IOException: read failed, socket might closed - Bluetooth on Android 4.3

Question

Currently I am trying to deal with a strange Exception when opening a BluetoothSocket on my Nexus 7 (2012), with Android 4.3 (Build JWR66Y, I guess the second 4.3 update). I have seen some related postings (e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13648373/bluetoothsocket-connect-throwing-exception-read-failed), but none seems to provide a workaround for this issue. Also, as suggested in these threads, re-pairing does not help, and constantly trying to connect (through a stupid loop) also has no effect.

I am dealing with an embedded device (a noname OBD-II car adapter, similar to http://images04.olx.com/ui/15/53/76/1316534072_254254776_2-OBD-II-BLUTOOTH-ADAPTERSCLEAR-CHECK-ENGINE-LIGHTS-WITH-YOUR-PHONE-Oceanside.jpg). My Android 2.3.7 phone does not have any issues connecting, and the Xperia of a colleague (Android 4.1.2) also works. Another Google Nexus (I dont know if 'One' or 'S', but not '4') also fails with Android 4.3.

Here is the Snippet of the connection establishment. It is running in its own Thread, created within a Service.

private class ConnectThread extends Thread {

    private static final UUID EMBEDDED_BOARD_SPP = UUID
        .fromString("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB");

    private BluetoothAdapter adapter;
    private boolean secure;
    private BluetoothDevice device;
    private List<UUID> uuidCandidates;
    private int candidate;
    protected boolean started;

    public ConnectThread(BluetoothDevice device, boolean secure) {
        logger.info("initiliasing connection to device "+device.getName() +" / "+ device.getAddress());
        adapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();
        this.secure = secure;
        this.device = device;

        setName("BluetoothConnectThread");

        if (!startQueryingForUUIDs()) {
            this.uuidCandidates = Collections.singletonList(EMBEDDED_BOARD_SPP);
            this.start();
        } else{
            logger.info("Using UUID discovery mechanism.");
        }
        /*
         * it will start upon the broadcast receive otherwise
         */
    }

    private boolean startQueryingForUUIDs() {
        Class<?> cl = BluetoothDevice.class;

        Class<?>[] par = {};
        Method fetchUuidsWithSdpMethod;
        try {
            fetchUuidsWithSdpMethod = cl.getMethod("fetchUuidsWithSdp", par);
        } catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
            logger.warn(e.getMessage());
            return false;
        }

        Object[] args = {};
        try {
            BroadcastReceiver receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
                @Override
                public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                    BluetoothDevice deviceExtra = intent.getParcelableExtra("android.bluetooth.device.extra.DEVICE");
                    Parcelable[] uuidExtra = intent.getParcelableArrayExtra("android.bluetooth.device.extra.UUID");

                    uuidCandidates = new ArrayList<UUID>();
                    for (Parcelable uuid : uuidExtra) {
                        uuidCandidates.add(UUID.fromString(uuid.toString()));
                    }

                    synchronized (ConnectThread.this) {
                        if (!ConnectThread.this.started) {
                            ConnectThread.this.start();
                            ConnectThread.this.started = true;
                            unregisterReceiver(this);
                        }

                    }
                }

            };
            registerReceiver(receiver, new IntentFilter("android.bleutooth.device.action.UUID"));
            registerReceiver(receiver, new IntentFilter("android.bluetooth.device.action.UUID"));

            fetchUuidsWithSdpMethod.invoke(device, args);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            logger.warn(e.getMessage());
            return false;
        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
            logger.warn(e.getMessage());
            return false;
        } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
            logger.warn(e.getMessage());
            return false;
        }           

        return true;
    }

    public void run() {
        boolean success = false;
        while (selectSocket()) {

            if (bluetoothSocket == null) {
                logger.warn("Socket is null! Cancelling!");
                deviceDisconnected();
                openTroubleshootingActivity(TroubleshootingActivity.BLUETOOTH_EXCEPTION);
            }

            // Always cancel discovery because it will slow down a connection
            adapter.cancelDiscovery();

            // Make a connection to the BluetoothSocket
            try {
                // This is a blocking call and will only return on a
                // successful connection or an exception
                bluetoothSocket.connect();
                success = true;
                break;

            } catch (IOException e) {
                // Close the socket
                try {
                    shutdownSocket();
                } catch (IOException e2) {
                    logger.warn(e2.getMessage(), e2);
                }
            }
        }

        if (success) {
            deviceConnected();
        } else {
            deviceDisconnected();
            openTroubleshootingActivity(TroubleshootingActivity.BLUETOOTH_EXCEPTION);
        }
    }

    private boolean selectSocket() {
        if (candidate >= uuidCandidates.size()) {
            return false;
        }

        BluetoothSocket tmp;
        UUID uuid = uuidCandidates.get(candidate++);
        logger.info("Attempting to connect to SDP "+ uuid);
        try {
            if (secure) {
                tmp = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(
                        uuid);
            } else {
                tmp = device.createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(
                        uuid);
            }
            bluetoothSocket = tmp;
            return true;
        } catch (IOException e) {
            logger.warn(e.getMessage() ,e);
        }

        return false;
    }

}

The code is failing at bluetoothSocket.connect(). I am getting a java.io.IOException: read failed, socket might closed, read ret: -1. This is the corresponding source at GitHub: https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.3_r2/core/java/android/bluetooth/BluetoothSocket.java#L504 Its called through readInt(), called from https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.3_r2/core/java/android/bluetooth/BluetoothSocket.java#L319

Some metadata dump of the used socket resulted in the following information. These are exactly the same on Nexus 7 and my 2.3.7 phone.

