INTERNET-DRAFT                               Joerg Ott/Uni Bremen TZI
draft-ietf-avt-rtcp-feedback-04.txt          Stephan Wenger/TU Berlin
                                                    Noriyuki Sato/Oki
                                        Carsten Burmeister/Matsushita
                                                  Jose Rey/Matsushita

                                                      31 October 2002
                                                   Expires April 2003


        Extended RTP Profile for RTCP-based Feedback (RTP/AVPF)


Status of this Memo

This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026.  Internet-Drafts are working
documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas,
and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
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   Abstract

   Real-time media streams that use RTP are not resilient against
   packet losses.  Receivers may use the base mechanisms of RTCP to
   report packet reception statistics and thus allow a sender to adapt
   its transmission behavior in the mid-term as sole means for
   feedback and feedback-based error repair (besides a few codec-
   specific mechanisms).  This document defines an extension to the
   Audio-visual Profile (AVP) that enables receivers to provide,
   statistically, more immediate feedback to the senders and thus
   allow for short-term adaptation and efficient feedback-based repair
   mechanisms to be implemented.  This early feedback profile (AVPF)
   maintains the AVP bandwidth constraints for RTCP and preserves
   scalability to large groups.




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1. Introduction

Real-time media streams that use RTP are not resilient against packet
losses.  RTP [1] provides all the necessary mechanisms to restore
ordering and timing present at the sender to properly reproduce a
media stream at a recipient.  RTP also provides continuous feedback
about the overall reception quality from all receivers -- thereby
allowing the sender(s) in the mid-term (in the order of several
seconds to minutes) to adapt their coding scheme and transmission
behavior to the observed network QoS.  However, except for a few
payload specific mechanisms [10], RTP makes no provision for timely
feedback that would allow a sender to repair the media stream
immediately: through retransmissions, retro-active FEC control, or
media-specific mechanisms for some video codecs, such as reference
picture selection.

   Current mechanisms available with RTP to improve error resilience
   include audio redundancy coding [7], video redundancy coding [11],
   RTP-level FEC [5], and general considerations on more robust media
   streams transmission [6].  These mechanisms may be applied pro-
   actively (thereby increasing the bandwidth of a given media
   stream).  Alternatively, in sufficiently small groups with small
   RTTs, the senders may perform repair on-demand, using the above
   mechanisms and/or media-encoding-specific approaches.  Note that
   "small group" and "sufficiently small RTT" are both highly
   application dependent.

   This document specifies a modified RTP Profile for audio and video
   conferences with minimal control based upon [1] and [2] by means of
   two modifications/additions: to achieve timely feedback, the
   concepts of Immediate Feedback messages and Early RTCP messages as
   well as algorithms allowing for low delay feedback in small
   multicast groups (and preventing feedback implosion in large ones)
   are introduced.  Special consideration is given to point-to-point
   scenarios.  A small number of general-purpose feedback messages as
   well as a format for codec and application-specific feedback
   information are defined as specific RTCP payloads.


   1.1 Definitions

   The definitions from [1] and [2] apply.  In addition, the following
   definitions are used in this document:

   Early RTCP mode:
           The mode of operation in which a receiver of a media stream
           is, statistically, often (but not always) capable of
           reporting events of interest back to the sender close to
           their occurrence.  In Early RTCP mode, RTCP feedback


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           messages are transmitted according to the timing rules
           defined in this document.

   Early RTCP packet:
           An Early RTCP packet is a packet which is transmitted
           earlier than would be allowed if following the scheduling
           algorithm of [1], the reason being an "event" observed by a
           receiver.  Early RTCP packets may be sent in Immediate
           feedback and in Early RTCP mode.

   Event:
           An observation made by the receiver of a media stream that
           is (potentially) of interest to the sender -- such as a
           packet loss or packet reception, frame loss, etc. -- and
           thus useful to be reported back to the sender by means of a
           Feedback message.

   Feedback (FB) message:
           An RTCP message as defined in this document is used to
           convey information about events observed at a receiver --
           in addition to long term receiver status information which
           is carried in RTCP RRs -- back to the sender of the media
           stream.

   Feedback (FB) threshold:
           The FB threshold indicates the transition between Immediate
           Feedback and Early RTCP mode.  For a multicast scenario,
           the FB threshold indicates the maximum group size at which,
           on average, each receiver is able to report each event back
           to the sender(s) immediately, i.e. by means of an Early
           RTCP packet without having to wait for its regularly
           scheduled RTCP interval.  This threshold is highly
           dependent on the type of feedback to be provided, network
           QoS (e.g. packet loss probability and distribution), codec
           and packetization scheme in use, the session bandwidth, and
           application requirements.  Note that the algorithms do not
           depend on all senders and receivers agreeing on the same
           value for this threshold.  It is merely intended to provide
           conceptual guidance to application designers and is not
           used in any calculations.

