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Fallout: New Vegas Honest Hearts Review
Played on:
After the release of the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, things seemed to be a little up in the air for additional content releases. A few weeks ago, Bethesda and developer Obsidian Entertainment put those questions to rest by detailing three summer DLC releases, all priced at ten bucks. The first of these is called Honest Hearts, and after going through it, I can pretty heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed New Vegas.
As with other DLC packs, you explore an entirely new landmass that is completely separated from the main game. This is done not only to create a new look and atmosphere, but it also helps maintain compatibility with any mods you might have installed on the PC version of the game. You'll be headed out with the Happy Trails Caravan to the Zion Valley in southwest Utah; if you remember the reddish color of the canyons where the Great Kahns reside in the Mojave, you'll have a good idea of what this place looks like. Here, though, the landscape is even less pockmarked with dilapidated buildings and old junk than even the Mojave was, and the people you encounter are native tribes that have resurged since the war. Obsidian has also added some light weather elements, like rain and fog.
When you arrive at Zion Valley, you'll quickly find that the original mission (protecting a caravan) gets scrapped, and you find yourself trying to help two peaceful tribes, the Dead Horses and the Sorrows, defend their land against the White Legs, a warlike tribe that mercilessly attacks and pillages anyone they can. Within the first fifteen minutes, you'll meet Joshua Graham, otherwise known as the Burned Man, a character that's part of the history of Caesar's Legion back in the Mojave Wasteland. Considering his past and what eventually happened to him, you might be surprised at his demeanor here, but he's probably the best character in this DLC and might even be one of the most interesting people you'll meet in all of New Vegas. You'll also meet Daniel, something like a religious man from the ruined city of New Canaan, and you'll get access to a couple of companions, each with their own stories, to help you fight against the beasts in Zion Valley as well as the White Legs that will often ambush you here and there.
What's interesting here is that you're set into a conflict and can't really choose what side you're on, but you'll make some other (and possibly more interesting) choices about the future of the Dead Horses and the Sorrows. And none of this is controlled by New Vegas' own karma or reputation systems; it's a more story-based conflict based on how you choose to complete quests. And yes, you also have the option of turning off the script almost entirely and pretty much just murdering everything you come across - that's fully supported by the game, too.
The thing that I enjoyed most about Honest Hearts is the story of one particular character, one that you never meet, but he's an important key to the history of the Zion Valley. Search hard enough, and you'll find his story in bits and pieces, as well as his final resting place along with some sweet gear as well. Fallout 3 excelled in telling stories through non-standard means - the placement of a corpse, a note next to a skeleton, pieces put together of a bigger conflict - and while I found that this kind of storytelling was a little bit lacking in vanilla New Vegas, getting to piece together the details of this character's journey very much fulfills that for me.
Along with all of this, Honest Hearts adds new achievements, increases the level cap by five and kicks in six new perks for you to take back to the Mojave - something that I think is important if Bethesda is going to charge the full ten bucks for these DLC packs. The voice work is easily at the level you expect out of Bethesda's brand of Fallout, and the writing and RPG design meet the standards set by Obsidian Entertainment over the years as well. That said, if there's one thing I was disappointed in, it's lack of surprises in all of this, and some of that feeling of being let down comes through only a few of the wacky encounters you expect with a character that has the "Wild Wasteland" trait. I've heard that Honest Hearts has a few technical issues involving crashes along with some bug that can screw up your Mojave Wasteland companions once you return to the regular game, but I did not encounter these issues on my Steam copy of the game. Still, if you're really concerned about keeping your save game in prime condition, it might be wise to wait and see if Obsidian issues some kind of fix.
Honest Hearts is one of the better DLC packs Bethesda has released yet, and it comes down to the combination of an interesting landscape and original story along with unique RPG choices, then layering the signature Fallout brand (at least, since Bethesda took over) of slightly off-kilter, but still intensely entertaining FPS combat on top. If you enjoyed New Vegas enough to get at least most of the way through it, then this is surely a worthy addition to your DLC library. If the next two New Vegas packs as good as Honest Hearts wound up, then we'll be in for a treat this summer.
Hate to do this but i love good reviews and good journalism so much that i felt compelled to register just to tell you how much you such you suck at it.
You gave it a 9/10 which means that its eithe so impressive that its almost the best stuff that you have ever played, youre on various drugs (if so i dont want them in our schools but i wouldnt mind you giving me a hint of were to subscribe to them) or that you wrote this under gunpoint from obsidians basement.
Really, nine out of ten??? Get this right, and get this right once and for all. Unless this was close to the best stuff you have ever played in your whole (and hopefully short)life dont give it anything above 7.9 (ofcourse this raises another REALLY disturbing question: what on earth did you think about the Broken Steel DLC for FO3? 11/10? 14/10?)
"Honest Hearts is one of the better DLC packs Bethesda has released yet, and it comes down to the combination of an interesting landscape and original story along with unique RPG choices, then layering the signature Fallout brand (at least, since Bethesda took over) of slightly off-kilter, but still intensely entertaining FPS combat on top"
WHAT THE FUCK? Unique RPG choices? what does that even mean???? Youre either pulling my leg or trying to get us all on a semi philosophical plane with this nonsense. Sure its unique, but only because noone has ever created a storyline EXACTLY like this one. But thats were it stops being unique and succumbs to the power of the category "yeh i have seen similar stuff before" and in truth i have.
What is so damn unique in getting pidgeonholed into a fetch/killcount questchain with close to no alternative options except for either killing the NPCs (which i damn will after reading this god forsaken review)or make the VERY and FEW narrow choices within the boring questline.
You sir are a complete idiot and the ultimate proof that there should be some kind of requirements for writing stuff on the internet, something in the way of "Gattaca" because you are misleading customers AND encouraging lazy storywriters and programmers.
With the ammount of bugs (yeah how about the E-de bug?) in this DLC it shouldnt even pass a 6/10 and it would if it really had content on the level of your fucked up way of seeing the world, which it doesnt. Why? Well except for the bugs, boring quests and ofcourse the boring villages with close to mute citizens the developers have managed to take one of the coolest characters in the FONV lore and created a story that is NOT as cool. The burning man had the potential of being the most badass anti-legion Monte Christostyle character ever but all the devs managed to do was to build up cliffhangers (grafitti and hints about the burning man) and turn it into a steaming pile of so-so.
Make no misstake, this a review of a review and my final score is fuck you.
First time reader and im bookmarking this page because id like to see what else you have managed to mess up. I am now your number one fan (and hopefully the only fan except for other bad reviewers which you make look good)
Sincerely yours
Get bent, your a piece of shit and no one cares about your criticism. If you're going to criticize someone at least have proper grammar and spelling.
@Jeff Buckland
Good article, good read. Your opinion is a 9/10 and im glad i could collect that data. Keep up the good work and don't mind these faggot trolls.
the RPG choices include "running", which is not something you often get out of RPGs. You can choose not to kill the final boss, or choose different ways in which it's done. Or in just killing all important NPCs and forging your own path. This range of choices is almost entirely unique for RPGs and is relatively unique even for the Fallout universe.
As far as the rest, well, you've heard it here guys: apparently, my opinion is wrong. Sorry, pack it up.
First: Trolling is by definition writing posts that adds nothing to the discussion just to get a little bit of attention or simply bring grief by either stating something that is wrong or ridiculing without so much as a hint of intention to dissect either the source of the argument or the flaws in some of the arguments involved in the discussion.
A good example of trolling is when someone for example when someone comment on grammars and english to belittle arguments without adding anything useful to the debate (sounds familiar Bob?)
Second: The grammar and spelling, lets put aside the fact that you just accused me of trolling while yourself just took the trollboat to shit-town trolling the post.
I am not a writer, im lower workingclass, EXTREMELY uneducated, suffer from dyslexia and finally, do not have english as native language which puts me in a great disadvantage in all discussions in english.
By your logic all of my arguments became instantly invalid the second you saw that i have bad grammar and the moment you noted the spelling errors i made...my very right to express myself was in question.
I have a problem with grammar and spelling (which i apologized for in an attempt that it could benefit a possible interesting development in discussing these topics instead of giving completely useless grammarchecking scumfucks as yourself the chance to limit all of this to an orgy of sneering spellchecks, but for naught)
I Wanted that discussion and if i can be proven wrong along the way then that would be double the joy. Because this would mean that im totally wrong and have by that learned something completely new which by itself is a reward greater than no other and my apology to the writer of this "review" would be a small price to pay for that kind of gift.
