Patent Publication Number: US-9886189-B2

Title: Systems and methods for object-based interaction with cloud-based applications

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/608,971, filed Sep. 10, 2012, entitled “Systems and Methods for Gesture Interaction with Cloud-Based Applications,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/533,135 filed Sep. 9, 2011, entitled “Systems and Methods for Workspace and Gesture Interaction with Cloud-Based Enterprise Applications,” each of which is incorporated by reference herein. The present application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/714,709, filed Oct. 16, 2012, entitled “Systems and Methods for Graphical User Interface Interaction with Cloud-Based Applications,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/714,710, filed Oct. 16, 2012, entitled “Systems and Methods for Object-Based Interaction with Cloud-Based Applications,” each of which is incorporated by reference herein. The present application also incorporates by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/870,936, filed Apr. 25, 2013, entitled “Systems and Methods for Graphical User Interface Interaction with Cloud-Based Applications.” 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention(s) generally relate to server-based computing and, more particularly, relate to providing a client with workspace interaction with cloud-based applications. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     In a server-based computing environment, hardware upgrades, application deployment, technical support, and/or data storage can be provided by one or more terminal application servers. As such, use of server-based computing to support multiple clients can reduce application costs and ensure that applications are accessible by some or all of the supported clients. Server-based computing also provides enhanced security and eliminates the need for patch through software upgrades to a plurality of different clients. Traditionally, server-based computing has been implemented by way of remote desktop computing or remote application computing. 
     With remote desktop computing, one or more terminal application servers provide one or more clients with access to a plurality of software applications, and manage data transfers to each client through a separate data communication line. Generally, users access the terminal server through their end user devices (also known as “clients” or “client devices”) by authenticating into a network with a username and password, with an access card, based on biometric information, or by any other authentication method. Upon establishing a remote desktop computing session, each client serves as a remote desktop display capable of displaying applications which are provided by the terminal application server. The remote desktop is created by and handled within the terminal application server based on applications installed on the terminal application server. The clients also allow users to input data through a mouse, keyboard, or the like, such that the users can interact with the application provided by the terminal application server. 
     Unfortunately, traditional remote desktop computing is limited by the inability of the terminal server to provide access to disparate operating systems (e.g., a traditional terminal server configured to provide Microsoft® Windows® operating system is not capable of providing Apple® OS X®-operating system), thereby requiring a user of remote desktop computing to interface with different terminal servers for access to different operating systems. Traditional remote desktop computing is also limited by the inability of the terminal server to provide the operating system with embedded access to a third-party, cloud-based storage (e.g., those provided by Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs). 
     In remote application computing, a plurality of terminal application servers are used, each of which is dedicated to one or more applications. A user can use a remote client to authenticate through a network and access the terminal application server corresponding to a desired application. A single communication line is established between the client and the terminal application server for each application which is provided to the user. 
     Unfortunately, like remote desktop computing, traditional remote application computing also suffers from various limitations, such as requiring a data communication channel for each provided application, resulting in a need for excessive bandwidth. This is particularly true when traditional remote application computing is utilized to provide access to two or more applications developed to run on different operating system (e.g., a traditional terminal application server configured to serve Microsoft® Windows®-compatible applications is not capable of providing Apple® OS X®-compatible applications). Consequently, users of traditional remote application computing access applications of differing operating system compatibilities with separate connections to disparate traditional terminal application servers, each configured to operate a different operating system. This also results in excessive bandwidth usage, as each connection requires a separate data communication channel. Furthermore, traditional remote application computing lacks the ability to provide applications with embedded/in-application access to files located on third-party, cloud-based storage. 
     SUMMARY 
     Various systems and methods described herein relate to server-based computing, where the systems and methods may implement object-based user interaction between a client device and a virtualized application instance operating on a server. Some embodiments provide for server-side systems and/or methods that: execute a virtualized application instance based on a version of the application in a virtual computing environment; capture first object data regarding an application object of the virtualized application instance; transmit to a remote client device the first object data; receive from the remote client device second object data relating to a client-side object at the remote client device, the client-side object representing the application object; and synchronize the application object with the client-side object based on the second object data. Some embodiments provide for client-side systems and methods that: receive from a remote server first object data relating to an application object of a virtualized application instance operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server; render or render an update to a client-side object based on the first object data (update may be rendered when client-side object already exists), the client-side object representing the application object; receive a set of user interactions with respect to the client-side object; modify the client-side object based on the set of user interactions; provide second object data relating to the modified client-side object; and transmit to the remote server the second object data. 
     Depending on the embodiment, the application object may be a graphical or non-graphical user interface element of the virtualized application instance, an object embedded in a document currently being accessed (e.g., opened and being edited) by the virtualized application instance, content of a document currently being accessed by the virtualized application instance, or some form of visual or audio output generated by the virtualized application instance (e.g., video or music). Additionally, the set of user interactions may comprise a set of input events entered that includes, for example, user input actions typical of graphical user interface (GUI) computing environments (e.g., Microsoft® Windows® or Apple® OS X®), mouse-based input events (e.g., movement event, mouse click event, a mouse wheel event, a mouse button event, click-and-drag mouse events), a scroll event (e.g., a vertical scroll event or a horizontal scroll event by way of mouse or keyboard), a keyboard-based input event (e.g., one or more keystrokes or keyboard shortcut buttons), a gesture-based input event (e.g., one that is natively compatible with/recognized by the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment), an audio input event (e.g., an input event that the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment recognizes as an audio input), or a video input event (e.g., motion detection or image detection event typically captured by a camera provided to the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment). 
     Embodiments may address high latency and/or smoothness issues that commonly result during video stream-based client/server editing, particularly when creating, dragging (e.g., moving), or resizing an object in a document that being edited on the server at the control of the client. Certain embodiments may facilitate the client/server editing by way of object-based interaction. For example, a server may transmit to a client object data (or a video stream with the objected data), which effectively conveys from the server to the client document content and/or context information for a document object being edited on the server. Upon updating the object data at the client (e.g., to facilitate editing of the document on the server) and transmitting the updated object data from the client to the server (e.g., possibly with related input events), the server can update the document being edited according to the updated object data. The document embedded objects can include computer drawings, images, video, graphs, and the like. By way of some embodiments, a document object being edited on the server-side (on behalf of the client) can first be modified on the client-side through a client-side object representing the document object, and information relating to the (resulting) modified client-side object can be transferred to the server to be applied to the server-side document object. In other words, server-side document objects can be represented as client-side objects that can be locally modified at the client, and the server-side document objects can be synchronized with the modified client-side objects. 
     According to some embodiments, a system (e.g., server-side system) may comprise a virtualization module, an object capture module, an object communication module, and an object communication module. The virtualization module may be configured to execute a virtualized application instance in a virtual computing environment. The object capture module may be configured to capture first object data regarding an application object of the virtualized application instance. The object communication module may be configured to transmit to a remote client device the first object data, and further configured to receive from the remote client device second object data relating to a client-side object at the remote client device, where the client-side object represents the application object. The object synchronization module may be configured to synchronize the application object with the client-side object based on the second object data. 
     The first object data may comprise contextual information regarding the application object, where the contextual information may be sufficient to render or update a rendering of the client-side object at the remote client device. Additionally, the client-side object may be an object native to the remote client device, or the application object may be a document object (e.g., document embedded image, drawing, or graph) of a document accessed by the virtualized application instance. The second object data may comprise a first set of user interactions entered at the remote client device with respect to the client-side object, may comprise the client-side object, or may comprise contextual information regarding the client-side object. 
     The system may further comprise an object translation module configured to translate the first object data to third object data compatible with the client-side object, where the object communication module transmits the first object data to the remote client device by the third object data. Additionally, the system may further comprise an object translation module configured to translate the second object data to third object data compatible with the application object, where the object synchronization module synchronizes the application object with the client-side object by the third object data. The third object data may comprise the application object. The third object data may comprise a second set of user interactions to be applied to the application object, where the second set of user interactions may be applied to the application object. 
     According to various embodiments, a system (e.g., client-side system) may comprise a user interface module, an object management module, and an object communication module. The user interface module may be configured to control a virtualized application instance operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server, and further configured to receive a set of user interactions with respect to a client-side object, where the client-side object representing an application object of the virtualized application instance. The object management module may be configured to render or render an update to the client-side object based on first object data relating to the application object, modify the client-side object based on the set of user interactions, and provide second object data relating to the modified client-side object. The object communication module may be configured to receive from the remote server the first object data, and configured to transmit to the remote server the second object data. The second object data may comprise the set of user interactions entered at the remote client device with respect to the client-side object, and may comprise the client-side object. Further, the second object data may comprise contextual information regarding the client-side object, where the contextual information may have sufficient to render or update a rendering of the client-side object. 
     The object management module may be further configured to create the client-side object, wherein creation of the client-side object results in the creation of the application object in the virtualized application instance. In addition, the object management module may be further configured to create the client-side object as a representation of the application object when the application object is selected in the virtualized application instance. The object management module may detect when the application object is selected in the virtualized application instance. 
     The system may further comprise an object translation module configured to translate the second object data to third object data compatible with the application object, where the object communication module may transmit the second object data to the remote server by the third object data, and the third object data may comprise the application object. Additionally, the system may comprise an object translation module configured to translate the first object data to third object data compatible with the client-side object, where the object management module may be further configured to render or render an update to the client-side object by the third object data. 
     The system may further comprise a decoder configured to decode video output data received from the remote server and generated by the virtualized application instance, where the video output data comprises a visual representation of the application object. For some embodiments, a visual presentation of the client-side object may be disposed over the visual representation of the application object when the client-side object is presented. 
     According to certain embodiments, a method is provided, comprising operations described herein. Likewise, embodiments may be implemented as a computer program product comprising computer instruction codes configured to cause the computer system to perform the operations described herein. 
     Other features and aspects of various embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the features of such embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Various embodiments are described in detail with reference to the following figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict some embodiments. These drawings shall not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment utilizing an exemplary system for providing access to an application (hereafter also referred to as “application access”) in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment utilizing an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 2B  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary storage module that is part of an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment utilizing an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical construct for an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client configured to operate with an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary access server that is part of an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary application server that is part of an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 9-12  provide screenshots of an exemplary client user interface configured to interact with an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 13  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary gesture module for providing gesture functionality in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 14A and 14B  illustrate exemplary gestures operable with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 15  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for handling gestures in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 16  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary digital device that can be utilized in the implementation of various embodiments. 
         FIG. 17  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client configured to operate with an exemplary system for object-based user interaction in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 18  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary application server that is part of an exemplary system for object-based user interaction in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 19A-19B  are flowcharts illustrating an exemplary method for client-side object-based interaction in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 20A-20B  are flowcharts illustrating an exemplary method for server-side object-based interaction in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 21A-21D  are a set of flow diagrams illustrating object-based interaction between an exemplary client and an exemplary application server in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIGS. 22A-22G  are a set of flow diagrams illustrating object-based interaction between an exemplary client and an exemplary application server in accordance with various embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Various systems and methods described herein relate to server-based computing, where systems and methods provide a computing device with access to an application that is executing remotely from the computing device and that has access to data (e.g., one or more files) residing on a cloud-based storage (e.g., provided by a third-party cloud-based storage service). For some systems and methods, the application may be remotely executed and provided such that the application accessed by a user has native access to a cloud-based storage, and data (e.g., files) residing on the cloud-based storage. In this way, various embodiments may provide a user on a client device with universal and agnostic access to applications that would otherwise be non-operable on the client device, and permit such applications with universal and/or agnostic access to cloud-based storage services that are otherwise disconnected from, disparate from, or incompatible with the accessed applications. Additionally, some embodiments may permit an original application, natively operating on the client device but incompatible with a particular file (e.g., an e-mail application operating on the client device attempting to open a spreadsheet file otherwise incompatible with e-mail application), to upload the file to a cloud-based storage service, and enable a remotely execution application, provided in accordance with the embodiments, compatible with the file, and capable of accessing the cloud-based storage service, open the file on behalf of the original application. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate accessing a file, as understood herein, can include, for example, creating, deleting, viewing (e.g., opening), or modifying the file and any of content contained therein. Additionally, as understood herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that accessing an application can include, for instance, starting, stopping, using, or otherwise controlling operation of the application, and may further include modifying the availability of the application (e.g., adding or deleting availability of the application). Any mention of a cloud-based service (e.g., storage, application) within this description will be understood to include, without limitation, services provided by private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid clouds. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment  100  utilizing an exemplary system for providing access to an application (hereafter also referred to as “application access”) in accordance with various embodiments. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the exemplary environment  100  comprises a client  102 , an application service provider (ASP) system  104 , a database server  106 , a file server  108 , and a cloud-based service server  110 , each of which may be communicatively coupled with each other using communication connections  112 . In some embodiments, the communication connections  112  may be implemented or facilitated using one or more local or wide-area communications networks, such as the Internet, WiFi networks, WiMax networks, and the like. Depending on the embodiments, some or all of the communication connections  112  may utilize encryption (e.g., Secure Sockets Layer [SSL]) to secure information being transferred over the connections  112  between the various entities shown in the exemplary environment  100 . 
     Each of the client  102 , the ASP system  104 , the database server  106 , the file server  108 , and the cloud-based service server  110  may be implemented using one or more digital devices, which may be similar to the digital devices discussed later with respect to  FIG. 13 . For instance, client  102  may be any form of computing device capable of receiving user input (e.g., configured for user interaction), capable of displaying a client user interface (e.g., through which an application can be viewed or controlled), and capable of communicating with the ASP system  104  over one or more of the communication connection(s)  112 . Such computing devices may include a mobile phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop, a desktop computer, personal digital assistant, a portable gaming unit, a wired gaming unit, a thin client, a set-top box, a portable multi-media player, or any other type of network accessible user device known to those of skill in the art. Further, one or more of the ASP system  104 , the database server  106 , the file server  108 , or the cloud-based service server  110  may comprise of one or more servers, which may be operating on or implemented using one or more cloud-based services (e.g., System-as-a-Service [SaaS], Platform-as-a-Service [PaaS], or Infrastructure-as-a-Service [IaaS]). 
     The client  102  may be configured to communicatively connect with the ASP system  104  and be provided with access to an application through the ASP system  104 . The application being provided through the ASP system  104  may be executed remotely from the client  102 , and/or may be executed on or under the control of the ASP system  104 . The ASP system  104  may be executing or controlling the execution of the application on behalf of the client  102  and, as such, may facilitate access (e.g., video, audio, and data access) and user interaction between the executing application and the client  102 . The ASP system  104  may further execute or control the execution of the application such that the application has native access (e.g., in-application access) to one or more files residing on a cloud-based storage external to the client  102  and the ASP system  104 . In various embodiments, such a cloud-based storage service may be provided by a third-party cloud-based storage service (e.g., Dropbox or Box), which is separate and distinct from the ASP system  104 . Execution or execution control of the application may further provide the client  102  with the application having native access to databases (e.g., served by the database server  106 ) or to file servers (e.g., the file server  108 ) that are separate and distinct from the ASP system  104 . 
     By executing or controlling execution of the application such that the application has access to data separate and distinct from the execution of the application, the ASP system  104  may provide the client  102  with remote access to the application that might otherwise not be operable on the client  102  and that has access to data storage provided by third-party services. In some embodiments, this may also allow an operator of the ASP system  104  to provide user with applications as a remotely accessible service (e.g., for rent) without the need for maintaining long-term storage data on the ASP system  104  (e.g., user data opened in the applications are provided by a storage system and that is distinct from the ASP system  104 ; the storage system may be maintained by the user or a third-party on behalf of the user). 
     This may be useful, for example, when the application is incompatible with the operating system running on the client  102 , when the client  102  lacks the requisite resources to locally execute the application (e.g., lack of memory space or processor performance), or when the client  102  lacks sufficient resources to properly execute the application locally. 
     In some instances, the cloud-based storage services accessed by various embodiments may provide additional cloud-based services in conjunction with the storage services. These additional cloud-based services may include such web-application services relating to word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, presentation documents, and the like. An example of such a cloud-based service is Google® Docs. Various embodiments may utilize web-application services, in conjunction with or in place of virtualized applications, when accessing various files through the ASP system  104 . Take for instance where a spreadsheet file accessed through the ASP system  104  is stored on a Dropbox. According to certain embodiments, the ASP system  104  may access the spreadsheet file from Dropbox and use a Google® Docs web application to open the spreadsheet file for viewing and/or modification purposes. 
       FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment  200  utilizing an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. In particular,  FIG. 2A  presents further details regarding the client  102  and the ASP system  104  in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, the client  102  comprises a client module  202 . The ASP system  104  comprises an access server module  204 , a storage module  206 , a virtualization module  208 , an application module  210 , a gesture module  212 , an encoder module  214 , and a streaming module  216 . 
     For some embodiments, the client module  202  may be configured to facilitate communication between the client  102  and the ASP system  104 , provide a user at the client  102  with a client user interface configured to facilitate user interaction with the ASP system  104 , relay user input received through the client user interface (from the user at the client  102 ) to the ASP system  104 , and relay output (e.g., video, audio, or other) from an application provided by the ASP system  104  to one or more components of the client  102  configured to receive and present the output through the client user interface (e.g., video output to the video display of the client  102 , and audio data to the sound processor of the client  102 ). 
     For some embodiments, the client module  202  may provide the client user interface by generating the client user interface at the client  102  and then presenting the client user interface to a user through a display device (e.g., video display of a tablet computing device) of the client  102 . Additionally, some embodiments may provide the client user interface by generating the client user interface at the ASP system  104  (e.g., in the access server module  204 ), and then sending the generated client user interface from the ASP system  104  (e.g., the access server module  204 ) to the client module  202  for presentation to the user (e.g., through a display device coupled to the client  102 ). In general, the presented client user interface is a graphical user interface (GUI) adapted for user interaction through the client  102  and its coupled peripherals, which may include a touch screen. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the configuration, appearance, and behavior of the client user interface provided by the client module  102  may vary based on, among other things, the type of digital device comprising the client  102  or the computing resources of the client  102  available to the client module  202  (e.g., peripherals available to the client  102 , or modes of input available through the client  102 ). 
     The client module  202  may further be configured to receive and relay control information from an input device (e.g., peripheral) coupled to the client  102  (e.g., physical or on-screen keyboard integrated into the client  102 , or peripheral externally communicatively coupled to the client  102 ) to the ASP system  104 . Likewise, the client module  202  may relay control information, or other data, between devices (communicatively) coupled to the client  102  and the ASP system  104  (e.g., the client module  202  relays print data from the ASP system  104  to a printer coupled to the client  102 ). 
