One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that supports
low-latency session-mobility for an ultra-thin-client. During system
operation, an ultra-thin-client sends a location-identifier to a
Connection Assignment Server (CAS), which facilitates communication with
a user-interface (UI) server, wherein the location-identifier specifies
the current location of the ultra-thin-client. Next, the
ultra-thin-client receives the address of a local UI-server from the CAS,
wherein the CAS selects the local UI-server based on the
location-identifier. The ultra-thin-client then sends a user-session
identifier to the local UI-server. This allows the local UI-server to
retrieve a user-session-image for a user-session from a
user-session-image repository. Note that, before moving to the current
location, the ultra-thin-client was previously communicating with a
remote UI-server, which stored the user-session-image in the
user-session-image repository. Next, the ultra-thin-client establishes a
user-session connection with the local UI-server. In this way, the system
enables the ultra-thin-client to resume the user-session through the
local UI-server. Note that the system reduces the delay experienced by
the user because it enables the ultra-thin-client to carry on the
user-session with the local UI-server instead of the remote UI-server.