Well, incase you didnt know, there might be flaws in my critics (pretty sure there is) but i believe that they are valid points until proven wrong even if my grammar is bad as long as i with my bad english am able to make them fairly understandable which im pretty sure was the case in this shit-tsunami. These arguments were probably even understandable for a verbally challenged genetical deadend bigot as yourself. But still you chose to prove wrong by calling me a faggot and refer to bad spelling. I cannot know for sure, but i have a feeling that your poor way of aproaching this matter is nothing more than a poorly executed attempt to hide the fact that youre chockingly retarded.
third: I am aware of the possibility that my criticism falls on alot of dead ears but it is certainly not up to you to decide that, unless you have actually heard every single person claim so, but yeah its good to generalize stuff until it makes sense in your extremely small world eh?
Fourth: Faggot troll? Wow, another contribution, really proved my arguments wrong there buddy.
Summary, some kind of fanboy accuses me of trolling while saying stuff that is extremely similar to forumtrolling.
Fags are cool, you are not.
FINGER: Someone who actually tries to argue with my points. Good times and hatts off for you.
In a way youre correct that the player may choose to evacuate New Caanan and this itself is pretty boring (had the potential to be VERY exciting if the player would have been able to interact with the faction after DLC mainquest) but the rest of the choices is just, attack with the very cool burning man and then either encourage him to kill off the whiteleg leader (and like you pointed out, in different ways) or appeal to his good side to spare the prisoners.
Or just kill off Quest NPC´s.
The last parts is not very unique at all but (hats off again, once for bringing this to a level were we are actually discussing the DLC and once more for proving me wrong on one point) the fleeing is. Unfortunatly this isnt enough to make a pretty hollow and lacking storyline exciting because in the end its just a choice between killing all or choosing either factionleaders plan which sounds VERY similar to other situations i have seen in this game.
I cant lie, the scenery was heartbreaking beutiful but it was when i realized that the villages were exctremely empty and that the few residents both pre-mainquest AND post-mainquest add precilely nothing to the game except take up space and sparlingly say a few short words in some tribal language that i realized that it was all felt so empty, rushed and healf hearted.
True, it'd be nice if there were more characters that actually really talked to you, and I've since completed Dead Money and realized that Obsidian did a better job fleshing out those characters a bit better, but unfortunately they loaded that DLC with annoying gameplay (I'm up to here with the beeping collars, bear traps, and poisonous clouds) that it really dragged down what otherwise was a wonderful story. In comparison, I felt Honest Hearts poured a lot into the Burned Man and the Survivalist along with a truly free-roaming landscape, and less into fleshing out everything else.
Opinions differ on the score and such, but when I think about $10 addons - not just for Fallout but for any game - I had a blast playing Honest Hearts. All I can do is write up those impressions in the hope that someone else, someone who agrees with my other opinions, will feel the same if they decide to spend their hard-earned money on this.
Admittedly, you did start off very angry and insulting. I really don't think that you have earned the right to somehow try and commend me for coming up to your level, despite this other guy's possibly misguided accusation of you being a troll, once you consider again what you wrote in your first comment. I'm always willing to have a discussion and debate over these things, but you should probably try and start with that instead of spewing vitriol and hatred within your first few sentences.
So it was extremely entertaining but after the mainquest (which we obviously both have opinions about *insert friendly smiley here*)
the importance of these cavegod notes is too high since it is one of the few remaining pillars that are supposed to uphold a continued exciting adventure post mainquest.
The developers seem to have forgotten that we fallout enthusiasts get to see alot of similar stuff in both FO3 and FONV maingame as a small but clever sidenotes, but no matter how fun they are, they are just that, extra spice along the greater journey.
(i cant speak for the rest of the world, but i am the kind of person to read every single note and find myself longing for the next one)
(numeric password notes not included, unless im extremely tired and if im so tired that i find those funny, then i might aswell fight a live doberman with my controller in a brave attempt to insert the FONV disc in its mouth because in that weakened state a dog´s jaws are all disturbingly similar to the xbox disctray,point is that when we are that tired its all the same, yeah you know what im talking about Finger, we´ve all been there)
Hats off once again (dont care if you dislike it or not, hat is off and it stays off...when its off, more on this later)i almost forgot the "cavegod begins" part because i started off in the wrong end (which was tragic enough, no spoilers here, but you know what i mean when i say that i believe that the morale of this story
is: its not worth trying, ever)
it might be me but i didnt find one bit of that story funny and i cant tell if its supposed to be a little bit of comic relief with the cavegod theme, if it is, then i cant see the fun in it because for me this was a harsch sad story that left me with a aching heart. Sad but good stuff. Still not enough to carry a big beautiful area with one-liner npc´s. I might be a tad ignorant and correct me if im wrong but this place should be put to use.
As you said, lucky as we are, opinions differ. To some extent i can go along with the argument that its pretty ok stuff for 10 dollars, which is a fair argument regarding a game that might not release anything beyond two more DLC´s. But the harsch cold truth is that we might have just that to look forward to, and thats were the money stops being a part of the analysis because i could pay the double for something that is a bit more stuffed, less rushed, more sidequests, 15 vault/cave/trashcan gods and of course more of everything with extra more.
I dont think that i am too demanding if i want 10 sidequests related to otherwise unused areas, a few more vendors, a new safehouse aquired by completing an overly timeconsuming quest and a companion with very little opinion of any of the major factions (to avoid ALOT of programming) and i certainly dont think that i am overreacting when im getting a bit sweaty when we probably only have 2 more DLC´s left and so far im not too impressed with either of them.
Mr finger, kindly do not take any of my /hatoffs for some kind of attempts to get on your good side, and i do expect you to not believe that i believe myself to be a pillar of either innovation nor intellect. I realize my limits, and believe it or not, my own expectations of what i bring to the table is a level you never want to sink to, im so good that i know that im not very good at anything, not supersmart, but enough smart to point out what i dont like without ever believing that i am the best. Its a fine line between narcissism/extreme criticism while spitting out the meanest things i can come up with. Sounds tiring? It sure is and its worth it if someone takes enough offense to do something just a little bit better.
When reviewers get too lazy to bother with really describing what we are buying, sometimes assholes like me come by to drop every thing we have ever been angry about in a hardpacked hatelavine of criticism that has a few grains of fair points it might even wake the dead.
I am now very aware of that you dont really like the idea of me believing you almost being on the same level as me, cheers. I honestly dont care, what do i care about is the other stuff (in which you mostly have very good points) you write regarding the game because it is far superior to what our reviewer just fed us and truth to be told, i wonder if the tv was even on when he played HH because i dont think we even share the most basic impressions of what we collectively agree upon as reality.
My problem with you is that you seem to think that im a few levels above it all, please dont, because i dont, i just think that this review was way below the lowest level we can meassure, sure, im above that but not much more, hell, were all above this crap. To sum it up, i like you and i cannot care less about what you think of that.
I sure hope that i one day get so big and superduper that i can be on the same level as you (or the other way around depending of whoever thinks what of who) and maybe then well get to play together in some future sandbox filled to the tip in the latrine we very well deserve if we keep telling the lazy developers that what theyre doing is all good. Theyre not special kids and they dont need encouragement for doing something bad for the sake that its good that they take part of mainstream society.
But yeah, its a bit too much emotion behind these lines, its an inferno of burning vitriol and hatred. With this review in mind i dont care which way the wind blows as long as the vitriol is on fire


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Originally published on Mon November 11, 2013 2:52 pm
More than 16 million American's fought in World War II. There's only about a million of them who are still alive and they're all older than 80. Hundreds are dying each day. A non-profit group has made it their mission to honor these remaining veterans by flying them to Washington, D.C., to visit the World War II memorial. The trip isn't something many veterans at this age can do — or afford — on their own. Since the first "Honor Flight" in 2005, groups in almost every state have followed suit and more than 100,000 vets have taken the journey.
Originally published on Tue October 15, 2013 3:12 pm
In West Michigan, it's apple harvest time. That may conjure up images of picturesque orchards and old-fashioned fun: growers harvesting apples and then selecting them by hand.
Think again.
Robotic arms, computer vision and high-resolution photography are helping Michigan growers wash, sort and package apples at top speeds in the business — think 2,000 apples per minute.
With this modern technology, farmers are expanding production and getting Galas and Ginger Golds from Michigan orchards to grocery stores faster and more cheaply.
Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 6:05 am
Originally published on Sun April 22, 2012 7:23 pm
The Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan had five unplanned shutdowns last year. It's one of the area's biggest employers, and its safety record is one of the worst in the country. Now it's trying to prove to federal regulators that it can meet their standards.
On the shores of Lake Michigan, the Palisades Power Plant is tucked in between tall sand dunes in Covert Township, Mich., at the southern edge of Van Buren State Park.
Originally published on Mon March 26, 2012 3:45 am
Steelcase, the world's largest office furniture maker, is celebrating 100 years in business. But sales of the metal filing cabinets Steelcase is named for are declining - same with cubicles and other large pieces of office furniture.
