U.S. Patent No. 6,801,755 - Prepared by Attorney David Tran for Intel Corporation and filed by Intel Corporation

Brief Description:  A radio module that meets FCC Limited Modular Approval including a wireless transceiver and a low-level baseband controller. Only a portion of the baseband associated with a wireless communication protocol is contained within the controller. The remainder of the baseband may be contained within a host computer system to which the module may be coupled such that, for one embodiment, the module may be selectively operated in accordance with one of multiple wireless communication protocols.  With this type of partitioning, a radio module may be designed to operate in accordance with multiple wireless communication protocols. The harmonized interface may connect this radio module to a host computer system that then performs the high-level baseband processing for the module. By dynamically changing the source code in the host system, different wireless communication protocols may be emulated.  For example a module may be created that that operates in accordance with the Bluetooth* (as described in, e.g., “Specification of the Bluetooth System,” v1.0b, Dec. 1^st, 1999), HomeRF* Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) (as described in, e.g., “Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) Specification” v.1.0, Jan. 5, 1999), and IEEE 802.11 (as described in, e.g., “IEEE Std 802.11” 1999 Edition) protocols. The protocol may be changed dynamically depending on the environment of the user (e.g. on the road, in the office, or at home). In addition to these short-range wireless communication protocols, long-range wireless communication protocols may also be emulated, such as a Third Generation (3G) cellular communication protocol, given the appropriate module attached to the harmonized interface. (*Trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.)