Bluetooth Audio Gateway

[Mr. Milk]

NEED:
I want to use my PC as a bluetooth headset, that is, receive and place calls (with MPE) using my PC's microphone and speakers.

WHAT TO DO:
Setup bluetooth software (Windows, WidComm) to use Audio Gateway.

PROBLEM:
You can't have 2 bluetooth connections for the same 2 devices at the same time. So, if you start audio gateway MyPhoneExplorer can't dial or ring.

CURRENT SOLUTION:
Plug your phone to the PC using a USB cable and setup MPE to use this USB connection. Start bluetooth audio gateway.

MY PROPOSITION:
MPE could use a bluetooth connection and start Audio Gateway through a COM object, when needed. This could be automatically done right after dialing or ringing.

HOW:
Dim bluetooth as Object, service_name as String, device_address(6) as Byte
Set bluetooth = CreateObject("BTStackServer.BTHSPApi")
service_name = "Telephony Audio Gateway"
device_address = GetDeviceAddr()***
bluetooth.HSPConnectGatewayUuid device_address, service_name, &H1112

COMMENTS:
The code above (vb, vba, vbscript) starts the Audio Gateway bluetooth service in Windows Vista (which uses widcomm stack). I'm not sure if the service name would be "Telephony Audio Gateway" in other stack versions.

There is NO NEED to stop the service. Windows will automatically stop the audio gateway as soons as MPE tries to connect again, as long as there is no call in place.

The GetDeviceAddr() function would have to be built. The value needed is just the device address, which can be retrieved from the bluetooth enumeration api. Maybe MPE already has that internally.

MY TESTS:
I compiled this small code into a exe file and assigned it to a custom button in my notebook. I keep MPE connected through bluetooth. Everytime the phone rings, MPE throws a popup with the caller id. If I want to answer, I just press the custom button. Windows start audio gateway and I get audio through PC's mic and speakers. After hanging up, MPE reconnects and takes control of the phone again. Similarly, when I want to make a call, I simply go to MPE, dial the number and press the custom button right after it.

So, this is my suggestion (and wish) for a future MPE version.

Thanks and congrats for the great work.

Mr. Milk

P.S. I'm sorry. I just realized that there is a sticky thread for wishes and feature requests. Moderator, feel free to move the topic.

[FJ]

Thanks for the tips and code, but i think you missed one thing:
- Its possible to start more than one Bluetooth-Service at the same time if you disable "Save energy" in the Bluetoothsettings of the phone. I think all models since the K750 series support multiple BT-Services

Besides this your code would work only with the Windows-Stack. I don't want to make MPE "Bluetooth-dependend". The serial connection is universal but the BT-Stacks have diffrent APIs (Bluesoleil, Widcomm under WinXP, Widcomm under Vista,....)

[Gast]

Thanks for the tips and code, but i think you missed one thing:
- Its possible to start more than one Bluetooth-Service at the same time if you disable "Save energy" in the Bluetoothsettings of the phone. I think all models since the K750 series support multiple BT-Services

Besides this your code would work only with the Windows-Stack. I don't want to make MPE "Bluetooth-dependend". The serial connection is universal but the BT-Stacks have diffrent APIs (Bluesoleil, Widcomm under WinXP, Widcomm under Vista,....)

Thanks for answering FJ.

I have not missed the save energy option. I turned it off but with the audio gateway on, MPE takes a very long time to connect and "talk" to the phone. But the main problem is that audio gateway is automatically disconnected every time MPE accesses the phone (as I described before). Mine is a W810.

Since you don't want to add this option to MPE, you could at least add something like "run this after ring", "run this before dialing", "run this after dialing", where the user could start an external program.

This command line option would be even better if you could additionally pass the caller/called id to the command line as a parameter. It would be possible to create an add-on to popup the related contact record on a contact manager/CRM, for example.

[FJ]

There are already Handlers for this, please take a look at the german Tweaking-FAQ

[Mr. Milk]

There are already Handlers for this, please take a look at the german Tweaking-FAQ

That's absolutely great news. I'm all set then, no more wishes!

Thanks FJ!

[abou-]

I'm using windows vista - Do you have a link so that i can download drivers to use my computer as an audio gateway? If i dont need additional drivers, can u explain to me how i can make my phone see my PC as a headset?

[Mr. Milk]

I'm using windows vista - Do you have a link so that i can download drivers to use my computer as an audio gateway? If i dont need additional drivers, can u explain to me how i can make my phone see my PC as a headset?

I'm using Vista x64 with a HP Compaq notebook. At first, my notebook did not have the Telephony Audio Gateway option available in the bluetooth setup. I then uninstalled the HP bluetooth software/device driver and googled for a newer broadcom driver. After installing it, I got the audio gateway working. Unfortunately, I can't give you more details and links right now. The HP notebook died yesterday (no relation to new driver). So, it may take a week or two before I get it back.