Design & Reuse

Renesas Technology licenses Ceva Xpert-Blue IP and achieves Bluetooth 1.2 certification

San Jose, CA - June 2nd, 2004 - CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA; LSE: CVA), the leading licensor of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores and communications solutions to the semiconductor industry, today announced that Renesas Technology Corp. has completed development of it’s SH7660 Bluetooth Baseband controller utilizing CEVA’s Xpert-Blue Version 1.2. On March 24, 2004, this Renesas product was awarded BT1.2 certification by the industry’s Bluetooth Qualification Program.

This device is part of a range of Bluetooth products developed by Renesas designed for embedded Bluetooth applications such as stereo audio streaming and hands free car kits. The SH7630 uses the SH-3 CPU core while the SH7660 uses the SH3-DSP. These devices enable customers to run their complete application using a single processor.  

"We are pleased to maintain our leadership in Bluetooth technology by being the first IP company to have customer silicon which is a fully compliant with Bluetooth Version 1.2 solution," said Martin Farnan, Xpert-Blue Product Marketing Director, at CEVA."

CEVA’s latest Xpert-Blue version delivers a complete Bluetooth v1.2 solution, integrating baseband, DSP processor, RAM, ROM and complete host controller software stack. Xpert-Blue licensees benefit from rapid time-to-certification and time-to-market for Bluetooth enabled products whereas existing licensees of CEVA's Bluetooth v1.1 IP can upgrade the software to make their solutions v1.2 compliant.

Key features of Xpert-Blue include:
  • Multiple processor support
  • Multiple radio support
  • Multiple codec support
  • Low MIPS
  • Low gate count
  • Low RAM usage
  • Low program code size
SH7660 Device Features include:
  • SH3-DSP core (MMU/TLB not provided)
  • Four channel DMAC, User RAM 128kB
  • Cache memory (16kB), XY memory (8kB + 8kB)
  • USB Host controller or USB Function controller
  • Two channel 8-bit D-A converters
  • Three Serial I/O with FIFO (SIOF x 1ch, SCIF x 2ch)
  • Three Channel Timer

 SH7660 Bluetooth Features
  • Supports BT 1.2 feature set
  • USB or Uart 921kbaud
  • Direct connection to HD157102NP RF
  • 4 voice codec formats and interfaces (includes SCO over HCI)
  • 32.768 KHz low power operation modes.
About Bluetooth v1.2

With the recent adoption of the Bluetooth Specification Version 1.2 by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the Bluetooth market is expected to double to 100 million units in 2004, according to IMS Research. The new specification introduces many new features that will improve the ease-of-use and reliability of Bluetooth products, increasing the demand for the technology. Bluetooth 1.2 features include;
  • Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) designed to reduce interference between Bluetooth devices and other wireless technologies, such as 802.11b and 802.11g.  
  • Enhanced Voice Processing, providing an improved quality for voice transmissions over Bluetooth in frequency noisy environments.
  • Improved interoperability between Bluetooth devices, allowing for faster connections.
  • Backward compatibility with Bluetooth v1.1
About CEVA, Inc.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, CEVA (NASDAQ: CEVA and LSE: CVA) is the leading licensor of DSP cores and communications solutions to the semiconductor industry. CEVA markets a portfolio of DSP IP in three integrated areas: CEVA DSPs, CEVA Xpert Open Framework Environment, and CEVA Xpert Applications, all supported by Xpert Integration services. CEVA’s products are used in over 50 million devices each year. CEVA was created through the merger of the DSP licensing division of DSP Group, and Parthus Technologies. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com.