Abstract: Systems and methods for contextually allocating emulation resources for providing an emulation session are disclosed. The method involves a plurality of emulation parameters including the computer product to be emulated, context data defining an emulation context, at least one kind of external resource usable to provide the emulation of the computer product. The method includes receiving an emulation request from a client device; determining a required class of service for providing the emulation based on the context data; determining a plurality of possible resource instances providable by the emulator system; selecting at least one selected resource instance from the plurality of possible resource instances to provide an operating instance of the at least one kind of external hardware resource for the emulation based at least in part on the required class of service; and providing the emulation to the client device using the at least one selected resource instance.

Abstract: A method and system for emulating a computer product at an emulator server. The method and system involve receiving an emulation request to emulate the computer product; determining emulation properties based on the emulation request; determining whether each resource in the one or more resources is available at the emulator server; in response to determining at least one unavailable resource from the one or more resources, accessing the at least one unavailable resource at a remote emulator server, the remote emulator server being in electronic communication with the emulator server via a virtual external bus interface and the virtual external bus interface being operable to facilitate data communication between two or more different device components, and otherwise, initializing the resource at the emulator server; and initializing the computer product at the emulator server.

Abstract: A method and system for managing an emulation of a computer product. The method and system involve receiving emulation parameters associated with the emulation of the computer product, the emulation parameters defining one or more resources required to provide the emulation; identifying one or more capable emulator servers from a plurality of emulator servers based at least on the one or more resources; retrieving emulator server data for each capable emulator server; determining one or more criteria usable for selecting an emulator server from the one or more capable emulator servers to provide the emulation; and selecting the emulator server from the one or more capable emulator servers to provide the emulation, the emulator server being a capable emulator server from the one or more capable emulators associated with emulator server data satisfying at least some of the one or more criteria.

Abstract: A method and system for providing an emulation of a computer product is described. The method and system involve receiving an emulation request for initiating the emulation; in response to receiving the emulation request, creating an emulation session based at least on the emulation data and creating an emulation session identifier; determining one or more resources required for providing the emulation based on the emulation data and linking resource identifiers for the one or more resources with the emulation session identifier; identifying one or more emulator servers capable of providing the emulation based at least on the one or more resources and linking emulator server identifiers for the one or more emulator servers with the emulation session identifier; defining session data for the emulation session based on the emulation session identifier; and initiating the emulation session based on the session data.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for managing access to resources available remotely from at least one computing device. The resources include at least one software application and at least one hardware component. The method and system involve storing access level indicators for indicating different types of access; storing identifiers for identifying different users with access to the at least one computing device and possible access to the resources; for each resource and each identifier, storing an access level indicator for that resource and that user; and before granting access to a resource for a user seeking access to the resource, operating a processor to: determine an identifier identifying the user; determine the access level indicator stored in the storage module for the identifier and the resource; and if access is consistent with the determined access level indicator, grant access to the resource, otherwise, deny access to the resource.

Abstract: Various embodiments are described herein for methods and systems for providing, at a user device, an online emulation via a host server. A plurality of resources are provided via a host server by providing a plurality of initial software applications. Each resource in the plurality of resources is included in at least one initial software application in the plurality of initial software applications. A customized software application for emulation at the user device is defined to include a set of functionalities with at least one distinguishing functionality that is absent from each initial software application. The host server determines a set of resources for providing the set of functionalities and provides the emulation by accessing and running the set of resources.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for managing access to resources available remotely from at least one computing device. The resources include at least one software application and at least one hardware component. The method and system involve storing access level indicators for indicating different types of access; storing identifiers for identifying different users with access to the at least one computing device and possible access to the resources; for each resource and each identifier, storing an access level indicator for that resource and that user; and before granting access to a resource for a user seeking access to the resource, operating a processor to: determine an identifier identifying the user; determine the access level indicator stored in the storage module for the identifier and the resource; and if access is consistent with the determined access level indicator, grant access to the resource, otherwise, deny access to the resource.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing one or more software applications. The methods and systems involve receiving an application request from a user device identifying, at least, a software application to be provided by a host computer server; providing a resource library for the host computer server that defines the resources required for providing each software application; identifying, from the resource library, a set of resources required for providing the requested software application, the set of resources includes at least one resource required for an application operating system to support the requested software application; and providing the requested software application with the set of resources. The application operating system can be different from a host operating system at the host computer server. The set of resources can be launched as a containerized resource instance, which is operationally isolated from other containerized resource instances provided by the host computer server.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for managing access to resources available remotely from at least one computing device. The resources include at least one software application and at least one hardware component. The method and system involve storing access level indicators for indicating different types of access; storing identifiers for identifying different users with access to the at least one computing device and possible access to the resources; for each resource and each identifier, storing an access level indicator for that resource and that user; and before granting access to a resource for a user seeking access to the resource, operating a processor to: determine an identifier identifying the user; determine the access level indicator stored in the storage module for the identifier and the resource; and if access is consistent with the determined access level indicator, grant access to the resource, otherwise, deny access to the resource.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing one or more software applications. The methods and systems involve receiving an application request from a user device identifying, at least, a software application to be provided by a host computer server; providing a resource library for the host computer server that defines the resources required for providing each software application; identifying, from the resource library, a set of resources required for providing the requested software application, the set of resources includes at least one resource required for an application operating system to support the requested software application; and providing the requested software application with the set of resources. The application operating system can be different from a host operating system at the host computer server. The set of resources can be launched as a containerized resource instance, which is operationally isolated from other containerized resource instances provided by the host computer server.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing an emulation session to emulate a computer product for a host device. A method and system involve providing a communication link between the host device and an emulation bridge module provided on an emulation server separate from the host device; providing a host resource library file including a list of the plurality of resources available on the host device to the emulation bridge module; operating the emulation bridge module to determine emulation session resources required to provide the emulation session; selecting at least one of the host device and the emulation server for providing each required emulation session resource in the emulation session resources required to provide the emulation session; and providing the emulation session using the required emulation session resources provided by at least one of the host device and the emulation server.

Abstract: Systems and methods for selecting between emulated and non-emulated hardware resources for providing an emulation session is disclosed. The method involves a plurality of emulation parameters including the computer product to be emulated, at least one kind of external hardware resource usable to provide the emulation, and selection criteria for determining whether to provide the at least one kind of external hardware resource as an emulated or a non-emulated hardware resource. The method includes receiving an emulation request from a client device; determining the plurality of emulation parameters; for each of the at least one kind of external hardware resource, selecting one and only one of the emulated and the non-emulated hardware resource to provide an operating instance of the at least one kind of external hardware resource based at least in part on the selection criteria; and providing the emulation to the client device using the selected resources.