Patent ID: 8086764

Claim:
A remote USB device usage system in which a client that has been connected to a network can use at least one remote USB device that is connected to a server; the client is connected to the server via the network; the client having a remote USB device connection processing unit that is capable of connecting/disconnecting the at least one remote USB device and loading a plurality of units of applications to use each of the at least one remote USB device; the remote USB device connection processing unit, when a request to connect to one of the at least one remote USB device is made from any one of the plurality of applications provided by the client, performing a check of whether or not an application other than the application that made the connection request is already using the remote USB device, and when no application is using the remote USB device, connecting to the remote USB device; and when a request to disconnect the remote USB device is made from any one of the plurality of applications, performing a check of whether or not an application other than the application that made the disconnection request is still using the remote USB device, and when no application is using the remote USB device, disconnecting from the remote USB device.