth API.
Related
Background
I have an idea for an app on vacation that needs to communicate to other phones with the same app. While on vacation those phones might not all have internet as roaming can be very expensive. The data is not a lot: like 500 kB max would suffice (in json).
Every phone has a bit of info that all the other phones would like to know, but if it helps the info can be stored on 1 phone (master phone from now on) and shared later to the other phones when back home over internet.
Phones
Android, iPhone and Windows Phone
We can't assume they have NFC, IR or zigbee. Just the hardware almost every phone has like bluetooth, camera, microphone etc.
My ideas
QR codes that changes, based on new info: If the first phone is scanned the second phones QR code has data from the 1st phone and itself and the 3rd phone has data from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd (itself) until it reaches that master phone that holds all data.
Data transmission trough sound that we can't hear (or we can). Con is that I don't know if something like this exists for mobile platforms and writing it is like a 3 year master thesis project.
http://nearbytes.com
https://applidium.com
https://developer.chirp.io/
Bluetooth. Can we connect like 8 devices? Would it work consistent (connecting even my headphones can be a hassle, what about 8 phones who try to connect simultaneously)
All of these ideas have big cons. Maybe I'm overlooking a better way.
I will add a bounty to the question for the best solution
An answer that explains it with a little bit of code reference (link is ok) is always better than just: "use bluetooth man"
TL;DR
The easiest (and most supported) way of getting multiple devices to connect to each other is using WiFi. Since your goal is to achieve data transfer with no internet, the most appealing solution would be to use a Peer-to-Peer network structure.
The two major smartphone OS's (Android and iOS) have API's and documentation on creating and transferring data over a Peer-to-Peer network.
Android WiFi P2P
Apple Multipeer Connectivity
These two also have a means to encrypt the data being transferred.
Windows doesn't seem to have an API to allow multiple peers connected, but their Proximity Class will work for one device at a time.
I can give a few outlines over the different options in each major OS:
Android
Android's WiFi P2P (peer-to-peer) API was created for transferring data without internet or another network.
From their documentation:
The Wi-Fi peer-to-peer (P2P) APIs allow applications to connect to nearby devices without needing to connect to a network or hotspot (Android's Wi-Fi P2P framework complies with the Wi-Fi Direct™ certification program). Wi-Fi P2P allows your application to quickly find and interact with nearby devices, at a range beyond the capabilities of Bluetooth.
Google even has Documentation and training on this API.
iOS
Apple's Multipeer Connectivity.
Very similar to Android's P2P API, they claim:
The Multipeer Connectivity framework provides support for discovering services provided by nearby iOS devices using infrastructure Wi-Fi networks, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth personal area networks and subsequently communicating with those services by sending message-based data, streaming data, and resources (such as files).
Here is a decent looking tutorial on using Multipeer Connectivity.
--EDIT--
Another iOS way of doing this, which is a bit of a mis-utilization(?) of the tool, is by using GameKit.
However, I think that to get it to work for your purposes might result in a bit of a hack, since the "players" have to be using Game Center.
Windows
The only way (apparently) to connect phones in Windows Phone, is by using Proximity, however, that only gives you the option of connecting no more than two phones together.
They state:
Proximity is a great way to create a shared app experience between two instances of your app running on two different devices.
Those are options in each of the major mobile device OS's.
App usage could be something like:
Decide which device was going to be the "master", so that other devices can connect to it. It isn't required to know this before deploying the app, but there should be a way for the user to decide whether he is going to be a client (receiving data) or the server (pushing data).
Once it was decided between the group of devices which was going to be pushing data, that device would have to be registered as the server (in the Android P2P API, you can establish a "group owner"), and then start looking for peers by initializing the service.
Then, once the devices are connected to the master device, you can start pushing data. An additional bonus is that when using Android WiFi P2P, all communication is encrypted with WPA2, and with iOS, you can enable encryption using MCEnableEncryption (however they state that is slows down data transfer rate).
Now you would just have to pick one method to go with, and make sure that all the phones ran that OS. Because these three methods of connectivity won't work together.
All of the three methods listed are done programmatically, so there should be no strange or odd things that your user will have to do. Searching for other devices, connecting, and transferring data can all be done within your app.
More help can be provided if the question is narrowed down to specific problems, but this should be enough data to get you started.
Don't try QR or sound. I think it would be very painful to transmit 500kb of data.
Bluetooth seems like a good solution but maybe, as you already said, hard to configure.
What do you think about wifi?
At least every Android and iPhone device can create a mobile wifi hotspot. By using this, you can easily setup a environment where 8 devices are in the same LAN (without using the internet by any of your devices).
Now your "master phone" runs a simple server to synchronize data (just like an internet server would do). Every of the seven clients could receive the ip adress of you master by scanning a simple QR code or sending a short message and afterwards configure itself accordingly.
Have you checked Alljoyn?