LINDSEY SMITH, BYLINE: So, as Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith reports, Steelcase says it's changing its identity.

subset: commoncrawl


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Gear Question
James Howard
For an impending thru-hike of the PCT, I...
For an impending thru-hike of the PCT, I am debating between three different pairs of hiking shoes that will need to be appropriate for sections of the trail which will inevitably range from scalding to frigid, if all my research done up to now serves me well. That being said, I have narrowed down my choices to either these, the Salewa Alp Trainer GTX Hiking Shoe, or the Salomon X Ultra GTX Hiking Shoe.
Anyone recommend one over the others, and if so, why? Any input, suggestions, or advice would be most appreciated. Thanks!
View More Details on Teva Riva eVent Hiking Shoe - Men's


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The USF School of Management welcomes students from around the world. International students seeking an F-1 visa are eligible to apply to the following programs:
"I'm originally from Turkey and it's been wonderful to meet people from diverse cultures. It was the best experience I've ever had. The diversity of the students, the quality of the faculty, and the location. Being so close to San Francisco professionals made USF the number one choice for me."
For more testimonials and videos visit our community page.
firstname.lastname@example.com(415) 422-2221


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Hold down Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key + mouseclick to select more than one option
|Avg. Dinner Entrée
|Greater than $25
|$18.01 - $25
|$12.01 - $18
|$7.01 - $12
|Less than $7
Posted by Desi on 05/01/2011
I love steak! After giving up steak for Lent, I really needed a steak fix. I found this restaurant on Restaurant.com and decided to try it because I was going to be in the neighborhood anyway that day. WOW! Great service, food, drinks! I had a ribeye and my boyfriend had a T-bone and both were cooked perfectly and arrived on a delicious bed of spinach. I can't wait to go back. I highly recommend this place.
Posted by maria on 05/18/2010
hunters is one of the best places you can eat at. a wide variety of items to choose from and all good, havent had anything bad yet , and i go there alot. OTB right in the place ,so you can bet some horse races and watch them as you eat. tv's all over the place to watch the latest sports event. kaoroke on friday nites, you can even eat at the bar if you wanted. great place i highly recommend it


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The invention relates to a method for supporting the quality of service (QoS) in packet data transmission between a wireless terminal (MT), having data communication with a radio access network, and a data network (LN), in which method data transmission between the terminal (MT) and the radio access network (2) is controlled by at least one mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″). Further, in the method data is transmitted in radio flows between the wireless terminal (MT) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″). In the method, a flow label is defined for at least one radio flow and the desired quality of service is defined for the radio flow.
1. A method in packet data transmission between a wireless terminal (MT) and a mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″) having data communication with a data network utilising the Internet protocol (IP), in which method a first data communication is formed between the wireless terminal (MT) and an access point (4, 4′) and a second data communication between the access point (4, 4′) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″) for transferring IP flows between the wireless terminal (MT) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″), and which first data communication is a wireless data communication, characterized in that in the method an IP flow filter (IPVS) is defined for at least one IP flow for the identification of the IP flow, a radio flow label (RFID) and an IP flow label (IPTAG) are defined for a wireless flow corresponding to said IP flow, wherein said radio flow label (RFID) is connected to the packets of said first data communication, and said IP flow label (IPTAG) is connected to the packets of said second data communication; and
wherein the IP flow label (IPTAG) of the IP flow and the radio flow label (RFID) of the radio flow corresponding thereto is stored at the access point; and
the data transmission is divided into at least a network layer (L3), a data link layer (L2) and a physical layer (L1), wherein the IP flow label (IPTAG) is added to the packets of the network layer (L3).
2. A method according to
3. A method according to
4. A method according to
5. A method according to
6. A data transmission system comprising:
at least one wireless terminal (MT);
at least one mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″);
an access point (4, 4′) for transmitting data as packet data transfer between the wireless terminal (MT) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″);
means (401, 402) for forming a first data communication between the wireless terminal (MT) and the access point (4, 4′) and means (403, 404) for forming a second data communication between the access point (4, 4′) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″) for transferring IP flows between said wireless terminal (MT) and said mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″);
characterized in that the system further comprises:
means (5, 5′, 5″) for defining an IP flow filter (IPVS) for at least one IP flow for the identification of the IP flow;
means (MT, 5, 5′, 5″) for defining a radio flow label (RFID) for the radio flow corresponding to said IP flow;
means (5, 5′, 5″) for defining an IP flow label (IPTAG) for said IP flow;
means (MT, 4, 4′) for connecting a radio flow label (RFID) to the packets of said first data communication;
means (4, 4′, 5, 5′, 5″) for connecting an IP flow label (IPTAG) to the packets of said second data communication;
wherein the access point (4, 4′) comprises means (303) for storing the IP flow label of IP flow (IPTAG) and the radio flow label (RFID) of radio flow corresponding thereto; and
means (303) for examining the IP flow label (IPTAG) from the IP flow packets, and means (303) for searching the stored radio flow label (RFID) according to said IP flow label (IPTAG).
7. A system according to
8. An access point (4, 4′) comprising means (401, 402) for forming the first data communication between the wireless terminal (MT) and the access point (4, 4′) and means (403, 404) for forming the second data communication between the access point (4, 4′) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″) for transmitting IP flows as a packet data transmission between the wireless terminal (MT) and the mobile IP router (5, 5′, 5″), characterised in that the access point (4, 4′) further comprises:
means (5, 5′, 5″) for at least one IP flow for identification of the IP flow for reception of the defined IP flow filter (IPVS),
means (MT, 5, 5′, 5″) for the reception of the radio flow label (RFID) defined for the radio flow corresponding to said IP flow,
means (5, 5, 5″) for defining an IP flow label (IPTAG) for said IP flow, and
means (4, 4′, 5, 5′, 5″) for connecting an IP flow label (IPTAG) to the packets of said second data communication, and
wherein the access point (4, 4′) further comprises means (303) for storing the IP flow label of IP flow (IPTAG) and the radio flow label (RFID) of radio flow corresponding thereto, and
means (303) for examining the IP flow label (IPTAG) from the IP flow packets, and means (303) for searching the stored radio flow label (RFID) according to said IP flow label (IPTAG).
The present invention relates to a method as set forth in the preamble of the appended claim 1 for connecting data flows in wireless communication according to the Internet protocol, a system as set forth in the preamble of the appended claim 6, and an access point as set forth in the preamble of the appended claim 8.
The International Standardisation Organisation ISO has developed an open system interconnection (OSI) model for describing the distribution of data transmission in different layers. The layers are, listed from top downwards, an application layer (layer 7), a presentation layer (layer 6), a session layer (layer 5), a transport layer (layer 4), a network layer (layer 3), a data link layer (layer 2), and a physical layer (layer 1). In view of the present specification, the most essential layers are the physical layer, the data link layer, the network layer, and the application layer.
The term "Internet" is commonly used to describe an information resource from which information can be retrieved from a data processor, such as a personal computer (PC). The data processor communicates via a modem with a telecommunication network. This information resource is distributed world-wide, comprising several storage locations which also communicate with the telecommunication network. The Internet is made operable by defining certain data communication standards and protocols, such as TCP (transmission control protocol), UPD (user datagram protocol), and IP (Internet protocol), which are used for controlling data transmission between numerous parts of the Internet. The TPC and the UDP are involved with preventing and correcting data transmission errors in the data transmitted in the Internet; the IP is involved with data structure and routing. The currently used versions of the Internet protocol are IPv4 and IPv6.
Thanks to the growing popularity of open data systems, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) communication protocol has become a generally used protocol whereby computers of different sizes and brands can communicate with each other. TCP/IP support is currently available for almost all operating systems. The network layer protocol of TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol IP, is intended to be routed by gateways, i.e. routers. The routing is conducted by means of IP addresses and routing tables.
In the Internet, each device has its own individual IP address. In the Internet protocol version IPv4, the IP address consists of 32 bits, i.e. it is a digit of four bytes which is divided in two parts: an organisation-specific network address and a network-specific device address. In the more recent Internet protocol version IPv6, the length of address fields has been added to 128 bits, which means in practice that an individual address can be reserved for all devices that are connected with the Internet network. FIG. 1 shows in IPv6 the blocks of the data packet in Internet messages.
The header block consists of the following elements:
Version IP version of 4 bits (=6),
Prio. priority of 4 bits,
Flow label 24 bit label for identifying the connection in the application layer,
Payload length 16 bit integer indicating the length of the payload, i.e. the length of the packet after the header in bytes,
Next header data of 8 bits determining the header immediately following the IPv6 header,
Hop limit integer counter of 8 bits which is reduced by one at the each device (node) which transmits the packet further; the packet is rejected if the value is reduced to zero,
Source address the 128 bit address of the sender of the original packet,
Destination address the 128 bit address of the intended recipient.