     The client module  202  may also be configured to provide a file manager interface at the client  102  operable in presenting one or more files, stored on one or more separate and disparate cloud-based storage services (e.g., third-party services) or stored locally at the client  102 , for access through the client  102 . For some embodiments, the file manager interface may allow a user at the client  102  to request file management operations with respect to the files presented through the file manager interface, which include files locally stored and/or stored on various cloud-based storage services. The file management operations supported may include adding, deleting, renaming, and moving files stored on one or more cloud-based storage services or locally at the client  102 . Files presented through the file manager interface may also be selectable for opening through the ASP system  104  (e.g., in a virtualized application instance accessed through the ASP system  104 ). 
     According to some embodiments, when the files from different storage services (e.g., different third-party cloud-based storage services and/or locally stored at the client) are presented, the files may be presented in a segregated manner according to their storage source (e.g., grouped according to storage source), or presented in a common pane with little or no indication of a file&#39;s storage source. In some embodiments, when a file presented through the file manager interface is selected for opening, the ASP system  104  may access the file directly from its corresponding storage source (e.g., cloud-based storage service or local file storage at the client) or obtain a cached copy of the file selected its corresponding storage source, and then present the file for access through a virtualized application instance. Where a cached copy of the file is utilized for opening the file, the ASP system  104  may be configured to commit any changes/update performed on the cached copy to the original copy at the original storage location (e.g., commitment occurs when the virtual application instance is closed). 
     By providing a file manager interface having universal and/or agnostic access to one or more disparate file storage services and/or the local storage source, various embodiments can provide users (e.g., at the client  102 ) with a universal file workspace, through which files stored in disparate locations can be universally/agnostically accessed for management, viewing, or editing purposes.  FIG. 10  presents an exemplary client user interface, according to some embodiments, that includes file manager interface and that could be presented by the client module  202  at client  102 . 
     Continuing with reference to  FIG. 2A , the access server module  204  may be configured to facilitate user access to files or applications (e.g., by a user at the client  102 ) that are provided through the ASP system  104 . In some embodiments, the access server module  204  may achieve this by performing some or all of the following on behalf of a user accessing the ASP system  104  from the client  102 : (a) establishing and maintaining communication between the client  102  and the ASP system  104 ; (b) authenticating access to the ASP system  104  (and its various components) by the user; (c) establishing and maintaining one or more application access sessions (also referred to herein as “application sessions”) for the user, whereby each application access session may comprise an instance of an application (e.g., an instance of a particular version of an application) being executed or controlled by the ASP system  104  on behalf of the user at the client  102 ; (d) implementing user preferences and settings for the user&#39;s access of the ASP system  104 ; (e) implementing and enforcing user policy on the user&#39;s access of the ASP system  104 ; (f) enabling access by the applications being executed or controlled by the ASP system  104  to data (e.g., files) stored on or stored using third-party data storage services (e.g., third-party cloud-based storage services, such as Dropbox or Google® Docs); (g) monitoring the user&#39;s access of the ASP system  104 ; (h) maintaining statistics or analytics based on the user&#39;s access of the ASP system  104 ; and (i) facilitating billing of the user based on their access or usage of the ASP system  104 . 
     In some embodiments, the access server module  204  may on behalf of the client  102 , negotiate, establish and otherwise facilitate the establishment of a connection between the client module  202  and an application being provided via the virtualization module  208  and the application module  210 . Once established, the access server module  204  may continue to monitor or control the connection, possibly in accordance with user preferences, settings, and policies utilized by the ASP system  104 . 
     The access server module  204  may further be configured to manage the overall operation of the ASP system  310  discussed further herein. For example, the access server module  204  may be operable to track and manage resources for the ASP system  104 , which may involve monitoring/managing computer resource utilization (e.g., memory utilization, processor utilization, or network bandwidth utilization) by various components of the ASP system  104  or cloud-based services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS) utilized by various components of the ASP system  104 . As another example, the access server module  204  may be responsible for distributing the workload of serving two or more clients similar to the client  102  across one or more access servers performing the operations of the access server module  204 . 
     The storage module  206  may be configured to establish and/or maintain access to data on third-party data storage services by an application executing or being controlled by the ASP system  104  on behalf of the user at the client  102 . In some embodiments, the storage module  206  may achieve this by receiving, storing, and utilizing access parameters (e.g., third-party access parameters such as protocol information, username, password, encryption key, signature file identifier, navigation address, third-party storage identifier, or the like) provided by the user (at the client  102 ) in association with a third-party data storage service (e.g., a cloud-based data storage service, such as Dropbox or Google® Docs) which the user wishes to access through the ASP system  104 . For example, when the user requests access to data (e.g., files) stored using a third-party data storage service, the storage module  206  may establish a connection with the third-party data storage service using the stored access parameters (e.g., protocol information, username, password, encryption key, signature file identifier, navigation address, third-party storage identifier, or the like) provided by the user, retrieve a listing of the data stored on/using or otherwise made available through the third-party data storage service in association with the access parameters provided, and access the data according to the user&#39;s access request. Depending on the embodiment, the user may cause data stored on the third-party data storage service to be accessed by the ASP system  104 , for example, when the user requests to review a listing of data (e.g., files) stored on the third-party data storage service or when the user chooses to access data (e.g., open, view, or edit a file) using an application provided by the ASP system  104  (e.g., through the application module  210 ). 
     In addition to establishing and/or maintaining access to data on third-party data storage services (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs), the storage module  206  may be configured to permit the ASP system  104  to manage data on the third-party data storage services on behalf of the client  102 . For instance, the storage module  206  may permit the ASP system  104  to implement file management functions with respect to files stored on disparate third-party data storage services, thereby enabling a user at the client  102  to perform file management operations through the client module  202 . According to some embodiments, the storage module  206  may be operable with the client module  202  such that users can utilize file management functions through a file manager interface (e.g., a file management graphical user interface) presented by the client module  202 . 
     The virtualization module  208  may be configured to establish, monitor, maintain, or otherwise manage execution of an instance of an application in a virtual computing environment (hereafter, also referred to as a “virtualized application instance”) for access by the user at the client  102 . An instance of the application may be executed in a virtual computing environment in association with an application session established for access by the user at the client  102 . Accordingly, in some embodiments, the virtualization module  208  may initiate or manage execution of an instance of the application based on requests received from the access server module  204 . 
     In some embodiments, the instance of an application, which is operated in a virtual computing environment for the benefit of user access, may be based on a particular version of the application. Depending on the embodiment, the version of the application chosen/selected for execution as the application instance may be determined by the access server module  204 , the virtualization module  208 , the application module  210 , or some combination thereof. Factors influencing the determination of the version may include, for the example, the number of user licenses available for a given version of the application, the type of data to be accessed by the application (e.g., file has a format A that is compatible with a version B of the application), the user accessing the application (e.g., user&#39;s access privileges or user&#39;s subscription type with respect to the ASP system  104 ), the capabilities of the client device  102  (e.g., the client device  102  is equipped with a high-definition display compatible with the high-definition output of a particular version of an application), the computing resources presently available to the ASP system  104 , or network bandwidth required to provide the client  102  with access to the given version of the application. In some embodiments, the virtualization module  208  may utilize an internal hypervisor or interface with an external hypervisor configured to manage execution of the instance of an application in a virtual computing environment. Additionally, the virtualization module may employ the use of a cloud-based services (e.g., SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS), possibly provided by a third-party (e.g., Amazon® EC2®, GoGrid®, or Rackspace®), to execute the instance the instance of an application in the virtual computing environment. 
     In various embodiments, the virtualization module  208  of the ASP  104  may initiate any number of virtualized application instances. For example, the virtualization module  208  may initiate (e.g., command initiation of) any number of virtualized application instance by the ASP  104  and/or any number of servers (e.g., other ASP systems  104  and/or other servers). In some embodiments, the virtualization module  208  creates and executes a local virtualization environment. 
     The application module  210  may be configured to obtain or retrieve a version of an application for execution in a virtual computing environment for access by the user at the client  102 . For example, the application module  210  retrieves a version of the application on behalf of the virtualization module  208 , and then provides the retrieved version to the virtualization module  208  for execution in a virtual computing environment. Depending on the embodiment, the application module  210  may retrieve the version of the application based on a request from the virtualization module  208  or the access server module  204  (e.g., which, as described herein, may be responsible for managing application sessions for the user access). The application module  210  may retrieve the version of the application from an application repository (not shown), which for some embodiments may be implemented using one or more file servers, database servers, or some combination thereof. For example, the version of the application may be retrieved from a cloud-based services configured to serve the version of the application (e.g., to the application module  210 ) upon request. The application repository may store a variety of versions for a given application (e.g., for Microsoft® Word®, the application repository may store Word® 2011, Word® 2008, Word® 2004, and Word® 2001), and provide the appropriate version of the given application based on the request discussed above. Each version of the application may be stored on the application repository as a single, separate application executable file, as a directory containing the version&#39;s associated executable file(s) and any supporting files (e.g., software library files), or as a binary image or compressed file containing the version&#39;s associated executable file(s) and any possible supporting files (e.g., software library files), or some combination thereof. 
     For some embodiments, retrieval of the version of the application may comprise the application module  210  retrieving a path or link to data (e.g., a copy of the application or an image of the application) corresponding to the version of the application to be retrieved. This path or link to the data may then be conveyed by the application module  210  to the virtualization module  208 , which uses the data at the path/link to instantiate a virtualized application instance. 
     For some embodiments, the virtualization module  208  and the application module  210  may be implemented as single module (not shown) that utilizes a cloud-based service (e.g., SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS) to provide a version of an application executing in a virtual computer environment. Such a cloud-based service may be provided by a third-party cloud-based service, which may be manage or controlled by the ASP system  104  using APIs compatible with the service. 
     To utilize the cloud-based services for the virtualization module  208 , the application module  210 , and possibly other components of the ASP system  104 , the ASP system  104  may employ application programming interfaces (APIs) (e.g., those provided by Amazon®, GoGrid®, or Rackspace®) that permit the ASP system  104  and its various components to provision (e.g., request the use of), consume, and release services provided by cloud-based services. For example, the virtualization module  208  may utilize an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) API (e.g., driver) to provision one or more virtual machines to operate one or more virtualized application instances, while the application module  210  the IaaS API to for provisioning virtual machines to store copies/images of applications (utilized by the virtualization module  208  to instantiate virtualized application instances). 
     In context of an application being provided to the client  102  by the ASP system  104  for user access, the gesture module  212  may be configured to translate or map user input received from the client module  202  (e.g., via the access server module  204 ) to an alternative user input compatible with the application being provided. In some embodiments, such a translation/mapping may be implemented when the client  102  is incapable of receiving the alternative user input from the user through the one or more input devices available through the client  102  (e.g., the client  102  lacks an input device having a special keyboard buttons compatible with the application being provided). Such functionality may be particularly beneficial where a digital device, such as a mobile phone or a tablet device, that rely on a touch-based input devices (e.g., touch-based screens) and on-screen input devices in place of external input devices. For example, a tablet device capable of receiving touch-based input gestures may have its two-finger or three-finger on-screen swipe gestures translated or mapped to page-up or page-down commands with respect to a word processing application being provided through the ASP system  104 . 
     The encoder module  214  may be configured to receive and encode output data from an application being executed or controlled by the ASP system  104  (e.g., using the virtualization module  208 ) for access by the user at the client  102 . In various embodiments, dependent upon the application being executed/controlled, the output received may comprise video output data, audio output data, or general output data (e.g., file output). Additionally, the video, audio, or data output received by the encoder module  214  may be provided by the virtual computing environment executing a virtualized instance of an application (e.g., at the request of the virtualization module  208 ). To facilitate the functionality of the encoder module  214 , the encoder module  214  may be implemented as a virtual driver (e.g., virtual display driver, or virtual audio driver) employed by the virtual computing environment when producing output from a virtualized application instance operating in the virtual computing environment. 
     The format in which the output is encoded by the encoder module  214  may depend on the type of output being encoded (e.g., video, audio, or raw data), the preferences or privileges of the user accessing the application (e.g., the user may lack the privilege to receive audio based on the current account type), the resources available to the ASP system  104 , the capabilities of the client device  102 , and/or the communication bandwidth available between the client  102  and the ASP system  104  (e.g., the client  102  is a mobile phone communicating with the ASP system  104  over a low-speed cellular connection). Further, in some embodiments, the encoder module  214  may be configured (e.g., according to user preferences or system settings) to encrypt the output provided by the application (e.g., for security purposes), and/or compress the output provided by the application being executed/controlled to utilize less communication bandwidth. Those skilled in the art would fully appreciate that any number of known codecs (e.g., H.264 standard codecs, such as Application Distribution Protocol [ADP]), ciphers, or encoding methodologies may be utilized by the encoder module  214  when performing the encoding process in accordance with various embodiments. 
     The streaming module  216  may be configured to receive the encoded output from the encoder module  214  and transmit the encoded output to the client module  202  as a data stream. For some embodiments, the format utilized for the data stream may vary, for example, according to the communication bandwidth available between the client  102  and the ASP system  104 , the types of communication connections being utilized between the client  102  and the ASP system  104 , the capabilities of the client device  102 , the preferences of the user accessing the application through the ASP system  104 , and/or the settings of the ASP system  104 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate a number of known communication protocols (e.g., transport protocols, such as User Datagram Protocol [UDP]) or data streaming formats may be utilized by the streaming module  216  as encoded output from the application is streamed to the client module  202 . The encoder module  214  may further employ the video encoding techniques described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/301,767 (published as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0011301), filed on Nov. 20, 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     In various embodiments, the streaming module  216  may transmit one or more data streams to the client module  202  in order to deliver various types of output being provided by the application being access (e.g., one data stream of audio and a separate data stream for video). Upon receiving the data stream(s) from the streaming module  216 , the client module  102  may decode the encoded output received over the data stream, and present the output on the client  102  through the client user interface provided by the client module  202 . 
       FIG. 2B  is a block diagram illustrating the storage module  206  configured to establish or maintain access to data on third-party data storage services (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs) by an application executing or being controlled by the ASP system  104  on behalf of the user at the client  102 . In addition to storing and utilizing access parameters in association with different data storage services (e.g., third-party cloud-based storage), the storage module  206  may comprise various application programming interfaces (APIs) that facilitate access to the different storage services over network connections  226 . For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 2B , the storage module  206  may comprise Dropbox APIs  218  enabling access data stored at a Dropbox cloud-based storage server  228 , Box APIs  220  enabling to access data stored at a Box cloud-based storage server  228 , and Google® Docs APIs  222  configured to access data stored at a Google® Docs cloud-based services. In some embodiments, the web APIs utilized by the storage module  206  may comprise web-based APIs (e.g., web application APIs) provided by such third-party cloud service operators as Dropbox and Google® for accessing various cloud-based service, including storage services and file management services. 
     As also illustrated in  FIG. 2B , the storage module  206  may comprise network-protocol based storage APIs that permit access to a network file system  234  using non-web-based methodologies. For certain embodiments, the storage module  206  may utilize the network-protocol based storage APIs to access file system based on various network protocols including, for example, Network File System (NFS), Samba, file transfer protocol (FTP), and the like. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment  300  utilizing an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the exemplary environment  300  comprises clients C 1  to C n  (represented by clients  302 ,  304 , and  308 ), an application service provider (ASP) system  310 , and a network  324  enabling communication between the clients  302 ,  304 , and  308  and the ASP system  310  over network connections  326 . Depending on the embodiment, the clients  312 ,  314 , and  316  may be similar in function and implementation to the client  102 , and the ASP system  310  may be similar in function and implementation to the ASP system  104 , each of which was discussed in detail with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . As such, in accordance with various embodiments described herein, the clients  312 ,  314 , and  316  may comprise one or more digital device(s) configured to communicating with the ASP system  310  through the network  324 , the ASP system  310  may comprise one or more server configured to provide the clients  312 ,  314  and  316  with access to files and applications. 
     As further shown in  FIG. 3 , the functionality of the ASP system  310  may be implemented by way of access servers ACS 1  to ACS n  (represented by access servers [ACSs]  312 ,  314 , and  316 ), and application servers APS 1  to APS n  represented by (application servers [APSs]  318 ,  320 , and  322 ). Although a limited number of clients, ACSs, and APSs are depicted in  FIG. 3 , those skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be any number of clients, ACSs, and APSs. Ellipses  306  in  FIG. 3  indicate that any number of clients, ACSs, and APSs could be present in the exemplary environment  300 . 
     In some embodiments, the ACSs  312 ,  314 , and  316  may implement some or all of the functionality provided by the access server module  204  as described in reference to  FIG. 2A , and the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322  may implement some or all of the functionality provided by some or all of the storage module  206 , the virtualization module  208 , the application module  210 , the gesture module  212 , the encoder module  214 , and the streaming module  216  as described in reference to  FIG. 2A . Specifically, according to some embodiments, the workload of providing some or all of the services or functionalities of the access server module  204  may be distributed amongst some or all of the ACSs  312 ,  314 , and  316 , and the workload of providing, while the workload of providing some or all of the services or functionalities of the storage module  206 , the virtualization module  208 , the application module  210 , the gesture module  212 , the encoder module  214 , and the streaming module  216  may be distributed amongst some or all of the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322 . In some instances, the ACSs  312 ,  314 , and  316  may utilize load balancing to distribute the workload amongst the available ACSs, and the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322  may utilize load balancing to distribute the workload amongst the available APSs. In various embodiments, one or more digital devices may manage and/or provide load balancing to any number of ACSs and/or any number of APSs. By distributing the workload amongst multiple ACSs and APSs, certain embodiments may provide acceptable performance (e.g., enough availability of computing resources to provide the requested applications with user-acceptable performance), scalability (e.g., near real-time user scalability according to demand or the number of users currently utilizing the ASP system  310  increases or decreases, or application scalability to provide more variety of applications operating on a variety of operating systems), and reliability (e.g., through redundancy of servers and components, or lower bandwidth per user) with respect to the ASP system  310 . 
     In the example illustrated in  FIG. 3 , a dashed line  328  illustrates a virtual communication channel (hereafter referred to as “virtual communication channel  328 ”) between the client  304  and the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322  established via the access server  312 . In some embodiments, the virtual communication channel between the client  304  and the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322  may be implemented by way of one or more network connections  326  between the client  304  and the access server  312 , and one or more networks connections  326  between the access server  312  and each of the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322 . Alternatively, in some embodiments, the virtual communication channel between the client  304  and the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322  may be implemented by the access server  312  mediating one or more network connections  326  directly between the client  304  and each of the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322 . 
     Once established, the virtual communication channel  328  enables data flow over the network connections  326  between the client  304  and the access server  312 , and data flow between the client  304  and the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322  via the access server  312 . Through such the data flows, the client  304  may, for example, be serviced by the access server  312  (e.g., in accordance with the access server module  204  described in  FIG. 2A ) or obtain access to application services provided by each of the application servers  318 ,  320 , and  322  (via the access server  312 ). 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical construct  400  for an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. The structure and functionality represented by the exemplary logical construct  400  may be implemented by any number of embodiments described herein, including those of  FIG. 1, 2 or 3 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the exemplary logical construct  400  may be implemented using the APSs  318 ,  320  and  322  of the ASP system  310  described in reference to  FIG. 3 , and implemented using the ACS  312  of the ASP system  310  described in reference to  FIG. 3 . 
     The exemplary logical construct  400  illustrates how each of the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322  may respectively comprise a set of virtualized application instances ( 402 ,  404 ,  406 ), and a native operating system ( 414   a ,  414   b ,  414   c ) configured to support operation of the respective set ( 402 ,  404 ,  406 ). Additionally, the exemplary logical construct  400  further illustrates how each of the sets  402 ,  404 , and  406  of virtualized application instances may comprise a virtualized application instance  412 , which may be executing a version of an application (represented as application layer  408 ) at the request or control of an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310  in  FIG. 3 ). In accordance with some embodiments, the application layer  408  may be executing in a (computer) sandbox (represented as sandbox layer  410  under the application layer  408 ), which may be configured to separate computing resources (e.g., on a physical computer or a virtual machine) utilized in performing the version of the application  408  (e.g., memory, processor, etc.) from versions of applications performing in other virtualized application instances a given APS (e.g., from other virtualized application instances operating in the set  406  of the APS  422 ). Depending on the embodiment, a separate sandbox may be utilized for each application session containing a virtualized application instance, or a separate sandbox may support multiple application sessions (i.e., multiple virtualized application instances) in association with a single user. The output from the application layer  408  executing on the sandbox layer  410  may result in output (e.g., video, audio, or other data) that is encoded and streamed (e.g., as one or more data streams) to a user (e.g., one a set of users  318  on ACS  312 ) via an encode and stream layer  412  (which may be implemented by the encoder module  214  and the streaming module  216  described with reference to  FIG. 3 ). 
