1. A handheld device for receiving an infrared transmitted signal containing a message over a communication medium, said handheld device comprising: a physical layer; a link layer; means for receiving said transmitted signal to form a received signal; means for passing said received signal to said physical layer; means for passing said received signal from said physical layer to said link layer; means for determining if said received signal is a unidirectional signal or a bi-directional signal; means for processing said unidirectional signal without handshaking if said handheld device is not coupled to a handheld interface in a Point-Of-Presence (POP); means for processing said bidirectional signal with handshaking; and means for utilizing information contained in said received signal to accomplish a task.