Bluetooth Device 'OBDII'
Address: 11:22:33:DD:EE:FF
Bond state: 12 (bonded)
Type: 1
Class major version: 7936
Class minor version: 7936
Class Contents: 0
Contents: 0

I have some other OBD-II adapters (more expansives) and they all work. Is there any chance, that I am missing something or might this be a bug in Android?

Answer 1

I have finally found a workaround. The magic is hidden under the hood of the BluetoothDevice class (see https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.3_r2/core/java/android/bluetooth/BluetoothDevice.java#L1037).

Now, when I receive that exception, I instantiate a fallback BluetoothSocket, similar to the source code below. As you can see, invoking the hidden method createRfcommSocket via reflections. I have no clue why this method is hidden. The source code defines it as public though...

Class<?> clazz = tmp.getRemoteDevice().getClass();
Class<?>[] paramTypes = new Class<?>[] {Integer.TYPE};

Method m = clazz.getMethod("createRfcommSocket", paramTypes);
Object[] params = new Object[] {Integer.valueOf(1)};

fallbackSocket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(tmp.getRemoteDevice(), params);
fallbackSocket.connect();

connect() then does not fail any longer. I have experienced a few issues still. Basically, this sometimes blocks and fails. Rebooting the SPP-Device (plug off / plug in) helps in such cases. Sometimes I also get another Pairing request after connect() even when the device is already bonded.

UPDATE:

here is a complete class, containing some nested classes. for a real implementation these could be held as seperate classes.

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.UUID;

import android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothDevice;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket;
import android.util.Log;

public class BluetoothConnector {

    private BluetoothSocketWrapper bluetoothSocket;
    private BluetoothDevice device;
    private boolean secure;
    private BluetoothAdapter adapter;
    private List<UUID> uuidCandidates;
    private int candidate;


    /**
     * @param device the device
     * @param secure if connection should be done via a secure socket
     * @param adapter the Android BT adapter
     * @param uuidCandidates a list of UUIDs. if null or empty, the Serial PP id is used
     */
    public BluetoothConnector(BluetoothDevice device, boolean secure, BluetoothAdapter adapter,
            List<UUID> uuidCandidates) {
        this.device = device;
        this.secure = secure;
        this.adapter = adapter;
        this.uuidCandidates = uuidCandidates;

        if (this.uuidCandidates == null || this.uuidCandidates.isEmpty()) {
            this.uuidCandidates = new ArrayList<UUID>();
            this.uuidCandidates.add(UUID.fromString("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"));
        }
    }

    public BluetoothSocketWrapper connect() throws IOException {
        boolean success = false;
        while (selectSocket()) {
            adapter.cancelDiscovery();

            try {
                bluetoothSocket.connect();
                success = true;
                break;
            } catch (IOException e) {
                //try the fallback
                try {
                    bluetoothSocket = new FallbackBluetoothSocket(bluetoothSocket.getUnderlyingSocket());
                    Thread.sleep(500);                  
                    bluetoothSocket.connect();
                    success = true;
                    break;  
                } catch (FallbackException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", "Could not initialize FallbackBluetoothSocket classes.", e);
                } catch (InterruptedException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", e1.getMessage(), e1);
                } catch (IOException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", "Fallback failed. Cancelling.", e1);
                }
            }
        }

        if (!success) {
            throw new IOException("Could not connect to device: "+ device.getAddress());
        }

        return bluetoothSocket;
    }

    private boolean selectSocket() throws IOException {
        if (candidate >= uuidCandidates.size()) {
            return false;
        }

        BluetoothSocket tmp;
        UUID uuid = uuidCandidates.get(candidate++);

        Log.i("BT", "Attempting to connect to Protocol: "+ uuid);
        if (secure) {
            tmp = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
        } else {
            tmp = device.createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
        }
        bluetoothSocket = new NativeBluetoothSocket(tmp);

        return true;
    }

    public static interface BluetoothSocketWrapper {

        InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException;

        OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException;

        String getRemoteDeviceName();

        void connect() throws IOException;

        String getRemoteDeviceAddress();

        void close() throws IOException;

        BluetoothSocket getUnderlyingSocket();

    }


    public static class NativeBluetoothSocket implements BluetoothSocketWrapper {

        private BluetoothSocket socket;

        public NativeBluetoothSocket(BluetoothSocket tmp) {
            this.socket = tmp;
        }

        @Override
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {
            return socket.getInputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
            return socket.getOutputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public String getRemoteDeviceName() {
            return socket.getRemoteDevice().getName();
        }

        @Override
        public void connect() throws IOException {
            socket.connect();
        }

        @Override
        public String getRemoteDeviceAddress() {
            return socket.getRemoteDevice().getAddress();
        }

        @Override
        public void close() throws IOException {
            socket.close();
        }

        @Override
        public BluetoothSocket getUnderlyingSocket() {
            return socket;
        }

    }

    public class FallbackBluetoothSocket extends NativeBluetoothSocket {

        private BluetoothSocket fallbackSocket;

        public FallbackBluetoothSocket(BluetoothSocket tmp) throws FallbackException {
            super(tmp);
            try
            {
              Class<?> clazz = tmp.getRemoteDevice().getClass();
              Class<?>[] paramTypes = new Class<?>[] {Integer.TYPE};
              Method m = clazz.getMethod("createRfcommSocket", paramTypes);
              Object[] params = new Object[] {Integer.valueOf(1)};
              fallbackSocket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(tmp.getRemoteDevice(), params);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                throw new FallbackException(e);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {
            return fallbackSocket.getInputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
            return fallbackSocket.getOutputStream();
        }


        @Override
        public void connect() throws IOException {
            fallbackSocket.connect();
        }


        @Override
        public void close() throws IOException {
            fallbackSocket.close();
        }

    }

    public static class FallbackException extends Exception {

        /**
         * 
         */
        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

        public FallbackException(Exception e) {
            super(e);
        }

    }
}