Low power encoding for coupled on-chip buses

This paper proposes a low-power encoding scheme for on-chip buses. The encoding scheme is based on the relative switching between bus lines rather than the self-switching of individual lines, as the coupling capacitor dominates the total capacitance in current DSM technologies. The proposed low-power coupling-based encoding technique, CBBI, provides a reduction in power dissipation of more than 27%. A common misconception of calculating the relative switching activity coefficients is also pointed out and corrected.