     In some embodiments, each of the native operating systems  414   a ,  414   b , and  414   c  and the sets  402 ,  404 , and  406  of virtualized application instances may be implemented using a cloud-based service, such as a platform cloud-based service (e.g., PaaS) or infrastructure cloud-based service (e.g., IaaS). 
     The exemplary logical construct  400  also illustrates how through connections  418  the ACS  312  services the set of user  318  using the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322 . To facilitate user access to the one or more applications provided by the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322 , the ACS  312  may be configured with a cloud-on operating system  422  configured to perform the functionalities similar to those described with respect to the access server module  204  in  FIG. 2A . 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client, specifically the client  304 , configured to operate with an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the client  304  comprises a client module  502  and a client operating system  512  operable in supporting operations by the client module  502  on the client  304 . Depending on the embodiment, the client module  502  may be similar to the client module  202  described with respect to  FIG. 2A , where the client module  502  may facilitate communication between the client  304  and an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), provide a user at the client  304  with a client user interface configured to facilitate user interaction with an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), relay user input received through the client user interface from the user at the client  304  to an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), and relay output (e.g., video, audio, or other data) from an application provided by an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to one or more components of the client  304  configured to receive and present the output through the client user interface. 
     To implement such functionalities (and others), the client module  502  may comprise a workspace application  504  configured to present the client user interface to a user through a video display coupled to the client  304  (e.g., including generating or presenting a graphical user interface associated with the client user interface and handling the presentation of application output received from an ASP system), a client software library  506  configured to support various functionalities of the client module (e.g., support the functions of the workspace application  304  or the decoder  508 ), and the decoder  508  configured to decode encoded output data (e.g., video, audio, or other data) received from an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) and provide the decoded output data (e.g., to the workspace application  504 ) for presentation to the user of the client  304  (e.g., video output data routed to the video display of the client  304 , and audio data routed to the sound processor of the client  304 ). In some embodiments, the workspace application  504  may be a runtime application compatible with the operating system  512  of the client  304 . Accordingly, for some embodiments, the workspace application  504  is a native application of the client  304 . Additionally, the workspace application  504  may be configured to provide access to applications that may be incompatible with the operation system  510  of the client  304  or that may otherwise not be operable on the client  304  without the use of the workspace application  504 . 
     The workspace application  504  may also be configured to provide universal and/or agnostic file management access to various files that are stored at separate and disparate data storage services but made available through an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). Accordingly, in some embodiments, the workspace application  504  may comprise a file management interface adapted to user requests for file management operations, such as adding (e.g., by creation of a new file or by upload), deleting, moving, and renaming files. For some embodiments, the workspace application  504  may utilize web-based application programming interfaces (APIs), which may be associated with one or more web applications (e.g., Google® Docs), to access files stored on cloud-based services. For example, in order to list files accessible through the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), the workspace application  504  may utilize web-based APIs for a given cloud-based service (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs) to directly perform file management operations (e.g., listing of stored files, adding files, deleting files, or renaming files) with respect to that service. Then, when a file listed through the workspace application  504  is selected for opening through the ASP system (e.g., using a virtualized application instance provided through the ASP system  310 ), the workspace application  504  may instruct the ASP system to obtain a copy to the selected file from it respective storage source (e.g., cloud-based storage source or local storage source) or directly access the file from its respective storage source. Thereafter, the ASP system may initiate a virtualized application instance having access to the selected file, and the output data of the virtualized application instance may be transmitted to the client  304 . 
     The hardware of the client  304  (e.g., touch screen of the client  304 ) may be adapted to receive gestures as user input to the client  304 , which results in a gesture input being detected by the operating system  512  (e.g., Apple® iOS) or another application operating on the operating system  512 . Gestures receivable by the client  304  generally depends on the means by which the client  304  receives gestures. For example, where the client  304  is configured with a touch-based screen (e.g., capacitive screen), the exemplary gestures may include finger-dragging gestures (e.g., dragging in the up, down, left, or right direction), pinching (e.g., pinch-in or pinch-out), swiping (e.g., quick, light, single finger, dual finger, three finger, four finger, five finger, up-to-down, down-to-up, left-to-right, or right-to-left swipe), finger tapping (e.g., single, double, triple, short, or long tap), and flicking (e.g., in one of eight movement directions). 
     In some embodiments, the client module  502  may comprise a gesture input module  510  configured to receive user input entered into the client  304 , recognize the user input as a gesture input, and generate or capture data regarding the gesture input (hereafter, “gesture data”). Subsequent to generation/capture, the gesture input module  510  may transmit the gesture data to an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), possibly through an access server (e.g., the ACS  312 ). In some instances, the gesture input module  510  may transmit the gesture data to the APS system (e.g., the APS system  318  via the ACS  312 ) concurrently with other user input data received at the client  304  (e.g., non-gesture input data received) and intended for transmission to the ASP system. 
     Depending on the configuration of the client  304 , a user may enter user inputs by way of a touch screen of the client  304 , by way of physical moving the client  304  configured such that a accelerometer of the client  304  can translate the movement as entry (e.g., shaking the client device is recognized as a gesture), or by way of hand gestures captured by a camera coupled to the client  304 . 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that although the gesture input module  510  is shown as being part of the client  304 , the gesture input module  510  for various embodiments is in no way limited to being implemented in such a manner. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various embodiments may implement some or all of the gesture input module  510  at an APS server (e.g., the APS server  320 ). 
     In some embodiments, the operating system  512  may be adapted to natively support gestures and, as such, may readily recognize a set of gestures received by way of user input at the client  304  (e.g., swipe, tap, ping, or flick on a touch screen of the client  304 ). For example, where the client  304  is a tablet device configured with a touch-based screen for receiving gesture inputs, the client  304  may receive a gesture input through user inputs at the touch-based screen, the operating system  512  of the tablet device may receive and natively recognize those user inputs as comprising a gesture input, and the operating system  512  (e.g., through a API feedback or programming constructs) provide data relating to the gesture input (“gesture data”) to the gesture input module  510 . For some embodiments, the operating system  512  may disseminate gesture data by generating one or more gesture input messages in response to recognizing the gesture input. The gesture input messages may be passed amongst various components of the operating system  512  and/or amongst applications being supported by the operating system  512 , which includes the client module  502 . Where a given gesture input is predefined in the operating system  512  to perform a particular, native command (or invoke a certain functionality), the gesture input module  510  may prevent the particular command from being performed when the given gesture input is received. In such cases, the particular command may be blocked while the gesture data for the gesture input may be passed along to the ASP system for execution in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment operating the virtualized application instance. For some such embodiments, while the client module  202  is being accessed on the client  304  (e.g., client module  202  is the current, active application), the gesture input module  510  may temporarily prevent the native command from being performed by overriding the functionality of the given gesture input on the client  304 . 
     In regard to the data generated/captured in relation to the gesture input, the gesture data may comprise a gesture type, a gesture phase (e.g., phases of gesture input as it is inputted by a user), coordinates relating to the gesture (e.g., X/Y coordinates of start and stop of gesture), velocity of gestures (e.g., X/Y components of a vector data representing the gesture), pressure associated with the gesture, or a gesture timestamp (e.g., gesture start and stop timestamp). Based on the gesture data, various embodiments may map the gesture input, which is received at the client  304 , to a set of input events compatible with the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment operating at the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). The mapping eventually determined (e.g., at the ASP system  310 ) may depend on such factors as version of the application instantiated in the virtualized application instance that is to receive the set of input events, version of the operating system running in the virtual computing environment that supports the virtualized application instance, user-preferences or system defined preferences (e.g., user defined mappings), or some combination thereof. 
     Upon receiving the gesture data (e.g., data regarding a two-finger swipe) from the gesture input module  510 , the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may operate on the gesture data, map the gesture data to a set of input events, and execute the set of input events in the virtual computing environment. Take for example where a user inputs a two-finger swipe moving left to right on the touch screen of a client, based on the gesture data transmitted by the gesture input module  510  to the ASP system, the ASP system may map the swipe to a left to right scrolling input event, which causes the horizontal scroll bar of a viewing pane in the currently active virtualized application instance (e.g., document open in Microsoft® Word®) to scroll right. 
     Typically, the executed set of input events may effectuate a performance change or a behavioral change with respect to the virtualized application instance currently active at an ASP system (e.g., operating on or being controlled by the ASP system  310 ) on behalf of the client  304 . In order to achieve this, for some embodiments, the set of input events may be operable for execution in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment supporting the virtualized application instance. In this manner, various embodiments may render/convert gesture inputs, which may be natively compatible with the operating system and/or applications of client  304 , to a set of input events that are compatible with a virtualized application instance and/or its supporting virtual computing environment. This may be particularly useful where the gesture inputs received at the client  304  (and intended for execution in the virtualized application instance) are not natively compatible with, or not fully supported by, the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment of the virtualized application instance. Such would be the case where, for example, the client  304  is running a version of an Android® operating system, the virtualized application instance comprises a version of Microsoft® Windows® application, and gestures that are natively supported by the Android® operating system of the client  304  (e.g., such as pinch or flick) are not natively supported by the version of Microsoft® Windows® application and/or the Microsoft Windows® operating system supporting the virtualized application instance. 
     Depending on the embodiment, the mapping of the gesture data to the set of input events may depend on/take into consideration the version of the application comprised in the virtualized application instance and/or the version of the operating system running in the virtual computing environment that is to the set of input events. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various versions of applications and various version of operating systems may support different types of input events in comparison to one another. 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary access server, specifically the access server (ACS)  312 , which is part of an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the ACS  312  comprises a resource module  602 , a user and policy (UP) module  604 , a storage management module  606 , a collaboration management module  608 , an analytics, bill, and monitoring (ABM) module  610 , a load balancing module  612 , a security and authentication (SA) module  614 , an access server operating system  616  (configured to support operations of the ACS  312  and its various components), an analytics storage  618 , and a user and policy (UP) storage  620 . 
     The resource module  602  may be configured manage resources in association with the access server  312  performing its various functions within the ASP system  310 , which can include managing application servers (APSs) utilized by the ASP system  310  to provide clients (e.g., the client  304 ) with application access, or managing resources utilized by various components of the ACS  312 . To this effect, the resource module  602  may comprise a resource management module  622  adapted to dynamically allocate, assign, and monitor resources that may be utilized by or otherwise associated with the ACS  312  or the ASP system  310  in general. Included in those resources may be cloud-based resources utilized by the ACS  312 , other ACSs in the ASP system  310 , APSs in the ASP system  310 , or other components in the ASP system  310 . In some embodiments, the management of cloud-based resources may be implemented through cloud application programming interfaces (APIs)  624 , which may be comprised in the resource module  602 . The cloud APIs  624  may include, for example, those provided by Amazon®, GoGrid®, or Rackspace® in connection with their respective cloud-based services. 
     The user and policy (UP) module  604  may be configured to perform various user-related operations in connection with the ASP system  310 . For example, the UP module  604  may facilitate implementation of user preferences and settings, user policy enforcement, and user session management (e.g., sessions in which users generally access the ASP system  310 , or in which users are provided with application access). In some embodiments, the UP module  604  may comprise a user and policy management (UPM) module  624  that, in connection with the ASP system  310 , may enable a user (e.g., a regular user, a super user, or an administrator) to manage (e.g., add, remove, or modify) one or more user accounts, preferences, settings, or policies. Such user-related parameters may determine or facilitate a user&#39;s access to various applications and a user&#39;s access to various storage services (e.g., cloud-based and otherwise) in connection with the various applications available through the ASP system  310 . The user accounts, preferences, settings, or policies may also include parameters used in establishing access to a cloud-based storage service by an application (e.g., virtualized application instance) provided through the ASP system  310  (e.g., by way of the ACS  312 ). 
     For some embodiments, the UPM module  624  may be configured to provide a web-based interface through which an owner, operator, or administrator of the ASP system  310  can perform operations supported by the UP module  604  (e.g., user account, preference, and settings management). In addition, the UP module  604  (e.g., through the UPM module  626 ) may further be configured to interface and communicate with a user or policy management tool, external to the ASP system  310 , that is adapted to view/monitor, create, delete, modify, or provide (e.g., from a source external to the ASP system  310 ) user related accounts, preferences, settings, and policies used by the ASP system  310 . 
     The user and policy (UP) storage  620  of the ACS  312  may be configured to store information relating to user account, preference, setting, or policy, which can be accessed or operated upon by the UP module  604 . 
     The policy enforcer module  628  may be configured to implement and enforce user policy when a user is accessing the ASP system  310 , particularly through the ACS  312 . In order to accomplish policy enforcement, the policy enforcer module  612  may adapted to actively monitor a user&#39;s access of the ASP system  310  and validate actions performed by the user during the access against current 
     The storage management module  606  may be configured to add, remove, modify, or manage connections between the ASP system  310  and various storage entities, which may include databases, cloud-based storage services, and/or traditional file servers (e.g., a private enterprise file server). For example, the storage management module  606  may assist in storage-related connections for the ASP system  310  by establishing storage-related connections between various APSs (e.g., the APS  318 ), which are operating virtualized application instances (for access by users of the ASP system  310 ), and a storage entity (e.g., a third-party, cloud-based storage service), which may be internal or external to the ASP system  310 . The establishment could, for some embodiments, involve logging into the storage entity using third-party user credentials stored and provided (e.g., by the UP module  604 ) in association with a user accessing the ASP system  310 . 
     In some embodiments where the storage entity is a cloud-based storage service, the storage management module  606  may utilize application program interfaces (APIs), such as those provided by a third-party offering the cloud-based storage service, to log into the cloud-based storage service and establish a storage connection between the storage service and a virtualized application instance. In various embodiments, the storage management module  606  allows various virtualized environments to access one or more remote cloud-based storage services or facilities. The storage may be access by different programs in any number of ways (e.g., through drive letters as if the cloud-based storage was merely another local data drive). 
     In addition, in some embodiments, where direct integration with a cloud-based storage service is not available (e.g., no APIs are available), the storage management module  606  may facilitate locally storing (e.g., locally caching) on the ASP system  310  (e.g., on the ACS  312  or an APS presently operating a virtualized application instance) files from the cloud-based storage service being accessed by a virtualized application instance, and then (when necessary) updating such files on the cloud-based storage service using the locally stored files and through less direct means (e.g., web-based upload through a scripted bot). 
     The collaboration management module  608  may be configured to enable collaborative access, by two or more users, to applications provided through the ASP system  310  and the storage entities natively accessible by the applications, such as third-party, cloud-base storage services (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs). Depending on the configuration of the embodiment, the collaboration features may be synchronous (e.g., based on concurrent access and control of the same virtualized application instance/application session by two or more users) or asynchronous (e.g., two or more users having access to the same data, such as files, but through disparate application sessions, typically accessed at different times). 
     The analytics, bill, and monitoring (ABM) module  610  may be configured to permit an owner, operator or administrator of the ASP system  310  to perform various functions relating to gathering statistics and generating analytics regarding operation of the ASP system  310 , implementing a billing system for the ASP system  310 , and to monitoring various operational aspects of the ASP system  310  and its associated components (e.g., associated ACSs  312 ,  314 , and  316  and APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322 ). 
     For some embodiments, the statistics gathered or the analytics generated may include information based on the overall operation of the ASP system  310 , operation of the ACS  312  or its counterparts ACSs  314  and  318 , one or more of the APSs  318 ,  320 , and  322 , or information relating to user usage of or user access (e.g., application or storage) through the ASP system  310 . The information may pertain to performance or usage of various computing resources, including for instance memory (e.g., static or volatile), processing resources, networking resources (e.g., networking connections or equipment), and cloud-based resources (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS, which may be privately operated or provided by a third-party vendor). The ABM module  610  may be configured to export the statistical/analytical information gathered or generated to external services or computer applications operable in analyzing or reporting on the information provided. The exportation process may between the ABM module  610  and an external service/computer application may be facilitated through an interface (e.g., API utilized by the service or application, or utilized by the ABM module  610 ). 
     In support of its statistical/analytical functions, the analytics storage  618  of the ACS  312  may be utilized in storing statistics gathered or analytics generated by the ABM module  610 . Additionally, in certain embodiments, the analytics storage  618  may be utilized to store rules, programs, or scripts that determine what statistics are gathered by the ABM module  610  for the ASP system  310 , or what analytics are generated by the ABM module  610  for the ASP system  310 . 
     With respect to the billing system, the ABM module  610  may relating to implementing a billing system by which user access usage of the ASP system  310  can be tracked, reported on, or charged by the owner, operator or administrator of the ASP system  310 . In various embodiments, the billing functionalities of the ABM module  610  may be performed according to a billing schedule/rates defined by the owner, operator or administrator in association with user utilization of application or storage access services provided by the ASP system  310 . In embodiments where the ASP system  310  utilizes one or more third-party services in conjunction with performing its functionalities, the billing schedule/rates may be updated/dynamically adjusted (possibly in real-time) to account for a change in costs/expenses relating to those third-party services. For instance, where various functionalities of the ASP system  310  rely on cloud-based services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS) provided by a third-party, an adjustment in rate charged for such cloud-based services (which may be charged) may be automatically reflected in the billing schedule/rates applied by the ABM module  610  to a user&#39;s access through the ASP system  310 . Depending on the embodiments, the rate adjustment to the billing schedule/rates may be according to the types of applications or storage services accessed through the ASP system  310  and how those types utilize the third-party services. 
     For some embodiments, the ABM module  610  may further be configured to interface and communicate with an external billing or accounting service or computer application configured to receive billing information from the ABM module  610 . Such billing information may contain, for example, charges accrued by users accessing the ASP system  310  in generally or, possibly, only those charges accrued by users accessing the ASP system  310  through the ACS  312  in particular. 
     The load balancing module  612  may be configured to facilitate load balancing features with respect to the ACS  312 . For some embodiments, the load balancing support may include enabling the ACS  312  to receive access server-related tasks/operations distributed by the ASP system  310  amongst the various ACSs (e.g.,  312 ,  314 , and  316 ), or enabling the ACS  312  to distribute application server-related tasks/operations amongst the various APSs (e.g.,  318 ,  320 , and  322 ). 
     The security and authentication (SA) module  614  may be configured to perform operations relating to user login or authentication for the ASP system  310 . To perform such operations, the SA module  614  may (directly or indirectly) interface and communicate with an authentication mechanism internal to the ASP system  310  (not shown) or external to the ASP system  310 , which may be maintained by a third-party (e.g., a private enterprise authentication system, possibly maintained by an organization with which the user is associated). For example, the SA module  614  may establish a (secure) connection with an Microsoft® Active Directory® server or other Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-compatible server, operated and maintained external to the ASP system  310  (e.g., within the user&#39;s enterprise network), in performing login or authentication operations. The SA module  614  may, for some embodiments, utilize a single-sign-on (SSO) mechanism, such as those known in the art, for user login or user authentication. 
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary application server, specifically the application server (APS)  318 , which is part of an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the APS  318  comprises a virtualization module  702 , an encoder module  704 , a streaming module  706 , an application module  708 , a storage module  710 , a peripheral handler module  712 , a session management module  714 , and an application server operating system  716  (configured to support operations of the APS  318  and its various components). 
     In some embodiments, the virtualization module  702  may be similar in operation or functionality to the virtualization module  208 . Accordingly, the virtualization module  702  may be configured to establish, monitor, maintain, or otherwise manage execution of a virtualized application instance for the APS  318 . As described herein, the virtualized application instance for the purpose of a user at client device accessing the virtualized application instance through the ASP system  310 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the virtualization module  702  may comprise a (computer) sandbox  718  that, in accordance with some embodiments, is configured to separate computing resources (e.g., memory, processor, input/output), of a (physical or virtual) computer system, utilized in performing virtualized application instances. In some instances, each virtualized application instance may be instantiated in a separate sandbox. In various embodiments, the sandbox  718  may be operating within the virtualization module  702  or, alternatively, be operating external to the virtualization module  702 , the APS  318 , or the ASP  310  (e.g., in a cloud-based service, such as an IaaS or PaaS) but under the control of the virtualization module  702  (e.g., via APIs). 
     In general, the computing environment implemented by the sandbox  718  may be configured to receive input data and transmit output data. Examples of input data to the sandbox  718  can include communications data (e.g., network data) or control information (e.g., produced by a human machine interface [HMI] device, such as a mouse or keyboard). Examples of output data from the sandbox  718  can include video data (e.g., data generally produced and outputted to a video display) or audio data (e.g., data generally produced and outputted to audio output device, such as speakers). For some embodiments, providing a user at a client  304  with access to a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  718  can comprise conveying input data or output data between the client  304  and the ASP system  310  and, more specifically, between the client module  502  operating on the client  304  and the virtualization module  702  of the APS  318 . 
