Network Working Group Greg Vaudreuil
Internet Draft Octel Communications
Expires in six months Glenn Parsons
Obsoletes: RFC 1911 Nortel Technology
January 22, 1997
VPIM Voice Message
MIME Sub-type Registration
<draft-ema-vpim-vmsg-00.txt>
Status of this Memo
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Overview
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
multipart/voice-message for use with the Voice Profile for Internet
Mail (VPIM). A full description of usage can be found in the VPIM
v2 specification.
Internet Draft multipart/voice-message January 22, 1997
1. Abstract
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
multipart/voice-message for use with the Voice Profile for Internet
Mail (VPIM). A full description of usage can be found in the VPIM
v2 specification [VPIM2]. This document refines an earlier sub-type
registration in RFC 1911 [VPIM1].
2. VPIM Scope
The VPIM specification defines a restricted profile of the Internet
multimedia messaging protocols for use between voice processing
platforms. These platforms have historically been special-purpose
computers and often do not have the same facilities normally
associated with a traditional Internet Email-capable computer. As a
result, VPIM also specifies additional functionality as it is
needed. The profile is intended to specify the minimum common set
of features to allow interworking between compliant systems.
3. Voice Message Interchange
3.1 Multipart/voice-message
The MIME sub-type multipart/voice-message is defined to hold media
contents specific that is interchanged in messages between voice
messaging systems described in [VPIM2]. Essentially, the sub-type
provides a simple wrapper that easily identifies the entire content
as being the components of a single voice message. The sub-type is
identical in semantics and syntax to multipart/mixed, as defined in
[MIME2]. As such, it may be safely interpreted as a multipart/mixed
by systems that do not understand the sub-type (only the
identification as a voice message would be lost).
This mechanism allows the insertion of an explanatory preamble (e.g.
VPIM voice message attached) for recipients who read the message
with pre-MIME software, since the preamble will be ignored by MIME-
compliant software.
In addition to the MIME required boundary parameter, a version
parameter is also required for this sub-type. This is to
distinguish, this refinement of the sub-type from the previous
definition in [VPIM1]. The value of the version number if the
content conforms to the requirements of to the requirements of
[VPIM2] is 2. Should there be further revisions of this content
type, there MUST be backwards compatibility (i.e. systems
implementing version n can read version 2, and systems implementing
version 2 can read version 2 contents within a version n. The
default value is 1, that is conformance to the requirements of
[VPIM1].
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Internet Draft multipart/voice-message January 22, 1997
[VPIM2] describes the restriction that only specific media types,
applicable to voice messaging, are valid `next-level' contents of
this sub-type (when version=2). They are: audio/*, image/*,
message/rfc822 and application/directory. The multipart provides
for the packaging of as many of these contents as is necessary.
3.2 VPIM v2 Usage
The multipart/voice-message sub-type is a primary component of the
VPIM specification [VPIM2]. All VPIM Messages MUST contain this
sub-type to identify the wrapping of a voice message. The contents
of this wrapper can vary from only one audio/32KADPCM content to a
complex set of related and nested contents.
Typically, if more than one audio segment is present, the first is
the spoken name of the originator, the second is the spoken subject,
and the third is the voice message itself. This order, however,
MUST NOT be assumed in any case. Further, the order that the
contents appear SHOULD be the order in which they are presented to
the user.
The spoken name segment, if available, shall contain the name of the
message sender in the voice of the sender. The length of the spoken
name segment must not exceed 12 seconds.
The spoken subject segment, if available, shall contain the subject
of the message sender in the voice of the sender. The length of the
spoken subject segment must not exceed 20 seconds.
The directory information part, if present, will contain information
specific to the originator of the voice message.
Refer to the VPIM v2 Specification for proper usage.
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Internet Draft multipart/voice-message January 22, 1997
4. IANA Registration
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of MIME media type multipart/voice-
message
MIME media type name: multipart
MIME subtype name: voice-message
Required parameters: boundary, version
The use of boundary is defined in [MIME2]
The version parameter that contains the value "2.0" if
enclosed content conforms to [VPIM2]. The absence of this
parameter indicates conformance to the previous version
defined in RFC 1911 [VPIM1].
Optional parameters: none
Encoding considerations: 7bit, 8bit or Binary
Security considerations:
This defintion introduces the enforcement of explicitly
identifying the content as being a voice message. In some
environments (though likely not the majority), the loss of
the anonymity of the content may be a security issue.
Interoperability considerations:
Systems developped to conform with [VPIM1] may not conform
to this registration. Specifically, the required version
will likely be absent, in this case the recipient system
should still be able to accept the message and will be able
to handle the content. The VPIM v1 positional
identification, however, would likely be lost.
Published specification: [VPIM2]
Applications which use this media type:
primarily voice messaging
Additional information:
Magic number(s): None
File extension(s): .VIM
Macintosh File Type Code(s): VPIM
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Internet Draft multipart/voice-message January 22, 1997
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Glenn W. Parsons
Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
Gregory M. Vaudreuil
Greg.Vaudreuil@Octel.Com
Intended usage: COMMON
Author/Change controller:
Glenn W. Parsons & Gregory M. Vaudreuil
5. Authors' Addresses
Glenn W. Parsons
Nortel Technology
P.O. Box 3511, Station C
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7
Canada
Phone: +1-613-763-7582
Fax: +1-613-763-8385
Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
Gregory M. Vaudreuil
Octel Communications
17080 Dallas Parkway
Dallas, TX 75248-1905
United States
Phone/Fax: +1-972-733-2722
Greg.Vaudreuil@Octel.Com
6. References
[MIME2] N. Freed and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types ", RFC 2046, Innosoft,
First Virtual, Nov 1996.
[MIME4] N. Freed and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", RFC
2048, Innosoft, First Virtual, Nov 1996.
[VPIM1] Vaudreuil, Greg, "Voice Profile for Internet Mail", RFC
1911, Feb 1996.
[VPIM2] Greg Vaudreuil and Glenn Parsons, "Voice Profile for
Internet Mail - version 2", Work in Progress, Jan 1997.
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