Patent ID: 7895388

Claim:
A bus control device, comprising: a first bus complying with a first protocol specification; a second bus complying with a second protocol specification which is different from the first protocol specification; a third bus which operates in accordance with one of the first and second protocol specifications; a first controller configured to control the third bus in accordance with the first protocol specification; a second controller configured to control the third bus in accordance with the second protocol specification; a setting unit configured to perform a setting operation on the third bus so that the third bus operates in a first control mode controlled by the first controller or a second control mode controlled by the second controller; a connection unit configured to connect the first controller to the third bus when the setting unit sets the first control mode and configured to connect the second controller to the third bus when the setting unit sets the second control mode; and a bus switch configured to disconnect the second bus from the third bus when the setting unit sets the first control mode and configured to connect the second bus from the third bus when the setting unit sets the second control mode.