A pattern detector for a bus node for a system bus having a plurality of stations that are coupled together by means of an arrangement of bus lines, the bus node comprising: decoding circuitry configured for an analysis of sub-patterns in a stream of data on at least one bus line, and analyzing circuitry configured to determine a series of digital relative length information of said sub-patterns, wherein said relative length information is generated by comparison of an actual sub-pattern with a preceding sub-pattern in the stream of data on said at least one bus line. A corresponding method of encoding digital bus message information on a bus system in which the digital bus message comprises at least one part that is by means of sub-patterns to be transmitted in a stream of data on at least one bus line, wherein the method comprises: encoding a series of digital relative information by means of the sub-patterns in the stream of data, wherein said relative information is generated by adapting each sub-pattern carrying one bit of the bus message information with respect to an preceding sub-pattern. A corresponding digital bus messages may be encoded in accordance with the method, which bus messages are of particular use in a bus system, in which communication takes place on arbitrarily manner.