Patent ID: 8274972

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a first master device to operate as a master of a first communication according to a first protocol; a second master device to operate as a master of a second communication according to a second protocol; a common slave device to operate as a slave of the communications according to the first protocol and the second protocol with respect to the first master device and the second master device; and a switch electrically coupled between the common slave device and the first master device, and between the common slave device and the second master device, for selectively controlling the communication between the common slave device and any one of the first master device and the second master device, wherein the common slave device is coupled to only one of the first master device and the second master device, wherein any one of the first protocol and the second protocol comprises an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) communication protocol, and wherein the second protocol is different from the first protocol.