Patent ID: 6851003

Claim:
A communications riser comprising: at least two communications devices, each of said communications devices having a differential encoder; an integrated packet bus having three or more input data signals, one or more said input data signals being designated for carrying differentially encoded data; and a controller for communicating data with each of said communications devices via a communications bus, said controller having a differential decoder; wherein said differential encoder encodes a portion of said data for transmission over said one or more said input data signals being designated for carrying differentially encoded data, and wherein said differential decoder decodes said portion of said data; and wherein said integrated packet bus supports a communications protocol including a control slot and at least one data slot, each said slot having at least two bits, and wherein each of said at least two bits of said control slot selects which of said at least two bits of said at least one data slot belong to which of said at least two communications devices.