Author: Eric Voskuil 2015-02-06 00:36:13
Published on: 2015-02-06T00:36:13+00:00
In the email conversation, Andy Schroder introduces two proposed BIPs that focus on implementing the payment protocol using Bluetooth connections. The proposed implementation is modeled after Andreas Schildbach's Android Bitcoin Wallet's Bluetooth capability, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to consume less power than standard Bluetooth while sacrificing bandwidth. BLE has a longer range and lower connection latency than BT, making it ideal for payment purposes.Andy had previously researched the question of using Bluetooth for payment protocols and found some available information about the Schildbach implementation. He sees several things that need further discussion in this regard. In contrast, Airbitz's proposal involves tapping an NFC radio with a 5 mm range, which requires less brainpower and time than picking the correct name on the app's screen. However, manual name picking can become challenging in congested locations, making it difficult for payers to figure out what register or payment terminal they are at.The email also highlights some known issues that could be improved in the Bluetooth communication scheme along with the general payment protocol. These include inconsistency in the connection header messages between the payment request connection and the payment connection, unauthenticated Bluetooth connection for Bluetooth 2.1 and newer devices (subject to man-in-the-middle attacks), and no acknowledgment failure message possible in the payment protocol.To address these issues, Andy suggests adding a new optional boolean field to the "PaymentDetails" portion of the "PaymentRequest." This would enable the payer's wallet to match the "Output" optional "amount" fields as the total amount of all outputs rather than requiring the amount for each output to match precisely.Lastly, the email provides links to the goparallel.sourceforge.net website and the mailing list's subscription page. It also includes an attachment named signature.asc, which appears to be an OpenPGP digital signature.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T03:12:47.664325+00:00