User's Manual
Bluetooth Software Suite User’s Manual
32
Bluetooth COM ports
General information
What is a Bluetooth COM port?
Physical communications (COM) ports are used
when two serial devices are connected by means
of a cable. A Bluetooth COM port, however, is a
virtual COM port providing a wireless alternative
to a physical one. Bluetooth COM ports make it
possible to connect to almost any Bluetooth
enabled serial application (legacy application) that
would otherwise have been connected using a
cable and a physical COM port.
Some profiles require a Bluetooth COM port
As Bluetooth links are wireless, you need no
physical COM port to connect to a remote device.
However, in connection with some of your local
profiles, you need a Bluetooth COM port. This
provides an address, so to speak, needed by your
legacy application to establish a link to a remote
device.
Note: Most users need not worry about
Bluetooth COM ports at all; the default settings
ensure that you can use all your Local Services
without having to make any Bluetooth COM port
settings.
The following services are supported by profiles
that are associated with a Bluetooth COM port:
• DUN (Dial-up Networking Profile)
• FAX (Fax Profile)
• LAN (LAN Access Profile)
• Default business card (OBEX Object Push)
• File transfer (OBEX File Transfer)
Furthermore, the Serial Port Profile is used in
connection with Bluetooth COM ports.
Except for the Serial Port Profile, the above-
mentioned profiles are associated with the
Bluetooth COM ports 7, 8, and 9 by default. You
can change these settings, if you like. For more
information, see the section “Bluetooth COM port
settings”.
New Bluetooth COM ports and interoperability
Some users may want to add one or more
additional Bluetooth COM ports to the computer.
This is necessary if you want to make use of the
Serial Port Profile, for instance to use a serial
application like HyperTerminal to transfer data
between two Bluetooth enabled computers.
The same profile must be associated with the
local Bluetooth COM port and the remote one you
want to connect to. Therefore, before you can
establish a serial Bluetooth COM port link to a
remote device, you must associate the Serial Port
Profile with a Bluetooth COM port, and then add
the Bluetooth COM port to your computer. For link
establishment to be possible, the remote device
must have a Bluetooth COM port with the Serial
Port associated with it, too.