System and method for making busses limited to a linear topology extensible to other topologies

A method for transmitting messages in a communication system comprising a main bus that operates in accordance with a standard limited to a linear topology, the method comprising:

• placing a message onto the main bus from a bus controller configured to send and receive messages on the main bus;
• receiving the message at a first remote terminal coupled to the main bus and configured to send and receive messages on the main bus;
• receiving the message at a repeater coupled to the main bus and configured to send and receive messages on the main bus including the messages sent by the bus controller and by the first remote terminal;
• and
• passing the message from the repeater to second and third remote terminals coupled to the repeater,
• wherein the second and third remote terminals send and receive messages on the main bus via the repeater,
• wherein the repeater comprises an arbiter, a first encoder/decoder unit interfacing the repeater to the main bus, a second encoder/decoder unit interfacing the repeater to the second remote terminal, and a third encoder/decoder unit interfacing the repeater to the third remote terminal, wherein the arbiter is coupled to each of the first, second, and third encoder/decoder units and is configured to control the encoding and decoding by the first, second and third encoder/decoder units, and the method further comprises:
• encoding the message received at the repeater with the first encoder/decoder unit into a digital token;
• receiving the digital token at the second encoder/decoder and at the third encoder/decoder;
• decodine the digital token received by the second encoder/decoder and the third encoder/decoder into a reconstructed message with the second encoder/decoder and the third encoder/decoder, respectively;
• and
• passing the reconstructed message to the second remote terminal and the third remote terminal from the second encoder/decoder and the third encoder/decoder respectively.