As quoted:
"Developers can write applications for interoperability regardless of transport layer, manufacturer, and without the need for Internet access"
You can create a Wifi connection between your devices. Than after connection it creates local network between your devices. Inside this network you, of course, can interact between your devices using TCP/IP connection. It works both on Android and iOS. Simply lauch your app as server on the one device
EDIT
Note, you have to connect your devices using any network. It is possible to connect the devices by initializing your device as WiFi-router. It can be both Android and iOS. If it is possible, you can connect your devices to any wifi connection.
Than, launch your app as Server-socket, the others as clients.
for Android (java) server use this link:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/networking/sockets/clientServer.html
try (
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(portNumber);
Socket clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
PrintWriter out =
new PrintWriter(clientSocket.getOutputStream(), true);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));
) {
for android device client:
try (
Socket kkSocket = new Socket(hostName, portNumber);
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(kkSocket.getOutputStream(), true);
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(kkSocket.getInputStream()));
)
The same idea is for iOS (Objective-C):
server
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/NetworkingTopics/Articles/UsingSocketsandSocketStreams.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/CH73-SW8
and client:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/NetworkingTopics/Articles/UsingSocketsandSocketStreams.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/CH73-SW4
A better way could be use Ble.
It's easiers to connect the phones because you don't need user confirmation.
Seems like you can connect up to 20 devices Maximum number of peripherals on CoreBluetooth?.
To transfer 500KB should require few minutes (may be between 2 and 5).
You can track an Android device without Internet via GPS.
Connection without The Internet:
SMS
USSD
DTMF (very slow)
How to design a tracking device on USSD is mentioned at
M2M IoT Cookbook
How to develop a device based on Wireless Wide Area Network modules
You also can use the Android phone as a data logger and store under the Micro SD Card and read the card by:
Replacing the SD card to your PC
Streaming the data local by Bluetooth
Forwarding the data at home by Wi-Fi
Or Possibly:
Your app can use SMS API to transmit the DATA or other SOURCES.
I am trying to provide an application which sends multiple data between two different devices via NFC. For ex: device1 sends "date" comment and device2 gets the comment via NFC communication and then device2 checks the comment coming from device1. For device2, "date" means date of today and then device2 sends response message (such as 23.05.2013 14:21:45) at the same time. Not only "date" comment, but also the other comments should be used for the communication. For ex: when device1 sends "who are you" comment via NFC, device2 should send "i am Alice's device" at the same time. Is it possible? Can i make such a communication between two different devices at the same time? Thank you for your help.
Sending data via Android Beam in response to a received NDEF message transfered via Android Beam is not possible.
Technically the protocol Android Beam is built upon (LLCP) allows bi-directional data exchange on roughly 240 logical channels at the same time. This capability is just not exposed to Android applications.
You can hope for an API update, but I wouldn't wait for it. A hidden API for this existed in Android 2.3.3 but was later removed for some reason.
As Nils said - via NFC alone, this is not possible due the the limited Android API.
However, I am aware of one way of achieving it by using connection handover. Essentially, the NFC communication is used to send some credentials to the other device that allow the two of them to connect over Bluetooth.
The EasyNFC library claims to achieve this bluetooth functionality. I gave it a try and I think I was able to set up a socket, but never properly tested it. I didn't find it too reliable and I did not want the addition of bluetooth in my application, nor the use of the "Touch-to-beam" UI.
I have an android app, it does the following:
Connects with a server to read and update a database at the same time as others.
I want to convert this to an app that does not need an internet connection. Therefore i would like to know if its possible to have an android device acting as the server with the database, whilst multiple phones connect to it via bluetooth getting and updating the information in the database?
Thanks
Yes. It possible.
However all of your devices will have to be located nearby, so they can connect to each other through bluetooth.
You can take a look at Android Bluetooth API.
However, my recommendation would be to use Wifi instead of Bluetooth. YOu will need additional WiFi router. However, you won't need to deal with Bluetooth API in such case.
You will only need to write a server on one of Android device and the rest of devices will work the same (as now)
There are a few options to doing so, that don't involve a server. Both of them require a slightly different approach than both devices connecting to a server.
Wi-fi Direct- Only available with Android 4.0+.
Bluetooth
Personally, I have been using the Bluetooth option, and not found it terribly difficult. Essentially, you have to do the following to make it work.
Have one of the devices listen for a connection. If it is unpaired, you will have to make the device discoverable.
The second device needs to initiate a connection. It can do this by looking at the known devices and trying to connect to one, or listening for a new device
After the two devices connect, they must initiate some kind of a communication protocol. The communication is essential a serial connection.
Blue-tooth requires that the devices be within about 10 m of each other. Wi-fi direct will allow somewhat further, but as mentioned, is less supported. It is possible to allow for both communication methods, but is somewhat challenging.
Is it possible to set up the Android Bluetooth Chat sample app to connect more than one person at a time, and have a mini chat room? What would that entail?
tl;dr version: Bluetooth sucks for this, don't use it, use wifi instead, probably backed by a web backend.
