title: Bluetooth Reader
Get Started
The **Bluetooth reader **means the smart card reader based on Bluetooth technology, which can work for host device which support Bluetooth, for example, your Mobile Phone, PC computer or embeded devices. The device bring the contact slot with bluetooth connector, user can pair the reade to their phone and insert their banking card or eID card to do mobile authentication, identification and payment. Currently, we released three product based on Bluetooth technology, you can find the difference from below.
| Product | Casing number | Bluetooth Technology | Smartcard support |
|---|---|---|---|
| bR301BLE | C45 | Bluetooth Smart | Contact card |
| bR500 | C45F | Bluetooth Smart | Contactless card |
| bR301 | C18 | Bluetooth Classic | Contact card |
We provide the SDK(Software development kit) for interation into your application, which is basic interface allow you do operation the readers, for example, connect/disconnect the card, and check the card slot status, read/write date to the smart card and so on. we provide the source code based on OC, Swift and Java give you a reference, more information, please check the developer guide for iOS/Android/Linux/Windows/macOS.
Here is a example, for the country eID card, you may need get your card specification/COS(chip operation system) manual to learn your card, and send the APDU command to the smart card and get the information that you need. like you can call our API to connect reader and after detect the card, if you found the card, then you can send get your ID card name or address from your ID card.
For the product name, we named lightning reader as bR301, which "b" means Bluetooth, and the R301 is our standard name for contact readers. the "BLE" means Bluetooth Low energy. R500 is our standard name for contactless reader, number 5 is a keyword for all contactless reader.
Introduction
The Bluetooth reader is CCID and PCSC standard product, it supports IOS, Android, PC platform. The product is compact, light and easy to operate, according with Bluetooth low power consumption design to save batteries and using support latest contactless and contact technology, support the world wide range of commonly used NFC card and IC chip card.
Those readers needs work with application, and FEITIAN provide second development library and graphical user interface that allow user to all functions. And for customer can develop their own application based on FEITIAN SDK on mobile platform. For PC platform, it is fully compatible with traditional USB card reader (Micro USB provide with product), if you want using them with Bluetooth connection on PC platform, will need install bluetooth driver on PC platform. or you can buy a Bluetooth CCID dongle from us, it just plug in and play without driver.
Those reader suites customers where security concerns are the most salient and satisfies the demand for a flexible solution for ID authentication, e-commerce, e-payment, information security and access control.
Which platform supported
| Product | Support platform | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| bR301BLE | iPhone/iPad/iPod | Android |
| bR500 | iPhone/iPad/iPod | Android |
| bR301 | iPhone/iPad/iPod | Android |
Specification
Please check the specification from link:
Release notes
Below is the release notes of Bluetooth readers
below is the bR301 release notes
| Reader name | Changes | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| bR301 with 2.00 firmware | First version released based on iAP1 protocol | 2013-2019, EOL early in 2020 |
| bR301 with 3.13 firmware | Second version released based on iAP2 protocol | Release early in 2019, no plan for EOL |
Below is the bR301BLE release notes
| Reader name | Changes | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| bR301BLE with 1.12 firmware | first version released | early in 2017 |
| bR301BLE with 2.22 firmware | the bluetooth module is EOL, need change to a new module. Also change the light means | early in 2019 |
Below is the bR500 release notes
| Reader Name | Changes | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| bR500 with 1.10 firmware | first version released | early in 2017 |
| bR500 with 2.02 firmware | the bluetooth module is EOL, need change to a new module. Also change the light means | early in 2019 |
## Hardware Configuration
The reader bring 4 lights and MicroUSB port, 2xRed, 1xGreen and 1x Blue. You can find their means from below:
bR301BLE/bR500 lights means:
| Item | Means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Red light #1 (from left to right) | N/A | |
| Blue light | Bluetooth connection, flashing means ready to connect. after connect successful, then always ON. | |
| Green light | Inform the card slot status, ON means card present, OFF means card absent | |
| Red light #2 (from left to right) | Battery charging, turn off means battery full |
bR301 lights means
Bluetooth Instructions
Bluetooth can only be used in the case of adapter or battery power supply.
Bluetooth will turn off automatically while USB connection with your PC computer, it won’t disconnect when using Charger/adapter. When the Bluetooth is not connected, the contactless signal will closed.
Notices: Pair issue with iOS device, Apple has rule of mobile device Bluetooth settings, all the BLE device only can found in App, cannot through “Setting”(Bluetooth search panel) to do pair, this is feature from Apple, so if you want do test under Apple mobile device, then please install our App as well.
Notices: After pair with your mobile device, if disconnect Bluetooth connection, the reader will turn off automatically for power saving.
Battery Instrictopms
Capacity of battery - BR301BLE and BR500 using a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, the capacity is 350mAh.
Battery charging - The battery through Micro USB cable to do charging, you can connect charging adapter or PC computer.
Battery life - The battery life is dependent on the usage of the device. Below is an estimate of the battery life depending on the various work conditions:
bR301BLE and bR500:
| Battery Mode | Estimated Battery Life |
|---|---|
| Working Mode | 11 hours |
| Standby Mode | The reader design is maximum saving your battery, after 3mins without any data communication, the reader will turn off |
| OFF Mode | 8 years |
| Time Of Charging Full Battery | 2 hours |
| Battery Warranty | 1 year by default, can talk to sales to ask more warranty on this |
bR301
| Battery Mode | Estimated Battery Life |
|---|---|
| Working Mode | 24 hours |
| Standby Mode | The reader design is maximum saving your battery, after 3mins without any data communication, the reader will turn off |
| OFF Mode | 8 years |
| Time Of Charging Full Battery | 3 hours |
| Battery Warranty | 1 year by default, can talk to sales to ask more warranty on this |
Reader firmware upgrade
Firmware update tool using to upgrade BR500 and BR301BLE firmware, it is for maintain in future. BR500 and BR301BLE apply dual encrypted mechanism. The firmware will have encrypted by UID (User ID), only the right UID firmware can be update by right reader. We will explain UID function later. To using update tool, please check BR500 and BR301BLE SDK.
The reader support upgrade the firmware, you can connect a Micro USB cable to your Windows computer, and download our latest SDK, find update tool to do upgrade the fireware.
Before update the reader firmware, make sure your UID is default, which is all FF or empty, otherwise, please contact your supplier and they may provide to you a encrypted BIN file.
Reader UID Manaugement
The reader has support config the UID(User ID), this function using for distrubuitor, which can make a rules for end user, the UID means user ID, you can through seedcode to generate User ID, and such ID can be read by API, also the firmware encryted based on this ID, if end user wants update firmware, then the firmware must be encrypted with UID, otherwise, the reader cannot be update.
Upload App to Appstore
If your app integrated our SDK, and used our lightning reader, you may need provide below information to us, we will need forward to MFi(Apple MFi(Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod)) to have their approval, after they agreed, then we will provide you a PPID, you will need put this PPID in review notes to let Apple reviewer knows.
1. Name of app as it will appear in App Store:
2. App version:
3. Planned release data?
4. App Store category:
5. Bundle identifier:
6. protocol names:
7. functional overview:
8. name of the developer that will submit the app to the app store