Bluetooth has been around for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean that no one is a beginner when it comes to developing Bluetooth-based products. In fact, due to their recent updates, Bluetooth is becoming increasingly popular as demand for power efficient gadgets and wireless technology is increasing. Smart watches is just one of the many examples out there.

For each and every single one of these devices, you’ll first have to register your new product with Bluetooth-functions built in on Bluetooth SIG’s website. You will eventually register (and pay for) your product based on what version of the Bluetooth protocol that you’re using in the product and do so by purchasing a so called Declaration ID (DID).

Yes, a little exaggeration in the title, but that’s essentially what it comes down to. Bluetooth SIG is doing some major updates and changes to the Bluetooth protocol which includes getting rid of the more outdated versions.

There are quite a few versions of the Bluetooth protocol out there, but nowadays you will basically be advised to choose from 2 versions:
v.4.2 or v.5.0
These two versions would be, as I mentioned in the title, the two current versions of Bluetooth.

Although it might seem very simple at first, there are a few things that you need to understand the content of the announcements to fully grasp what these updates and changes mean. That, my friends, is today’s topic of this post.

Archived specifications

Deprecated and Withdrawn Specifications

When a specification reaches the end of its useful life, the Bluetooth® SIG may choose either to deprecate the specification, ending maintenance and restricting its use, or to withdraw the specification from use.

Bluetooth SIG – https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/archived-specifications

What has changed recently is nothing new, but it’s big. What I mean is that similar changes have been done in the past, but since the market is more dependent on the technology now than before, it matters far more for people when the Bluetooth SIG do the same changes nowadays. Those changes are as follows:

On 01/28/2019, the following policy changes will be enacted:
– Creating new designs that implement deprecated or withdrawn specifications will not be permitted
– New products cannot be added to designs that implement withdrawn specifications
– You cannot pay a $25,000 fee to qualify a new design that implements a deprecated specification
– Purchased but unused $25,000 Declaration IDs will no longer be valid and the cost of any unused $25,000 Declaration IDs will be credited to your account

 

Bluetooth SIG – bluetooth.com

This piece of information tells us that the process of withdrawing specifications comes down to two different steps, namely deprecation and withdrawal.
While deprecation literally means “to stop use", it is in this case the first step in the process of making a certain Bluetooth specification obsolete.
Then there’s a time gap between a certain specification gets deprecated until it’s withdrawn. During this gap, as mentioned above, no new designs can be paid for and/or registered and unused DID’s will be invalid. This is only to prevent new devices with deprecated Bluetooth specifications from being produced. To stop the “bloodline" of those specifications if you will. During this gap, however, you are still able to add new products that implement the same fundamental design (e.g. version updates) as you wish.

After this gap is over, when the specification in question is actually withdrawn, you will not be able to add any new products to any existing designs.

Got it? No? It’s alright. In fact, there’s a lot of information and it’s hard to put into context right away. Just to make things clear, let’s make an example:
Company R is currently developing a new device called RIC which implements Bluetooth 4.0 specifications. For now, everything’s alright and Company R can go right ahead with their developments.
When the Bluetooth core specification 4.0 becomes deprecated in Jan 28th, Company R can no longer come up with new product designs such as RIC-2 since that would count as a new design, but Company R can update their original device RIC as long as they don’t change the physical design.
Then, when the Bluetooth core specification 4.0 is finally withdrawn, Company R cannot update their product RIC anymore AND they cannot register new designs under Bluetooth core specification 4.0.

If you’re a developer who is very familiar with Bluetooth already, this information might already be, as certain people refer it as, “peanuts". If you’re new to the Bluetooth world, however, this is a lot to take in and you might want to read up more about it. We hope this explanation made things clearer for you though 🙂

You can find more info at:
Bluetooth SIG – https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/archived-specifications

Don’t forget that Raytac Corporation’s modules are all pre-certified with FCC, TELEC, IC, CE, RCM, KC and SRRC. The best part is that more is yet to come!
Take a look at our modules on our website: http://www.raytac.com