This kind of sharing is called time multiplexing because the sharing occurs in different time periods. When we looked at multiplexor circuits many chapters ago, we saw a different kind of multiplexing, one where many components shared the same wire, but only one device could use that wire at a single moment in time. Though this, too, is a form of time sharing, it is logically different and is called device multiplexing since the sharing occurs between different devices. Computer buses also use device multiplexing, even if they do not use time multiplexing.

It would also be possible to multiplex the address onto a smaller number of wires, but this is less common since the address must be entirely present and available to the decoder before that circuit can begin the process of decoding.