What Problems It Solves

This library addresses specific pain points when working with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices and Bluetooth SIG specifications.

Problem 1: Standards Interpretation Complexity

The Challenge (Standards Interpretation)

Bluetooth SIG specifications are detailed technical documents that define how to encode/decode data for each characteristic. Implementing these correctly requires:

  • Understanding binary data formats (uint8, sint16, IEEE-11073 SFLOAT)

  • Handling byte order (little-endian, big-endian)

  • Implementing conditional parsing based on flags

  • Managing special values (0xFFFF = “unknown”, NaN representations)

  • Applying correct unit conversions

Example: Temperature Characteristic (0x2A6E)

Specification Requirements:

  • 2 bytes (sint16)

  • Little-endian byte order

  • Resolution: 0.01°C

  • Special value: 0x8000 (-32768) = “Not Available”

  • Valid range: -273.15°C to +327.67°C

Manual Implementation:

def parse_temperature(data: bytes) -> float | None:
    if len(data) != 2:
        raise ValueError("Temperature requires 2 bytes")

    raw_value = int.from_bytes(data, byteorder="little", signed=True)

    if raw_value == -32768:  # 0x8000
        return None  # Not available

    if raw_value < -27315 or raw_value > 32767:
        raise ValueError("Temperature out of range")

    return raw_value * 0.01

With bluetooth-sig:

from bluetooth_sig import BluetoothSIGTranslator

translator = BluetoothSIGTranslator()  # See quickstart guide for setup
result = translator.parse_characteristic("2A6E", data)
# Handles all validation, conversion, and edge cases automatically

✅ What We Solve (Standards Interpretation)

  • Automatic standards compliance - All 70+ characteristics follow official specs

  • Unit conversion handling - Correct scaling factors applied automatically

  • Edge case management - Special values and sentinels handled correctly

  • Validation - Input data validated before parsing

  • Type safety - Structured data returned, not raw bytes

Problem 2: UUID Management & Resolution

The Challenge (UUID Management)

Bluetooth uses UUIDs to identify services and characteristics:

  • Short form: 180F (16-bit)

  • Long form: 0000180f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb (128-bit)

Both represent “Battery Service”, but you need to:

  1. Maintain a mapping of UUIDs to names

  2. Handle both short and long forms

  3. Support reverse lookup (name → UUID)

  4. Keep up with Bluetooth SIG registry updates

Manual Approach

# Maintaining a UUID registry manually
SERVICE_UUIDS = {
    "180F": "Battery Service",
    "180A": "Device Information",
    "1809": "Health Thermometer",
    # ... hundreds more
}

CHARACTERISTIC_UUIDS = {
    "2A19": "Battery Level",
    "2A6E": "Temperature",
    "2A6F": "Humidity",
    # ... hundreds more
}


# Handling lookups
def resolve_by_name(uuid: str) -> str:
    # Short form?
    if len(uuid) == 4:
        return SERVICE_UUIDS.get(uuid) or CHARACTERISTIC_UUIDS.get(uuid)
    # Long form?
    elif len(uuid) == 36:
        short = uuid[4:8]
        return SERVICE_UUIDS.get(short) or CHARACTERISTIC_UUIDS.get(short)
    return "Unknown"

✅ What We Solve (UUID Management)

from bluetooth_sig import BluetoothSIGTranslator

translator = BluetoothSIGTranslator()

# Automatic UUID resolution (short or long form)
info = translator.get_sig_info_by_uuid("180F")
info = translator.get_sig_info_by_uuid(
    "0000180f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb"
)  # Same result

# Reverse lookup
battery_service = translator.get_sig_info_by_name("Battery Service")
print(battery_service.uuid)  # "180F"

# Get full information
print(info.name)  # "Battery Service"
print(info.uuid)  # "180F"

  • Official registry - Based on Bluetooth SIG YAML specifications

  • Automatic updates - Registry updates via submodule

  • Both directions - UUID → name and name → UUID

  • Multiple formats - Handles short and long UUID forms

Problem 3: Type Safety & Data Validation

The Challenge (Type Safety)

Raw BLE data is just bytes. Without proper typing:

  • Errors caught at runtime, not compile time

  • No IDE autocomplete

  • Unclear what fields are available

  • Easy to make mistakes with raw bytes

Untyped Approach

# SKIP: Example demonstrates problems with manual parsing and uses undefined variables
# What does this return?
def parse_battery(data: bytes):
    return data[0]


# Is it a dict? A tuple? An int?
result = parse_battery(some_data)
# No type hints, no validation, no structure

✅ What We Solve (Type Safety)

from bluetooth_sig import BluetoothSIGTranslator
from bluetooth_sig.types.gatt_enums import CharacteristicName

# ============================================
# SIMULATED DATA - Replace with actual BLE read
# ============================================
SIMULATED_BATTERY_DATA = bytearray([85])  # Simulates 85% battery

translator = BluetoothSIGTranslator()
battery_uuid = translator.get_characteristic_uuid_by_name(
    CharacteristicName.BATTERY_LEVEL
)
result = translator.parse_characteristic(
    str(battery_uuid), SIMULATED_BATTERY_DATA
)

