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`BY LES FREED For over a year, member companies of the Bluetooth Consortium have
`been telling us how the Bluetooth's fast, easy wireless connection capabilities will
`change the world of portable computing. The Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card ($199 list)
`is the first and only shipping Bluetooth product we've seen so far, and it provides
`an interesting glimpse into the future of the Bluetooth.
`
`The Bluetooth (named for a tenth-century Danish king) is an ambitious wireless
`communication specification developed by a consortium of companies including
`Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, 3Com, and Toshiba. Over
`1,300 additional companies have signed up to develop products based on
`Bluetooth technology.
`
`The Bluetooth defines a specification for a small-form-factor, low-cost radio link
`between portable PCs, wireless phones and portable devices such as PDAs, MP3
`players, and digi- tal cameras. The card is not computer-centric; it can be
`implemented in a wide range of devices from cordless phones to notebook
`computers to wire- less headsets. The Bluetooth is a juggling act of sorts; the balls
`in the air include performance, power consumption, hardware cost, and reliability.
`
`The Bluetooth uses microwave radio to transmit data over short distances--about
`33 feet--at up to 721 Kbps. The Bluetooth isn't being touted as a replacement for
`high-speed wired connections like USB or IEEE 1394 but rather as a technology of
`convenience. If everything goes according to plan, Bluetooth devices will be able to
`recognize one another and create connections with no user intervention or cables.
`
`Bluetooth devices can identify themselves to one another, and each device
`contains one or more profiles that tell the other devices what it is and what it can
`do. This means that your Bluetooth phone would automatically create a link to
`your Bluetooth-enabled PC and Bluetooth wireless earphone. You could then use
`
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`Home / Reviews / First Looks / The First Bluetooth
`
`Review Date January 02, 2001
`
`The First Bluetooth
`
`EDITOR RATING: EXCELLENT
`
`0 COMMENTS
`
`4/26/2015
`
`The First Bluetooth Review & Rating | PCMag.com
`
`http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,34229,00.asp
`
`1/3
`
`SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., v. AFFINITY LABS OF TEXAS, LLC
`IPR2014-01181 EXHIBIT 2011 – 1
`
`

`
`the earphone to talk on the phone or use your PC to connect to the Internet
`through the digital phone--without wires, setup, or effort.
`
`Bluetooth is similar in some ways to the 802.11 wireless Ethernet standard. Both
`operate in the 2.4-GHz unlicensed radio band, and there has been some concern
`that Bluetooth and 802.11 may interfere with each other. Our initial testing proved
`otherwise; we used the Toshiba Bluetooth cards in the presence of several 802.11
`wireless LANs with no apparent problems. As a matter of fact, we even installed the
`Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card and a Cisco Aironet 802.11 wireless card in the same
`Sony laptop and encountered no problems.
`
`The Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card looks remarkably like an 802.11 wireless LAN card.
`A small plastic antenna protrudes out the PC Card slot, and a single LED indicates
`when the card is transmitting and receiving. Toshiba includes a complete suite of
`software (for Microsoft Windows 98 SE and Windows Me only) with the card. Driver
`installation is simple but time-consuming; it took us a total of 30 minutes and three
`re- boots to install the driver and application software from the two CD-ROMs.
`
`The Toshiba Bluetooth Suite provides low-level hardware drivers and a Windows
`Explorer extension called Bluetooth Neighborhood. Similar to the Windows
`Network Neighborhood, the Bluetooth Neighborhood shows all of the Bluetooth
`devices within range, along with a list of services available from the remote
`devices.
`
`To create a connection between two Bluetooth PCs, you drag a service icon onto
`the remote computer's icon. Services include LAN, dial-up networking, and faxing.
`If the remote computer provides the requested service, you're connected and
`ready to go. The Bluetooth Neighborhood also provides a quick-and-dirty file-
`transfer method: Users simply drag and drop files from one machine to another
`within the Bluetooth Neighborhood.
`
`Another software package, called SPANworks, lets up to seven computers
`participate in an ad hoc network. SPANworks users can share files, conduct
`meetings, watch presentations, and chat using the keyboard. We were surprised
`that SPANworks doesn't include a voice chat feature, since most of us can talk a lot
`faster than we can type.
`
`Toshiba's offering takes Bluetooth about as far as you can go in a PC-to-PC
`environment. Aside from the installation hassle, the card was installed and worked
`in several test PCs, including old and new IBM ThinkPads, a Toshiba Tecra, and a
`Sony VAIO. We didn't do any formal range testing, but our test PCs could
`communicate up to about 30 feet--exactly the range claimed by Toshiba.
`
`We'll be watching closely to see how Toshiba's--and other vendors'--Bluetooth
`cards work in conjunction with other Bluetooth devices such as phones, printers,
`print servers, and LAN access points--as soon as we see some. At the recent
`Comdex show in Las Vegas, the Bluetooth pavilion was loaded up with member
`companies showing Bluetooth devices, but most of them gave us a noncommittal
`"next year" when pressed for a delivery date.
`
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`4/26/2015
`
`The First Bluetooth Review & Rating | PCMag.com
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`http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,34229,00.asp
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`SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., v. AFFINITY LABS OF TEXAS, LLC
`IPR2014-01181 EXHIBIT 2011 – 2
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`

`
`BY LES FREED
`
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`Les has been a contributing editor at PC
`Magazine since 1994 and a frequent
`contributor since 1990. Before joining PC
`Magazine, Les was founder and CEO of
`Crosstalk Communications, developers of
`the popular Crosstalk data...
`
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`4/26/2015
`
`The First Bluetooth Review & Rating | PCMag.com
`
`http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,34229,00.asp
`
`3/3
`
`SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., v. AFFINITY LABS OF TEXAS, LLC
`IPR2014-01181 EXHIBIT 2011 – 3