RE: RE: changes to sysinfo (was Fwd: Agenda - Distributed Meeting 2010-06-23)

James,

A “bearer” is a transmission medium for network protocols, e.g. Ethernet, WiFi, GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSPA/LTE etc. Not all bearers are compatible with IP services (GSM SMS for example). And certainly not all bearers are equivalent in terms of QoS (in all the things that means).

 

Indicating a preferred connection though is not the intent of the activeConnections attribute. It simply lists those connections that are compatible with IP-based services. The degree of compatibility depends upon the QoS that the application needs for the particular application.

 

The definition of activeConnections is thus the set of connected networks (we can make it clear that these are IP networks, and that there must be an IP address assigned for the connection). 

 

What the set of activeConnections means re selection in a multihoming environment is up to the application, or some future “connection profiling / network selection” API (this is something that we have considered in OMTP, and that factors into a variety of OMA enabler specifications, since the OMA enablers are often designed to work in multi-network environments).

 

Like bearer preference, net neutrality is a whole other subject (or another plane of discussion at least). I would not want to bring it into this discussion, especially not do anything overt to facilitate it (or prevent it) – it’s a policy issue, not a technical issue.

 

Thanks, 

Bryan Sullivan | AT&T

 

From: James Salsman [mailto:jsalsman@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 11:58 PM
To: SULLIVAN, BRYAN L (ATTCINW)
Cc: James Salsman; public-device-apis@w3.org; Tran, Dzung D
Subject: Re: RE: changes to sysinfo (was Fwd: Agenda - Distributed Meeting 2010-06-23)

 

Bryan,

We need a definition of an active connection which makes sense in the context of plural connections and multihoming. I can't think of a better place to add net neutrality. I mean, if a device has WiFi and cellular internet both, then clearly one or the other is usually preferable. I can't imagine that preference wouldn't be equivalent to what most people mean by bandwidth, carrier-independent end-to-end compatibility, and reasonable round trip times. Some devices already multihome that way. I think I mentioned bandwidth, but maybe indirectly.

If the number of connections got changed from plural to the singular, we should change that back. The internet interface device(s) are usually plural to begin with, anyway.

Also I don't know what "bearer connection" means.

 On Jun 28, 2010 10:27 PM, "SULLIVAN, BRYAN L (ATTCINW)" <BS3131@att.com> wrote:
 
 James,
 Making the changes now. I will upload it tomorrow. Had to find and learn an SVG editor tool (Inkscape).
 
 Re "An active network connection is connected. Data sent over an active network connection is expected to be delivered in accordance with carrier-independent, end-to-end principles of internet datagram delivery. Connections which do not conform to carrier-independent, end-to-end principles with reasonable round trip times should not be considered active when other connections are available.  Disconnected and otherwise unavailable connections must not be considered active." :
 
 The statement "Connections which do not conform to carrier-independent, end-to-end principles with reasonable round trip times should not be considered active when other connections are available." raises more questions to me, than it clarifies the meaning of the term. At least I don’t know how a device would distinguish carrier-independence, end-to-end principles, or what is reasonable re delay. Also the qualifier "when other connections are available doesn't seem to help either.
 
 How about: "The device has an active bearer connection to an Internet Protocol compatible network."
 
 Thanks,
 Bryan Sullivan | AT&T

 
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