doubling USB input port

[Joep L. Blom]

I have a peculiar problem for which hopefully somebody can give me a 
solution.
I have an external device that is connected to my system (ubuntu 10.04 
on an AMD Phenom processor) via an USB-port.
I have a Linux program that can process the data from the USB port as 
well as a Windows program running in an XP-guest under VMware.
VMware claims the USB port exclusively so the XP-guest has the 
exclusive rights to process the data coming from the device.
As the data from the device are only periodically read there is more 
than enough time for both applications to acquire the data.
I don't know a process that can switch control access to the USB port 
nor do I know of a process that can mirror an USB port. I also don't 
know if VMware (or virtualbox) has a control mechanism to switch an 
external device from connect to disconnect (because when is device is 
disconnected from a virtualization client it is automatically connected 
to the host).
Somebody has a clue or a brainwave?
Joep