Bluetooth Remote to control phone functions

[Kingdombuilde]

I want to to make a remote control for my phone. I want to control certain functions without touching my phone. How difficult will it be to accomplish this. I don't have a lot of bluetooth knowledge except that it works with high frequency waves but to really get to the root of it, is it an extensive project or is this something that can be pretty simple to accomplish.

I want to be able to turn on my Windows Media Player and control volume, track functions, and so on...

Do we have a bluetooth guru in the house?

Thank you, in advance for your comments and suggestions...

 

[MATLABdude]

One side of this might be pretty simple: Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) does a lot of the low-level work for you on the host side of things, and gives you things like cursor movements or keystrokes (e.g. hot keys for Windows Media Player):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_profile#Human_Interface_Device_Profile_.28HID.29

The downside: that's purely on the host side. You're responsible for the stuff that happens on the remote (and for building the remote in the first place). But there are developer kits and serial to bluetooth converters that may help to abstract some of that.

But the bigger question is why you'd turn your one hand-held portable device into two (especially when your remote may be bigger than the phone in the first place!) If you still wish to do this, another possibility is using the irDA port (assuming your phone has one) along with a TV/VCR/universal IR remote--sort of the reverse of what usually happens where people use the irDA ports of their PDAs / phones to control their TVs, VCRs, etc.

 

[Kingdombuilde]

I have my phone connected to an external speaker system. I want to be able to control it without being next to it. Especially the track functions and such.

Making the remote itself is not going to much of a problem, but understanding the how to transmit the necessary frequency is where I'm sort of baffled. I would appreciate any help that I can get. Man this site is awesome.

Thank you very much for you attention...

 

[MATLABdude]

I have my phone connected to an external speaker system. I want to be able to control it without being next to it. Especially the track functions and such.

Making the remote itself is not going to much of a problem, but understanding the how to transmit the necessary frequency is where I'm sort of baffled. I would appreciate any help that I can get. Man this site is awesome.

Thank you very much for you attention...

Normally, you (as a hobbyist or even a developer) wouldn't build that sort of thing from scratch. If you go to your nearest well-stocked Internet electronic components retailer (e.g. Digikey, Mouser, etc.) and typed in 'Bluetooth' you'll get development boards and ICs that take care of the low-level stuff for you (you just need to provide it the stuff to transmit, and configuration--usually through some parallel or serial interface). You'll also need to figure out how to make use of the HID stuff on your phone (if possible--probably, especially if it's a Windows Mobile or Palm unit).

Good luck!

 

[Kingdombuilde]

Thank you for your advice and attention to this matter.