The header is followed by the payload block, i.e. the actual information to be transmitted.
Physically, the Internet consists of communication networks arranged in a hierarchy, for example local area networks (LAN), regional telecommunication networks and international telecommunication networks. These communication networks are coupled internally and externally with routers which transmit information from the transmitting terminal equipment or from the preceding router in the chain of data transmission, and route the information to the receiving terminal equipment or to the next router in the chain of data transmission.
Below in this specification, the transmitting terminal equipment and receiving terminal equipment will also be called by the common term Internet host. The Internet hosts can be typically used either as the source host SH and the destination host DH. In the present specification, the Internet hosts connected in a wireless manner with the Internet network are called a wireless terminal.
An Internet host, coupled to the Internet network via a local area network LAN, is either provided with a permanently defined Internet address or the address is a dynamic address generated by the server of the local area network (for example by using a dynamic host configuration protocol DHCP). In case the Internet host is coupled by a modem to a telecommunication network, the telecommunication terminal must ask for an Internet address from an Internet service provider to which the Internet host is registered. This is conducted e.g. according to a point-to-point protocol (PPP) formed above the Internet protocol layer. In both cases, the information to be transmitted in the Internet is routed to the Internet host possibly via several communication networks and routers from a remote host by using a determined Internet address.
The IP defines the transmission of the communication in packets (datagrams). The packet data transmission is one reason for the popularity of the Internet, because it allows transmission in bursts which does not require constant on-line connection and makes it possible that several Internet hosts are coupled in the same telephone connection. When a router receives a packet containing a destination address, the router routes the packet forward, if there is free capacity in the buffer memory of the router and at least one open telephone line. If there is not sufficiently memory space or no open telephone line available at the moment, the packet is rejected and the source host or the preceding router must try retransmission later. In general, the Internet does not support time-critical data transmission, and the method of best effort offered by the Internet protocol is sufficient.
In the transmission of packets according to the Internet protocol, the packets can be transmitted directly to the receiver only when the network elements of the addresses of both the host and the destination are the same. In other cases, the packets are transmitted to a router which takes care of transmitting the packets further, either to the next router or to the destination, if the recipient is in the network of the router. In each router, each packet entering the router is transferred from the data link layer according to the OSI model to the network layer, where the header of the packets is examined, and on the basis of the address data therein, a decision is made where the packet is to be transmitted. For transmission, the packets are transferred back to packets of the data link layer. The packets running the same path constitute a so-called communication stream. Because the Internet protocol has the character of a connectionless protocol, the above-mentioned operations must be conducted for each packet entering the router. If the communication layer is fast, for example in accordance with the asynchronous transfer mode ATM, the processing of the packets takes a significant part of the time used for transmission. Thus, the whole transmission capacity of the transfer line cannot be utilised effectively. For correcting this situation, e.g. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a solution in which an attempt is made to accelerate the routing of communication streams. In this solution, which is called Layer 3/Layer 2 switching (L3/L2 switching) or Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), an attempt is made to switch the communication flows in the router directly on the data link layer, thereby reducing the need for performing time consuming routing on the basis of the address data of the network layer.
In an MPLS switching solution, so-called MPLS domains are formed. When a packet arrives to the router of such an MPLS domain, routing is conducted on the network layer. In this context, a short label of fixed length is added to the packet. Packets provided with such a label can be switched in the router by utilising the routing table of the data link layer, thereby avoiding the routing of the network layer. The label is used as an index in the table which determines the switching to the next router to be carried out in the router. Thus, in the MPLS domain, the routing of the network layer is thus conducted at the stage when the packet comes to the domain and, in a corresponding manner, when the packet leaves the domain. In contrast, it is possible to conduct a faster switching inside the domain in the data link layer. However, this solution requires that in each router of the MPLS domain, also a network layer protocol is implemented at least partially, as well as Internet protocol stack. In the MPLS domain, there are always three routers participating in the switching: the router that has transmitted the packet, the router switching the packet, and the next router receiving the packet. Because the routers are normally permanent, also the switching table can be made permanent and be updated in situations when new routers are added or routers in use are removed.
Telecommunication networks and the Internet are two significant world-wide communication networks, and wireless telecommunication terminals are being developed for coupling therewith and for their use. For example, cellular networks make it possible to couple a wireless telecommunication terminal to a telecommunication network and offer a high quality of service with circuit-switched technology. These cellular networks and other mobile communication networks can be utilised also for coupling to the Internet network and for utilising multimedia services. However, the circuit-switched system has the disadvantage that the connection from a wireless telecommunication terminal to a wireless communication network is turned on during the whole connection, which takes up the capacity of the wireless communication network and limits the number of simultaneous connections.
Data transmission in packet form improves the degree of capacity utilisation of the communication channel in general, not only for retrieving information from the Internet. For example, packet data transmission can be used in applications, such as voice calls, video negotiations and other communications according to different standards. However, some of these applications are time-critical. For example in a real-time voice call, the service of best effort offered by the Internet protocol may cause significant delays in the transmission and transfer of the audio signal, which affects the understanding of the received audio signal so that e.g. speech is almost or totally unintelligible. Moreover, the delay (the time consumed from the transmission to the receipt of the packet) may vary during the transmission of the audio signal, depending on e.g. the load of the communication network and variations in transmission errors. The same applies also to the transmission of a video signal in real time. There may also be situations where the users of the Internet do not want as long delays as occur in many cases for obtaining information from the Internet.
In radio links, data is typically transmitted in a channel which is a certain frequency range. Within one system, several channels can be available simultaneously. Further, in full duplex data transmission, there are separate transmitting and receiving channels, whereby for example a base station transmits on the transmitting channel to the terminal device and the terminal device transmits on the receiving channel to the base station. A problem with radio links is that the radio channel is a limited resource which limits e.g. the band width and/or number of channels that can be reserved as well as the data transmission rate available for the radio link. The radio channel is liable to disturbances, such as distortion of the received signal caused by multi-channel propagation which is due to the fact that the same signal is received at the destination through different routes at different times. To reduce the effect of disturbances, part of the data transmission capacity must be used for transmitting error connection data with the packets, and achieving a desired error probability rate may require several packet retransmissions, which reduces the capacity of the radio link.
In radio links, where several data transmission flows are transmitted on one channel, packets of these different data transmission flows are multiplexed. The transmission order can be affected by arranging packets of different data transmission flows in an order of priority, whereby packets of a flow with higher priority are transmitted more often than packets of a flow with lower priority. These include packets of a real-time application which are preferably made as short as possible. On the other hand, packets of applications with lower priority are often considerably longer than packets with higher priority. Such a long packet prevents the transmission of other packets as long as the transmission of the packet takes, unless a method for determining the quality of service is available also in a wireless connection. This may cause considerable delays also in the transmission of packets with higher priority, and reduce the quality of service.
Problems are caused in wireless communication also by mobility of the wireless terminal device, wherein as the connection of the terminal device changes to another base station, also the Internet connection has to be connected via this base station. Thus, also the routing may have to be changed.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a method for connecting a radio flow and a flow according to the Internet protocol in a wireless Internet connection. The method of the invention is primarily characterised in what will be presented in the characterising portion of the appended claim 1. The system of the invention is primarily characterised in what will be presented in the characterising portion of the appended claim 8. Further, the access point of the invention is primarily characterised in what will be presented in the characterising portion of the appended claim 12. The invention is based on the idea that a label is added to the packets of the data link layer in order to define which packets of the IP flow and radio flow belong to the same data flow.
The present invention gives significant advantages to the methods and systems of prior art. By providing, in accordance with the invention, IP packets with a label, it is possible e.g. to implement the access point in a more simple manner, because implementation in the network layer level is thus not required at the access point, but a structure according to the data link layer and the physical layer added with the interlayer of the invention is sufficient therein. Thus, also the transmission of packets is accelerated, because time-consuming routing in the network layer can be avoided at the access point.
In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which
FIG. 1 shows the structure of the packet of the Internet protocol version IPv6,
FIG. 2 shows the coupling of a wireless Internet host to the Internet network in a reduced chart,
FIG. 3 shows the functional blocks of the identification of IP flow and the definition of quality of service standard in a principle chart,
FIG. 4a shows the propagation of and correlation between the IP flows and radio flows in the protocol layer in one system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in a principle chart,
FIG. 4b shows packets of different phases in one system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in a principle chart,
FIG. 5 shows an example of creating a radio flow label when detecting a data flow in a wireless communication network, and
FIG. 6 shows examples for placing the IP flow label in packets of different data transmission protocols.