     Before conveying the output data from the virtualization module  702  (e.g., from the sandbox  718 ) to the client  304  (e.g., to the client module  502 ), some embodiments may utilize the encoder module  704  to encode the output data in a format capable of being decoded at the client  304 . For some embodiments, the encoder module  704  may perform this encoding in accordance similar to the encoder module  214  described with respect to  FIG. 2A . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the encoder module  704  may specifically comprise a video encoder  720  configured to receive video output data from the virtualization module  702  (e.g., generated by the virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  718 ) and encode that video output data to encoded video data. Additionally, the encoder module  704  may specifically comprise an audio encoder  722  configured to receive audio output data from the virtualization module  702  (e.g., generated by the virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  718 ) and encode that video output data to encoded audio data. 
     As also shown in  FIG. 7 , the encoded (video or audio) data produced by the encoder module  704  may be provided to the streaming module  706  for delivery to the client  304  (e.g., to the client module  502 ), possibly as one or more data streams (e.g., each carrying a different type of data). For example, the streaming module  706  may receive encoded audio data and encoded video data from the encoder module  704  and generate a single data stream (i.e., containing both the audio and the data) that is subsequently delivered to the client module  502  of the client  304 . The client module  502 , in turn, may extract the encoded audio data and the encoded video data from the received data stream, and decode the data (e.g., using the decoder  508 ) for presentation to a client at the client  304  (e.g., through a client user interface generated by the workspace application  504 ). In some embodiments, the operation or functionality of the streaming module  706  may be similar to of the streaming module  216  described in  FIG. 2A . 
     The application module  708 , for some embodiments, may be similar in operation or functionality to the application module  210  described in  FIG. 2A . Accordingly, the application module  708  may be configured to obtain a version of an application (e.g., Microsoft® Excel®) from an application repository maintaining an application copy/image of that version (e.g., operating on a cloud-based server). Upon obtaining the version of the application, the application module  708  may provide the version to the virtualization module  702 , either by reference (e.g., data path to the version) or as a copy, for instantiation as a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  718 . 
     In some embodiments, the storage module  710 , possibly in combination with the storage module  614 , is similar in operation or functionality to the storage module  206  described in  FIG. 2A . For example, the storage module  710  may be configured to operate in conjunction with the storage management module  606  of the ACS  312  to add, remove, modify, or manage connections between the ASP system  310 , particularly the APS  318 , and various storage entities, such as databases, cloud-based storage services, and traditional file servers (e.g., a private enterprise file server). According to some embodiments, the storage module  710  in combination with the storage management module  606  may establish a storage-related connections between a virtualized application instance operating in the virtualization module  702  (e.g., in the sandbox  718 ) and a third-party, cloud-based storage service (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs), which is generally external to the ASP system  310 . As described herein, the establishment of a connection between the virtualized application instance and the third-party, cloud-based storage service may involve logging into the storage entity using third-party user credentials stored and provided (e.g., by the UP module  604 ) in association with a user accessing the virtualized application instance. 
     In various embodiments, the peripheral handler module  712  may be configured to handle input data received from a user at the client  304  (e.g., from the client module  502 ) and convey/redirect such input data to the virtualization module  702  (e.g., a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  718 ). As described herein, the input data may include, for example control information generated by a human machine interface (HMI) device, such as a mouse, keyboard, joystick, or touch screen. While conveying/redirecting the received input data, the peripheral handler module may translate the input data from a first input type, native to an environment of at least one of the client devices, to a second input type, native to an environment of the virtualized application instance. For some embodiments, the system may further comprise a peripheral handler module configured to redirect an output data received from the virtualized application instance to a peripheral coupled to at least one of the client devices. 
     For instance, where the control information received from the client  304  is fully or partially incompatible with the version of the application (e.g., Microsoft® Excel® 2011) operating in the virtualized application instance or incompatible with the operating system of the virtual computing environment in which the virtualized application instance is operating (e.g., Microsoft® Excel® 2011), the peripheral handle module  712  may be capable of translating, converting or remapping the control information from a first input data type that is native/compatible with the client  304  or with the operating system of the client  304  (e.g., Apple® iOS), to a second input data type that is native/compatible with the version of the application operating in the virtualized application instance or with operating system of the virtual computing environment in which the virtualized application instance is operating. Take for example where control information received from the client  304  (e.g., the client module  502 ) contains gestures entered on a touch screen at the client  304 . Such control information, which may be native to/compatible to mobile devices (e.g., based on Android® or Apple® iOS), may be translated or remapped by the peripheral handler module  712  to mouse movements or keyboard inputs that, in the virtual computing environment of the virtualized application instance, equate to or are a substitute for the gestures originally entered at the client  304 . Accordingly, for certain embodiments, the operation or functionality of the peripheral handle module  712  may include the operations or functionalities described with respect to the gesture module  212  of  FIG. 2A . 
     In accordance with some embodiments, the session management module  714  may be configured to manage or monitor application sessions in association with virtualized application instances being operated by the virtualization module  702 . In accordance with embodiments described herein, an application session may be generated for one or more virtualized application instances being accessed by a given user at the client  304 . As such, the application session may be utilized by the ASP system  310  to associate one or more virtualized application instances with a given user accessing those virtualization application instances through the ASP system  310 . In some embodiments, an application session may be established concurrently with (e.g., at or near the time of) the instantiation of the virtualized application instance associated with the session. Alternatively, an application may be established and associated with a virtualized application instantiation already operating in the virtualization module  702  (e.g., one that was initially started for another user during another application session, but has now been reset for the newly established application session associated with another user). 
     In addition to storing the association between a virtualized application instance and a given user, the application session maintained by the session management module  714  may periodically save the current state of the virtualized application instance as operated upon by the user. In doing so, the session management module  714  may preserve application sessions after a user at the client  304  has signed out of the ASP system  310  or the client  304  has lost network connection with the ASP system  310  (or the APS  318 ). For some embodiments, such a feature may permit the user at the client  304  to resume previous stared application sessions without the need to start with a new virtualized application instance in a new application session. 
       FIG. 8  is a flowchart  800  illustrating an exemplary method for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  800  may be implemented using various components of the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 2A , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  802  with the access server module  204  establishing access to a cloud-based storage provided by a first cloud-based server (e.g., the cloud-based service server  110 , which may be operated by a third party such as Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs) over a network (e.g., network connection  112 ). In some embodiments, the access with the cloud-based storage is established using access parameters provided by a user at a client (e.g., the client  102 ) before or during step  802 , or parameters stored on the ASP system  104  in association with the user at the client. Additionally, in establishing access to the cloud-based storage, the access server module  204  may employ various standard or proprietary file system protocols, including those known to those skilled in the art (e.g., network file system protocols, such as Samba [SMB], Network File System [NFS], or Andrew File System [AFS]). Such file system protocols may support data (e.g., file) access connections between the ASP system  104  (e.g., the access server module  204 , the virtualization module  208 , or the application module  210 ), through which a virtualized application instance can then access data. 
     At step  804 , the application module  210  may obtain a version of an application (e.g., Microsoft® Excel®) from a second cloud-based server (e.g., an application repository). At step  806 , the virtualization module  208  may execute a virtualized application instance based on the version of the application obtained at step  804 , in a virtual computing environment (e.g., using a cloud-based service, such as SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS). In various embodiments, the virtualized application instance may be executed such that the virtualized application instance has native/direct access to data stored on/made available through the cloud-based storage with which access is established at step  802 . Each virtualization may be performed in a sandbox. 
     As the virtualized application instance is executed, at step  808 , the encoder module  214  may receive output data (e.g., video, audio, or other data) from the executing virtualized application instance (e.g., video output from a video editing application executing in the virtualized application instance) and encode the received output data in a format compatible for decoding by the client module  202  (e.g., as or once the encoded output data is delivered from the ASP system  104  to the client  102 ). 
     The output data encoded by the encoder module  214  at step  808  may be delivered by the ASP system  104  to the client  102  for decoding and presentation (e.g., through the client user interface). In some embodiments, the encoded output data from the encoder module  214  may be delivered to the client  102  at step  810  as a data stream generated by the streaming module  216 . Depending on the embodiment, the data stream delivered may be such that the client  102  can extract and decode the encoded output data contained in the stream (e.g., using the client module  202 ). Additionally, for some embodiments, the streaming module  216  may generate the data stream such that the data stream comprises two or more individual data containing different data types. For example, an audio data stream generated by the streaming module contains may contain encoded audio output data from the virtualized application instance executing on the ASP system  104  on behalf of a client at the client  102 . 
     Though the steps of the above method may be depicted and described in a certain order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the order in which the steps are performed may vary between embodiments. Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the components described above with respect to the method of the flowchart  800  are merely examples of components that may be used with the method, and that other components may also be utilized in some embodiments. 
       FIGS. 9-12  provide screenshots  900 ,  1000 ,  1100 , and  1200  of an exemplary client user interface configured to interact with an exemplary system for providing application access in accordance with various embodiments. As noted herein, the exemplary client user interface presented by the screenshots  900 ,  1000 ,  1100 , and  1200  may be an interface generated or otherwise provided by a client module (e.g., the client module  202  of  FIG. 2A ) operating on a client (e.g., tablet computer, or mobile phone), accessible to a user, and configured to allow the user to select and open files or applications made available to them through the exemplary system (e.g., the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 1 ). 
     In  FIG. 9 , the screenshot  900  presents the exemplary client user interface configured in an application-view mode, where the exemplary client user interface presents a listing of the applications (e.g., listing of icons representing applications) provided by the exemplary system (e.g., the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 1 ) for access (e.g., selection and invocation, or for previewing the listing) by a user using the exemplary client user interface. As shown in the screenshot  900 , the exemplary client user interface includes a function bar  902  at top of the interface, which may be configured to provide a user with menu selections, option selections, and search capabilities, and a viewing pane  920 , which may be configured to present a listing of items (e.g., listing of files or listing of applications available through the exemplary client user interface) in accordance with user selections made through function bar  902 . 
     The shown application icons may indicate different applications that are available to the user. Each application may be initiated within one or more virtualizations. In some embodiments, each application has a separate virtualization. The virtualization may be performed by the ASP  104 , ACS  312 , APS  318 , or the like. 
     To facilitate the user interaction with the exemplary client user interface and more particularly the function bar  902  of the interface, the function bar  902  may comprise a search field  904  by which a user can textually search for files or applications accessible to the user through the exemplary client user interface. The function bar  902  may also comprise a view-mode selection bar  906  by which a user can select the toggle between different viewing modes for the viewing pane  920  (e.g., an application-view mode, where applications accessible to the user are listed in the viewing pane  920 , or a file-view mode where files accessible to the user are listed in the viewing pane  920 ). For example, the view-mode selection bar  906  may allow a user to select between viewing, in the viewing pane  920 , a listing of all accessible files, a listing of files recently access by the user, a listing of files currently open, a listing of files shared with other users (e.g., via the collaboration module  608 ), or a listing of applications available for access (e.g., by a user selecting an application toggle button  908 ). For some embodiments, the function bar  902  may provide a preview toggle button  910 , which may be selected by a user to enable or disable a file preview feature of the viewing pane  920 . Through use of the preview feature, a file may be displayed through the viewing pane  920  as read-only, possibly for presentation purposes (e.g., slide show) or for providing a quick preview of the file before it is opened for editing. 
     When a user wishes to view or change their account information (e.g., username, password, payment method, balance, e-mail address, etc.), they may select an account information button  912  that may be included on the function bar  902 . Likewise, when a user wishes to share (or collaborate on) a listed item in the viewing pane  920  (e.g., file or application) with another user (e.g., a sharing user), the user may select a share button  914  included on the function bar  902 , which may cause a share/collaboration menu to be provided by the exemplary client user interface. 
     As discussed herein, through a share/collaboration menu, some embodiments permit a user to grant one or more other online or offline users of an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  104 ) share access to the particular virtualized application instance currently operating in the viewing pane  920  (or, alternatively, one already operating in the background for the user but not presently shown in the viewing pane  920 ), share access to the file currently being accessed through the particular virtualized application instance. For some embodiments, a user may implement limitations on the share access they authorize for other users, including an expiration time associated with the share grant and the type of share access to be granted (e.g., asynchronous share access, synchronous share access, password-protected access, or read-only access). Additionally, in some embodiments, the share/collaboration menu may permit the current user to receive from another user (of the ASP system) a request for share access and the type of share access that the current user may approve or deny, to view history relating to access of a shared file or application by other users, or to monitor the shared access of a file or application by other users. 
     In order to configure the settings of either the exemplary client user interface, the client module providing the exemplary client user interface (e.g., the client module  202  of  FIG. 2A ), or the exemplary system operating in conjunction with the exemplary client user interface (e.g., the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 1 ), a user may select a configuration button  916  on the function bar  902 . Deleting a listed item (e.g., accessible file or application) from the viewing pane  920  may be facilitated by a user selecting the listed item in the viewing pane  902  and then selecting a delete item button  918 . Depending on the embodiment, deleting an item from the viewing pane  920  may result in removing access to the item, removing the item from storage on the exemplary system (e.g., the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 1 ), or both. 
     The viewing pane  920  may present a listing of items, such as applications or files, available by the exemplary system for access or selection by the user. By way of example, where the exemplary client user interface is presented through a tablet computing device operating as a client, a user may invoke one or more of the applications listed by the exemplary client user interface by utilizing the input means provided by the tablet computing device (e.g., touch screen interface, keyboard, or stylus). Depending on the embodiment, the exemplary client user interface may be configured such that the applications are listed for selection according to application availability to users utilizing the exemplary client user interface. Examples of application availability can include availability based on the privileges of the current user logged into the client user interface, availability based on resources presently available to the exemplary system (e.g., computing resources or connection bandwidth), or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, the exemplary client user interface may list both available applications and unavailable application, with each listed being presented according to their availability. For example, where icons are employed in the viewing pane  920  to list applications, icons representing applications unavailable for selection by the user may be dithered (or otherwise visually modified) in comparison to icons representing applications available for selection by the user. 
     The screenshot  1000  of  FIG. 10  presents the exemplary client user interface with the viewing pane  920  configured in a file-view/file management mode. In particular, the screenshot  1000  shows that through the view-mode selection bar  906 , a user has chosen a file management mode where all files accessible to the user are listed in the viewing pane  920 . For some embodiments, access to files through the viewing pane  920  while in file management mode may comprise selecting (e.g., for opening in a virtualized application instance), adding (e.g., by creation of a new file or by upload), deleting, moving, and renaming files. As described herein, the file presented in the viewing pane  920  may be those from one or more third-party cloud-based storage services. In file management mode, the viewing pane  920  may be configured to present files in a common manner, regardless of their respective cloud-based sources. In this way, various embodiments may present the files to a user for access in a universal and agnostic manner, independent of what application is needed to open the file (e.g., version of application) or where the file is stored. 
     The screenshot  1100  of  FIG. 11  presents the exemplary client user interface after selection of a file or an application through the exemplary client user interface. The screenshot  1100  specifically shows what the exemplary client user interface may appear as after a word processing file (e.g., Microsoft® Word® file) or an application (e.g., Microsoft® Word®) listed in the viewing pane  920  has been selected by a user through the exemplary client user interface. For some embodiments, when a user selects a file through the exemplary client user interface (e.g., via the viewing pane  920 ), an application compatible with file (e.g., compatible with the format of the file) and provided by the exemplary system (e.g., the ASP system  104  of  FIG. 1 ) may be invoked to open or operate on the file. 
     As shown in the screenshot  1100 , after a file or application has been selected, the exemplary client user interface may comprise: a home button  1102 , which may be configured to return a user to the exemplary client user interface of  FIG. 9  or  FIG. 10  upon selection; an open button  1104 , which may be configured to open one or more files (in addition to the currently shown file) using the application currently active and displayed through the exemplary client user interface or through another application (e.g. one already active in the background or newly invoked for the purpose of the other file); a maximize/minimize/window control button  1106 , which may be configured to control a size of the window interface and an active application viewing pane  1108 , through which the currently active application may be displayed (e.g., the display output for the application). Generally, the currently active application is the application a user has currently chosen to use through the exemplary client user interface. In some embodiments, the open button  1104  may cause the exemplary user interface to present a listing of files available for opening through the application currently active and displayed through the exemplary client user interface, or through another application available through the an APS system (e.g., the ASP system  104 ). The files listed may include those provided by a cloud-based service having a connection established with the APS system (e.g., the ASP system  104 ). 
     As also shown in the screenshot  1100 , the exemplary client user interface may further provide the account information button  912 , the share button  914 , the configuration button  916 , and the delete item button  918  described in  FIG. 9 . In the context of  FIG. 11 , the delete item button  918  may be configured to delete the currently active application or the current file being operated on by the currently active application). An application viewing pane  908  displays video output data from the active application currently being provided to the user through the exemplary client user interface. 
     The screenshot  1200  of  FIG. 12  presents a close up of the exemplary client user interface upon selection of the share button  914 . As shown in the screenshot  1200 , once a user selects the share button  914 , a share dialog box  1202  may be presented (e.g., over the active application viewing pane  1108 ) to configure the share. Through an expiration field  1204 , the share dialog box  1202  may permit a user to specify when a share (e.g., with one or more other user on the exemplary application service provider system  104  of  FIG. 1 ) will expire (e.g., by hours, days, months, or a specific date). The share dialog box  1202  may also permit a user to enable or disable a password for the share (e.g., where a sharing user is prompted with a password before being granted access to the shared file or application). A share user selection menu  1208  in the share dialog box  1202  may facilitate a user&#39;s selection of one or more sharing users with which a select file or application will be shared. For some embodiments, the share may be delivered by way of electronic mail (e-mail) or text message system, possibly internal or external to the exemplary system. In the context of the screenshot  1200 , the share to be created by the user may be for the current file or currently active application being presented in the active application viewing pane  1108 . 
       FIG. 13  is a block diagram illustrating the gesture module  212  in accordance with various embodiments. The gesture module  212  may comprise a gesture mapper  1302 , a gesture emulator  1304 , and a gesture mapping storage  1308 . The gesture module  212  may be configured to translate or map gesture user inputs to one or more alternative user inputs (e.g., set of input events) compatible with the virtualized application instance being provided or the virtual computing environment operating the virtualized application instance. With respect to the illustrated embodiments of  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the user input may be received at the ASP system  104  from the client module  202 . The user input received from the client module  202  may be in the form of user input data (e.g., gesture data where the user input is a gesture input), which the gesture module  212  may use to identify the user input and then map the user input to one or more user inputs (e.g., the set of input events) compatible with the virtualized application instance or the virtual computing environment operating the virtualized application instance. 
     The gesture mapper  1302  may be configured to receive gesture data relating to the gesture received at the client  304  (e.g., through the client module  202 ) and mapping the user input data to a set of input events that emulate the gesture input for the virtualized application instance operating on the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). In mapping the gesture data to a set of input events, the gesture mapper  1302  may consider several factors including, without limitation, a movement physics model (e.g., a flick model or a polynomial physics model), the type of application or operating system in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment that is to receive the set of input events, and the current state of the virtualized application instance. The current state of the virtualized application instance may include the type of virtualized application instance, the current user selection(s) in the virtualized application instance, the current viewing mode of the virtualized application instance, the current position of user input cursor(s), or the current active pane in the virtualized application instance. 
     According to some embodiments, upon receiving gesture data from a client (e.g., the client module  202 , which may include a gesture input module  510 ) the gesture mapper  1302  may identify a window (or some other graphic user interface) associated with the virtualized application instance and at the current position of an input cursor (e.g., mouse cursor). The gesture mapper  1302  may further analyze the state of scrollbar(s) of the virtualized application instance as the gesture mapper  1302  maps the gesture data to the set of input events. 
     The following Table 1 enumerates one or more exemplary mappings of particular gestures to sets of input events (e.g., actions executed in connection with the virtualized application instance or the virtual computing environment), which may be utilized by the gesture mapper  1302 . 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 GESTURE 
                 SET OF INPUT EVENTS 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 TWO-FINGER DRAG UP 
                 Move screen of the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance down when the screen is in 
               
