US Patent 7358869 Power efficient, high bandwidth communication using multi-signal-differential channels

A low-power, area and pin efficient signaling alternative to serial differential links used for chip-to-chip, backplane, optical and other signaling applications. The multi-bit differential signaling (MBDS) generally comprises a driver and link termination network design coupled with a coding system based on n choose M (nCm) coding. MBDS has comparable electrical characteristics to conventional low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) and is fully compatible with existing LVDS receivers in point-to-point and multi-point bus topologies. However, MBDS uses up to 40% less power, with up to 33% fewer I/O pads than equivalent LVDS links.