Patent ID: 8274311

Claim:
A driver for differentially transmitting data over a data bus having N+1 data lines, the driver comprising: a plurality of driver cells (D O . . . D N ) for receiving a first signal a second signal, and an ordered set of N input signals (B 0 , . . . B N−1 ) comprising data, the plurality of driver cells comprising: a first driver cell (D O ) for receiving over a first input of D O the first signal and for receiving over a second input of D O a first input signal (B O ), and for generating over an output of D O a first a 3 -level transmission signal (S O ) from a difference between B O and the first signal, D O having an impedance substantially matching the impedance of a first one of the N+1 data lines; an (N+1)th driver cell (D N ) for receiving over a first input of D N and Nth input signal (B N+1 ) and for receiving over a second input of D N the second signal, and for generating over an output of D N an (N+1)th 3-level transmission signal (S N ) from a difference between B N−1 and the second signal, D N having an impedance substantially matching the impedance of a (N+1)th one of the (N+1) data lines; and N−1 driver cells D j wherein j is an index with 1≦j≦N−1, each jth driver cell (D j ) of which is for receiving over a first input of a D j a (j−1)th input signal (B j−t ) and for receiving over a second input of D j a jth input signal (B j ), and for generating a (j+1)th 3-level transmission signal (S j ) from a difference between B j and B j−1 , the N−1 driver cells each having an impedance substantially matching the impedance of a respective one of N−1 of the (N+1) data lines, wherein the first input of D O is coupled to a digital voltage, the first signal comprising the digital voltage, and wherein the second signal comprises an (N+1)th input signal (B N ) comprising data.