A coprocessor VLSI design frame

The purpose of this work was to design and specify the implementation of a copro cessor design frame for use in very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit designs which would be pin compatible with an existing coprocessor.

Design frames are the interface between a custom integrated circuit and a standard bus or system. The design frame implements the necessary protocol to communicate with the bus or system while presenting the custom circuit with a much simpler protocol. This allows a designer to concentrate on the circuit design, not on the implementation of the communication protocol, and to install the fabricated design into an existing system for testing, evaluation, and use in actual production systems. A coprocessor design frame provides a custom VLSI circuit access to the tools and resources of virtually any microcomputer system which has a supported coprocessor interface.

This thesis presents a conceptual description of three design frames that implement a coprocessor interface to three widely available microprocessors - the Motorola 68020 and the Intel 8086/8088 and Intel 80286. These three conceptual descriptions were evaluated, and the coprocessor design frame for the Intel 8086/8088 was chosen for complete design and specification. By using this design frame, a custom VLSI design can be installed in any microcomputer system which is based on the Intel 8086/8088 and has an available coprocessor socket. Thus, a custom VLSI circuit can be quickly and easily used by a much larger audience.