New Bluetooth standard

Ultra low power short-range wireless technology is to be developed as a new version of Bluetooth to connect devices such as watches and heart monitors. The Wibree short-range radio link -- likely to be marketed as ultra low power Bluetooth -- uses just a fraction of the power of earlier systems and can hook up devices with small batteries or power capacity. That could allow links for toys, sports monitors and watches, as well as sensors used in health monitoring, which have not been able to use Bluetooth until now because of its power demands.

Bluetooth is used to link cell phones with headsets, computers and printers to transfer calls, calendar items, documents, songs and pictures. While Bluetooth operates with ultra high frequencies above 6 gigahertz for faster connections, Wibree is intended to operate in the 2.4 gigahertz band, and the two would be able to work in parallel.