               
                   
                 zoomed-in mode or, alternatively, move 
               
               
                   
                 the virtualized application instance itself 
               
               
                   
                 upwards. 
               
               
                 TWO-FINGER DRAG DOWN 
                 Move screen of the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance up when the screen is in zoomed- 
               
               
                   
                 in mode, or move the virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance itself downwards. 
               
               
                 DUAL FINGER DRAG RIGHT 
                 Move screen of the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance left when the screen is in 
               
               
                   
                 zoomed-in mode, or move the virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance itself right. 
               
               
                 DUAL FINGER DRAG LEFT 
                 Move screen of the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance right when the screen is in 
               
               
                   
                 zoomed-in mode, or move the virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance itself left. 
               
               
                 PINCH-IN 
                 =&gt; zoom out of the virtualized application 
               
               
                 (THUMB AND INDEX FINGER) 
                 instance; when the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance is fully zoomed out if virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance is in full screen 
               
               
                   
                 change back to regular screen; perhaps 
               
               
                   
                 zoom out in predefined % of decrements. 
               
               
                 PINCH-OUT 
                 =&gt; zoom in to the virtualized application 
               
               
                 (THUMB AND INDEX FINGER) 
                 instance; if the virtualized application 
               
               
                   
                 instance is in full screen change back to 
               
               
                   
                 regular screen; when the virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance has reached 
               
               
                   
                 predefined zoom no action; zoom in 
               
               
                   
                 predefined % increments. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER SWIPE UP 
                 Scroll the document currently open in the 
               
               
                 (QUICK AND LIGHT) 
                 virtualized application instance 
               
               
                   
                 downwards. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER SWIPE DOWN 
                 Scroll the document currently open in the 
               
               
                 (QUICK AND LIGHT) 
                 virtualized application instance upwards. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER LEFT 
                 Scroll the document currently open in the 
               
               
                   
                 virtualized application instance right. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER RIGHT 
                 Scroll the document currently open in the 
               
               
                   
                 virtualized application instance left. 
               
               
                 FOUR FINGERS SWIPE UP 
                 Maximize active the virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instance. 
               
               
                 FOUR FINGERS SWIPE DOWN 
                 Show all currently operating virtualized 
               
               
                   
                 application instances as stacked windows 
               
               
                   
                 on a desktop (e.g., cascade arrangement). 
               
               
                 FIVE FINGER TAP 
                 Toggle an on-screen keyboard on and off. 
               
               
                   
                 For example, invoke an on-screen 
               
               
                   
                 keyboard if it is not active, or hide the on- 
               
               
                   
                 screen keyboard if it is active. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER LONG TAP OR 
                 Perform right click. Example hold time 
               
               
                 LONG PRESS/HOLD AND RELEASE 
                 may be between 0.3 and 0.4 s. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER TAP 
                 If a text box is selected by the tap, then 
               
               
                   
                 move cursor to the text box and invoke 
               
               
                   
                 the on-screen keyboard. If an object is 
               
               
                   
                 selected by the tap, then select the object 
               
               
                   
                 and bring up a drawing toolbar. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER LONG TAP AND 
                 If an object is selected by the tap and if 
               
               
                 DRAG 
                 the finger is positioned within the 
               
               
                   
                 confines of the object, then drag/move the 
               
               
                   
                 object according to the vector of the drag. 
               
               
                   
                 If a word or paragraph is selected by the 
               
               
                   
                 tap, then drag the word or paragraph. If 
               
               
                   
                 no word or paragraph is selected, then 
               
               
                   
                 select text according to the input cursor 
               
               
                   
                 and the vector of the drag. 
               
               
                 SINGLE FINGER LONG TAP AND 
                 =&gt; if object and if finger positioned just 
               
               
                 DRAG 
                 outside object and if the long hold circle 
               
               
                   
                 covers a vertex then dragging will 
               
               
                   
                 effectively drag that vertex and resize the 
               
               
                   
                 object or in the case of a rotate vertex will 
               
               
                   
                 allow the object to be manipulated. 
               
               
                 DOUBLE-TAP 
                 Select word according to the tap. 
               
               
                 TRIPLE-TAP 
                 Select paragraph according to the tap. 
               
               
                 DUAL FINGER LONG HOLD AND 
                 Rotate the current selected object if is 
               
               
                 ROTATE 
                 rotatable. 
               
               
                 SCROLLING OVER PANES IN A 
                 Cause the relevant pane to scroll. 
               
