Patent ID: 8336060

Claim:
An information processing apparatus having an operating system (OS) configured to perform exclusive control among a plurality of programs that are based on a predetermined application program interface (API) on a communication channel for communicating with a peripheral apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprising: a first device driver for the peripheral apparatus, configured to startup based on a request that is based on the predetermined API and communicate with the peripheral apparatus via the communication channel; a second device driver for the peripheral apparatus, configured to startup based on a request that is not based on the predetermined API and communicate with the peripheral apparatus via the communication channel; a communication program configured to communicate with the peripheral apparatus via the communication channel; and a control unit configured to, when the second device driver is given a startup instruction based on a request that is not based on the predetermined API, if the communication program is using the communication channel, close the communication channel that the communication program is using based on exclusive control by the OS by starting the first device driver, to enable the second device driver to use the communication channel.