Broadcom Boosts InConcert® Connectivity Portfolio With Bluetooth® Innovations for PCs, Set-Top Boxes and Consumer Electronics

* Bluetooth low energy added to PC Bluetooth solution for integrated security, sensors, and new connections with mobile devices.
* Enhanced Data Rate for advanced human interface devices (HIDs) and remote controls, enabling voice commands, gestural remote control, and other enhancements.

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, has enhanced its InConcert® wireless connectivity suite with advanced Bluetooth® features to further transform the connectivity in the world's most pervasive consumer electronics. With this new functionality, Broadcom is able to simplify the integration of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) into PCs and consumer electronics (CE) products, while tripling the bandwidth available to Bluetooth remote controls and other interface devices. See www.broadcom.com for more news.

The new Broadcom® single-chip solutions include the BCM20702, driving BLE into PCs and CE products, and the BCM20733, designed to bring Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) to remote controls and cutting edge HID products. These new chips further enhance the Bluetooth capabilities of Broadcom's InConcert connectivity suite. Unique capabilities enabled by InConcert connectivity solutions include remote controls with voice recognition capabilities and notebook PCs that can read BLE sensors. Broadcom will demonstrate both capabilities at the Computex Taipei tradeshow, May 31 — June 4, 2011.

Driving the BLE Ecosystem

According to ABI Research, sales of BLE enabled Bluetooth chips will top 2.6 billion units by 2015, with the technology expected to ship in scores of devices. The new technology enables wireless connections with very low power devices like digital watches, sensors for fitness and health applications, and proximity security tags that are based on BLE. The BCM20702 makes it easier than ever to integrate BLE into PCs, game consoles and other consumer electronics devices, increasing the relevance of this emerging connectivity option for innovative applications developers. Broadcom offers the industry's broadest selection of BLE chips, with the BCM20702 complementing the InConcert® BCM43142 combo solution (see announcement at http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=s581741) to help drive BLE into more products.

The Evolution of the Remote Control

Starting with the home gaming console, Bluetooth has played a leading role in the evolution of the CE remote control. With digital televisions and set-top boxes increasingly offering sophisticated content and services, on-screen messaging and 3D as key features, the wireless connection between these products and HIDs like remote controls, touch pads and 3D glasses becomes more important. The new BCM20733 is the industry's first single-chip solution targeting HIDs that includes support for Bluetooth EDR. The chip offers a three times faster data rate with a 25 percent reduction in power when compared to the previous generation chips.

Quotes:

Jonathan Collins, ABI Research

As many as two to three BLE sensors could connect to each Bluetooth enabled PC or phone, making the technology more ubiquitous than Bluetooth by 2016. This new ecosystem will support a new range of applications and dramatically personalize the experience of using smartphones, PCs and other consumer electronics products.

Craig Ochikubo, VP/GM Wireless Personal Area Networks

Broadcom Corporation

Broadcom innovation continues to drive the most advanced Bluetooth features into a broadening range of consumer electronics and PC devices. Our targeted Bluetooth solutions are each tailored to specific applications and both leverage our mature architecture, software and enhancements to unleash the creativity of device makers in developing their next generation devices.

BCM20702 Product Highlights:

* Integrated memory eliminates the need for external memory components, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of Bluetooth PC and CE designs.
* Includes integrated support for both modes of BLE, enabling devices to both read BLE sensors and also connect to readers to share configuration and other data.
* Optimized firmware enhances the user experience of 3DG in DTVs and includes built in support for gestural based gaming for both DTVs and STBs.
* Broadcom SmartAudio® technology delivers the latest innovations in audio quality, including hardware-based wideband speech capabilities to provide clear conversations for VoIP calls on PCs and CE devices.
* The BCM20702 has already been designed into several innovative digital television and set-top box products.


BCM20733 Product Highlights:

* Manufactured in 65 nanometer (nm) CMOS process technology, the BCM20733 is designed to meet the higher data rates and lower power consumption needs of high-end STB and gaming remotes to deliver a more satisfying user experience than other wireless HID solutions.
* Integrated voice sampling firmware enables users to speak search terms into a remote control and relay those commands to a DTV or STB that then interprets the command locally or performs an Internet-based search using Google voice search.
* Extended audio data rate in the chip enables high-quality voice recognition capabilities.
* Lowers bill of materials cost by integrating key electronic components that are commonly found in keyboards, mice, remote controls and 3D glasses, enabling more affordable wireless products that extend and enhance the experience of using PC and CE products.
* The enhanced speed and performance of the BCM20733 meets the required responsiveness and data throughput demands of Bluetooth gaming remote controls, integrating baseband, high performance 2.4GHz radio, and firmware compliant to the Bluetooth HID profile, providing overall Bluetooth system performance that far exceeds industry requirements.
* With power consumption that is twenty five percent less than the previous generation chip, the BCM20733 makes Bluetooth competitive with proprietary wireless technologies targeting the same devices.


Broadcom Bluetooth Advantages:

* Broadcom's widely deployed Bluetooth stack and software for Win8, Win7 and Android includes the widest range of Bluetooth profiles, including support for next-generation sensor applications.
* Broadcom's SmartAudio® technology offers Wide Band Speech (WBS), Packet Loss Concealment (PLC) and Bit Error Correction (BEC) to dramatically improve Bluetooth voice and audio quality.