In the following, the invention will be described by using the GSM cellular network as an example of a wireless communication network and a wireless communication device of the GSM system as the wireless Internet host, but the invention can also be applied in other wireless communication networks and wireless telecommunication terminals with the option for data transmission in packets. Such a wireless terminal MT can also consist of a computer, such as a portable computer, coupled with a wireless data transmission device, such as a radio modem.
FIG. 2 is a reduced chart showing the coupling of a wireless Internet host in the Internet network. The system consists of a wireless terminal MT, a radio access network 2 and a core network 3. The radio access network comprises the operations for accomplishing data transmission between the wireless terminal MT and the core network 3 as well as for controlling wireless resources, for setting up and down wireless data flows or radio flows, for moving the connection from one control station to another (handover), and possibly also for compressing packets e.g. according to the IPv6 standard. In this example, the functional elements of the radio access network include an access point 4, 4′ (AP) and a mobile IP router 5 (Access Point Controller, APC). A radio communication is set up between the access point 4 and the wireless terminal MT, for transmitting e.g. signals required for setting up the connection and information during the connection, such as data packets of an Internet application. The mobile IP router 5 controls over one or several access points 4, 4′ and connections set up through them to wireless terminals MT. The radio access network 2 may comprise several mobile IP routers 5, 5′, 5″. In the GSM cellular network, the access point 4, 4′ is a base station and the mobile IP router 5, 5′, 5″ a base station controller.
The core network consists of nodes connected by wires in the Internet, such as routers and wired Internet hosts.
The core network can be divided into so-called domains. These domains have a server computer or a corresponding router, by means of which the domain can communicate with other domains in the Internet. The Internet hosts in the domain, in turn, are coupled with the router of the domain. FIG. 2 shows a core network with two such domains 6, 6′ which are intended for serving wireless terminals MT. These domains 6, 6′ include mobile domain (MD) routers 7, 7′ which control the mobile IP routers 5, 5′, 5″ coupled with the domain 6, 6′. Mobility is achieved in Internet protocol version 6 by supplementing the protocol with a data transmission method whereby the domains can transmit information from a wireless Internet host that has changed its domain. This data transmission method is called in this specification a home agent. In this context, reference is made to the Internet protocol standard version IPv6, where operation of this home agent is described in more detail. The mobile domain router 7, 7′ contains the functional properties of the dynamic host configuration protocol version 6 DHCPv6 and the monitoring of the mobility of the wireless terminal MT between the mobile IP routers 5, 5′, 5″ coupled within the mobile domain 6, 6′. It should be mentioned that in some domains, there may be one or several conventional routers between the mobile domain router 7, 7″ and the mobile IP router 5, 5′, 5″, even though these possible routers are not shown in the appended FIG. 2. In the GSM cellular network, where the general packet radio service GPRS is used, the element corresponding to the mobile domain router 7, 7′ is the serving GPRS support node SGSN. The element corresponding to the home agent in said GSM cellular network is the gateway GPRS support node GGSN.
In this specification, data flow refers to the transmission of data packets belonging to the same communication/application. Respectively, wireless data flow refers to the wireless transmission of data packets belonging to the same communication/application, advantageously via the radio channel, whereby also the term radio flow is used. The packets may be e.g. packets complying with the Internet Protocol or GPRS packets of the GSM cellular network. The GPRS packet transmission system provides the possibility of 14 simultaneous connections in one terminal (wireless communication device) at the data transmission level. At present, the GPRS packet transmission offers the possibility of arranging the packets in four different levels of priority. The block reserved for this priority information in the packet can be modified into a block reserved for the radio flow label. In case there is a need to form at least as many radio flows as the number of simultaneous connections, the corresponding number of bits are reserved for the radio flow label. Thus, two additional bits will be needed in addition to the priority block.
IP flow is a data flow of network layer identified by one or more TCP/IP headers (block IP H in data packets of FIG. 4b). Detection of IP flow is conducted by monitoring the data communication of the Internet network and by using an IP flow filter IPVS. The IP flow filter is used for defining the criteria on the basis of which the IP flow (IP) of network layer is detected from the packets of the data flow in the packet network. The IP flow filter can include variable criteria, such as the IP source address, the IP destination address, the TCP source port, the TCP destination port, the protocol block, the type of service, the life time of the packet, etc. The mobile IP router 5 controls network communication and compares the information contained in the data flows with the criteria contained in the IP flow filter in order to detect IP flows. In the Internet protocol version 6, the block corresponding to the type of service is the service grade, and the packet life time block is corresponded to by the router hop limit block.
Correspondingly, a radio flow is a data flow transmitted in a wireless manner. Each radio flow is identified on the basis of the DLC address (data link control address DLC) of the wireless terminal device, the DLC address of access point, and the radio flow label. As the radio flow label, a shorter label is used than in the IP flow filter, because the transfer of a long label consumes the capacity of the radio access network. By using e.g. an eight-bit radio flow label, it is possible to use in one wireless terminal MT simultaneously 256 different flow labels for different Internet applications.
Each connection may be connected with one application, but the same application may involve also more than one connection. The data transmission flows of these different connections belonging to the same application can be identified by the address and port data of the source host and the destination host in the header of the packets.
In prior art systems, the routing of these data flows to a wireless network is conducted by examining the address data in the IP flow in the network layer and, on the basis of this address data, a decision is made as to which wireless terminal MT the packet is transferred. This requires an IP protocol stack and the implementation of the network layer in the access point 4, which complicates the structure of the access point and retards the routing. In the system of the invention, a flow label (IPTAG) is added to the IP flow and a switching table is formed for connecting the IP flow label and the respective radio flow label to each other. In a system according to one preferred embodiment of the invention, this is implemented in a manner that the mobile IP router 5 adds in the network layer this flow label IPTAG to a space reserved for this purpose in the header block of the IP packet coming from the Internet network and fulfilling the criteria of the IP flow filter. Subsequently, the mobile IP router 5 generates a packet according to a corresponding data link layer protocol, where this flow label IPTAG is added. This modified packet is transmitted to the access point 4 where it is received. In the access point 4, the IP flow label IPTAG in this packet according to the data link layer is examined, and a radio flow label corresponding to this IP flow label is retrieved from the switching table, which is stored advantageously in a data base in a memory means of the access point 4. Subsequent to this, a corresponding packet of data link layer is formed according to the corresponding radio flow protocol. This packet is transmitted in a wireless manner to a wireless terminal MT addressed according to the transmission principles of the wireless communication network used at a time. Here in the wireless terminal MT, a radio flow label RFID is examined of the received packet, and the corresponding IP flow filter IPVS is retrieved from the switching table of the radio flow and IP flow stored in the wireless terminal MT, wherein a corresponding IP packet of network layer can be formed.
A wireless communication system based on radio flows comprises a group of predetermined data flows for transmitting control messages and data. Formation of radio flows for transmission of TCP/IP flows comprises e.g. the following phases: identification of IP flows, determining the quality of service corresponding to the IP flow for wireless communication, and signalling for forming a wireless communication.
The mobile IP router 5 has a focal role in the identification of the IP flow and the determination of quality of service for wireless connection. The functional blocks required therein are flow policing, flow management, admission control, network management, quality of service manager (QoS manager), and wireless routing (mobile IP routing). The appended FIG. 3 shows these blocks in a principle chart.
The flow policing block 301 examines data flows e.g. for the detection of IP flows to be routed to a wireless terminal MT. Having detected such a flow, the flow management block 302 uses the information present in the received IP flow for detecting the parameters of quality of service for said IP flow and the radio flow to be formed. This can be implemented by searching in a quality of service data base (block 303, in FIG. 3) the data record (DB entry T1) that corresponds best to the information. The data records stored in the data base contain information from different data flows and the quality of service determinations of the IP flow corresponding to them, as well as the quality of service determinations of the corresponding radio flow in the wireless system to which the wireless terminal MT belongs. As known, various factors in radio flows compared with wireline IP flows affect at least partially the quality of service. After finding a data record matching best to the examined IP flow, the quality of service determinations of this data record are used for the radio flow that is formed. Subsequently, formation of a wireless connection is started. This formation block of wireless connection is designated in FIG. 3 by reference numeral 304. A description will be provided below in this specification relating to different phases in forming this connection for obtaining a desired quality level for wireless flow.
Provided that a wireless connection at desired quality of service level is achieved, the quality of service data base 303 (DB Entry T2) is thereafter updated by adding the data of the formed wireless connection and the IP flow corresponding thereto in the data base. The data contains e.g. the IP flow filter IPVS, the IP flow label IPTAG, the quality of service of IP flow (IP Flow QoS), the quality of service of radio flow (Radio Flow QoS), and the status of data flow. The data record further contains a radio flow label RFID corresponding to the IP flow label IPTAG, which is used when transferring packets between the IP flow and the radio flow, as will be described below in this specification.
