True wireless stereo technology for Bluetooth earbuds

17th December 2018

CEVA Inc

Alex Lynn

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Licensor of signal processing platforms and artificial intelligence processors for smarter, connected devices, CEVA, along with Tempow, unveiled a collaboration to bring next-generation True Wireless Stereo (TWS) to the Bluetooth earbud mass market. The resulting joint IP solution delivers synchronised left/right audio over standard Bluetooth dual mode connected links with short latency and without the power consumption penalty.

Audio streaming via A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) is a proven strength of Bluetooth, but with the advent of wireless earbuds, new challenges have arisen. With traditional Bluetooth stereo headphones, the headphones are seen as a single end-point. With earbuds, however, the left/right sink points are now physically separated and the Bluetooth A2DP paradigm is challenged to stream audio with the necessary degree of synchronisation.

To date, a number of different solutions have appeared to address this, such as audio-forwarding and eavesdropping, but these solutions often result in significant battery drain on the already power-restricted earbuds.

Tempow and CEVA are leading the charge on a new, optimised approach which eliminates the need for the inter-earbud secondary wireless link and which works with any Bluetooth AD2P enabled phone on the market. Within the phone, a straight forward software update is needed to install the Tempow Audio Profile (TAP).

Within the earbuds, CEVA and Tempow have collaborated to implement a joint solution, which delivers the essential high quality audio synchronisation over standard Classic Bluetooth BR/EDR links. This solution was demonstrated to a wide audience, with much praise, at the recent CEVA Technology Symposiums in Asia.

“The seamless integration of Tempow’s True Wireless Earbuds (TWE) patented technology with CEVA’s market leading Bluetooth IP delivers an optimal solution for the earbud stereo power consumption challenge,” said Vincent Nallatamby, CEO of Tempow. “By ensuring compatibility with existing phone hardware, the TWE technology is already gaining strong traction with leading vendors.”

Aviv Malinovitch, vice president and general manager of the Connectivity Business Unit at CEVA, added: “The collaboration with Tempow has been immensely successful in addressing a key technical challenge for earbuds. We anticipate that this solution will become widely adopted in the burgeoning Bluetooth earbud market.”