getting data from the serial port

i have to write a listener to listen for incomming data on my infared port. i know this is on comm1 , but i was told , i will have to listen on a serial port. i dont understand the logic of this, but if anyone does, could they explain it to me, and tell me how i can get the data in through the infared port. ( it just has to take in data, not return any). im really stuck. any help would be great. thanks