Properties of the IP flows are determined on the basis of the level of quality of service of the IP service. This information related to the quality of service of the IP service can be determined e.g. by a network operator, wherein the network operator can set the parameters of the wireless network to correspond to the special requirements of the operator. On the other hand, the information on the quality of service of the IP flow can be defined also according to signalling related to the quality of service. For each level of quality of service of IP flow supported in a wireless network, a quality of service manager block 306 is provided in the mobile IP router 5. This quality of service manager block 306 conducts updating of the data base irrespective of the flow policing block 301 and the flow manager block 302. The main task of the quality of service manager block 306 is to form above-mentioned data records in the data base wherein said flow labels and quality of service determinations are set for each IP flow. In practical embodiments, various levels of quality of service can be used for different wireless networks.
When connecting different services in the same physical wireless data link channel in wireless data communication, several factors affecting the quality of service have to be taken into consideration: bandwidth, time delay, multipath propagation, and reliability. Efficiency of the wireless data link channel can be increased by grouping different connections in a suitable manner, e.g. according to the level of quality of service of radio flows required by each connection. In addition, radio flows provide a flexible level determination of quality of service. Different levels of quality of service can be attained by providing different groups with different maximum time delays and by connecting different error correction methods, e.g. by using different error correction codes (FEC, CRC) and using acknowledgement requests (ARQ).
FIG. 4a shows a principle chart on propagation of and correlation between IP flows and radio flows on protocol level, and FIG. 4b illustrates packets in different phases in the mobile IP router 5, the access point 4 and the wireless terminal MT. FIGS. 4a and 4 b show a wireless station as the Internet terminal, communicating in a wireless manner with the access point 4. This is illustrated by a data transmission block 401 of the wireless station and a wireless data transmission block 402 of the access point. The access point 4 is connected by a fixed data transmission network, e.g. Ethernet or ATM network, to the mobile IP router 5, for which purpose the access point 4 and the mobile IP router 5 are provided with permanent data transmission blocks 403, 404. A block 405 designated with broken lines illustrates a radio flow of data link layer L2 between the wireless terminal MT and the access point 4. The actual data transmission takes place via the physical layer L1 in a wireless manner, which is known as such. The IP flow, i.e. the flow of network layer L3, is illustrated in a block 406, indicated by broken lines. The protocol used in the data link layer L2 is typically different in a wireless connection than in a landline connection.
The radio flow 405 comprises a radio flow label (RFID) and definitions for the quality of service (Radio QoS). In a corresponding manner, the mobile IP router 5 has upon connection forming selected an IP flow label IPTAG for each IP flow 406. This flow label IPTAG is advantageously an isometric block in the header of the packet. This IP flow label is added advantageously to the beginning of the IP packet of network layer, wherein the rest of the packet remains unaltered. This packet supplemented with IP flow label is generated into a packet 407 of data link layer by framing it with header data 408 of the packet of data link layer. This packet 407 is received at the access point 4 and the IP flow label IPTAG is examined in order to detect the respective radio flow label RFID. These radio flow labels RFID and IP flow labels IPTAG fully correspond to each other, wherein an IP flow can be detected according to the respective radio flow label and vice versa. The access point 4 forms a packet 405 of radio flow, wherein the radio flow label RFID has been added. This packet is received in the wireless terminal MT and modified into a packet of IP flow according to the network layer. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4a, a protocol modification block (bridge) 407 is formed for conducting a protocol modification between the packets of the IP flow and the radio flow.
Since the IP-flow label is, in a way, formed between the network layer L3 and data link layer L2, this intermediate phase can be regarded as a sort of intermediate layer L2,5. Even if this functionality of the intermediate layer L2,5 has to be implemented both in the mobile IP router 5 and in the access point 4, its implementation is still considerably easier than the implementation of the network layer at the access point 4, which entails that by employing an arrangement of the invention the access point 4 can be implemented in a simpler manner than in prior art solutions and, additionally, faster packet transmission is attained between the Internet network and the wireless terminal. It is not necessary to implement the intermediate layer in the wireless terminal MT.
FIG. 6 further illustrates examples of where the IP flow label IPTAG can be advantageously added in different data link protocols. By selecting a suitable constant length for the IP flow label IPTAG, it is possible to apply the same mechanism both in Ethernet data transmission and in ATM data transmission.
The user of a wireless terminal MT can use the Internet network e.g. in a manner that an application program designed for this purpose, such as a browser, is initiated in the wireless terminal MT. The user of the wireless terminal selects in the application program the address of the desired Internet server or Internet terminal to be the destination address. This can be e.g. the address of Internet server of the service provider with whom the user of the wireless terminal has made a contract to use Internet services. As mentioned earlier in the present specification, this Internet address can be given as an octet numeral series, or addresses in text form can be used, wherein the domain name server in the server changes the address from text form to a numeral series according to the Internet protocol.
In the following, data transmission from another Internet terminal to a wireless terminal will be described. The Internet application of the mobile station MT, to which the information is finally transferred, transmits said address in order to define the Internet source host. The data transmission is performed e.g. according to the GPRS standard from the wireless terminal MT to the GSM cellular network. The GSM cellular network changes the packet message to a message complying with the Internet protocol and transmits it to the Internet network. The information formed in the application is transferred to the wireless terminal MT according to the Internet protocol via the Internet network by routing, which is known as such, to the GSM network where the information is changed according to the packet transfer mechanisms of the cellular network, in this case to packets of the GPRS network. The information is transferred further through the mobile IP router 5 to the access point 4 and further to the wireless terminal MT, where the received message is transferred to the application level to be handled by an application.
The following further description relates to one preferred method for constituting a radio flow in the data transmission between a wireless terminal MT and the access point 4, 4′. The application is an Internet application of the wireless terminal MT where information according to the Internet protocol is transmitted to the Internet network. The present specification gives no detailed description of the packet formation between the wireless terminal MT and the mobile communication network, which can vary in different mobile communication networks and is prior art known by person skilled in the art. FIG. 5 is a principal chart illustrating this formation of a radio flow for data transmission between the mobile station MT and the mobile IP router 5. All data transmission is based on packets and routed in accordance with the Internet protocol.
The mobile IP router 5 detects that the data flow which it has received from the Internet network is one that should be provided with a radio flow with a certain quality of service (block 501 in FIG. 5). The mobile IP router 5 examines whether a sufficient supply of resources is available in data transmission between the wireless terminal MT and the access point 4 for obtaining the desired quality of service level for said flow FID (block 502). If a sufficient supply of resources is available, the mobile IP router 5 starts signalling with the wireless terminal MT through the access point 4. The mobile IP router 5 sends a flow activating message QoS_FLOW-ACTIVATE to the wireless terminal MT (arrow 503), where the received message is processed in an Internet protocol interface MT-IP. In the flow activating message e.g. an IP flow filter IPVS is transmitted, on the basis of which the mobile station MT can recognise the IP flows from the received packets in the network layer. Further, the mobile IP router 5 sends a request message for forming a radio flow R_Flow_Open_req to the access point 4 (arrow 505), where the link connection interface AP-DLC of the access point conducts resource allocation for the radio flow (block 507). In this message, the IP flow filter IPVS is advantageously transmitted to the access point 4. In the wireless terminal MT, a request message for generating a radio flow R_Flow_Open-req (arrow 504) is formed in the Internet protocol interface MT-IP on the basis of the flow activating message QoS_FLOW_ACTIVE, said message being transmitted to link connection interface MT-DLC of the wireless terminal. The link connection interface MT-DLC selects a radio flow identification RFID for the radio flow to be formed, as well as the resources required by the flow to ensure the quality of service (block 506). Subsequently, the link connection interface MT-DLC transmits a radio flow activation message R_FLOW_ACTIVATE to the access point 4 (arrow 508). The radio flow activation message includes e.g. the IP flow filter IPVS and the corresponding radio flow identification RFID. The link connection interface AP-DLC of the access point selects the respective IP flow filter IPVS and, for connecting the radio flow label RFID, an IP flow label IPTAG, and stores the IP flow label IPTAG and the radio flow label RFID in a switching table (block 509). After this, the access point 4 transmits an acknowledgement message R_FLOW_ACTIVE_ACK to the link connection interface MT-DLC of the wireless terminal (arrow 510), which communicates this acknowledgement to the Internet protocol interface MT-DLC of the wireless terminal in a flow-open message R_Flow_Open_cnf (arrow 511). Correspondingly, the access point 4 sends to the mobile IP router 5 a flow-open message R_Flow_Open_cnf (arrow 512) including the IP flow label IPTAG, wherein the mobile IP router 5 can add the correct IP flow label IPTAG to the packets of the IP flow. At the end of the radio flow generating phase, the Internet protocol interface of the wireless terminal MT-DLC transmits an acknowledgement of flow activation message QoS_FLOW_ACTIVATE_ACK to the mobile IP router 5 (arrow 513). The activated flow is illustrated by block 514 in FIG. 5.
