CSR presents handset makers with revolutionary audio processing technology.100 hours music playback with stereo audio and voice enhancements CAMBRIDGE, England -- CSR plc (LSE LSE - Language Sensitive Editor :CSR (1) (Customer Service Representative) A person who handles a customer's request regarding a bill, account changes or service or merchandise ordered. Agents in call centers are known as CSRs. See call center. ): Photo ref: PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) A standard for secure e-mail on the Internet. It supports encryption, digital signatures and digital certificates as well as both private and public key methods. Not widely used, work on PEM later evolved into S/MIME. See MIME. 4810 To download: http://www.csr.com/images/hires/pem4810.jpg CSR today launched MusiCore1, the world's first fully featured single-chip stereo audio processor+Bluetooth for mobile phones. CSR's MusiCore1 technology presents handset makers with the first practical audio processor architecture for phone designs, saving the cost, space and power of adding a separate audio processor. MusiCore1 features state of the art audio enhancement technologies for MP3 audio and superior voice clarity. Handset makers using CSR's MusiCore1 can, for the first time, have stereo audio along with fully featured Bluetooth on a single chip; MusiCore1 saves 75 percent of the cost of an audio processor, over 36mm2 of space and enables 100 hours of music playback. "End-users are demanding MP3 as a function in phones but currently not using it because decoding MP3 files consumes too much power." commented Matthew Philips, Senior Vice President of CSR's Mobile Handset Connectivity strategic business unit, "MusiCore1 addresses this by presenting low power but high quality stereo audio processing to give 100 hours of music playback, high quality voice enhancements and added Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The quality and playback time make a MusiCore1-based music phone a much richer experience for the end user." CSR's MusiCore1 overcomes the limitations of a phone CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. to handle both audio and voice processing, significantly reducing the higher bill of materials The list of components that make up a system. For example, a bill of materials for a house would include the cement block, lumber, shingles, doors, windows, plumbing, electric, heating and so on. (BoM) and design restrictions of using both Bluetooth and audio processor chips. Mobile phone CPUs are not appropriate for supporting music decoding or playback (MP3 files for example) - this isn't what a CPU is designed for, and the result is, the CPU consumes too much power trying. Using a separate audio processing chip for this function costs over $4 and takes up in excess of 36mm2, which isn't acceptable to handset makers who need to keep the bill of materials down and need to ensure the final handset design remains attractive for end users. MusiCore1 supports decoding of all mainstream music file formats including MP3, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) An audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards. AAC, especially MPEG-4 AAC, provides greater compression and better sound quality than MP3, which also came out of the MPEG standard. , AAC+, WMA and SBC. The efficiency of CSR's mature DSP architecture means processing audio files is effortless: 5.25mW for an MP3 file, compared to the 80mW consumed by a phone's CPU for the same decoding. This efficiency contributes to MusiCore1's ability to provide a phone with 100 hours of music playback. The CPU can remain asleep when MusiCore1 is handling music files. Another restriction of audio processors is their inability to offer voice processing. CSR's MusiCore1 is based on CSR's own powerful Kalimba 64MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. Digital Signal Processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor designed specifically for digital signal processing, generally in real-time computing. Characteristics of typical Digital Signal Processors
Joep van Beurden, CSR's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. commented, "This is a significant and groundbreaking proposition to handset makers and is being taken very seriously by our lead customers", van Beurden continued, "Our design team has produced a superb audio processor that is a perfect evolution of the DSP at the heart of our market leading BlueCore Multimedia products." Feature phone or high-end music phone designers can use MusiCore1 to embed both high quality stereo audio, plus low latency Bluetooth, with power, cost and PCB-space savings plus voice enhancement features. At the same time, designers of ultra low cost phones now have the option to differentiate handsets by embedding Bluetooth and audio processing without sacrificing cost, features or quality. The Bluetooth element of MusiCore1 includes CSR's market leading BlueCore technology including support for v2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) An acronym occasionally used to reflect an advancement in transmission or transfer speed. For example, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR provides a dramatic increase in speed over the previous version. See Bluetooth. Bluetooth, and CSR's FastStream low latency (40ms) Bluetooth technology that ensures there are no lip synch / time delay issues when a phone is used for gaming or watching videos and is connected to Bluetooth headphones. Competing Bluetooth solutions have a latency of up to 200ms, which restricts their application for gaming, video or mobile TV. Conscious of the phone's limited PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. space, CSR designed MusiCore1 to be even smaller than most Bluetooth chips. Samples of the very compact 3.8x4.8mm CSP or BGA packages are available now and volume production to start September 2008. About CSR CSR is the leading global provider of personal wireless technology and its product portfolio covers Bluetooth, GPS, FM and Wi-Fi (IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 802.11). CSR offers developed hardware/software solutions, based around its silicon platforms, that incorporate fully integrated radio, baseband and microcontroller elements. CSR's customers include industry leaders such as Apple, Dell, LG, Motorola, NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. , Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTom and Toshiba.CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA. More information can be found at www.csr.com |
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