US Patent 11017013 Image cache collaboration between clients in remote desktop environments

Image cache collaboration is described to enable multiple clients to share image data in a remote desktop environment. A centralized cache manager maintains information about all image caches on all client devices which have established connections to the server. When an update to a portion of the GUI of a virtual desktop for a first client device is detected, the central cache manager can determine whether any other client devices contain the requested image data in their respective image caches. If such a device is identified, the server transmits a message to the first client device, identifying the second client device that contains the requested image data in its respective image cache. The first client device may then request and receive the image data from the second client device over the LAN on which both devices reside, thereby obtaining the data with less latency.