CSR launches mono Bluetooth headset chips

CAMBRIDGE, UK: CSR today launched the industry's most advanced range of ROM chips for the Bluetooth mono headset market. CSR's new range of BlueCore mono ROM devices consists of three chips, BC6130, BC6140 and BC6150, and caters for the widest range of price points and features from low cost to mid-level.

Fully compatible with v2.1+EDR of the Bluetooth specification, CSR's new ROM devices outstrips competitive offerings on the market, boasting a number of advanced new features including CSR's own Proximity Pairing technology, a faster user interface, Handsfree Profile (HFP) multipoint and programmable audio prompts. This BlueCore range further reinforces CSR's continued leadership and commitment to the mono headset market.

Both BC6140 and BC6150 also support CSR's new fifth generation Clear Voice Capture (CVC) speech processing system; the first such system in the world to feature both far-end and new near-end audio improvements.

CSR's new BlueCore range makes it quicker and easier for designers to create innovative, differentiated and low power products in an increasingly competitive market space. Each chip in the range is pin compatible with a previous CSR Bluetooth headset ROM chip, providing an easy upgrade path for existing customers. No other range of Bluetooth audio devices offers this degree of backwards pin-compatibility. Manufacturers can easily upgrade their current designs and create a new range of headsets through a single supplier without expensive and time-consuming redevelopment.

With these BlueCore chips CSR has focused on improving the end user's experience when using a Bluetooth headset without compromising on cost, power consumption and features. All three chips feature CSR's new Proximity Pairing technology. This allows the headset to find the Bluetooth source device that is physically closest to it, and pair with it. Fully compliant with the Bluetooth specification, the headset initiates the pairing activity and the user simply has to accept the incoming pairing invitation on the source device.

Proximity Pairing is the only solution in the world based on Bluetooth that allows users to pair devices in this way, delivering a simple, spontaneous 'out of the box' pairing experience. CSR has also included a highly optimised application code which also significantly speeds up the user experience when connecting calls. Together these two features will deliver a much improved user experience for Bluetooth headsets.

"Our new BlueCore ROM devices provide the most comprehensive range of single-chip solutions in the world for mono headsets," said Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President of CSR's Audio and Connectivity Business Unit. "Not only do they cover every segment of the market, but they include unique new features such as Proximity Pairing and CVC 5.0. In Q1 2009 we won around 80% of mono headsets and these new products show why CSR continues to be the silicon of choice for headsets."

For the low cost segment CSR is introducing two new solutions, BC6130 and BC6140.

BC6130 is pin compatible with BlueVox2 and includes HFP multipoint, which allows multiple simultaneous connections between a Bluetooth headset and two devices. It also features programmable audio prompts that can be used to help guide users through pairing or for custom audio tones.

BC6140 has all of the features of BC6130 but also includes CSR's high performance 24-bit, 64 MIPS on-chip DSP and supports CSR's new CVC 5.0. CVC 5.0 provides superb audio quality in noisy and harsh acoustic environments through a collection of advanced algorithms for speech on the transmit and receive signal paths. Packet loss and bit error concealment is an advanced audio feature that restores audio quality in difficult RF environments. BC6140 provides an extremely low power solution while offering a full suite of far end and near end audio enhancements.

CSR's BC6150 is a DSP ROM solution for the mid range headset market that supports both single and dual-microphone CVC 5.0. Pin compatible with CSR's BlueVox DSP, BC6150 boasts superb noise reduction to allow users to be heard clearly in a noisy environment.

The new range of BlueCore mono ROM headset solutions will start sampling in Q2 2009. The new features are also available now as a software update on BlueCore5-Multimedia, CSR's single-chip Bluetooth multimedia silicon for high-end mono headsets.