New solutions powered by Nuance deliver lower cost, voice-enabled remotes with single-chip hardware and software solutions
Texas Instruments announced new voice-enabled ZigBee RF4CE and Bluetooth Smart remote control development kits that will bring advanced voice features to more remotes and more consumers. Working with Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading provider of voice and language solutions, TI's new remote control solutions deliver high-quality voice recognition powered by Nuance's Dragon TV in a limited bandwidth stream without quality loss or impact on the results. TVs and set-top boxes (STBs) now offer more advanced services where voice-enabled remotes provide an additional method for user control. The performance and low power of TI's solution delivers advanced consumer applications including voice commands, hands-free search and navigation as well as user identification for customized user interfaces. Additionally, with a lower cost point and more flexibility than current voice-enabled remote technology, TI's RF4CE and Bluetooth Smart remote solutions make embedded- and Internet- or cloud-based remotes a reality.
"Voice is changing the TV remote experience bringing a new sense of simplicity and instant access to content, shows and features – otherwise hard to navigate with traditional remote controls and program guides," said Michael Thompson, executive vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. "TI's RF4CE and Bluetooth Smart remote control solutions powered by Nuance's Dragon TV bring the connected TV to life and create a compelling and engaging experience."
Based on a single-chip SoC (CC2533 or CC2541 for ZigBee RF4CE or Bluetooth low energy respectively), TI's voice-enabled remote control solutions only require an external ADC—no external DSP is needed for voice compression, which reduces costs to manufacturers. The voice-enabled remote controls use TI's royalty-free RemoTI RF4CE stack and BLE-Stack software. TI offers manufacturers a complete RF4CE and Bluetooth Smart remote control product offering including simple button remotes, advanced remotes with pointing technology, and now voice-enabled.
The voice-enabled remote control solutions have already gained momentum with remote manufacturers. The RF4CE solution will be demonstrated at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2013 from Sept. 13-17, 2013 at RAI Amsterdam.
Availability:
TI's voice-enabled remote control kits are currently being offered to qualified customers.
