US 4,907,150 A · Apparatus and method for suspending and resuming software applications on a computer

Abstract

A method and apparatus for powering down a computer system while saving the state of the system at power down is disclosed. The system maintains the capability to suspend the execution of an application program operating on the system at any point and resuming execution of the application program at that same point at a later time. The time at which the system may be powered down and then powered back up again is totally arbitrary and depends only upon the user of the system. At the time the system is powered off, the contents of all active registers as well as the states of all I/O devices in the system are stored in a special save area of system memory. This special save area is provided with power during the suspended time in order to retain the state of the system at the time it was powered down. By using this special save suspend area, the main memory area of the system is available to any application programs independently of the system save memory requirements. Additionally, the system may be powered on and off under software control thereby providing the capability for unattended system operation using an alarm function.

Claims19

Dependent claims

In an information processing system including a central processor, memory, and a plurality of input-output devices, a method of controlling the operation of said information processing system comprising the steps of:

detecting the initiation of a powering-off sequence of said information processing system;
accessing system profile data stored within said memory to determine whether a resume mode is set;
saving, in response to said resume mode being set, the state of all memory locations, the state of said plurality of input-output devices, and all interrupt, register and display data in said memory;
and
setting a system flag prior to the removal of power from said system in response to said saving step thereby suspending the operation of said information processing system.

2 more elements

In an information processing system including a central processor on which an application program is executing, memory, and a plurality of input-output devices, a method of controlling the execution of said application program on said system comprising the steps of:

detecting the initiation of a powering-off sequence of said information processing system;
accessing system profile data stored within said memory to determine whether a resume mode is set;
saving, in response to said resume mode being set, the state of all memory locations, the state of said plurality of input-output devices, and all interrupt, register and display data in said memory;
and,
setting a system flag prior to the removal of power from said system in response to said saving step thereby suspending the execution of said application program on said system.

2 more elements

A system for controlling the execution of an application program on an information processing system comprising:

means for detecting the initiation of a powering-off sequence of said information processing system;
means, coupled to said detecting means, for accessing a system profile data stored within said information processing system to determine whether a resume mode is set;
means, coupled to said accessing means, for saving the state of all memory locations, the state of all input-output devices coupled to said system, and all interrupt, register and display data, in response to said resume mode being set;
and,
means for setting a system flag prior to the removal of power from said system in response to said saved states being stored in said saving means thereby suspending the execution of said application program on said system.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Apparatus and method for suspending and resuming software applications on a computer

Life of this patent

Apparatus and method for suspending and resuming software applications on a computer

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19