The coprocessor in the Intel QX3 computer microscope lies adjacent to the CMOS active pixel sensor chip on the circuit board. After receiving digital video information from the CMOS chip, the coprocessor formats the data and passes it to the USB port and on to the computer.

This coprocessor was manufactured by VLSI Vision Ltd., and is code-named the CPIA1.5 coprocessor. The chip incorporated Vision's proprietary digital video processor engine, which performs automatic exposure and gain control along with white balance, color matrixing, gamma correction and aperture modulation. A unique feature of the integrated circuit is the video compression that is capable of delivering almost real time video rates (30 frames per second) with minimum impact on image quality. The chip supports USB isochronous data transfer mode regardless of how many additional peripheral devices are also attached to the USB port.

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