USB Device Sharing Server for Office Environment

Abstract

In the office environment the USB devices attached to different hosts can be shared among hosts through the local area network. With USB transaction relay technique, all the frequently used USB devices can be grouped together as some sort of virtual USB server. The USB devices in this virtual server can be accessed by any office member using the USB client. A virtual USB host driver under Windows OS is implemented to enumerate the virtual USB devices from the client side. The enumerated virtual device will mimic the real counterpart and the original device driver can be applied without any modification. Theoretically almost all the USB devices without strict timing requirements can be shared with this USB device sharing system. To release the inconvenience of exclusive access properties caused by the nature of the USB protocol, certain management functions are introduced.