A system component, including an interface for a data bus, a defined communication protocol being used on the data bus which determines the data sequence of access requests for sending and receiving data. The data of an access request includes pieces of information about the access direction. The system component includes a register unit including data registers. The system component includes a processing unit for the data of an access request. The interface is optionally operable in a first or a second operating mode. In the first operating mode, the data of an access request is supplied to the register unit to identify a register address, so that the corresponding read or write access takes place on the identified data register. In the second mode, the data of an access request is supplied to the processing unit and the corresponding read or write access is handled by the processing unit.