Patent ID: 8214542

Claim:
A Universal Serial Bus (USB) host configured to be capable of connecting thereto a USB device via a USB hub, the USB host comprising: a combination storage unit that stores therein an upgrade allowable combination, for which upgrading of a capability of the USB device is allowed, among a combination of hub identification information for identifying the USB hub and device identification information for identifying the USB device; an identification information acquisition unit that acquires the hub identification information from the USB hub when the USB hub is connected thereto and that acquires the device identification information from the USB device in compliance with the USB standards when the USB device is connected to the USB hub; and a command transmission unit that transmits an upgrade command to the USB device when a combination of the acquired hub identification information and the acquired device identification information is identical with the combination stored in the combination storage unit; wherein the combination storage unit stores the upgrade allowable combination to be correlated with a number of upgrade steps, and wherein when the combination of the acquired hub identification information and the acquired device identification information is identical with the combination stored in the combination storage unit, the command transmission unit transmits the upgrade command so that the USB device is able to recognize the number of steps correlated with the combination.