rules for manufacturer specific advertisement data

[NorBLE]

Hello,

Are there any rules for how to use the manufacturer specific ID in a beacon-format advertisement? For example:

In this example:

byte 0-2: 02 01 06 = flag for undirected unconnectable advertisement

byte 3: 1A = length

byte 4: FF = indicates "MANUFACTURER_SPECIFIC_DATA"

byte 5-6: these two bytes are special company ID's registered with the SIG. 004C (or 4C00) is for Apple.

byte 7 - end: anything you want, it's manufacturer specific data

OK, so if I advertise a beacon <02 01 06 1A FF>, can I use what ever manufacturer ID I want? Even if it belongs to Apple or Microsoft? Are there rules regarding the use of <02 01 06 1A FF> type Beacons and whether or not you have to be a manufacturer that's registered their ID with the Bluetooth SIG?

[RK]

Go here developer.apple.com/.../ and agree to Apple's (short) licensing agreement and download the spec. Apple used to require that anyone implementing an iBeacon enrolled in the MiFi program (iBeacon specific part) in order to use their manufacturer id, however they've loosened that up considerably and just agreeing to this allows you to use it provided you comply with all the other requirements.

Note however that 'byte 7 - end ; anything you want' isn't quite true. In order to use Apple's manufacturer id you must use their full packet format, so bytes 7 and 8 must be 0x02 and 0x15 respectively, 9-24 are considered a proximity UUID (in practice you can put what you like there but iOS devices will see those bytes as a UUID), 25-26 the major and 27-28 the minor numbers and finally 29 the measured power.

There are also stipulations on the payload type and advertising interval.

You can't technically use anyone else's manufacturer ID, they all 'belong' to a bluetooth SIG licensee or they aren't issued yet (and belong to the BT SIG). If you actually get to the point of manufacture and need to qualify the device, you'll fail if you use a random manufacturer id.

[NorBLE]

Ah, I should've been more specific. I wasn't going for iBeacon specifically. I'm just using non-directed not-connectable advertisement, and I'm using the AD Type "FF" for manufacturer specific data. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple if I use this format, right? I don't need to conform to the specifics of iBeacon.

But that's a good point regarding qualifying with the BT SIG. I guess they won't let me get away with using someone else's company ID. Is that the only way in which this is enforced, through BT qualification?

[RK]

Don't see where else they could enforce it - it's a public spectrum you can send what you like. But if you want to sell a BTLE device you have to qualify and pay them lots of money, so I'm assuming they won't qualify the use of a random manufacturer id.

[Hung Bui]

@NorBLE: According to the spec (CSS 7 here) the first 2 bytes of Manufacturer Data have to be Company ID. You may risk not passing BT qualification (the profile sub-qualification) if the advertising packet doesn't conform the spec.