   Immediate Feedback mode:
           A mode of operation in which each receiver of a media
           stream is, statistically, capable of reporting each event
           of interest immediately back to the media stream sender.
           In Immediate Feedback mode, RTCP feedback messages are
           transmitted according to the timing rules defined in this
           document.

   Regular RTCP mode:

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           Mode of operation in which no preferred transmission of
           feedback messages is allowed.  Instead, RTCP messages are
           sent following the rules of [1].  Nevertheless, such RTCP
           messages may contain feedback information as defined in
           this document.

   Regularly Scheduled RTCP packet:
           An RTCP packet that is not sent as an Early RTCP packet.



   1.2 Terminology

    The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
    NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL"
    in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119
    [8]


2. RTP and RTCP Packet Formats and Protocol Behavior

   The rules defined in [2] also apply to this profile except for
   those rules mentioned in the following:

   RTCP packet types:
           Two additional RTCP packet types to convey feedback
           information are defined in section 6.

   RTCP report intervals:
           This memo describes three modes of operation which
           influence the RTCP report intervals (see section 3.2).  In
           regular RTCP mode, all rules from [1] apply.  In both
           Immediate Feedback and Early RTCP modes the minimal
           interval of five seconds between two RTCP reports is
           dropped and the rules specified in section 3 apply if RTCP
           packets containing feedback messages (defined in section 4)
           are to be transmitted.

           The rules set forth in [1] may be overridden by session
           descriptions specifying different parameters (e.g. for the
           bandwidth share assigned to RTCP for senders and receivers,
           respectively).  For sessions defined using the Session
           Description Protocol (SDP) [3], the rules of [4] apply.

   Congestion control:
           The same basic rules as detailed in [2] apply.  Beyond
           this, in section 5, further consideration is given to the
           impact of feedback and a sender's reaction to feedback
           messages.


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3. Rules for RTCP Feedback

   3.1 Compound RTCP Feedback Packets

   Two components constitute RTCP-based feedback as described in this
   memo:

   o Status reports are contained in SR/RR messages and are
      transmitted at regular intervals as part of compound RTCP
      packets (which also include SDES and possibly other messages);
      these status reports provide an overall indication for the
      recent reception quality of a media stream.

   o Feedback messages as defined in this document that indicate loss
      or reception of particular pieces of a media stream (or provide
      some other form of rather immediate feedback on the data
      received).  Rules for the transmission of feedback messages are
      newly introduced in this memo.

   RTCP Feedback (FB) messages are just another RTCP packet type (see
   section 4).  Therefore, multiple FB messages MAY be combined in a
   single compound RTCP packet and they MAY also be sent combined with
   other RTCP packets.

   RTCP packets containing Feedback packets as defined in this
   document MUST contain RTCP packets in the order as defined in [1]:

   o OPTIONAL encryption prefix that MUST be present if the RTCP
      message is to be encrypted.
   o MANDATORY SR or RR.
   o MANDATORY SDES which MUST contain the CNAME item; all other SDES
      items are OPTIONAL.
   o One or more FB messages.

   The FB message(s) MUST be placed in the compound packet after RR
   and SDES RTCP packets defined in [1].  The ordering with respect to
   other RTCP extensions is not defined.

   Two types of compound RTCP packets carrying feedback packets are
   used in this document:

   a)  Minimal compound RTCP feedback packet

       A minimal compound RTCP feedback packet MUST contain only the
       mandatory information as listed above: encryption prefix if
       necessary, exactly one RR or SR, exactly one SDES with only the
       CNAME item present, and the feedback message(s).  This is to
       minimize the size of the RTCP packet transmitted to convey
       feedback and thus to maximize the frequency at which feedback

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       can be provided while still adhering to the RTCP bandwidth
       limitations.

       This packet format SHOULD be used whenever an RTCP feedback
       message is sent as part of an Early RTCP packet.

   b)  (Full) compound RTCP feedback packet

       A (full) compound RTCP feedback packet MAY contain any
       additional number of RTCP packets (additional RRs, further SDES
       items, etc.).  The above ordering rules MUST be adhered to.

       This packet format MUST be used whenever an RTCP feedback
       message is sent as part of a regularly scheduled RTCP packet or
       in Regular RTCP mode.  It MAY also be used to send RTCP
       feedback messages in Immediate Feedback or Early RTCP mode.

   RTCP packets that do not contain FB messages are referred to as
   non-FB RTCP packets.  Such packets MUST follow the format rules in
   [1].


   3.2 Algorithm Outline

   FB messages are part of the RTCP control streams and are thus
   subject to the same bandwidth constraints as other RTCP traffic.
   This means in particular that it may not be possible to report an
   event observed at a receiver immediately back to the sender.
   However, the value of feedback given to a sender typically
   decreases over time -- in terms of the media quality as perceived
   by the user at the receiving end and/or the cost required to
   achieve media stream repair.

