Data communication module providing fault tolerance and increased stability

A system comprising a module for transmitting sets of data bits to another module via a communication bus, the module comprising:

• bus invert coding means for reducing the number of transitions on the communication bus as the module operates;
• the bus invert coding means being adapted to:
• compare a set of data bits with a preceding set of data bits to determine an indication of the number of transitions required to transmit the set of data bits;
• invert the set of data bits prior to transmission if it is determined that the number of transitions required to transmit the set of data bits is greater than half the total number of bits in the set of data bits;
• and
• provide an indication of whether the set of data bits has been inverted;
• means adapted to generate respective copies of the data bits in the set of data bits;
• and
• means adapted to transmit to the other module, via the communication bus, the set of data bits, their respective copies and the indication of whether the set of data bits has been inverted, and a module for receiving sets of data bits from another module via a communication bus, the module comprising:
• means adapted to receive a set of data bits, respective copies of the set of data bits and an indication of whether the set of data bits has been inverted;
• means adapted to select the received data bits as the output of the module in the event that the indication of whether the set of data bits has been inverted indicates that the set of data bits has not been inverted, and to select the inverse of the received data bits as the output of the module in the event that the indication indicates that the set of data bits has been inverted, the transmitting and receiving modules being connected via a communication bus.