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Mobile Phones To Monitor User’s Health

February 10, 2010

Broadcom announces a Bluetooth system on a chip that enables wireless devices to connect to sensors to track fitness indicators.


IRVINE, CA /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corp., a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, announced that it has extended its portfolio of Bluetooth system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions to enable mobile phones (and other devices) to wirelessly track and monitor health and fitness indicators. Broadcom's implementation of the Bluetooth Health Devices Profile (HDP) helps expand the Bluetooth ecosystem to include very-low-power health and fitness sensors, enabled by Bluetooth.

Broadcom is demonstrating its Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology at next week's 2010 Mobile World Congress, and will showcase how the company is making Bluetooth more relevant to people's lives and expanding it to a new range of low-power devices.

Key Facts
 

  • The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has ratified the BLE specification, enabling a new wave of Bluetooth applications that connect devices with very-low-power requirements, including monitoring devices that use coin-sized batteries.
    • BLE solutions will enable Bluetooth technology to be used in more wireless and mobile products than ever before.
    • The opportunity for BLE solutions is significant, building on Bluetooth, a technology that consumers already know and that has already been adopted in billions of electronic devices.
    • The ease with which Bluetooth low-energy solutions can be added into cell phones will help consolidate the market for low-power consuming devices around Bluetooth rather than the existing handful of proprietary technologies.
  • Broadcom's new HDP profile enables mobile phones (and other devices) to conveniently connect to sensors and monitors for aggregating and displaying small amounts of data, allowing users to track the progress of workouts or monitor their heart rate, displaying the information on their handset screens.
  • Broadcom's BLE SoC solutions include extensive hardware and software innovations that will be made available across many of the company's Bluetooth products over the coming year.
    • The first of these BLE offerings includes the Broadcom InConcert BCM2049 Bluetooth combo chip that supports BLE dual-mode operation. This cost-effective, high-performance solution enables mobile phone manufacturers to extend the user experience of their handset products by supporting the coming wave of Bluetooth low-energy devices.
    • The BCM2049 is compliant with the BLE standard and has achieved qualification from the Bluetooth SIG qualification program.
  • Making BLE broadly available in mobile phones will provide another connectivity option for developers of phone applications who seek to offer new and novel software products to handset users.
  • Broadcom has been pushing Bluetooth into a greater range of products, beyond more traditional hands-free and wireless peripheral applications, targeting remote controls for digital televisions and digital music players. BLE technology makes Bluetooth even more attractive for these applications and now adds health and fitness devices to the mix.

"We continue to introduce technology and products that expand the Bluetooth ecosystem, broadening the universe of devices that can connect to smartphones and other mobile products," says Craig Ochikubo, Vice President & General Manager, Broadcom's Wireless Personal Area Networking line of business. "Our expanded BLE offering gives the smartphone more direct insight into its owner's health and fitness, enabling a new level of personalization and life-style enrichment than ever before possible."

About Broadcom
Broadcom Corp. is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data, and multimedia to and throughout the home, office, and mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. The solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything.

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2009 revenue of $4.49 billion, holds more than 3,800 U.S. and 1,550 foreign patents, more than 7,800 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios, addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data, and multimedia.

A FORTUNE 500 company, Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, CA, and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia, and Europe. Broadcom can be contacted at 949-926-5000.






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