# result is a typed msgspec struct
# IDE autocomplete works
# Type checkers (mypy) validate usage
print(result.value)  # 85
print(result.unit)  # "%"

# For complex characteristics
temp_result = translator.parse_characteristic("2A1C", data)
# Returns TemperatureMeasurement msgspec struct with:
#   - value: float
#   - unit: str
#   - timestamp: datetime | None
#   - temperature_type: str | None

  • Full type hints - Every function and return type annotated

  • msgspec struct returns - Structured data, not dictionaries

  • IDE support - Autocomplete and inline documentation

  • Type checking - Works with mypy, pyright, etc.

Problem 4: Framework Lock-in

The Challenge (Framework Lock-in)

Many BLE libraries combine connection management with data parsing, forcing you to:

  • Use their specific API

  • Learn their abstractions

  • Be limited to their supported platforms

  • Migrate everything if you want to change BLE libraries

✅ What We Solve (Framework Lock-in)

Framework-agnostic design - Parse data from any BLE library:

# SKIP: Example requires BLE hardware access and external libraries
from bluetooth_sig import BluetoothSIGTranslator

translator = BluetoothSIGTranslator()

# Works with bleak
from bleak import BleakClient

async with BleakClient(address) as client:
    data = await client.read_gatt_char(uuid)
    result = translator.parse_characteristic(uuid, data)

# Works with simplepyble
from simplepyble import Peripheral

peripheral = Peripheral(adapter, address)
data = peripheral.read(service_uuid, char_uuid)
result = translator.parse_characteristic(char_uuid, data)

# Works with your custom BLE implementation
data = my_custom_ble_lib.read_characteristic(uuid)
result = translator.parse_characteristic(uuid, data)

  • Separation of concerns - Parsing separate from connection

  • Library choice - Use any BLE connection library you prefer

  • Platform flexibility - Not tied to specific OS/platform

  • Testing - Easy to mock BLE interactions

Problem 5: Maintenance Burden

The Challenge (Maintenance Burden)

Maintaining a custom BLE parsing implementation requires:

  • Monitoring Bluetooth SIG specification updates

  • Adding new characteristics as they’re adopted

  • Fixing bugs in parsing logic

  • Keeping up with new data formats

  • Ensuring backwards compatibility

✅ What We Solve (Maintenance Burden)

  • Centralized maintenance - One library, many users

  • SIG registry updates - New characteristics added as standards evolve

  • Community testing - Bugs found and fixed by multiple users

  • Specification compliance - Validated against official specs

  • Version management - Clear versioning and changelog

Problem 6: Complex Multi-Field Characteristics

The Challenge (Multi-Field Characteristics)

Many characteristics have conditional fields based on flags:

Temperature Measurement (0x2A1C):

Byte 0: Flags
  - Bit 0: Temperature unit (0=°C, 1=°F)
  - Bit 1: Timestamp present
  - Bit 2: Temperature Type present
Bytes 1-4: Temperature value (IEEE-11073 SFLOAT)
Bytes 5-11: Timestamp (if bit 1 set)
Byte 12: Temperature Type (if bit 2 set)

Manual Implementation

def parse_temp_measurement(data: bytes) -> dict:
    flags = data[0]
    offset = 1

    # Parse temperature (IEEE-11073 SFLOAT - complex format)
    temp_bytes = data[offset : offset + 4]
    temp_value = parse_ieee_sfloat(temp_bytes)  # Another complex function
    offset += 4

    # Conditional fields
    timestamp = None
    if flags & 0x02:
        timestamp = parse_timestamp(data[offset : offset + 7])
        offset += 7

    temp_type = None
    if flags & 0x04:
        temp_type = data[offset]

    return {
        "value": temp_value,
        "unit": "°F" if flags & 0x01 else "°C",
        "timestamp": timestamp,
        "type": temp_type,
    }

✅ What We Solve (Multi-Field Characteristics)

from bluetooth_sig import BluetoothSIGTranslator

translator = BluetoothSIGTranslator()
result = translator.parse_characteristic("2A1C", data)

# Returns TemperatureMeasurement msgspec struct with all fields parsed
# Handles all flag combinations automatically
# Returns type-safe structured data

Summary: Key Problems Solved

Problem

Manual Approach

bluetooth-sig Solution

Standards interpretation

Implement specs manually

Automatic, validated parsing

UUID management

Maintain mappings

Official registry with auto-resolution

Type safety

Raw bytes/dicts

Typed msgspec structs

Framework lock-in

Library-specific APIs

Works with any BLE library

Maintenance

You maintain

Community maintained

Complex parsing

Custom logic for each

Built-in for 70+ characteristics

Validation

Manual checks

Automatic validation

Documentation

Write your own

Comprehensive docs

What’s Next?