Use cases of indications - When is it better to use indications over notifications?

RE: Use cases of indications - When is it better to use indications over notifications?

Andy — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 10:33:33 GMT

Thanks!

RE: Use cases of indications - When is it better to use indications over notifications?

ovrebekk — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:57:44 GMT

Hi Andy

That is correct. It is up to the application on the client side to decide when to send the confirmation that the indication has been received. You don't have to do it right away.

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Use cases of indications - When is it better to use indications over notifications?

Andy — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 14:20:35 GMT

Hi Torbjørn,

so if I understand correctly it is possible for the indication to not be acknowledged over multiple connection intervals? For example, a peripheral sends an indication to a central and the central sends the acknowledgment a minute later?

If that's the case, I didn't know and I now understand the usability of indications :)

RE: Use cases of indications - When is it better to use indications over notifications?

ovrebekk — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 13:24:42 GMT

Hi Andy

You summarize the differences perfectly, and the short answer is that if you don't know a reason to use indications you should probably just stick to notifications. They are quicker, more power efficient, and are still guaranteed to reach the target because of the link layer ACK (assuming the link doesn't break completely of course).

Indications can be useful in situations where you want to start some time consuming operation on the client side, and you want to restrict the ability to send more data or commands while the current operation is running. The client can send a response to the indication once the operation is complete, and is guaranteed not to receive any new commands before this, since you can only have one indication pending at the time.

Best regards
Torbjørn