Why is Bluetooth called "Bluetooth"? Can't it be called White Fang?

As a fashion technology youth, there are so few products in life that enhance personal temperament. Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth mouse, Bluetooth speaker, smart bracelet... Just buy one, even if you haven't started using it, you will I feel that life is rapidly improving, and the technological attributes are instantly bursting.

Bluetooth tampon produced by a foreign company

We are all too familiar with the term Bluetooth. But you talk about bluetooth and use bluetooth all day long, so what is bluetooth?

This has to start with a Danish king. Bluetooth, which is actually a short-range wireless communication technology, is a global open standard for wireless transmission of voice and data. But why is bluetooth so "blue"? This can be traced back to the head of the Danish king Harald Blåtand in the 10th century AD. King Harold, who ruled Denmark from about AD 958 to 986, was able to fight well, put an end to the age of piracy, and unified what is today Norway, Sweden, and the vast Nordic region of Denmark.

King Harold Bumetat | wikipedia

The Danish Blåtand translated into English is Bluetooth, so the king is also called Harald Bluetooth. There are many versions about the origin of this name. One legend is that the king liked to eat blueberries, which caused his teeth to be stained blue; some historians speculate that one of the king's teeth was necrotic, which looks like a blue.

In 1996, Ericsson, Nokia, Toshiba, IBM and Intel planned to form an industry association to jointly develop a short-range wireless connection technology. The development team hopes that this wireless communication technology can coordinate and unify the work of different industrial fields like the bluetooth king. Hence, the technology is named Bluetooth. The logo of Bluetooth is the combination of the ancient Norse characters ᚼ and ᛒ, which is the co-writing of the initials HB of the Bluetooth king Harald Blåtand. With this magical symbol, the story of the Danish king really lives on.

The meaning of the bluetooth logo

Why should I use bluetooth when I have WiFi?

It is also a short-range communication technology, and Bluetooth will inevitably be compared with WiFi technology. So what's the difference between them?

Bluetooth and WiFi are inevitably compared

First of all, in terms of usage, we often use multiple devices to connect to the same WiFi to access the Internet. This is a one-to-many connection method, while Bluetooth is a point-to-point data transmission between two devices. connection method. From this aspect, the data security of Bluetooth is higher.

Secondly, because Bluetooth uses a microstrip antenna, it is small in size and easy to integrate into the device, and the cost of the Bluetooth module is very low, so the penetration rate of Bluetooth devices is very high; but WiFi devices need a separate network card and routing equipment. High cost and high power consumption.

In some scenarios, Bluetooth is more suitable than WiFi. For example, friends in Shanghai often use a software called "Metro Metropolis" when they take the subway.

Shanghai local treasure

In order to protect the safety of passengers' property and prevent the QR code from being stolen, this software requires users to turn on Bluetooth when using it, so that the gate and mobile phone can authenticate each other, and the gate will be opened only after the verification is passed. Assuming that the software uses the network or WiFi for authentication, if the passenger's mobile phone is not in good condition at the time, it will affect the passenger's entry and exit. In this case, using Bluetooth for security authentication is a more appropriate solution.

Does turning on bluetooth drain battery?

But if you turn on Bluetooth to take the subway, will it consume the battery of your phone like crazy? To figure this out, you also have to understand the new advances in Bluetooth technology.

There are two types of Bluetooth we use at present, traditional Bluetooth and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). Traditional Bluetooth uses a point-to-point communication method. This communication method is a continuous connection scheme. It is generally used in scenarios with a large amount of data, such as Bluetooth headsets, speakers and other audio devices. This is the connection method.

Listening to songs with bluetooth earphones relies on the traditional bluetooth connection | Oriental IC

BLE is Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Compared with traditional Bluetooth, the biggest advantage of BLE is that the search and connection speed is very fast and the power consumption is low. It only takes about 3ms for BLE to complete a connection (scanning devices, establishing a connection, sending data, etc.), and it will quickly switch to the "non-connected" state after the task is completed, reducing power consumption to the greatest extent. However, the physical bandwidth of BLE is only 1M, and the data transmission rate is low, so BLE is generally used for devices with high real-time requirements but very small data packets, such as keyboards and remote controls.

Bluetooth low energy technology is generally used in devices such as Bluetooth keyboards | Oriental IC

Take "Metro Metropolis" as an example, this software uses BLE technology. When a passenger passes through the gate, the software can quickly establish a connection with the gate and complete the authentication through BLE. This process is almost invisible to the passenger and will not increase the waiting time for passengers to enter and exit the gate. Moreover, due to the use of BLE technology, Metro only needs to send a small segment of data packets to the gate. After the authentication is completed, the Bluetooth quickly enters the "non-connected" state, which greatly reduces the power consumption, and the power consumption is not enough for the mobile phone. Said to be negligible.

"Huh" and it's over | Oriental IC

Whether it is commuting to work, listening to music in the subway, or working wirelessly, the use of Bluetooth technology has made our lives more convenient. The next time you turn on bluetooth, don't forget to thank the engineering romance from northern Europe and the Danish king in the distant Viking age