               
                 MULTI-PANE APPLICATION 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As noted herein, for some embodiments, the gesture mapper  1302  and the set of input events determined by the gesture mapper  1302 , may utilize movement physics model such as a flick model or a scroll model, as a gesture input is mapped to the set of input events. Evaluating the movement physics model for a gesture being mapped may comprise analyzing such gesture data (e.g., received from the client module  202 ) as the movement type (which may be recognized by the client  102  or the APS system  104 ), a vector information representing the gesture to be mapped (e.g., X/Y coordinates of the start and stop positions of the gesture, and gesture timestamps (e.g., for gesture start and stop positions). Where relevant, particular embodiments may calculate the velocity for a gesture to be mapped based on the gesture start and stop positions and the timestamps relating to those positions. Exemplary movement physics models utilized by embodiments may include a polynomial movement model and a flick model. An exemplary flick model may be selected and utilized when, for example, gesture data for a given indicates linear movements and deceleration of movement until stop. The example flick model may comprise measuring the flick in terms of in pixel/[time per frame]. To smoothen and/or refine processing of a movement physics model such as the flick model, the client  102 , the APS system  104 , or both may utilize a manipulation processor and/or an inertia coprocessor in applying the model to a gesture. 
     The gesture emulator  1304  may be configured to execute the set of input events determined by the gesture mapper  1302 . For some embodiments, the gesture emulator  1304  may execute the set of input events by employing application program interfaces (APIs) or other programming constructs native to or operable with the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment containing the virtualized application instance. The APIs/programming constructs may be utilized to programmatically control and send user input event messages to the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment to effectuate the emulation of a gesture received at a client (e.g., the client  102 ) in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment. For example, where the virtualized application instance is a Microsoft® Windows®-application, or the virtual computing environment is operating Microsoft® Windows®, the input events may be executed using operating system messages (e.g., those associated with WM_GESTURE, WM_TOUCH, SM_THUMBPOSITION for WM_VSCROLL, and SB_LINELEFT and SB_LINERIGHT for WM_HSCROLL). In some instances, the operating system of the virtual computing environment may provide some native support for gestures and, as such, the gesture mapper  1302  may leverage such native support in the set of input events (e.g., various versions of Microsoft® Windows® comprise some support for touch, gesture, and tablet flick). 
     The gesture emulator  1304  may additionally, or alternatively, utilize a “client-side,” kernel-mode driver in the virtual computing environment configured to permit the gesture emulator to perform the set of input events determined by the gesture mapper  1302 . 
     The gesture mapping storage  1308  may comprise information utilized by the gesture mapper  1302  in mapping gesture(s) received at the client module  202  to a set of input events that can be executed in the virtualized application instance or the virtual computing environment operating the virtualized application instance. For instance, the gesture mapping storage  1308  may comprise user-defined or system defined (e.g., administrator-defined) mappings of gestures to the set of input events. The mapping information provided above with respect to Table 1 are just some exemplary mappings that could be stored on the gesture mapping storage  1308  and subsequently utilized by the gesture mapper  1302 . 
       FIGS. 14A and 14B  illustrate exemplary gestures  1402 - 1412 , which are operable with various embodiments described herein. Some or all of the gestures  1402 - 1412  shown in  FIGS. 14A and 14B  may be received through a touch-screen component of the client  304  and/or through a camera communicatively coupled to the client  304  (e.g., where the gestures are captured through motion and gesture detection of a front-facing camera). Of the gestures shown, the gesture  1402  illustrates a tap gesture, the gesture  1404  illustrates finger-dragging gesture, the gesture  1406  illustrates pinching gestures, the gesture  1408  illustrates a five-finger tap, the gesture  1410  illustrates a dual-finger swipe, and the gesture  1412  illustrates a single-finger swipe up or down. For some embodiments, the tap gesture may be mapped to a right-button mouse click; the finger-dragging gesture may be mapped to dragging and dropping objects or selecting text in the virtualized application instance; the pinching gesture may be mapped to zooming-in or zooming-out in the virtualized application instance; the five-finger tap may be mapped to toggle the on-screen keyboard on the virtual computing environment; the dual-finger swipe may be mapped to scroll along the vertical axis, horizontal axis, or both; and the single-finger swipe may be mapped to scroll the virtualized application instance along a single axis (e.g., up or down). 
       FIG. 15  is a flowchart  1500  illustrating an exemplary method for handling gestures in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  1500  may be implemented using various components of the client  102  and the ASP  104  of  FIG. 2A , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  1502  the virtualization module  208  may execute a virtualized application instance based on a version of the application in a virtual computing environment (e.g., using a cloud-based service, such as SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS). In various embodiments, the virtualized application instance may be executed such that the virtualized application instance has native/direct access to data stored on/made available through the cloud-based storage with which access is established (as described herein). Each virtualization may be performed in a sandbox. 
     At step  1504 , the client module  202 , the gesture module  212 , or the combination of the two may provide gesture data for a gesture input received at the client  102 . For some embodiments, the client module  202  may capture gesture data or receive gesture data (from the client  102 ) regarding a gesture received at the client  102 . In accordance with various embodiments, the gesture data captured or received may comprise a gesture type, a gesture phase (e.g., phases of gesture input as it is inputted by a user), coordinates relating to the gesture (e.g., X/Y coordinates of start and stop of gesture), velocity of gestures (e.g., X/Y components of vector data representing the gesture), pressure associated with the gesture, or a gesture timestamp (e.g., gesture start and stop timestamp). 
     At step  1506 , the gesture module  212  may map the gesture data to a set of input events, which may be natively operable with and executed for a virtualized application instance being provided by (e.g., being operated on) the ASP system  104 . As described herein, the set of input events may be executed with respect to the virtualized application instance and/or with respect to the virtual computing environment, with the executed set of input events affecting the performance or behavior of the virtualized application instance. The gesture module  212  may map the gesture data according to a user-defined or system-defined mapping of gesture(s) to sets of input events, such as those enumerated in Table 1 provided above. In mapping the gesture data to a set of input events, the gesture module  212  may consider such factors as available or applicable movement physics models (e.g., a flick model or a polynomial physics model), the version of application or operating system being utilized in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment to receive the set of input events, and the current state of the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment. The current state of the virtualized application instance may include the type of virtualized application instance, the current user selection(s) in the virtualized application instance, the current viewing mode of the virtualized application instance, the current position of user input cursor(s), or the current active pane in the virtualized application instance. 
     As discussed herein, exemplary input events utilizable by the gesture module  212  may include user input actions typical of graphical user interface (GUI) computing environments (e.g., Microsoft® Windows® or Apple® OS X®), such as mouse-based input events (e.g., movement event, mouse click event, mouse wheel event, mouse button event, or click-and-drag mouse events), scroll events (e.g., a vertical scroll event or a horizontal scroll event by way of mouse or keyboard), keyboard-based input events (e.g., one or more keystrokes, keyboard shortcut buttons), a gesture-based input event (e.g., one that is natively compatible with/recognized by the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment), an audio input event (e.g., an input event that the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment recognizes as an audio input), or a video input event (e.g., motion detection or image detection event typically captured by a camera provided to the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment). 
     Accordingly, some embodiments may be capable of mapping a gesture input that is native to and received at the client (e.g., the client  102 ), to a second gesture input that is native to and received by the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment (e.g., received as the set of input events). Such functionality may be applicable, for example, where the client is based on Apple® iOS, and where the virtual computing environment that is supporting the virtualized application instance relates to Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 R2, which is known to support gesture inputs (e.g., in gestures-mode). In such an example, a first gesture input recognized by and received at the client based on Apple® iOS, such as a left-to-right swipe gesture received on a touch screen, can be mapped to a second gesture input recognized by and received at the virtual computing environment based on Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 R2, such as a two-finger tap gesture (e.g., GestureID value in WM_GESTURE message equals GID_TWOFINGERTAP). 
     Other input events may include inputs that invoke a zoom command, a pan command, or a rotate command that is compatible with the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment. Depending on the embodiment, the gesture module  212  may execute the set of input events in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment by way of an operating system or kernel driver implemented in the virtual computing environment (e.g., human machine interface [HID] driver installed on the operating system running in the virtual computing environment). 
     For particular embodiments, the gesture module  212  may utilize one or more algorithms in the set of input events, which further enable the set of input events to emulate the gesture received at the client  102 . For example, various scrolling algorithms may be utilized in the set of input events to effectuate the gesture emulation in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment of the virtualized application instance. 
     According to one scrolling algorithm for emulating vertical scrolling, the algorithm may comprise by sending vertical mouse-wheel messages to the system and moving from a mouse-wheel start position to a mouse-wheel end position according to predetermined velocity (e.g., 20 fps). According to a scrolling algorithm for vertical scroll bar movement or horizontal scroll bar movement, the algorithm may comprise identifying a relevant scroll bar, moving a mouse cursor to the middle of the bar when gesture starts at the client (e.g., the client  102 ), moving the mouse cursor while dragging the relevant scroll bar, and releasing the mouse click when gesture ends. For some embodiments, the scrolling algorithm may release the relevant scroll bar every few small movements to permit the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment to refresh the view. 
     According to a scroll-control-click algorithm, the algorithm may comprise determining scroll controls, moving mouse cursor to scroll control as the received gesture starts, clocking the scroll control while the gesture runs, releasing the scroll control, and returning the mouse cursor to previous position as the received gesture ends. Through such an algorithm, the set of input events could emulate a gesture that allows continuous scroll clicking According to a control and mouse wheel algorithm, the algorithm comprises invoking the control keyboard button when the gesture starts, sending wheel events as the gesture progresses, and releasing the control keyboard button when the gesture ends. 
     At step  1508 , the gesture module  212  may execute the set of input events in the virtual computing environment supporting the virtualized application instance. In order to facilitate the execution of the set of input events, the gesture module  212  may utilize APIs and programming constructs, compatible with the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment. The APIs and programming constructs may, in some instances, employ operating system messages that permit the gesture module  212  to submit user input events directly to the operating system supporting the virtualized application instance. 
       FIG. 16  is a block diagram of an exemplary digital device  1600 . The digital device  1600  comprises a processor  1602 , a memory system  1604 , a storage system  1606 , a communication network interface  1608 , an I/O interface  1610 , and a display interface  1612  communicatively coupled to a bus  1614 . The processor  1602  is configured to execute executable instructions (e.g., programs). In some embodiments, the processor  1602  comprises circuitry or any processor capable of processing the executable instructions. 
     The memory system  1604  is any memory configured to store data. Some examples of the memory system  1604  are storage devices, such as RAM or ROM. The memory system  1604  can comprise the ram cache. In various embodiments, data is stored within the memory system  1604 . The data within the memory system  1604  may be cleared or ultimately transferred to the storage system  1606 . 
     The storage system  1606  is any storage configured to retrieve and store data. Some examples of the storage system  1606  are flash drives, hard drives, optical drives, and/or magnetic tape. In some embodiments, the digital device  1600  includes a memory system  1604  in the form of RAM and a storage system  1606  in the form of flash data. Both the memory system  1604  and the storage system  1606  comprise computer readable media which may store instructions or programs that are executable by a computer processor including the processor  1602 . 
     The communication network interface (com. network interface)  1608  can be coupled to a network (e.g., network  324 ) via the link  1616 . The communication network interface  1608  may support communication over an Ethernet connection, a serial connection, a parallel connection, or an ATA connection, for example. The communication network interface  1608  may also support wireless communication (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n, WiMax). It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the communication network interface  1608  can support many wired and wireless standards. 
     The optional input/output (I/O) interface  1610  is any device that receives input from the user and output data. The optional display interface  1612  is any device that is configured to output graphics and data to a display. In one example, the display interface  1612  is a graphics adapter. 
     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the hardware elements of the digital device  1600  are not limited to those depicted in  FIG. 16 . A digital device  1600  may comprise more or less hardware elements than those depicted. Further, hardware elements may share functionality and still be within various embodiments described herein. In one example, encoding and/or decoding may be performed by the processor  1602  and/or a co-processor located on a GPU (i.e., Nvidia®). 
     The above-described functions and components can be comprised of instructions that are stored on a storage medium such as a computer readable medium. The instructions can be retrieved and executed by a processor. Some examples of instructions are software, program code, and firmware. Some examples of storage medium are memory devices, tape, disks, integrated circuits, and servers. The instructions are operational when executed by the processor to direct the processor to operate in accord with some embodiments. Those skilled in the art are familiar with instructions, processor(s), and storage medium. 
     Various embodiments are described herein as examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made and other embodiments can be used without departing from the broader scope of the invention(s) presented herein. These and other variations upon the exemplary embodiments are intended to be covered by the present invention(s). 
       FIG. 17  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client, specifically the client  302 , configured to operate with an exemplary system for providing application access with obj ect-based interaction in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the client  302  comprises a client module  1702  and a client operating system  1714  operable in supporting operations by the client module  1702  on the client  302 . Depending on the embodiment, the client module  1702  may be similar to the client module  202  described with respect to  FIG. 2A , where the client module  1702  may facilitate communication between the client  302  and an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), provide a user at the client  302  with a client user interface configured to facilitate user interaction with an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), relay user input received through the client user interface from the user at the client  302  to an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), relay object-related data and/or output (e.g., video, audio, or other data) from an application provided by an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to one or more components of the client  302  configured to receive and present the output through the client user interface. 
     To implement such functionalities (and others), the client module  1702  may comprise a workspace application  1704  configured to present the client user interface to a user through a video display coupled to the client  302  (e.g., including generating or presenting a graphical user interface associated with the client user interface and handling the presentation of application output received from an ASP system), a client software library  1706  configured to support various functionalities of the client module (e.g., support the functions of the workspace application  302  or a decoder  1710 ), a client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  configured to facilitate object-based interaction between the client  302  and an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), and the decoder  1710  configured to decode encoded output data (e.g., video, audio, or other data) received from an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) and provide the decoded output data (e.g., to the workspace application  1704 ) for presentation to the user of the client  302  (e.g., video output data routed to the video display of the client  302 , and audio data routed to the sound processor of the client  302 ). 
     For some embodiments, where application output from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) is provided as object data from the ASP system to the client  302 , the decoder  1710  may be optional. For example, object data provided from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to the client  302  may include content from a document being accessed at the ASP system and/or one or more objects embedded in a document being accessed at the ASP system. In return, the client  302  may provide to the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) object data including document content updated locally at the client  302  and/or one or more document-embedded objects embedded updated locally at the client  302 . By relying on object-based data for interactions between the client  302  and the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), various embodiments may avoid having to use video stream output from the ASP system to receive output from accessed applications. 
     In some embodiments, the workspace application  1704  may be a runtime application compatible with the operating system  1714  of the client  302 . Accordingly, for some embodiments, the workspace application  1704  is a native application of the client  302 . Additionally, the workspace application  1704  may be configured to provide access to applications that may be incompatible with the operation system  1714  of the client  302  or that may otherwise not be operable on the client  302  without the use of the workspace application  1704 . Additionally, the workspace application  1704  may implement object-based interaction with accessed applications by way of the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708 . 
     The workspace application  1704  may also be configured to provide universal and/or agnostic file management access to various files that are stored at separate and disparate data storage services but made available through an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). Accordingly, in some embodiments, the workspace application  1704  may comprise a file management interface adapted to user requests for file management operations, such as adding (e.g., by creation of a new file or by upload), deleting, moving, and renaming files. For some embodiments, the workspace application  1704  may utilize web-based application programming interfaces (APIs), which may be associated with one or more web applications (e.g., Google® Docs), to access files stored on cloud-based services. For example, in order to list files accessible through the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), the workspace application  1704  may utilize web-based APIs for a given cloud-based service (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs) to directly perform file management operations (e.g., listing of stored files, adding files, deleting files, or renaming files) with respect to that service. Then, when a file listed through the workspace application  1704  is selected for opening through the ASP system (e.g., using a virtualized application instance provided through the ASP system  310 ), the workspace application  1704  may instruct the ASP system to obtain a copy to the selected file from it respective storage source (e.g., cloud-based storage source or local storage source) or directly access the file from its respective storage source. Thereafter, the ASP system may initiate a virtualized application instance having access to the selected file, and the output data of the virtualized application instance may be transmitted to the client  302 . 
     The client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may be configured to perform one or more of the following: (a) receive from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) object data relating to an application object of application being provided for access by the ASP system (e.g., the virtualized application instance); (b) generate at the client  302  (e.g., graphically render or facilitate the rendering of) a client-side object representing the application object based on the object data received; (c) receive a set of user interactions (e.g., input events entered by a user into the client  302  and received by the client module  1702 ) with respect to the client-side object; (d) effectuate one or more modifications to the client-side object in accordance with those user interactions (e.g., resizing, repositioning, or changing properties of the client-side object); and/or (e) provide object data for the modified client-side object that results. For specific embodiments, the client-side object may be an object native to the remote client device, and the application object may be a document object (e.g., document embedded image, drawing, or graph) of a document accessed by the provided application. Subsequently, the object data for the modified client-side may be transmitted from the client  302  to the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) such that the transmitted object data is used by the ASP system to synchronize the application object residing at the ASP system. 
     An example of this can include where the application object is an image embedded in a word processing document (e.g., Microsoft® Word® document) and the word processing document is being accessed by an instance of word processing application (e.g., Microsoft® Word®) being provided by the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to the client  302 . The ASP system may transmit to the client  302  object data relating to the image object embedded in the word processing document, and the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may generate at the client  302  a client-side object representing the document-embedded image object. As noted herein, the client-side object representing the document-embedded image object may or may not be similar in appearance, size, and/or orientation to the document-embedded image object being presented by the provided application. Given that the application object is one that can be visually presented, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may render a visual representation of the client-side object generated in representation of the document-embedded image object, with the visual representation being subsequently output to a display coupled to the client  302  (e.g., via the client module  1702 ). Thereafter, a user may manipulate the size, position, orientation or content of the client-side object as it is presented on the client  302 , thereby resulting in a modified client-side object. When the user has ceased manipulation of the client-side object, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may generate object data relating to the modified client-object that is sufficient for the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to apply similar modification to the document-embedded image object represented by the client-object in question. 
     For some embodiments, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may determine that a user has ceased their modification of the client-side object by a number of actions taken by the user. Examples include, explicitly commanding the user-side application (e.g., the workspace application  1704 ) to apply the changes to the application object residing at the ASP system (e.g., explicit command via a “Save” button), by a user de-selecting the client-side object as it is presented on the client  302  (e.g., user selects another client-side object). 
     In certain embodiments, the visual representation of the client-side object (representing the application object) may be presented on the client  302  as an overlay over video output of the application being provided from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). In some embodiments, the video output received from the application provided by the ASP system may contain the application object as visually presented by the provided application. Subsequently, when a user at the client  302  selects the application object (e.g., by way of controlling the application provided by the ASP system through the client  302 ), the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  and/or the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may detect selection of the application object selection (e.g., for modification of the application object in the provided application). For example, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  and/or the ASP system may detect selection of the application object when the provided application detects the general selection of the application object, or when the provided application detects selection of a corner, an edge, a body, or another element of the application object. The detection may result in the client  302  generating and presenting (e.g., via the workspace application  1704 ) a client-side object in representation of the selected application object, possibly in response to the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) detecting the selection of the application object and sending object data to the client  302  (according to which the client  302  generates the client-side object). 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that where applicable, visual representation of the client-side object that represents the application object may or may not share visual similarities (e.g., appearance, size, orientation, color, style, etc.) to the application object of the being provided by the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). Additionally, the application object of the application being provided by the ASP system can be one of many different types of objects utilized by the application, which may be graphical and non-graphical in nature. For example, application objects can include, a graphical or non-graphical user interface element of the provided application (e.g., a menu bar, a toolbar, a ribbon bar, or tabs graphically presented by the provided application), an object (e.g., annotation, image, graph, computer graphics, video, etc.) embedded in a document currently being accessed (e.g., opened and being edited) by the provided application, content of a document currently being accessed by the provided application, or some form of visual or audio output generated by the provided application (e.g., video or music). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of application objects may be compatible and utilized by various embodiments. 
