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STMicroelectronics Announces Ready-to-use Bluetooth-based Hands-Free Car-Kit Reference Design; Ideal for OEMs and as After-Market Solution | | |
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Geneva, October 18, 2004 - STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) today announced a high-performance Bluetooth®-based hands-free car-kit reference design. Featuring noise- and echo canceling, ST's Blue HFCK is ready-to-use, extremely easy to install, and suitable both for OEMs and as an after-market solution. As a worldwide standard for the wireless exchange of data between two devices, Bluetooth allows the use of a standard protocol, independent of the cell phone. Requiring a standard 12V supply, the product uses advanced DSP technology, optimized for audio applications, to provide powerful functionality, including echo canceling, noise suppression, and voice activation. The Bluetooth interface of Blue HFCK uses ST's STLC2410B base-band chip and STLC2150 RF chip. The STLC2410B offers a compact and complete solution for short-range wireless connectivity, and includes all lower-layer functions of the Bluetooth protocol. The chip's embedded micro supports data as well as voice, and is also used to run the Bluetooth protocol, application layers, and application software. The software runs from external Flash. Bluetooth profiles supported by Blue HFCK include the 'Headset' profile which allows Blue HFCK to use the basic functionality of Bluetooth phones currently available; 'Dial-up networking' profile, which allows the modem of the mobile phone to be used by any Bluetooth device, such as PCs or PDAs; and the 'Object push' profile (OPP), which provides the ability to program the phonebook by sending contacts directly from the PDA. The product also supports the 'Hands-free' profile, which allows a cell phone to use the full functionality of the car kit. All DSP functions of Blue HFCK, such as speech recognition, echo cancellation, noise suppression, automatic gain control, and audio interface are supported by ST's TDA7550R. This device is a complete system-on-chip (SOC) based on a high-performance 24-bit, fixed-point DSP core and includes program and data memory, on-chip stereo 16-bit Sigma-Delta AD/DA converters, an SPI/I2C interface, external Memory Interface (EMI), and a PLL function. The TDA7550R's program is stored and executed from an internal static RAM. The program can be loaded from an external memory attached to the EMI interface or via the I2C bus. It is possible to select how to load the program using specific general-purpose I/O (GPIO). To support speech activation for phone numbers, Blue HFCK uses speaker-dependent speech-recognition software running on the TDA7550R. In addition, the board contains all necessary components for an analog audio interface and to drive a GSM phone. The speech recognition software supports speaker dependent and language-independent recognition to select phone numbers from a personal phonebook with voice-prompt availability and high reliability in noisy conditions. Response time is a reliable 250msec. Speaker-independent speech recognition for dialing phone numbers is also available upon request. In addition, the system offers the possibility of upgrading resident software to support new and next generation phones and new profiles. The complete reference design is available now. US pricing for the three-chip chipset is $12, however, pricing is subject to change based upon volume. About STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2003, the Company's net revenues were $7.24 billion and net earnings were $253 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com. |
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