Oakland, CA [July 7, 1999] - Jacobs Pineda, Inc. (JPI) has expanded its licensing agreements with General Instrument Corporation (NYSE: GIC), allowing GI to provide virtual 3D audio to its home entertainment products. General Instrument, a leading worldwide provider of integrated and interactive broadband access solutions, has licensed the JPI J5 3D Audio Processor core cell technology for implementing SRS Labs' TruSurround virtual 3D audio. GIC has also licensed the JDA1 Audio D/A Converter (DAC)/PLL technology from Jacobs Pineda, Inc., employing it in digital set-top box products to provide a high-quality analog output. The JDA1 has been shipped in over 1 million such products to date.

JPI's  J5  is an integrated circuit core cell  design that performs both SRS TruSurround™ and SRS 3D® Sound in a single design. It is the world's smallest, most cost effective design for digital 3D audio processing, and needs only a fraction of the area of DSP-based designs. The J5 is designed to share silicon real estate with other audio/video processing found in GIC's highly integrated set-top box chip designs. The J5 performance has been certified to meet TruSurround and SRS 3D specifications by SRS Labs.

The  JDA1 is a core cell design that performs both D/A conversion and multi-sample-rate audio clock generation in a single circuit. While other DAC and PLL technologies employ expensive and older double-polysilicon analog IC processes, the JDA1 is designed for manufacture using a purely digital process, making it compatible with the latest high density VLSI processes used for complex circuits like digital audio/video decoder ICs. The JDA1's unique architecture yields consistent performance characteristics over multiple audio sample rates from a single 27MHz master clock, and thus has an advantage over other design approaches that retrofit a PLL to an traditional DAC design. The JDA1 accepts 2-channel PCM inputs to produce stereo analog and S/PDIF outputs. Multiple JDA1s may be employed on a single IC for 6-channel applications.

The JDA1 and J5 audio quality meet high standards, allowing them to be used for the most demanding audio applications. Input is performed over a 20-bit PCM bus, and high precision is maintained to provide 100db SNR performance and very flat frequency response for all "CD-quality" audio applications. By combining the JDA1 and J5 with JPI's J1 Dolby Digital®/MPEG audio decoder, a complete audio sub-system is formed, which accepts a compressed audio bitstream, and produces high quality 3-D virtualized stereo analog output. This combined audio subsystem is ideally suited for set-top and DVD applications.

"We're very pleased to be working with General Instrument to supply the J5 for high quality 3D audio virtualization and the JDA1 audio DAC for their products," states Gordon Jacobs, President of Jacobs Pineda, Inc. "The J5 agreement reinforces a lasting customer relationship with General Instrument, which has grown over the years as JPI has provided key audio core cells for GI's highly integrated, and very cost-sensitive products. General Instrument has succeeded again in bringing together the resources needed to produce cutting-edge silicon solutions and cost reductions in their set-top designs."

For more information on licensing JPI technologies contact:

Jacobs Pineda, Inc.
+1.415.641.9194
 info@jacobspineda.com

Copyright information
© 1999 Jacobs Pineda, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SRS and TruSurround are registered trademarks of SRS Labs, Inc. in the United States and
selected foreign countries. All other brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.