TI Turns Up the Music in Mobile Phones with Integrated FM Audio and Stereo Single-Chip Bluetooth Solution

TI Turns Up the Music in Mobile Phones with Integrated FM Audio and Stereo Single-Chip Bluetooth Solution

April 03, 2006

Turn-key Hardware and Software Platform Provides Best Performance Bluetooth(R) Wireless Technology with High Fidelity FM

    DALLAS, April 3 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Texas
Instruments Incorporated (TI) {NYSE: TXN} today announced
its next generation BlueLink(TM) 6.0 platform that combines
the industry's best performance Bluetooth(R) wireless
technology with high fidelity FM stereo and mono
performance on a single chip. The BlueLink 6.0 platform
provides complete hardware and software support, enabling
ease of design and speeding time to market for mobile
device manufacturers. In addition, TI's solution supports
streaming FM stereo music from the handset to a
Bluetooth-enabled headset. (See
http://www.ti.com/bluelink_6 for more information .)

    Turn-key Software and Hardware Support

    Since both Bluetooth and FM functions are integrated on
the same silicon, the solution ensures optimal RF
co-existence between the two functions, and also provides
significant power savings in the most commonly used modes
of operation, such as page and inquiry scan. The BlueLink
6.0 single chip also incorporates TI's Bluetooth/WLAN
co-existence hardware and software solution, providing a
collaborative interface with TI's WiLink(TM) mobile WLAN
solution for optimal bandwidth and resource sharing.

    The BlueLink 6.0 platform includes TI's BlueLink
Bluetooth and FM Protocol Stacks and all software required
to work with TI's OMAP(TM) platforms and OMAP-Vox(TM)
chipsets for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA and UMTS. The solution
offers designers the flexibility to work with Symbian,
Linux, or Microsoft Windows Mobile operating systems.

    "Microsoft is excited that Texas Instruments is
expanding their product line with the release of BlueLink
6.0," said Jonas Hasselberg, Group Product Manager at
Microsoft. "The strong integration between Texas
Instruments and Windows Mobile will help device makers sell
more smartphones by offering customers a wider range of
services and functionality." 

    "With 60 million Symbian OS-based phones having
shipped worldwide, Symbian OS is the world's leading mobile
phone platform for Bluetooth," said Jorgen Behrens, VP,
Product Management and Strategy, Symbian.  "Bringing
BlueLink 6.0 to Symbian OS will not only allow for mass
market adoption but by re-using Bluetooth software from
TI's previous solution, the integration experience will be
much easier for handset designers, reducing time to
market."

    Small and Cost-Effective Solution

    The BlueLink 6.0 platform (BRF6350) is the industry's
smallest Bluetooth and FM single-chip solution providing
the lowest total system cost, and is manufactured in TI's
innovative DRP(TM) technology at 90 nanometer. The
integration of Bluetooth and FM allows customers to realize
significant cost and size savings due to shared resources,
reduction of external components and shrinkage of the total
die size. The solution cuts board space by 25 percent
compared to discrete solutions.
"Analysts are forecasting that around 400 million
FM-enabled handsets will ship by the end of the decade. TI
is delivering a solution that provides the latest Bluetooth
functionality, as well as high fidelity FM, all enabled by
our innovative DRP technology," said Marc Cetto,
general manager of TI's Mobile Connectivity Solutions,
Wireless Terminals Business.

    TI has a long history of digital radio design, and has
shipped millions of units of digital radio devices,
enabling TI to leverage its experience to provide
integrated, high fidelity FM stereo and mono performance
for the handset market. Clean audio quality signal, audio
reception without interference, true muting capabilities
and stereo separation enable the best stereo user
experience for consumers. BRF6350 also provides RDS (Radio
Data Systems) functionality, letting users tune to radio
stations immediately without spending time searching. RDS
also enables interactive services that provide visual
information on the song and artist currently playing on the
radio and lets users vote via their phones, as well as
purchase concert tickets and ring tones.

    Availability

    BlueLink 6.0 WSP (wafer scale package) and modules are
currently sampling. The WSP option reduces board footprint
by 50 percent compared to a traditional BGA package. Mobile
devices using TI's BlueLink 6.0 solution are expected to be
on the market by the end of 2006.

    Texas Instruments - Making Wireless

    TI is the leading manufacturer of wireless
semiconductors, delivering the heart of today's wireless
technology and building solutions for tomorrow.  TI
provides a breadth of silicon and software and 16 years of
wireless systems expertise that spans handsets and base
stations for all communications standards, wireless LAN,
GPS, Digital TV, Bluetooth(R) and Ultra Wideband.  TI
offers custom to turn-key solutions, including complete
chipsets and reference designs, OMAP(TM) application
processors, as well as core digital signal processor and
analog technologies built on advanced semiconductor
processes.  Please visit
http://www.ti.com/wirelesspressroom for additional
information.

    About Texas Instruments

    Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP
and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world
signal processing requirements. In addition to
Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors
& Controls, and Educational & Productivity
Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has
manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25
countries.

    Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located
on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com .

    Trademarks

    WiLink, OMAP, OMAP-Vox and DRP are trademarks of Texas
Instruments.  All other trademarks and registered
trademarks are property of their respective owners.

    For more information, please contact:

     Tracy Wright			
     Tel:   [phone]			
     Email: [e-mail]

     Michelle Rudolph		
     Tel:   [phone]			
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Texas Instruments Incorporated