I have investigated this issue thoroughly throughout the years in the interests of a social wireless network research project. My general advice is: it doesn't work with more than two / three people. Bluetooth just isn't designed with wireless peer to peer networks in mind.
In general, it seems that the cheap Bluetooth controllers included on Android devices (especially HTC's devices, iirc) don't really handle any more than two or three connections at a time. I'm unsure if this is a hardware or firmware problem, but I can recount some basic anecdotes. I was working to implement this idea at the SDK level (i.e., without firmware modifications) around the beginning of 2011, and was able to get a peer to get two additional connections (i.e., three devices, each connecting to the other two) to work for a period of a few minutes to an hour before the connections would suddenly die and the socket would become unusable, requiring reconnection. Unfortunately, 20 minutes was an upper bound, and generally it was impossible to get connections to more than one other device at all reliably.
The goal of the project was to support multiple people interacting with each other silently in the background, but this never materialized, instead we ditched Bluetooth and went with wifi instead, which worked much much better. In the abstract, I think people view Bluetooth as a possible medium for reliable peer to peer communication, but it wasn't really designed that way: it's more of a medium used for short range communication between small devices (think headsets).
Be aware that if you want to do this, the maximum number of devices to which you can connect is fixed, because as per the Bluetooth spec, a piconet supports a maximum of seven devices. (See the wikipedia article.)
The required change is simple: you use a different UUID for each device. This can be implemented a number of ways, using an out of band exchange mechanism, or simple scheme where you assign UUIDs in an increasing fashion and when connecting to the network, try each in succession.
Here are some relevant Google groups threads:
Bluetooth peer to peer networks
Multiple connections on Android Bluetooth
I remember posting a more elaborate one detailing how to do this (with code) that I might dig up as well.., if I can find it. It should be from late 2010 or early 2011.
So the answer is, in the abstract, yes, you can try to do this, by using multiple UUIDs (after you use one, that's it, and you have to try another using some assignment protocol). However, in practice, after a lot of trial and error, this doesn't really work for what you probably want to use it for, and it's a lot better to go with an internet backend instead. By the way, this is also good for another reason, most users don't really like to turn on their Bluetooth for fear of their battery being drained..
Leaving this here, in case it helps someone else.
I was able to make my custom chat room following official bluetooth tutorial and modifying it a little.
Unfortunately, I cannot provide most of my code, but main idea is:
Every device is acts both as server and as a client. When Chat is started, device starts its server thread. Server thread is the same as official but doesn't ends when accept connection. It just keep listening.
Client thread is identical as in tutorial.
Both server and client thread manages connection same. I created separated threads for accepting messages following this tutorial and one for sending them.
private void manageConnectedSocket(BluetoothSocket socket) {
//create thread responsible for sending messages.
SendingThread w = new SendingThread(socket);
MainActivity.addSendingThread(w);
//Creates listener for messages to accept.
MainActivity.addListener(socket);
}
Now in main activity always when user click send button, for each worker (sending thread) send message to remote device. Listening is running asynchronously.
IMPORTANT:
You need to handle exceptions when message send fails and remove sending and recieving thread for device when you detect it is disconected. In my case I used well known UUID "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb". For every device.
You need to wait 3 second between atempts to connect as client because some devices has weak bluetooth hardware and it is refusing connect as client.
Bt connection is supporting up to 7 -10 connections. So you will be limited in that range. I think it is designed for extensions of main device and not for random comunication
Source: search "bluetooth programming" on google
I have two Android devices. One is acting as a server and the other as a client. The client connects to the server and requests a file - this is done in one thread on the client and one thread on the server so that both can continue doing what they want.
The client then attempts to connect to the server again to request another file. Right now I am getting a java.io.IOException: Device or resource busy when attempting to connect (socket.connect()). Is it because Bluetooth (on Android) only allows one channel between two devices? (if it were another device it would work but if it is the same it doesn't ?) Note that both attempts are made with the same service name and UUID.
Even if the error is specific to my code, I would like to know if this is the case or not.
System: android 2.2.1 communicating with the bluecove bluetooth library.
Definitely not with the same UUID(universally UNIQUE Identifier).
Reference for that was taken from here
Maybe with more than one. You can connect multiple devices in the Server/Client style, you can try to set one of the devices as a server and start several clients on the other. My first guess would be to start several client threads, but you might have to find a way to change the MAC address for each of them.
Here you can find another discussion about how to change your mac address, but only works in rooted devices. I can't find anything else for non rooted ones. No idea on how to do this programmatically but it might give you a start.
Here there is a discussion about connecting several clients at the same time in a server. I got there from this question. ( I think this might be your closest shot)
Here you have a discussion about peer-to-peer networks.
AFAIK, multiple connectivity is not possible in case of Bluetooth Connection. Bluetooth is Connectivity API is by default Synchronized so only one connection at a time is possible. So you can not perform multiple connections.
However it can be possible in another way like making one connection , performing 2 seconds operation on it and then creating another connection and performing 2 seconds operations like in normal multitasking operating system happens.