     The client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may comprise an object management module  1716  and a client-side object communication module  1718 , which facilitate the various functionalities of the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708 . For some embodiments, the object management module  1716  may facilitate generation of (e.g., rendering or rendering an update to) the client-side object based on object data received from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) and relating to the application object. The object management module  1716  may also facilitate modifications to the client-side object based on the set of user interactions (e.g., received through the workspace application  1704 ), and providing second object data relating to the modified client-side object that results. For specific embodiments, once a client-side object in association with an application object is generated and/or presented on the client  302 , the object management module  1716  maintain storage and/or track the client-side object in connection with the application provided by the ASP system, and handle presentation of the client-side object at relevant times (e.g., when the video output from the provided application contains the associated application object). Subsequently, when an application object previously encountered/handled by the client  302  already has a corresponding client-side object created, updated, and/or maintained by the object management module  1716 , the corresponding client-side object may be recalled by the object management module  1716  (e.g., from cache) when the application object is selected, and the recalled client-side object may be presented on the client  302  for manipulation/modification. Eventually, if the client-side object is modified, the modified client-side object may be saved to the cache and may cease to appear on the client  302  (e.g., once the one or more modifications to the client-side object have been transmitted to the ASP system to be applied to the application object). As noted herein, modifications to the client-side object may be transmitted to the ASP system and applied to the application object when a user at the client  302  is specifically instructed to save the modifications and/or the client-side object is de-selected by the user at the client  302  (e.g., user selects another application object). 
     The client-side object communication module  1718  may be configured to receive from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) object data relating to the application object, and may be configured to transmit to the ASP system the object data relating to a client-side object representing the application object. Communication of object data from the client-side object communication module  1718  to the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), from the ASP system to the client-side object communication module  1718 , or both may be enabled by way of a network transport layer protocol (hereinafter, “transport layer”), which may configured to define object data in pre-defined manner understood by the intended target. The transport layer may define object data in accordance with a XML file. For some embodiments, the transport layer may be utilized in conjunction with network layer protocols employed in transporting video output data from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to the client  302 . 
     Though not illustrated, for some embodiments, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may further comprise an object translation module configured to translate object data sent from the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) to the client  302 , and/or object data sent from the client  302  to the ASP system. For instance, the object translation module may translate object data relating to the application object to object data compatible with client-side object. The object data compatible with the client-side object may be such that the client-side object can accurately represent the application object. In another example, the object translation module may translate the object data relating to the client-side object to object data compatible with the application object. The object data compatible with the application object may be such that the application object can be synchronized (e.g., properties, appearance, position, orientation, etc.) with the client-side object. 
     The object data relating to the application object may comprise contextual information regarding the application object, where the contextual information may be sufficient to generate, render, or update a rendering of the client-side object at the remote client device. The object data relating to the client-side object may comprise a set of user interactions entered at the client  302  with respect to the client-side object, or may comprise contextual information regarding the client-side object. 
     The hardware of the client  302  (e.g., touch screen of the client  302 ) may be adapted to receive gestures as user input to the client  302 , which results in a gesture input being detected by the operating system  1714  (e.g., Apple® iOS) or another application operating on the operating system  1714 . Gestures receivable by the client  302  generally depends on the means by which the client  302  receives gestures. For example, where the client  302  is configured with a touch-based screen (e.g., capacitive screen), the exemplary gestures may include finger-dragging gestures (e.g., dragging in the up, down, left, or right direction), pinching (e.g., pinch-in or pinch-out), swiping (e.g., quick, light, single finger, dual finger, three finger, four finger, five finger, up-to-down, down-to-up, left-to-right, or right-to-left swipe), finger tapping (e.g., single, double, triple, short, or long tap), and flicking (e.g., in one of eight movement directions). 
     In some embodiments, the client module  1702  may comprise a gesture input module  1712  configured to receive user input entered into the client  302 , recognize the user input as a gesture input, and generate or capture data regarding the gesture data. Subsequent to generation/capture, the gesture input module  1712  may transmit the gesture data to an ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), possibly through an access server (e.g., the ACS  312 ). In some instances, the gesture input module  1712  may transmit the gesture data to the APS system (e.g., the APS system  320  via the ACS  312 ) concurrently with other user input data received at the client  302  (e.g., non-gesture input data received) and intended for transmission to the ASP system. 
     Depending on the configuration of the client  302 , a user may enter user inputs by way of a touch screen of the client  302 , by way of physical moving the client  302  configured such that an accelerometer of the client  302  can translate the movement as entry (e.g., shaking the client device is recognized as a gesture), or by way of hand gestures captured by a camera coupled to the client  302 . 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that although the gesture input module  1712  is shown as being part of the client  302 , the gesture input module  1712  for various embodiments is in no way limited to being implemented in such a manner. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various embodiments may implement some or all of the gesture input module  1712  at an APS server (e.g., the APS server  320 ). 
     In some embodiments, the operating system  1714  may be adapted to natively support gestures and, as such, may readily recognize a set of gestures received by way of user input at the client  302  (e.g., swipe, tap, ping, or flick on a touch screen of the client  302 ). For example, where the client  302  is a tablet device configured with a touch-based screen for receiving gesture inputs, the client  302  may receive a gesture input through user inputs at the touch-based screen, the operating system  1714  of the tablet device may receive and natively recognize those user inputs as comprising a gesture input, and the operating system  1714  (e.g., through a API feedback or programming constructs) provide data relating to the gesture input (“gesture data”) to the gesture input module  1712 . For some embodiments, the operating system  1714  may disseminate gesture data by generating one or more gesture input messages in response to recognizing the gesture input. The gesture input messages may be passed amongst various components of the operating system  1714  and/or amongst applications being supported by the operating system  1714 , which includes the client module  1702 . Where a given gesture input is predefined in the operating system  1714  to perform a particular, native command (or invoke a certain functionality), the gesture input module  1712  may prevent the particular command from being performed when the given gesture input is received. In such cases, the particular command may be blocked while the gesture data for the gesture input may be passed along to the ASP system for execution in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment operating the virtualized application instance. For some such embodiments, while the client module  202  is being accessed on the client  302  (e.g., client module  202  is the current, active application), the gesture input module  1712  may temporarily prevent the native command from being performed by overriding the functionality of the given gesture input on the client  302 . 
     In regard to the data generated/captured in relation to the gesture input, the gesture data may comprise a gesture type, a gesture phase (e.g., phases of gesture input as it is inputted by a user), coordinates relating to the gesture (e.g., X/Y coordinates of start and stop of gesture), velocity of gestures (e.g., X/Y components of a vector data representing the gesture), pressure associated with the gesture, or a gesture timestamp (e.g., gesture start and stop timestamp). Based on the gesture data, various embodiments may map the gesture input, which is received at the client  302 , to a set of input events compatible with the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment operating at the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). The mapping eventually determined (e.g., at the ASP system  310 ) may depend on such factors as version of the application instantiated in the virtualized application instance that is to receive the set of input events, version of the operating system running in the virtual computing environment that supports the virtualized application instance, user-preferences or system defined preferences (e.g., user defined mappings), or some combination thereof. 
     Upon receiving the gesture data (e.g., data regarding a two-finger swipe) from the gesture input module  1712 , the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may operate on the gesture data, map the gesture data to a set of input events, and execute the set of input events in the virtual computing environment. Take for example where a user inputs a two-finger swipe moving left to right on the touch screen of a client, based on the gesture data transmitted by the gesture input module  1712  to the ASP system, the ASP system may map the swipe to a left to right scrolling input event, which causes the horizontal scroll bar of a viewing pane in the currently active virtualized application instance (e.g., document open in Microsoft® Word®) to scroll right. 
     Typically, the executed set of input events may effectuate a performance change or a behavioral change with respect to the virtualized application instance currently active at an ASP system (e.g., operating on or being controlled by the ASP system  310 ) on behalf of the client  302 . In order to achieve this, for some embodiments, the set of input events may be operable for execution in the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment supporting the virtualized application instance. In this manner, various embodiments may render/convert gesture inputs, which may be natively compatible with the operating system and/or applications of client  302 , to a set of input events that are compatible with a virtualized application instance and/or its supporting virtual computing environment. This may be particularly useful where the gesture inputs received at the client  302  (and intended for execution in the virtualized application instance) are not natively compatible with, or not fully supported by, the virtualized application instance and/or the virtual computing environment of the virtualized application instance. Such would be the case where, for example, the client  302  is running a version of an Android® operating system, the virtualized application instance comprises a version of Microsoft® Windows® application, and gestures that are natively supported by the Android® operating system of the client  302  (e.g., such as pinch or flick) are not natively supported by the version of Microsoft® Windows® application and/or the Microsoft Windows® operating system supporting the virtualized application instance. 
     Depending on the embodiment, the mapping of the gesture data to the set of input events may depend on/take into consideration the version of the application comprised in the virtualized application instance and/or the version of the operating system running in the virtual computing environment that is to the set of input events. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various versions of applications and various version of operating systems may support different types of input events in comparison to one another. 
       FIG. 18  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary application server, specifically the application server (APS)  320 , which is part of an exemplary system for providing application access with object-based interaction in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the APS  320  comprises a virtualization module  1802 , an encoder module  1804 , a streaming module  1806 , an application module  1808 , a storage module  1810 , a peripheral handler module  1812 , a server-side object-based user interaction module  1814 , a session management module  1816 , and an application server operating system  1818  (configured to support operations of the APS  320  and its various components). 
     In some embodiments, the virtualization module  1802  may be similar in operation or functionality to the virtualization module  208 . Accordingly, the virtualization module  1802  may be configured to establish, monitor, maintain, or otherwise manage execution of a virtualized application instance for the APS  320 . As described herein, the virtualized application instance for the purpose of a user at client device accessing the virtualized application instance through the ASP system  310 . As shown in  FIG. 18 , the virtualization module  1802  may comprise a (computer) sandbox  1804  that, in accordance with some embodiments, is configured to separate computing resources (e.g., memory, processor, input/output), of a (physical or virtual) computer system, utilized in performing virtualized application instances. In some instances, each virtualized application instance may be instantiated in a separate sandbox. In various embodiments, the sandbox  1804  may be operating within the virtualization module  1802  or, alternatively, be operating external to the virtualization module  1802 , the APS  320 , or the ASP  310  (e.g., in a cloud-based service, such as an IaaS or PaaS) but under the control of the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., via APIs). 
     In general, the computing environment implemented by the sandbox  1820  may be configured to receive input data and transmit output data. Examples of input data to the sandbox  1820  can include communications data (e.g., network data) or control information (e.g., produced by a human machine interface [HMI] device, such as a mouse or keyboard). Examples of output data from the sandbox  1820  can include video data (e.g., data generally produced and outputted to a video display) or audio data (e.g., data generally produced and outputted to audio output device, such as speakers). For some embodiments, providing a user at a client  302  with access to a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820  can comprise conveying input data or output data between the client  302  and the ASP system  310  and, more specifically, between the client module  502  operating on the client  302  and the virtualization module  1802  of the APS  320 . 
     Before conveying the output data from the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., from the sandbox  1820 ) to the client  302  (e.g., to the client module  1702 ), some embodiments may utilize the encoder module  1804  to encode the output data in a format capable of being decoded at the client  302 . For some embodiments, the encoder module  1804  may perform this encoding in accordance similar to the encoder module  214  described with respect to  FIG. 2A . 
     In another example, the output data from the sandbox  1820  can include video data or audio data that can be converted as object data, whereby the need for video or audio data from the virtualized application instance can be overcome. For some such embodiments, providing a user at a client  302  with access to the virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820  may involve conveying object data between the client  302  and the ASP system  310  and, more particularly, between the client module  1702  of the client  302  and the virtualization module  1802  of the APS  320 . For certain embodiments, the object data comprising video data and/or audio data may be conveyed to the client  302  in conjunction with, or as a substitute for, the encoded video/audio output data from the encoder  1804 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 18 , the encoder module  1804  may specifically comprise a video encoder  1820  configured to receive video output data from the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., generated by the virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820 ) and encode that video output data to encoded video data. Additionally, the encoder module  1804  may specifically comprise an audio encoder  1822  configured to receive audio output data from the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., generated by the virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820 ) and encode that video output data to encoded audio data. 
     As also shown in  FIG. 18 , the encoded (video or audio) data produced by the encoder module  1804  may be provided to the streaming module  1806  for delivery to the client  302  (e.g., to the client module  1702 ), possibly as one or more data streams (e.g., each carrying a different type of data). For example, the streaming module  1806  may receive encoded audio data and encoded video data from the encoder module  1804  and generate a single data stream (i.e., containing both the audio and the data) that is subsequently delivered to the client module  502  of the client  302 . The client module  502 , in turn, may extract the encoded audio data and the encoded video data from the received data stream, and decode the data (e.g., using the decoder  508 ) for presentation to a client at the client  302  (e.g., through a client user interface generated by the workspace application  1702 ). In some embodiments, the operation or functionality of the streaming module  1806  may be similar to of the streaming module  216  described in  FIG. 2A . 
     As noted herein, the for certain embodiments, object data comprising video data and/or audio data may be conveyed to the client  302  as a substitute for the encoded video/audio output data from the encoder  1804 . Accordingly, for some embodiments, the encoder  1804  and/or the streaming module  1806  may be optional. 
     The application module  1808 , for some embodiments, may be similar in operation or functionality to the application module  210  described in  FIG. 2A . Accordingly, the application module  1808  may be configured to obtain a version of an application (e.g., Microsoft® Excel®) from an application repository maintaining an application copy/image of that version (e.g., operating on a cloud-based server). Upon obtaining the version of the application, the application module  1808  may provide the version to the virtualization module  1802 , either by reference (e.g., data path to the version) or as a copy, for instantiation as a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820 . 
     In some embodiments, the storage module  1810 , possibly in combination with the storage module  614 , is similar in operation or functionality to the storage module  206  described in  FIG. 2A . For example, the storage module  1810  may be configured to operate in conjunction with the storage management module  606  of the ACS  312  to add, remove, modify, or manage connections between the ASP system  310 , particularly the APS  320 , and various storage entities, such as databases, cloud-based storage services, and traditional file servers (e.g., a private enterprise file server). According to some embodiments, the storage module  1810  in combination with the storage management module  606  may establish a storage-related connections between a virtualized application instance operating in the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., in the sandbox  1820 ) and a third-party, cloud-based storage service (e.g., Dropbox, Box, or Google® Docs), which is generally external to the ASP system  310 . As described herein, the establishment of a connection between the virtualized application instance and the third-party, cloud-based storage service may involve logging into the storage entity using third-party user credentials stored and provided (e.g., by the UP module  604 ) in association with a user accessing the virtualized application instance. 
     In various embodiments, the peripheral handler module  1812  may be configured to handle input data received from a user at the client  302  (e.g., from the client module  502 ) and convey/redirect such input data to the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., a virtualized application instance operating in the sandbox  1820 ). As described herein, the input data may include, for example control information generated by a human machine interface (HMI) device, such as a mouse, keyboard, joystick, or touch screen. While conveying/redirecting the received input data, the peripheral handler module may translate the input data from a first input type, native to an environment of at least one of the client devices, to a second input type, native to an environment of the virtualized application instance. For some embodiments, the system may further comprise a peripheral handler module configured to redirect an output data received from the virtualized application instance to a peripheral coupled to at least one of the client devices. 
     For instance, where the control information received from the client  302  is fully or partially incompatible with the version of the application (e.g., Microsoft® Excel® 2011) operating in the virtualized application instance or incompatible with the operating system of the virtual computing environment in which the virtualized application instance is operating (e.g., Microsoft® Excel® 2011), the peripheral handle module  1812  may be capable of translating, converting or remapping the control information from a first input data type that is native/compatible with the client  302  or with the operating system of the client  302  (e.g., Apple® iOS), to a second input data type that is native/compatible with the version of the application operating in the virtualized application instance or with operating system of the virtual computing environment in which the virtualized application instance is operating. Take for example where control information received from the client  302  (e.g., the client module  502 ) contains gestures entered on a touch screen at the client  302 . Such control information, which may be native to/compatible to mobile devices (e.g., based on Android® or Apple® iOS), may be translated or remapped by the peripheral handler module  1812  to mouse movements or keyboard inputs that, in the virtual computing environment of the virtualized application instance, equate to or are a substitute for the gestures originally entered at the client  302 . Accordingly, for certain embodiments, the operation or functionality of the peripheral handle module  1812  may include the operations or functionalities described with respect to the gesture module  212  of  FIG. 2A . 
     In some embodiments, the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may be configured to perform one or more of the following: (a) capture object data regarding an application object of the virtualized application instance executed by the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., based on an application version supplied by the application module  1808 ); (b) transmit to a remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ) the first object data; (c) receive from the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ) second object data relating to a client-side object at the remote client device, where the client-side object represents the application object; and/or (d) synchronize the application object with the client-side object based on the second object data. As noted herein, the client-side object may be an object native to the remote client device, and the application object may be a document object (e.g., document embedded image, drawing, or graph) of a document accessed by the provided application. For some embodiments, the first object data may comprise contextual information regarding the application object, where the contextual information may be sufficient to render or update a rendering of the client-side object at the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ). As noted herein, the object data for the modified client-side may be transmitted from the client  302  to the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) such that the transmitted object data is used by the ASP system to synchronize the application object residing at the ASP system. 
     The object capture module  1826  may be configured to capture object data regarding an application object of the application provided by the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). For example, the object capture module  1826  may be implemented as a driver operable with (e.g., installable) an operating system in the virtual computing environment in which the virtualized application instance operates (e.g., at the control of the virtualization module  1802 ), a plug-in operable with (e.g., installable) with the application instance operating in the virtual computing environment, or some combination thereof. 
     The server-side object communication module  1828  may be configured to transmit to a the client  302  the object data relating to the application object, and may be configured to receive from the client  302  object data relating to a client-side object modified at the client  302  (e.g., by a user), where the client-side object represents the application object on the APS  320 . 
     The object synchronization module  1830  may be configured to synchronize the application object with the client-side object based on the object data relating to a modified client-side object received from the client  302 . The object synchronization module  1830  may perform the synchronization by applying modifications to the application object using a set of user interactions to be applied with respect to the application object in accordance with the object data that relates to the modified client-side object. The object data eventually received from the client  302  may comprise a set of user interaction (e.g., that were entered at the client  302  with respect to the client-side object to result in the modified client-side object), contextual information relating to the modified client-side object, or the modified client-side object. To further facilitate activity between the object synchronization module  1830 , some or all of the object synchronization module  1830  may be implemented as a driver (e.g., kernel-mode driver) in the virtual computing environment configured to apply a set of user interactions to the application object, and/or to inject a modified application object (in accordance with the object data relating to a modified client-side object) into the virtualized application instance. Alternatively or additionally, some or all of the object synchronization module  1830  may be implemented as a plug-in to a virtualized application instance capable of executing a set of user interactions with respect to the application object or capable of injecting a modified application object into a document. 
     The system may further comprise an object translation module configured to translate the second object data to third object data compatible with the application object, where the object communication module may transmit the second object data to the remote server by the third object data, and the third object data may comprise the application object. Additionally, the system may comprise an object translation module configured to translate the first object data to third object data compatible with the client-side object, where the object management module may be further configured to render or render an update to the client-side object by the third object data. 
