Patent ID: 8386670

Claim:
A controlling device that includes a plurality of units forming a tree structure, the units being connected for data transfer on a point-to-point basis, the controlling device comprising: a controlling unit that is a root unit of the tree structure; a plurality of high-speed serial buses that are independently provided for the units to connect the units to the controlling unit; a first image processing unit that is connected to the controlling unit by one of the high-speed serial bus, and performs image processing on image data scanned by a scanner; a second image processing unit that is connected to the controlling unit by one of the high-speed serial bus, and performs image processing on image data to be output to a printer; and a storage unit that is independently and directly connected to the controlling unit, and stores therein image data processed by the first image processing unit and the second image processing unit, wherein the first image processing unit is directly connected to the controlling unit via a first port of the controlling unit, the second image processing unit is directly connected to the controlling unit via a second port of the controlling unit, and the first port and the second port are different.