Inkjet & Digital Printing
Pocket-sized Printer Packs a Bluetooth Enabled Punch
Wednesday 16. July 2008 - Innovative handheld printer incorporates Cambridge Consultants' Bluetooth software to enable mobile connectivity
A pocket-sized printer with Bluetooth(R) connectivity looks set to take the market by storm, thanks to Cambridge Consultants’ BlueStack(R) and Interface Express(TM) software packages, and their fast integration with the Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) family of Bluetooth chips.
The PRINTSTIK, currently distributed in North America by PlanOn Systems Solutions Inc. and soon available in Europe and other regions, incorporates Cambridge Consultants’ Bluetooth stack on a single BlueCore(R) chip. At barely 48mm x 25mm x 280mm, it offers the smallest full page handheld with self contained paper solution for the mobile executive. Connecting to laptops, PDAs or smart-phones, the 680g, ruggedised device can print up to three pages a minute wherever and whenever needed.
PRINTSTIK’s connectivity is enabled by Cambridge Consultants’ BlueStack software, which uses a wide range of Bluetooth ‘profiles’ from the Interface Express suite to enable application level communication with other enabled devices such as phones, PDAs and laptops. “Cambridge Consultants further optimised both the economy and performance of the PRINTSTIK by fully embedding the BlueStack software onto the BlueCore chip,” explains Tim Fowler, Commercial Director of Cambridge Consultants’ Wireless Division. “This allows the applications to run natively within the chip rather than on a separate host processor, an economy that is only possible because of our strong development relationship with CSR, and the fact that their BlueCore chip contains our own XAP2 processor core.”
PlanOn chose Cambridge Consultants to provide this Bluetooth solution because of its pre-eminent position in wireless design, and because its embedded software stack and application profiles were so easy to integrate in their design. Neal Dass, Manufacturing Director added: “From a commercial perspective, Cambridge Consultants had the ideal model for us, supplying profiles and protocol stack pre-optimised for deeply-embedded applications like ours with limited hardware resources. This flexibility and ease-of-integration, together with the package of full support provided by Cambridge Consultants has enabled us to quickly take PRINTSTIK from concept to production, creating the competitive lead we need in this fast-paced market.”
Tim Fowler concluded: “We are delighted to have played a part in the development of such an innovative device. Both Interface Express and BlueStack have been engineered for portability, and will run on virtually any platform and operating system, or indeed independently of an operating system altogether. The library of application profiles available to OEMs is extensive and includes many key utilities for emerging wireless products outside of the core mobile phone and headset Bluetooth sectors, such as automotive, cordless telephony and, as in this case, printing.”
In addition to providing software tools for developers employing Bluetooth as a peripheral to an embedded system, Cambridge Consultants offers a powerful tool called xIDE for Interface Express for developing hostless, single-chip applications. This provides a development environment for the XAP microcontroller integrated in CSR’s market-leading Bluetooth device family, BlueCore.