     In accordance with some embodiments, the session management module  1814  may be configured to manage or monitor application sessions in association with virtualized application instances being operated by the virtualization module  1802 . In accordance with embodiments described herein, an application session may be generated for one or more virtualized application instances being accessed by a given user at the client  302 . As such, the application session may be utilized by the ASP system  310  to associate one or more virtualized application instances with a given user accessing those virtualization application instances through the ASP system  310 . In some embodiments, an application session may be established concurrently with (e.g., at or near the time of) the instantiation of the virtualized application instance associated with the session. Alternatively, an application may be established and associated with a virtualized application instantiation already operating in the virtualization module  1802  (e.g., one that was initially started for another user during another application session, but has now been reset for the newly established application session associated with another user). 
     In addition to storing the association between a virtualized application instance and a given user, the application session maintained by the session management module  1814  may periodically save the current state of the virtualized application instance as operated upon by the user. In doing so, the session management module  1814  may preserve application sessions after a user at the client  302  has signed out of the ASP system  310  or the client  302  has lost network connection with the ASP system  310  (or the APS  320 ). For some embodiments, such a feature may permit the user at the client  302  to resume previous stared application sessions without the need to start with a new virtualized application instance in a new application session. 
       FIG. 19A  is a flowchart  1900 A illustrating an exemplary method for client-side obj ect-based interaction in accordance with various embodiments. In particular the method of flowchart  1900 A illustrates creation of a new object in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  1900 A may be implemented using various components of the client  302  of  FIG. 17 , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  1902  by presenting the virtualized application instance, operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), through the client module  1702 . The presentation of the virtualized application instance may be facilitated at the client  302  through the client module  1702  in accordance with embodiments described herein. At step  1904 , a user may instruct the client  302  (e.g., through user interaction and/or input events) to create an application object of the virtualized application instance operating in the virtual computing environment on the remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ), which results in the object management module  1716  creating a client-side object that represents on the client  302  the newly created application object. Depending on the embodiment, the creation of the application object on the ASP system (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may take place once the user has finished modifying the newly created client-side object, or may take place immediately upon request, with the modifications to the newly created client-side object being sent subsequently. 
     As noted herein, through the client-side object, various embodiments may facilitate smooth creation and/or manipulation of the application object of the virtualized application instance through the client-side object, while reducing the latency and increasing the smoothness in object handling. As also noted herein, examples of application objects utilized in various embodiments can include, a graphical or non-graphical user interface element of the provided application (e.g., a menu bar, a toolbar, a ribbon bar, or tabs graphically presented by the provided application), an object (e.g., annotation, image, graph, computer graphics, video, etc.) embedded in a document currently being accessed (e.g., opened and being edited) by the provided application, content of a document currently being accessed by the provided application, or some form of visual or audio output generated by the provided application (e.g., video or music). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of application objects may be compatible and utilized by various embodiments. 
     At step  1906 , the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may receive a set of user interactions (e.g., through the workspace application  1704 ) with respect to the newly client-side object. The set of user interactions may be received in connection with creating the new client-side object (e.g., received in conjunction with the creation of the client-side object) or may be received sometime after it is created. In general, the set of user interacts facilitate modifications/manipulations of the newly created client-side object. For example, sometime after the client-side object is created in response to the creation of a new application object, (at step  1906 ) a user at the client  302  may resize, reshape, reposition, reorient, or change a property of the newly created client-side object before object relating to the newly created client-side object is transmitted to the ASP system  310 . Typically, the client-side object when first created has a set of default properties, and the set of user interactions received at step  1906  change one or more of these default properties. 
     At step  1908 , the object management module  1716  may provide first object data relating to the created client-side object (e.g., resulting from step  1904  and/or step  1906 ). The first object data, once received by the ASP system  310 , may result in the creation of an application object that is synchronized with the client-side object created at step  1904  and possibly modified at step  1906 . At step  1910 , the client-side object communication module  1718  may transmit to the remote server (e.g., to the ASP system  310 ) the first object data. In turn, the remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may create in the virtualized application instance the application object that corresponds to the client-side object in accordance with the first object data. Subsequent to its creation in the virtualized application instance, the application object created at the remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may be presented at the client  302  through the video output of the virtualized application instance provided by the remote server to the client  302 . In some embodiments, the client-side object created at the client  302  and representing the application object may be utilized as the presentation of the application object at the client  302 . 
     For some embodiments, as soon as the application object has been created (e.g., by the ASP system  310 ) and presented at the client  302  (e.g., through the video output of the virtualized application instance), the client-side object may be hidden from view on the client  302  and the visual representation of the corresponding application object (just created) is provided at the client  302  in its stead. Additionally, for some embodiments, the object management module  1716  may be configured to cache the client-side object created at the client  302  for subsequent usage (e.g., when the application object corresponding to the client-side object is selected for modification). 
     To ensure that the client-side object created at the client  302  is synchronized with the application object eventually created at the remote server (e.g., in the virtualized application instance), the method may continue to step  1912 , where the client-side object communication module  1718  may receive (e.g., from the ASP system  310 ) second object data relating to an application object of a virtualized application instance operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). At step  1914 , the object management module  1716  may render an update to a client-side object based on the first object data (e.g., on the ASP system  310 ). Steps  1912  and  1914   
       FIG. 19B  is a flowchart  1900 B illustrating an exemplary method for client-side object-based user interaction in accordance with various embodiments. In particular the method of flowchart  1900 B illustrates modification of an object in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  1900 B may be implemented using various components of the client  302  of  FIG. 17 , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  1916  by presenting a virtualized application instance operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) through the client module  1702 . The presentation of the virtualized application instance may be facilitated at the client  302  through the client module  1702  with embodiments described herein. At step  1918 , the client-side object communication module  1718  may receive (e.g., from the ASP system  310 ) first object data relating to an application object of a virtualized application instance operating in a virtual computing environment on a remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ). At step  1920 , the object management module  1716  may render or render an update to a client-side object based on the first object data, where the client-side object representing the application object (e.g., on the ASP system  310 ). 
     At step  1922 , the client-side object-based user interaction module  1708  may receive a set of user interactions (e.g., through the workspace application  1704 ) with respect to the client-side object. At step  1924 , the object management module  1716  may modify the client-side object based on the set of user interactions (e.g., received through the workspace application  1704 ). A modification to the client-side object may include, for example, changing visual property of the client-side object, such as a size, a position, an orientation, a shape, a style, and a color, and changing a non-visual property of the client-side object, such as a relationship with one or more other client-side objects (e.g., in application links). 
     At step  1926 , the object management module  1716  may provide second object data relating to the modified client-side object (e.g., resulting from step  1924 ). At step  1914 , the client-side object communication module  1718  may transmit to the remote server (e.g., to the ASP system  310 ) the second object data. Upon receiving the second object data, the remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may modify the application object in accordance with the second object data relating to the modified client-side object. Subsequently, the resulting modified application object at the remote server (e.g., the ASP system  310 ) may be presented at the client  302  through the video output of the virtualized application instance provided by the remote server to the client  302 . In some embodiments, the client-side object created at the client  302  and representing the application object may be utilized as the presentation of the application object at the client  302 . Additionally, like the method of flowchart  1900 A, the client-side object at the client  302  may be synchronized with the now modified application object, possibly by performing steps similar to step  1912  and/or step  1914 . 
       FIG. 20A  is a flowchart  2000 A illustrating an exemplary method for server-side object-based user interaction in accordance with various embodiments. In particular the method of flowchart  2000 A illustrates creation of an object in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  2000  may be implemented using various components of the APS  320  of  FIG. 18 , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  2002  with the virtualization module  1802  executing a virtualized application instance (based on a version of the application) in a virtual computing environment (e.g., using a cloud-based service, such as SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS). Each virtualization may be performed in a sandbox (e.g., the sandbox  1820 ). At step  2004 , the server-side object communication module  1828  may receive from a remote client (e.g., the client  302 ) first object data relating to a client-side object newly created at the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ) and representing an application object of the virtualized application instance to be newly created on the remote server (e.g., the APS  320 ). Accordingly, at step  2006 , the object synchronization module  1830  may instruct the virtualized application instance to create the application object represented by the client-side object based on the first object data received at step  2004 . Thereafter, the video output from the virtualized application instance being sent from the APS  320  to the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ) will reflect the newly created application object. 
     For some embodiments, where the application object created on the APS  320  may be similar to the client-side object but not identical, (at step  2008 ) the object capture module  1826  may capture second object data regarding the newly created application object and, at step  2010 , the server-side object communication module  1828  may transmit the second object data to the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ). In doing so, various embodiments can ensure that the client-side object representing the application object are even further synchronized (e.g., just in case the application object created does not accurately match the client-side object). 
       FIG. 20B  is a flowchart  2000 B illustrating an exemplary method for server-side object-based user interaction in accordance with various embodiments. In particular the method of flowchart  2000 B illustrates modification of an object in accordance with various embodiments. For some embodiments, the method presented by the flowchart  2000  may be implemented using various components of the APS  320  of  FIG. 18 , as described below. For example, the method may begin at step  2012  with the virtualization module  1802  executing a virtualized application instance (based on a version of the application) in a virtual computing environment (e.g., using a cloud-based service, such as SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS). Each virtualization may be performed in a sandbox (e.g., the sandbox  1820 ). At step  2014 , the object capture module  1826  may capture first object data regarding an application object of the virtualized application instance. At step  2016 , the server-side object communication module  1828  may transmit the first object data to a remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ). At step  2018 , the server-side object communication module  1828  may receive a second object data relating to a client-side object at the remote client device (e.g., the client  302 ). At step  2020 , the object synchronization module  1830  may synchronize the application object with the client-side object based on the second object data. 
       FIGS. 21A-21D  are a set of flow diagrams illustrating object-based interaction between an exemplary client, specifically the client  302 , and an exemplary application server, the APS  320 , in accordance with various embodiments. For  FIGS. 21A-21D , the client module  1702  of the client  302  may be operating a client-native application  2106 , which may be configured to provide a user at the client  302  with access to a virtualized application instance  2108  provided by the APS  320 . The virtualization module  1802  of the APS  320  may be executing the virtualized application instance  2108  on behalf of/for the benefit of the client  302 . While the client  302  of  FIGS. 21A-21D  may be similar (e.g., in form, function, and/or composition) to the client  302  of  FIG. 17 , the APS  320  of  FIGS. 21A-21D  may be similar (e.g., in form, function, and/or composition) to the APS  320  of  FIG. 18 . Typically, the virtualized application instance  2108  is compatible with operating on one or more application objects, where at least one application object may capable of being embedded into a document (e.g., content of a document) accessible by the virtualized application instance  2108 . Examples of applications operable with application objects may include word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, presentation application, media editing applications, and the like. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 21A , the virtualized application instance  2108  may permit textual content  2104 A (hereinafter, the “server-side textual content object  2104 A”) to be entered into a document being presently accessed (e.g., currently open) by the virtualized application instance  2108 . The virtualization module  1802  may be utilized to operate the virtualized application instance  2208 . In accordance with some embodiments, the entry of the textual content object  2104 A into the document content may result in the APS  320  (e.g., the server-side object-based user interaction module  1814 ) the textual content object  2104 A appearing in the video output  2102  of the virtualized application instance  2108  being sent from the APS  320  to the client  302 . Upon receiving the video output  2102 , the client  302  may present the server-side textual content object  2104 A at the client  302  as a video-rendered textual content object  2104 B. The video-rendered textual content object  2104 B shown on the client  302  may be similar to if not identical to the server-side textual content object  2104 A. Alternatively, for embodiments where the output of the virtualized application instance  2108  is provided to the client  302  as object data, the server-side textual content object  2104 A shown at the client  302  as it exists on the APS  320 . 
     Subsequently, a user at the client  302  may mark, annotate, or draw on or around the video-rendered textual content object  2104 B (e.g., with a circle, square, triangle, or the like), which can be detected by the client  302  and replaced with predefined client-side objects that correspond to application objects. For example, as shown in  FIG. 21B , a user may draw a circle  2110 A around the video-rendered textual content object  2104 B at the client  302 , which the client  302  (e.g., the client module  1702 ) may recognize and replace with a predefined a client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B, as shown in  FIG. 21C . The circle  2110 A shown in  FIG. 21B  may be entered, for example, through a user&#39;s gesture input (e.g., recognized by the gesture input module  1712 ) at a touch-enabled display coupled to the client  302 . The client  302  (e.g., the client module  1702 ) may detect the creation of the circle  2110 A, and as a result render the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B in place of the circle  2110 A. The client-side rectangular graphic  2110 B may further include an associated client-side annotation  2112  that is fillable and/or viewable by the users. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various embodiments may be configured to recognize and replace any number of markings, annotations, or drawings with a predefined client-side object. 
     As shown in  FIG. 21C , once the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B and client-side annotation  2112  replaces the user-drawn circle  2110 A, the client  302  may send to the APS  320  object data  2114  relating to the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B and the client-side annotation  2112 .  FIG. 21D  illustrates how a server-side rectangular graphic object  2122 A and an accompanying server-side annotation  2122 A are created as a result of the APS  320  receiving the object data  2114  (see,  FIG. 21C ). The server-side rectangular graphic object  2120 A is shown to surround the server-side textual content  2104 A, like the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B surrounds the client-side textual content  2104 B. Subsequent to updating the current document based on the object data  2114  from the client  302 , the APS  320  may stream video output  2118  (which may include object-related data) to the client  302  that contains the addition of the server-side rectangular graphic object  2120 A and accompanying server-side annotation  2122 A in the virtualized application instance  2108 . 
     As shown, once the client  302  transmits the object data  2114  to the APS  320 , the client  302  may revert to using video output  2118 , streamed from the APS  320 , to display the server-side rectangular graphic object  2122 A as a video-rendered rectangular graphic object  2120 B and the accompanying server-side annotation  2122 A as a video-rendered annotation  2122 B. For some embodiments, the video-rendered application object  2120 B and video-rendered annotation  2122 B may be similar if not identical to the server-side application object  2120 A and the accompany annotation  2122 A. 
     According to some embodiments, the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B and the client-side annotation  2112  may be recalled by the client  302  (e.g., the object management module  1716 ) next time the server-side rectangular graphic object  2120  and/or the accompanying annotation  2122  are selected on the virtualized application instance  2108 . When this occurs, the client  302  may re-commence displaying the client-side rectangular graphic object  2110 B and the client-side annotation  2112  as overlays over the video output of the virtualized application instance  2108  (e.g., video rendered rectangular graphic object  2120 B and video-rendered annotation  2122 B). 
       FIGS. 22A-22G  are a set of flow diagrams illustrating object-based interaction between an exemplary client, specifically the client  302 , and an exemplary application server, the APS  320 , in accordance with various embodiments. For  FIGS. 22A-22G , the client module  1702  of the client  302  may be operating a client-native application  2206 , which may be configured to provide a user at the client  302  with access to a virtualized application instance  2208  provided by the APS  320 . The virtualization module  1802  of the APS  320  may be executing the virtualized application instance  2208  on behalf of/for the benefit of the client  302 . The client  302  of  FIGS. 22A-22G  may be similar (e.g., in form, function, and/or composition) to the client  302  of  FIG. 17 , while the APS  320  of  FIGS. 22A-22G  may be similar (e.g., in form, function, and/or composition) to the client  320  of  FIG. 18 . Generally, the virtualized application instance  2208  is compatible with operating on one or more application objects, where at least one application object may capable of being embedded into a document (e.g., content of a document) accessible by the virtualized application instance  2208 . Examples of applications operable with application objects may include word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, presentation application, media editing applications, and the like. 
     As shown in  FIG. 22A , the virtualized application instance  2208  may enable a server-side rectangular graphic object  2204 A (hereinafter, the “server-side application object  2204 A”) to be created in a document being presently accessed (e.g., currently open) by the virtualized application instance  2208 . As noted herein, the virtualization module  1802  may be utilized to operate the virtualized application instance  2208 . In accordance with some embodiments, once created, the server-side application object  2204 A may appear in the video output  2202  of the virtualized application instance  2208  from the APS  320  to the client  302 . Through the video output  2202 , the client  302  may receive and subsequently present the server-side application object  2204 A as a video-rendered application object  2204 B. According to some embodiments, the video-rendered application object  2204 B may be similar to if not identical to the server-side application object  2204 A. 
     In  FIG. 22B , the client  302  may instruct the virtualized application instance  2208  to select the server-side application object  2204 A by way of an instruction  2210  sent from the client  302  to the APS  320 . A user may instruct the virtualization application instance  2208  to select the server-side application object  2204 A for modification and/or deletion of the server-side application object  2204 A. The user selection of the server-side application object  2204 A is shown in  FIG. 22B  as a selected server-side application object  2204 C. 
     As shown in  FIG. 22C , the selection of the server-side application object  2204 A may result in the APS  320  transmitting to the client  302  object data  2214  relating to the selected server-side application object  2204 C (e.g., contextual information regarding the object  2204 C) and/or an indication of the server-side application object  2204 A being selected. In response to the object data  2214 , the client  302  (e.g., the client module  1702 ) may generate and/or render a client-side rectangular graphic object  2212 A (hereinafter, the “client-side object  2212 A”) corresponding to and/or representing the server-side application object  2204 A at the client  302 . For some embodiments, until the client-side object  2212 A is generated, the server-side application object  2204 A may be presented on the client  302  through the video output  2202  (e.g., encoded video stream) generated by the virtualized application instance  2208  and then transmitted to the client  302  from the APS  320 . 
     As shown by  FIG. 22D , the client  302  may receive a touch-based input event  2216  (e.g., through a touch-based screen of the client  302 ) with respect to the client-side object  2212 A, which may facilitate modifications with respect to the client-side object  2212 A. For instance, through the touch-based input event  2216  (or some other input event), a user at the client  302  may resize, reposition, change color, change orientation, or change some other property of the server-side application object  2204 A. In accordance with some embodiments, as the client-side object  2212 A is adjusted (e.g., by the touch-based input event  2212 ), the client  302  may send object data relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B as the modifications are implemented or may send the object data only once the user has ceased modifying the client-side object  2212 B. 
     The trigger for sending object data relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B may vary between various embodiments. For instance, the client  302  may transmit object data relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B to the APS  320  based on an explicit command to the client  302  to send the object data (e.g., via a graphical user interface button, such as “Save”) to the APS  320 . Another example for triggering the transmission of object data relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B may include the user de-selecting the client-side object  2212 B and/or instructing the virtualized application instance  2208  to de-select the selected server-side application object  2204 C. Yet another example for triggering the transmission of object data relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B may include a predetermined time period for input event inactivity (e.g., 2 minutes of modification activity results in the object data being sent). 
       FIG. 22E  illustrates object data  2218  relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B being transmitted from the client  302  to the APS  320 . As shown in  FIG. 22F , upon receiving the object data  2218  relating to the modified client-side object  2212 B, the APS  320  may apply a modification  2220  to the selected server-side application object  2204 C in accordance with the object data  2218 . For some embodiments, the modification  2218  may be applied to the selected server-side application object  2204 C by performing a set of user interactions (e.g., set of input events) with respect to the selected server-side application object  2204 C based on the object data  2218 . In particular embodiments, the object data  2218  may provide the APS  320  with contextual information regarding the modified client-side object  2204 B, which can then be used in applying the modification  2220  to the corresponding server-side application object  2204 C. In order to utilize the object data  2218  for modifying the server-side application object  2204 C, the APS  320  may utilize an object translation module configured to translate the object data  2218  to a set of user interactions to be applied to the selected server-side application object  2204 C to synchronize the selected server-side application object  2204 C with the modified client-side object  2212 B. Alternatively, the APS  320  may utilize an object translation module to translate the object data  2218  to a modified server-side application object that is synchronized with the client-side object  2212 B and that can replace the selected server-side application object  2204 C. 
       FIG. 22G  illustrates a server-side modified application object  2204 D that results from applying the modification  2220  to the selected server-side application module  2204 C in accordance with object data  2218 . Subsequent to the server-side modified application object  2204 D being rendered, video output  2222  from the APS  320  (e.g., the virtualized application instance  2208 ) to the client  302  may comprise the rendering of the server-side modified application object  2204 D, which the client  302  in turn displays as a video-rendered application object  2204 E. According to some embodiments, the modified client-side object  2212 B, which corresponds to the server-side modified application object  2204 D, may disappear from the display of the client  302  (e.g., hidden) and the client  302  may revert to using video output  2222  to display the server-side rectangular graphic object  2204 D as a video-rendered rectangular graphic object  2204 E. For some embodiments, the video-rendered application object  2204 E may be similar if not identical to the server-side application object  2204 D.