Patent ID: 8179809

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium for managing resources that are allocated to an apparatus that includes a resource that satisfies a suspendable resource requirement, the computer-readable storage medium carrying instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of the steps of: determining that a resource requirement for said apparatus is to no longer be satisfied, based on a suspendable status of the resource requirement and at least one condition, wherein the suspendable status of the resource requirement is specified by a user requesting the apparatus prior to execution of the apparatus in which the resource requirement is implemented, resulting in the suspendable resource requirement, and wherein the at least one condition is specified by the user of the apparatus and causes suspension of the suspendable resource requirement by one selected from a group consisting of the apparatus and a system operator of the apparatus during execution of the apparatus when the at least one condition is met; de-allocating said resource from said apparatus and making said resource available for re-allocation, wherein the suspendable resource requirement is suspended and the resource is de-allocated for a predetermined period of time specified by the user; discounting a price charged to the user of the apparatus, during the predetermined period of time, as a result of the de-allocation of the resource from the apparatus; and reinstating the suspendable resource requirement after expiration of the predetermined period of time by allocating a new resource that satisfies the suspendable resource requirement to the apparatus.