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We already know what Apple's iBeacon BLE advertising packet looks like without having to sign away your first-born to read the spec. Here it is: ff 4c 00 02

by guelo 13y ago

We already know what Apple's iBeacon BLE advertising packet looks like without having to sign away your first-born to read the spec. Here it is: ff 4c 00 02 15 # Apple's fixed iBeacon advertising prefix <Your 16 byte iBeacon proximity uuid> 00 00 # major 00 00 # minor c5 # The 2's complement of the calibrated Tx Power Anybody can build such a BLE device and market it as "Compatible with iPhone". The question is if Apple will try to to go full-asshole and claim copyright of that packet structure or something ridiculous like that.

bryanpaluch 13y ago
Apple doesn't have to claim copyright. They can simply make sure your iBeacon proximity uuid doesn't get registered with the OS if you aren't a certified vendor. No uuid registration with the OS and people using your app will not get a background notification for your iBeacons. This would leave app developers with only having the ability to detect beacons when their app is foreground, or during background processing time. Note: There are no checks like this today. You can advertise any UUID you want, and have your app subscribe for notifications if the os detects the iBeacon in the background.
loceng 13y ago
Unfortunately it's likely they will go "full asshole" as Apple is a controlled ecosystem.
- gress 13y ago
  If you don't tell us why you think it would be in their interest to do so, your comment is meaningless.
  - loceng 13y ago
    "... as Apple is a controlled ecosystem."
    - gress 13y ago
      What does that mean? Where is this idea defined? How do we know this? What are the alternatives?
      - loceng 13y ago
        Good questions. I'm sorry though I don't have time to reply in depth. The opposite of controlled is managed IMHO.
nathancahill 13y ago
The first two characters of the fixed prefix are "ÿL", most likely referencing YL Ventures [0], an investor in Upstream Commerce (a real-time intelligence startup). [0] http://www.ylventures.com/ http://www.ylventures.com/
- HL3Confirmed 13y ago
  FF4C0002150 in Binary? 11111111010011000000000000000010000101010000 Number of 1s in that? 15 Number of spaces in the fixed iBeacon prefix? 5 15 / 5? 3 HL3 Confirmed. That's what you sound like.
corresation 13y ago
They can patent the specifics of the exchange, similar to how ActiveSync (the web services API that Exchange uses) is patented.
MichaelGG 13y ago
What stops someone from just spamming popular beacons? Or is there a full authenticated handshake?

by guelo 13y ago

bryanpaluch 13y ago

Apple doesn't have to claim copyright. They can simply make sure your iBeacon proximity uuid doesn't get registered with the OS if you aren't a certified vendor. No uuid registration with the OS and people using your app will not get a background notification for your iBeacons. This would leave app developers with only having the ability to detect beacons when their app is foreground, or during background processing time. Note: There are no checks like this today. You can advertise any UUID you want, and have your app subscribe for notifications if the os detects the iBeacon in the background.

loceng 13y ago

Unfortunately it's likely they will go "full asshole" as Apple is a controlled ecosystem.

gress 13y ago
If you don't tell us why you think it would be in their interest to do so, your comment is meaningless.
- loceng 13y ago
  "... as Apple is a controlled ecosystem."
  - gress 13y ago
    What does that mean? Where is this idea defined? How do we know this? What are the alternatives?
    - loceng 13y ago
      Good questions. I'm sorry though I don't have time to reply in depth. The opposite of controlled is managed IMHO.

nathancahill 13y ago

The first two characters of the fixed prefix are "ÿL", most likely referencing YL Ventures [0], an investor in Upstream Commerce (a real-time intelligence startup). [0] http://www.ylventures.com/ http://www.ylventures.com/

HL3Confirmed 13y ago
FF4C0002150 in Binary? 11111111010011000000000000000010000101010000 Number of 1s in that? 15 Number of spaces in the fixed iBeacon prefix? 5 15 / 5? 3 HL3 Confirmed. That's what you sound like.

corresation 13y ago

They can patent the specifics of the exchange, similar to how ActiveSync (the web services API that Exchange uses) is patented.

MichaelGG 13y ago

What stops someone from just spamming popular beacons? Or is there a full authenticated handshake?