Also other data flows coming from the Internet network and addressed to the Internet application of the wireless terminal MT can enter the mobile IP router 5. Thus, the mobile IP router 5 detects that a flow label can be defined for these flows, wherein the mobile IP router 5 examines the service level desired for each flow and examines whether there is a sufficient supply of recources available for attaining and maintaining the desired service level. Here, the mobile IP router 5 also takes into account other radio flows active at the time and examines whether the desired service level can be provided to a flow without risking the service level of the active flows. In case the service level can be achieved, each flow to be generated will undergo the above described signalling, with which e.g. a radio flow label is determined for the radio flow.
In case the radio channel lacks a sufficient supply of resources for attaining the desired quality of service, it is possible to continue the radio flow on a lower quality of service, e.g. by a transmission according to the best effort, wherein the Internet terminal that has sent the flow can be informed thereof. If necessary, it is possible to inquire the user whether information is desired to be transferred in spite of the quality or service being lower than desired, or whether the data transmission is to be interrupted.
For defining the quality of service QoS, it is possible to utilise information in the header of the application received in the Internet message. At present, a standard is under development on how these qualities of service could be presented and what they could be. In any case, a message according to the Internet protocol contains, in the header, information about the type of the application, which can be e.g. an audio application, a video application, a data application, or a combination of these. These applications of different types have different requirements. For example, the real-time processing of audio and video applications usually requires that the packets must be transmitted to the destination within a certain response time or otherwise the packets must be rejected. However, in data transmission, for example in the transmission of program files, it is the correctness, not real-time processing, of data transmission that is important. In presently known methods and cellular networks, it is defined at the design state, what is the error probability rate in data transmission, on the basis of which it is possible to select the error correction algorithms and to set e.g. a maximum number of retransmissions. All packet information is transmitted according to the same criteria. If any packet is transmitted incorrectly, it is retransmitted. These retransmissions are conducted either as long as the packet is received correctly or, if a response time is defined for the packet, the packet is rejected if it cannot be received within the prescribed time or the maximum number of retransmissions is exceeded. Since in audio and video applications even a partly incorrectly received information would be sufficient, this retransmission constitutes an unnecessary load on the radio access network. On the other hand, the additional load reduces the radio resources available for other applications and thus interferes also with the quality of service obtained by other applications. For detecting and correcting errors, several methods have been developed which are prior art to an expert in the field, wherein it is rendered unnecessary to discuss them in more detail in this context. Further, it should be mentioned that increasing the error detection and error correction capacity by error detection and correction algorithms will increase the need of data transmission. These conflicting demands set a limit to the criterioin how efficient an algorithm is selected, to prevent an unnecessary delay in data transmission.
For various service levels various requirements can be defined. For example, a poorer error probability requirement can be defined for audio and video packets than for data packets. On the other hand, due to the real-time requirement, a higher priority can be defined for audio and video packets than for data packets. Thus, the data packets are sent at a slower pace if the radio access network is loaded. Further criteria describing the quality of service can include e.g. response time within which the packet has to be received or else it will be rejected. By joining these different criteria, several different quality of service levels are obtained. In definitions of quality of service level, also other criteria can be utilised than those described above.
These quality of service levels and the respective bits in the header that are examined are e.g. tabulated by the mobile IP router 5, wherein, by examining these bits of the header, the mobile IP router 5 fetches a corresponding quality of service level from the table. These quality of service levels comprise, stored in the mobile IP router 5, the data of special requirements for each quality of service level, of which e.g. error probability, priority and response time were mentioned above in this specification.
These definitions for quality of service are transmitted from the mobile IP router 5 to the access point 4, which according to this information e.g. defines the transmission order of the packets to be transmitted. Simultaneously, several Internet applications can be arranged to be transferred by one access point 4. For each of these different applications, preferably a separate queue is formed, in which packets are transferred for transmission. From these packets in different queues, the access point 4 selects the packet that is to be transmitted at a time.
The method of the invention can be used also in other packet data transmission protocols and information networks. Also, in addition to the routings known from the Internet network, the invention can be applied in coupling solutions developed for the Internet networks where the router is used for examining the route between data flows and coupling on the hardware level.
The invention is not limited solely to the embodiments presented above, but it can be modified within the scope of the appended claims.
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In Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 TS CALs and Windows Server 2008 RDS CALs will be treated as equal in all respects. So, if a customer has a Windows Server 2008 TS CAL, it will allow the same functionality (connection, experience etc.) as a Windows Server 2008 RDS CAL.
Because they are compatible, you can install Windows Server2008 TS CALs on Windows Server 2008 R2 license server and Windows Server 2008 RDS CALs on Windows Server 2008 license server. Please note that in order to install Windows Server 2008 CALs on your Windows Server 2008 license server, you need to request your Technical Account Manager (TAM) or Escalation Engineer (EE) for KB 968074 and install it on the license server.
You can also issue a Windows Server 2008 TS CAL to a client connecting through Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Server and issue a Windows Server 2008 RDS CAL to a client connecting through Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server.
[April, 2010: Article edited to clarifying naming.]
In truth, immediately i didn't understand the essence. But after re-reading all at once became clear.
I have a Windows 2008 server and need to have 10 concurrent remote desk top sessions. How do I purchase a TS-CAL for such?
Suppose I got this 10-user TS-CAL, do I install it on the 2008 Server and it will allow 10 concurrent RDT sessions from any 10 PCs?
Or do I install the TS-CAL on 10 specific PCs so only these 10 PCs can RDT to the server concurrently?
Hi Robin,
You need to install your CALs on the license server. by default, any user/client connecting to TS which has that license server specified in the 'Specified license server' list will get a CAL. If you want to restrict which TS should get a CAL, then you can add that TS in the 'Terminal Server Computers' group of the license server and set the 'License Server security group' Group Policy at location:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\RD Licensing
Hope that helps!
What is a license server? Is the Active Directory a license server?
May be I am missing something, but if I don't have 'Windows Server 2008 TS CALs', only have 5 Windows Server 2008 CALs and Windows Server 2008 Std, is it possible to use may CALs on my Windows Server 2008 Std to run TS Licensing server for 5 client and to connect 5 users to the TS?
No, you need to buy separate TS CALs.
I had two issues closely related, first was I performed an in-place upgrade to 2008 R2 on our RemoteApp server - this then prevented connections via Windows 7 Web Access quoting that "Another user of your computer is currently using this connection." which was insane, rebuilding to Server 2008 R2 solved the issue.
The second issue which I'm still having which occurred immediately after explicitly connecting a 2008 non-R2 TS license server to our 2008 R2 RemoteApp server (I say explicit as it didnt auto-detect the license server within our domain, I had to force it to use the server by name) is now we can log in to RD Web Access from Windows 7 (system tray reports a successful connection to our RD Gateway) and get the listed of published apps but upon starting an application we get "Your computer can't connection to the remote computer because an error occurred on the remote computer that you want to connect to. Contact your network administrator for assistance.".
Could this be related to the license server being 2008 non-R2? - I applied the KB968074 patch for non-R2 servers coping with R2 CALs, but the CALs I have were non-R2 to begin with.
Both issues have been with RDC 7.0.
Web Access works fine pre-Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 (i.e. pre-RDC 7.0).
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
In New Zealand, the Microsoft Schools Agreement is now only offering the RDS CALs. I have a Windows Server 2008 License Server and I want to buy CALs that can be issued to Windows Server 2008 Terminal Servers. Can these new RDS CALs be issued to Terminal Servers running the original release of Windows Server 2008?
Yes -they can. RDS CALs will work just the way the original TS CALs did. Refer Alex's latest blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/rds/archive/2009/09/04/what-s-the-difference-between-a-rds-cal-and-a-ts-cal.aspx to understand these two CALs and how they are same/different.
Aruna Somendra
In addition to what Aruna mentioned, for installing RDS CALs on Windows Server 2008 license server, you need to install the hotfix: 968074
Important point: None of the TS-CALs support CONCURRENT connections. A Device CAL allows a particular client device to connect to a Terminal Server regardless of how many different users may use that device. A User CAL allows a particular authenticated user to connect to a Terminal Server regardless of how many or what kind of client devices s/he may use. Neither of these scenarios have anything to do with concurrency.
