Patent ID: 8909820

Claim:
A hub device, comprising: an upstream port, coupled to a host device supporting a first data format and/or a second data format; a plurality of downstream ports, each coupled to one of a plurality of slave devices supporting the first data format and/or the second data format; a first sub-hub module, supporting transmission of data in the first data format between the plurality of downstream ports and the upstream port; a second sub-hub module, supporting transmission of data in the second data format between the plurality of downstream ports and the upstream port; a data-format detector, detecting data format supported by the host device and the slave devices; a transaction translator, coupled between the first sub-hub module and the second sub-hub module and coupled to at least one of the plurality of downstream ports for transforming the data format between the first data format and the second data format; and a controller, controlling operations of the first sub-hub module, the second sub-hub module and the transaction translator, and determining whether to control the transaction translator to perform data-format transformation between the first data format and the second data format according to the data format supported by the host device and the slave devices, wherein when the host device coupled to the upstream port is detected supporting the second data format, the controller controls the data in the second data format to be transmitted directly through the second sub-hub module between the slave devices and the host device without passing through the first sub-hub module.