An IC Design Station Needs a High Performance Color Graphic Display

Raster-scan color graphic displays provide increased visual feedback in many CAD areas. In addition the unique architecture of displays used for this purpose enable other CAD related problems to be solved within the hardware structure of the display. Achieving these features commensurate with human response times requires new architectures and algorithm development for color displays. This paper presents the architecture and some of the algorithms used in an advanced color display station for IC design. The display architecture is based on a high-speed microprogrammable bit-slice microprocessor which is optimised for the algorithms found in raster-scan graphics. A new algorithm for area filling is presented which is optimised for firmware implementation. The performance of the display in an I.C. design environment is described as an example of integration into a complete design station. A unique feature of the display system is the ability to pan, in real time, over a hierarchical data base.