Cordless communications in the appliance office

Infrared is attractive for cordless communications in the office because it is not subject to regulatory constraints, and IR communications links can be cheap, and fast, and consume little power. The Infra-Red Data Association standard is being developed to support walk-up, point & shoot data exchange-supporting a user model of conscious connectivity. The advantages for low cost portable devices are not just in terms of the hardware cost due to reduced range and complexity, but also in reduced complexity of the additional software protocols-there are fewer devices to deal with, and while the device is interacting with a peripheral, it is not necessarily required to perform other functions