Are Remote Desktop user CALs built-into Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate like they were with the business/professional versions of XP and Vista? Or do I need to purchase RDS CALs separately for Windows Server 2008 R2 if Windows 7 clients are to run Remote Desktop on it? If I want to run 20 concurrent remote desktop sessions from my new Windows 7 machines, will I need to purchase additional user CALs (not Remote Desktop CALs) as well? The licensing issues are mind numbing because I am also confused as to which license type I need. Volume or some other? Actual product numbers for the Remote Desktop CALs would be helpful.
Hi, i have 2 questions.
we(JTL) are trying to purchase qty(20)TERMINAL SERVER CALS for Windows 2008. the dealer sent use [APPLICATION VIRTUALIZATION 4.5 FOR TERMINAL SERVER] is this correct? and also do we need to purchase a server license for win2k8 then purchase the terminal service licenen.
really would appreciate an early response and also a telephone # if you are allow to take calls
thank you very much.
I am using a hosted web server 2008 from 1and1.com. Right now I can have 2 concurrent rdc's, max. If I want to buy a per user Cal, or pack of 5 Cals, will they be in addition to the default 2 I have?
If I have a company with 1000 users, all of which do have the ability to remotely access an application, but let's says only 500 do.
Do I need 1000 RDS CAL or only 500?


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Believe It or Not
News and trends from the religious realm with Kate Shellnutt
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Producers continue search for 'Christian Housewives' cast
The makers of "Real Housewives" are on the lookout for sassy Christian socialites for a new reality series, Huffington Post reported. The producers have focused their search on Calabases, California—a rich city in the L.A. area that's home to the Kardashians and other celebs. (The family is part of non-denominational congregation called LifeChange Community Church, […] [Read More]


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Labor Day is almost here and Democrats are still waiting for the cavalry to arrive. An exhaustive scan of the horizon reveals no rescuers and none of the things Democrats badly need to save them from tough midterm election losses on Nov. 2.
There are few signs of any meaningful recovery, and indeed there is more talk of a double-dip recession, plunging the country back into economic trouble between now and the end of the year. Unemployment seems stuck at 9.5 percent, reinforcing the view that last year would have been better spent focusing on the economy than on health care reform.
Democrats also needed a public re-evaluation of the new health care reform law. They needed the public to decide that it wasn't so bad, that it was a good idea after all. That hasn't happened, as pointed out by the Kaiser Family Foundation's health care monthly tracking poll released this week. Favorable attitudes toward the new law dropped from 50 percent last month to 43 percent this month, and unfavorable views climbed from 35 percent to 45 percent. Twenty-nine percent of Americans believe that they and their families will be better off under the new law, while 30 percent say they will be worse off and 36 percent say it will not make much difference.
An interpretation of what has happened that could be considered extremely charitable to Democrats is that while the nation's economy deteriorated rapidly, President Obama and the Democratic Congress checked the box on the economy with an unpopular stimulus bill and then became obsessed with passing a health care reform package. At best, Americans are ambivalent about that package, and quite a few believe it is horrifically flawed. Unemployment has been above 9 percent for 15 consecutive months, and that number is significantly higher among African Americans, Hispanics and young people, the groups that boosted Democratic fortunes in 2008.
Simply put, Democrats find themselves heading into a midterm election that looks as grisly as any the party has faced in decades. It isn't hard to find Democratic pollsters who privately concede that the numbers they are looking at now are worse than what they saw in 1994.
The race-by-race outlook confirms the dire forecasts. Cook Political Report House Editor David Wasserman points out that at this point, 32 Democratic incumbents are running even or behind their Republican challengers in one or more public or private polls. At this point in 2006, when Republicans lost control of Congress, only 11 GOP incumbents were running even or behind.
Privately, some Democratic pollsters say that they are routinely seeing districts where Democratic incumbents are running only even with relatively unknown GOP challengers. In other districts where the Republican challengers are reasonably well known, the incumbents are often running 5-10 points behind, a rather extraordinary development at this point.
In the Senate, while the odds still favor Democrats holding on to a narrow majority, it is not only mathematically possible for the GOP to capture a majority this year, but it has become plausible. The odds of Democrats capturing even one currently Republican-held seat appear to be getting longer. Meanwhile, Republicans are running ahead or roughly even in 11 Democratic-held seats, one more than necessary for control of the Senate to flip. It's still a tall order but not crazy to say that Republicans will win the Senate.
Congress does not come back to town for two more weeks, but it is a pretty safe assumption that the mood among Democrats will be surly and the fingers will begin pointing. A party has not lost a House majority in such a short period of time in over a half-century. This is not going to go down well.
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Port Vale: Lee Hughes move off as Vale miss league loan deadline
Posted: November 24, 2012|
MYSTERY surrounds the future of striker Lee Hughes, whose proposed loan deal with the Valiants was over before it had begun.
The Notts County star looked set to join Port Vale in a deadline-day move with a view to joining permanently in January.
But Vale missed Thursday's 5pm deadline for submitting the paperwork to the Football League, both for Hughes and another, unnamed player.
"These deals were put together very late in the day and we were working to an extremely tight schedule," said a Vale spokesman.
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"Unfortunately, due to a number of circumstances, the club missed the deadline by three minutes."
Vale are not saying whether boss Micky Adams will move for the players again during the January transfer window.
But although County snapped up former Stoke striker Chris Iwelumo on loan from Watford as an apparent replacement for Hughes, their chief executive Jim Rodwell said he was happy to keep the veteran front man.
"A deal for Lee to go to Port Vale was discussed," he said, "but the paperwork did not go through in time. We're delighted he remains a Notts County player."
Centre-half Liam Chilvers, whose loan from Telford, also with a view to a permanent move, was completed in time on Thursday, is in the squad for today's clash at Aldershot.
VALE will be backed by a large following in next week's FA Cup clash at Sheffield United.
Having sold the last of their initial allocation of 2,000 tickets for the second-round tie yesterday, the club have taken up an option for 1,000 more.
They will be on sale at the ticket office from noon until 1.30pm today and from 9.30am until 1.30pm tomorrow, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for under-21s and over-60s.


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Welcome to the City of Anaheim Council Agenda System
The City Clerk's Office publishes a Council Agenda package consisting of the Agenda, staff reports, and associated attachments as a service to the community. The Council Agenda package for the regular City Council meetings is posted on Fridays prior to the meetings by 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time). If this is your first time visiting this application, we recommend that you visit our Viewing Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
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5) Who do I contact if I have problems, questions, or suggestions?


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Happy Solstice/Yule!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Keywords: none
I was asked recently, "If you don't celebrate Christmas or any other religious holiday, then what do you celebrate?" In my particular case, the better question would've been, "What, if anything, do you celebrate?" since I don't really celebrate anything, not even New Year's or my own birthday. Nevertheless, it was a good question. What winter holiday should agnostics celebrate?
The answer is simple: the winter solstice, which is today, the 22nd of December, 2007.
First, the solstice is a purely astronomical event. While some people may attach religious or cultural meaning and value to this event, it is nevertheless a natural event and is thus recognized across cultural and religious boundaries. It is no wonder that there are so many solstice celebrations all around the world, from the Chinese to the Native Americans to the pre-Christian Scandinavians to the Romans. Except for those at the equator or at the polar extremes, the solstice is also easy to recognize and witness, as the length of day is readily measured, quantified, and observed by anyone.
Second, the solstice is also the closest and best alternative to the dominant winter celebration in the world today, Christmas. In the old Julian calendar, the solstice fell on the 25th of December, and the Romans marked it with celebrations. Early Christians did not like the pagan celebrations, so they Christianized the event by superimposing upon it the story of the Nativity of Christ. It is therefore no coincidence that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th, the date of the solstice in the Julian calendar (in fact, the actual true date of the Nativity is unknown). Similarly, when Northern Europe was Christianized, Christmas simply became a Christianized version of their own solstice celebrations, which is why Christmas is known in Scandinavian countries as Jul (the name of their ancient solstice festival) and why Yule is often used to refer to Christmas in the English language. That Christmas originated as a Christianized adaptation of a pagan/secular event was the reason why some Christian fundamentalists, such as the Puritans of early America, refused to celebrate Christmas (a fact that those who try to politicize Christmas with their so-called "War on Christmas" controversies conveniently neglect). Therefore, not only is solstice close to Christmas in terms of date (it generally falls on the 21st or 22nd), it is also closely related in origin. In fact, one might say that the true winter holiday is really the winter solstice since Christmas is just a Christianized solstice celebrated on the old Julian date.
And so this holiday season, I say to you, Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, and 冬至节好*!
* This is the traditional solstice festival that many Chinese celebrate and that is marked on most Chinese calendars, so I guess if I had to associate myself with a particular brand of solstice celebration, this would be the closest one for me, as this is one that my family used to celebrate back in China.
This entry was edited on 2007/12/22 at 22:12:15 GMT -0500.


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