Ericsson rolls Bluetooth kit for mobile handsets

By
EE Times
(04/25/02, 01:07:02 PM EDT)

PARIS Ericsson Technology Licensing launched the Bluetooth Mobile Phone Suite on Wednesday (April 24) and said handset makers could use the set of building blocks to integrate Bluetooth communications capabilities into even low-cost mobile phones.

"We offer everything from RF to qualification services" to provide the kind of comprehensive solution "demanded by the market for high-volume mobile phones," said Johan Akesson, marketing director of Ericsson Technology Licensing, a spin-off of mobile phone maker Ericsson.

Ericsson's Suite does not include a Bluetooth baseband processor and instead leaves that function to a handset's processor and memory. That would be either a GSM/GPRS baseband processor or another handset processor that handles data communication tasks, such as modem or fax features. "For systems having more than one CPU, the architecture allows [designers] to run Bluetooth using available resources," Akesson said.

A solution that eliminates a Bluetooth baseband processor and allows a Bluetooth radio transceiver to be dropped into a mobile handset has long been seen as a Holy Grail for Bluetooth's broader penetration in the handset market, Ericsson said.

Qualcomm Inc. offers a CDMA baseband chip that integrates a Bluetooth baseband processor, but as yet no GSM baseband chips offer similar features, Ericsson said.

Ericsson Technology Licensing hopes its Bluetooth Mobile Phone Suite will change all that. The Suite was designed to eliminate many roadblocks for handset makers and chip companies, such as partitioning and integration issues, as well as the hidden costs of implementing Bluetooth in a mobile phone.

The integration of Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS baseband processing can be tough "when you don't have a well-tested, reliable IP [intellectual property] block," said Akesson. "Handset vendors can't afford a glitch."

Meanwhile, Ericsson's Core Bluetooth Radio, which is offered with the Suite, can be incorporated directly into a phone, with no module required. "Our solution has reduced the off-chip space requirement by 90 percent," said Akesson.

Lower costs promised

More importantly, Ericsson's Suite seeks to address issues of cost, which are rarely discussed by the chip companies racing to develop a $5.00 Bluetooth solution. In addition to a single-chip or two-chip Bluetooth radio and baseband, OEMs looking to build Bluetooth-enabled handsets can require flash memory, external radio components, an upper layer of Bluetooth software to run on a host CPU, and Bluetooth profiles. They also require RF skills to put the Bluetooth radio into their handset and will encounter costs associated with test and qualification. Further, licensing and royalty fees are also involved, Akesson said.

But a mobile handset vendor that uses the Suite, assuming it will produce more than a million units, can add Bluetooth capability for $3 to $4 per handset, Akesson said. That covers everything from a radio core, the Bluetooth baseband processing that runs on the handset's CPU and memory, licensing fees for software, Bluetooth profiles and a variety of services, including training, consulting, testing and qualification.