Microchip Technology Announces dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library; Eliminates Need for Dedicated Speech Chip.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Software Library Allows Engineers to Cost-Effectively Combine Primary Application and Speech Recognition on Single dsPIC(R) Digital Signal Controller 

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP), a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced a speech recognition library for its 16-bit dsPIC(R) Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library enables embedded designers to concentrate on their primary application while adding valuable speech recognition features in the same way they would add a soft peripheral. This library provides engineers with a way to use one dsPIC DSC for both controlling the application and recognizing speech commands, without being an expert in speech recognition.

Many design engineers are seeking to add speech recognition to their designs in order to further differentiate product offerings and provide users with a natural, less-complex user interface -- particularly in environments where hands-free operation is important. The dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library, in tandem with the dsPIC DSC, is especially attractive for designers who have space constraints or wish to cost-effectively add speech-recognition functionality. With its integration of a 16-bit microcontroller and a DSP in a single architecture, the dsPIC30F can accommodate primary control applications while performing speech recognition using excess memory and MIPS.

"Many of our software libraries conform to standards that make their efficacy quite predictable. Speech recognition differs from these libraries, in that the apparent accuracy is in the eye of the beholder," said Sumit Mitra, vice president of Microchip's Digital Signal Controller division. "With that in mind, we allow our full dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library to be test driven for $5 so our customers can make their own determination of suitability."

Any embedded application with speech-based input can benefit from this advanced speech recognition library. Specific example applications include: hands-free cell phone kits, emergency monitors for the elderly, appliances, portable music players, toys, home security systems and programmable electronic products such as VCRs, DVDs and thermostats.

The dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library provides isolated, speaker-independent word recognition of North American English. Through isolated word recognition, the software allows a user to control an application via a set of fixed voice commands. A 100-word library has already been pre-trained by a demographic cross-section of male and female U.S. English speakers to maximize recognition accuracy. A PC-based Word Library Builder utility allows a custom library subset to be selected from the full 100-word library (for a given application). And, because it is speaker independent, no training is required for end users of the product.

The speech recognition library requires 9 MIPS, which leaves significant performance headroom for the main application in a dsPIC30F with 30 MIPS. The library is designed for dsPIC DSCs with a minimum of 33 Kbytes of Flash and 4 Kbytes of RAM, along with an integrated codec interface. Today, those products are the dsPIC30F5011, dsPIC30F5013, dsPIC30F6012 and dsPIC30F6014, with additional DSCs planned. The library and PC-based word selection builder are described in detail in the dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library User's Guide (DS70140) and Word Library Builder User's Guide (DS70137), respectively. Both guides are available on Microchip's Web site.

The speech recognition system can be evaluated on a dsPICDEM(TM) 1.1 General Purpose Development Board (DM300014). This board supports both the full speech recognition library and a fixed, 10-word speech recognition demo that can be downloaded for free from Microchip's Web site.

Availability and Pricing

All licensing options for the dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library are immediately available. Among these options is a one-year evaluation/development license, which is unaltered from the library that is used for production and can be purchased online at http://buy.microchip.com. The evaluation version of the dsPIC30F Speech Recognition Library (SW300010-EVAL) is $5. Industry-unique, one-time fee licensing options are also available for production, which runs counter to the per-unit royalty business model that is common for this class of library. Starting at $2,500 for 5,000-unit production, the license fee that Microchip charges is attractive to many customers since it is a fraction of the cost they would incur developing it themselves.

These one-time fees are based on the estimated lifetime volume of products derived from the design effort that uses the library. For additional pricing or other information, contact any Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor, or visit Microchip's Web site at www.microchip.com/dspic.

About dsPIC Digital Signal Controllers

The dsPIC digital signal controller is a 16-bit (data) modified Harvard RISC machine that combines the control advantages of a high-performance 16-bit microcontroller with the high computation speed of a fully implemented DSP to produce a tightly coupled single-chip, single-instruction stream solution for embedded systems design. All dsPIC DSCs integrate Flash program memory and most have EEPROM data storage. For more information on the dsPIC DSC family, please visit www.microchip.com/dspic.

About Microchip Technology

Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip Web site at www.microchip.com.

Note: The Microchip name and logo, and dsPIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the United States and other countries. dsPICDEM is a trademark of Microchip Technology Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies.