US Mass. : Analog Devices announced the availability of a new high-end multimedia baseband processor enabling advanced audio and video functions in EDGE and GSM/GPRS cellular phones. The new SoftFone(R) chipset consists of the AD6900 digital baseband processor and the AD6855 analog baseband processor, which together offer cutting-edge features such as industry-leading 3.0-megapixel camera support, USB On-the-Go, 128-voice MIDI ringtones and full-duplex speakerphone capability, without requiring a separate applications co-processor.

The chipset is based on Analog Devices' award-winning RAM-based
SoftFone architecture, which for the past 6 years has provided handset designers with unparalleled levels of flexibility, power savings and performance. Driven by the success and market acceptance of the SoftFone architecture, SoftFone devices are found in GSM/GPRS/EDGE mobile phones from dozens of manufacturers on networks around the world.

"Today's announcement clearly illustrates the flexibility of our SoftFone platform to quickly and cost-effectively address the needs of the fast-paced wireless handset market," said Christian Kermarrec, vice president, RF and wireless systems, Analog Devices, Inc. "The software-based approach inherent in SoftFone allows our customers to design multiple families of products using a single development platform and customizing features and functionality simply by software."

"The use of the Blackfin Processor for both multimedia and communications processing in the SoftFone AD6900 makes great sense, given the Blackfin's ability to do video processing efficiently with low power, eliminating the need for an additional applications processor for MPEG-4 encode/decode functions," said Will Strauss,president, Forward Concepts.

The SoftFone AD6900 (LeMans) multimedia baseband processor utilizes the power of Analog Devices' Blackfin(R) Processor and
ARM926EJ-S both running at 260 MHz to perform both the communications and audio/video signal processing tasks in a media-rich handset. The capabilities of the Blackfin Processor enable the multimedia video processing to be performed without the use of a co-processor, thereby significantly lowering bill of materials cost and power consumption.

The AD6900 can support video algorithms such as MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 for screen sizes up to QVGA; stereo audio codecs including MP3, AAC+, WMA and others; and it offers 128-voice MIDI ringtones - all handled in software. The processor also includes built-in support for up to 3.0-megapixel resolution cameras. For easy transfer and uploading of pictures and music, or access to external storage and printing capabilities, the AD6900 supports USB On-the-Go, whereby the handset can act as a host or client device. The AD6900 provides "boot-from-NAND" capability, and has been validated for compatibility with state-of-the-art flash memory devices including the recently announced M18 series from Intel and OneNAND from Samsung.

The companion AD6855 IC (Stratos-S) handles the analog processing requirements of the new multimedia SoftFone chipset. The AD6855 provides all of the analog and power management functions including baseband radio interface, voiceband and stereo D/A conversion, and voltage regulation. The dynamic power management feature included in the SoftFone multimedia chipset controls the frequency and core voltage of the processor depending on the processing power being utilized, thereby extending battery life. The high-performance analog audio subsystem supports multiple sampling rates of stereo audio for music playback, as well as concurrent audio streams and full-duplex speakerphone operation with more than 25% increase in output volume than previous-generation devices, resulting in better speakerphone volume and clarity.

Analog Devices offers a choice of its award-winning Othello(R) transceivers for use with the new SoftFone chipset. The AD6546 Othello-E transceiver uses a closed-loop polar modulation transmitter and direct conversion receiver for EDGE/GPRS networks, and the AD6548 Othello-G transceiver supports GPRS operation with a low-cost, small PCB-area solution.

Availability

The SoftFone AD6900/AD6855 SoftFone multimedia baseband chipset is available now. Please contact Analog Devices for pricing information.