Patent ID: 7999167

Claim:
A composite device, comprising: a first control section; a second control section; and a storage section having a common area, and a dedicated area, the common area can be accessed by both the first control section and the second control section, and the first control section prohibits the second control section from accessing the dedicated area, wherein the composite device is selectively activated in either a first mode in which the second control section functions as an interface of the first control section or a second mode which is different from the first mode, the first control section reads data stored in the common area of the storage section in response to a request from the second control section, and outputs the data to the second control section, when activated in the first mode, the first control section converts data stored in the dedicated area into a predetermined format and stores the converted data in the common area, and when activated in the second mode, the second control section by sending the request to the first control section, obtains the converted data from the common area of the storage section via the first control section, and carries out a process using the converted data.