Apparatus and method for suspending and resuming software applications

Abstract

A control unit of a computer system comprising a process resuming device for resuming the execution of the program it was running before the powering off operation by resuming the previous contents stored in a memory device containing registers in CPU, registers in input/output control units, and a volatile memory there were before the powering off operation, a non-resumable condition judging device for judging whether the status of the computer system meets the substantially non-resumable condition or not even the stored contents in the storing device has returned to the previous status at the powering back on, and either one of a program execution control device for restarting the execution of a program from the beginning at the powering back on according to the judged results by the non-resumable condition judging device, or a power control unit for powering off after the process has been judged to be in the substantially resumable status by the non-resumable condition judging device. There is also disclosed a construction in which programs loaded by a volatile memory are preserved to a storing device capable of holding data even when the power is off according to the executing status. There is also disclosed a construction in which data exceeding the capacity of the storing device is preserved to a hard disk or the like.