Patent ID: 8352668

Claim:
A sharing switch device for coupling to a peripheral device and a plurality of computers, comprising: a plurality of computer-side switches each for coupling to a corresponding one and only one of the plurality of computers; a hub device having an upstream end coupled to all of the plurality of computer-side switches, a first downstream end for coupling to the peripheral device, and a second downstream end; a plurality of device controllers each being directly coupled to a corresponding one and only one of the plurality of computer-side switches, wherein each computer-side switch selectively couples the corresponding computer to either the corresponding device controller which is directly coupled to that computer-side switch, or the upstream end of the hub device, but not both; and a controller-side switch coupled to the plurality of device controllers and to the second downstream end of the hub device for selectively coupling the second downstream end of the hub device to one of the plurality of device controllers.