   RTP [1] and the commonly used RTP profile [2] specify rules when
   compound RTCP packets should be sent.  This document modifies those
   rules in order to allow applications to timely report events (e.g.
   loss or reception of media packets) to accommodate algorithms that
   use FB messages and are sensitive to the feedback timing.

   The modified RTCP transmission algorithm can be outlined as
   follows: Normally, when no FB messages have to be conveyed,
   compound RTCP packets are sent following the rules of RTP [1] --
   except that the five second minimum interval between RTCP reports
   is not enforced and the interval between RTCP reports is only
   derived from the average RTCP packet size and the RTCP bandwidth
   share available to the RTP/RTCP entity; in addition, a minimum
   interval between regular RTCP packets may be enforced.  If a
   receiver detects the need to send an FB message, the receiver waits
   for a short, random dithering interval (in case of multicast) and
   then checks whether it has already seen a corresponding FB message

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   from any other receiver (which it can do with all FB messages that
   are transmitted via multicast; for unicast sessions, there is no
   such delay).  If this is the case then the receiver refrains from
   sending the FB message and continues to follow the regular RTCP
   transmission schedule.  If the receiver has not yet seen a similar
   FB message from any other receiver, it checks whether it has
   recently sent another FB message (without waiting for its regularly
   scheduled RTCP transmission time).  Only if this is not the case,
   it sends the FB message as part of a (minimal) compound RTCP
   packet.

   FB messages may also be sent as part of full compound RTCP packets
   which are interspersed as per [1] (except for the five second lower
   bound) in regular intervals.


   3.3 Modes of Operation

   RTCP-based feedback may operate in one of three modes (figure 1) as
   described below.  The mode is a hint whether or not a receiver
   should send early feedback at all and, if so, whether,
   statistically, all events observed at the receiver can be reported
   back to the sender in a timely fashion.  The current mode of
   operation is continuously derived independently at each receiver
   and the receivers do not have to agree on a common mode.

   a) Immediate feedback mode: the group size is below the FB
       threshold which gives each receiving party sufficient bandwidth
       to transmit the RTCP feedback packets for the intended purpose.
       This means that, for each receiver, there is enough bandwidth
       to report each event it is supposed/expected to by means of a
       virtually "immediate" RTCP feedback packet.

       The group size threshold is a function of a number of
       parameters including (but not necessarily limited to) the type
       of feedback used (e.g. ACK vs. NACK), bandwidth, packet rate,
       packet loss probability and distribution, media type, codec,
       and -- again depending on the type of FB used -- the (worst
       case or observed) frequency of events to report (e.g. frame
       received, packet lost).

       A special case of this is the ACK mode (where positive
       acknowledgements are used to confirm reception of data) which
       is restricted to point-to-point communications.

       As a rough estimate, let N be the average number of events to
       be reported per interval T by a receiver, B the RTCP bandwidth
       fraction for this particular receiver and R the average RTCP
       packet size, then the receiver operates in Immediate Feedback
       mode as long as N<=B*T/R.

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   b) Early RTCP mode: In this mode, the group size and other
       parameters no longer allow each receiver to react to each event
       that would be worth (or needed) to report.  But feedback can
       still be given sufficiently often so that it allows the sender
       to adapt the media stream transmission accordingly and thereby
       increase the overall reproduced media quality.

       Using the above notation, Early RTCP mode can be roughly
       characterized by N > B*T/R as "lower bound".  An estimate for
       an upper bound is more difficult.  Setting N=1, we obtain for a
       given R and B the interval T = R/B as average interval between
       events to be reported.  This information can be used as a hint
       to determine whether or not early transmission of RTCP packets
       is useful.

   c) From some group size upwards, it is no longer useful to provide
       feedback from individual receivers at all -- because of the
       time scale in which the feedback could be provided and/or
       because in large groups the sender(s) have no chance to react
       to individual feedback anymore.

       No group size threshold can be specified at which this mode
       starts.

   As the feedback algorithm described in this memo scales smoothly,
   there is no need for an agreement among the participants on the
   precise values of the respective "thresholds" within the group.
   Hence the borders between all these modes are allowed to be soft.


     ACK
   feedback
     V
     :<- - - -  NACK feedback - - - ->//
     :
     :   Immediate   ||
     : Feedback mode ||Early RTCP mode   Regular RTCP mode
     :<=============>||<=============>//<=================>
     :               ||
    -+---------------||---------------//------------------> group size
     2               ||
      Application-specific FB Threshold
         = f(data rate, packet loss, codec, ...)

   Figure 1: Modes of operation


   As stated before, the respective thresholds depend on a number of
   technical parameters (of the codec, the transport, the type of

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   feedback used, etc.) but also on the respective application
   scenarios.  Section 3.6 provides some useful hints (but no precise
   calculations) on estimating these thresholds.


   3.4 Definitions

   The following pieces of state information need to be maintained per
   receiver (largely taken from [1]).  Note that all variables (except
   for g) are calculated independently at each receiver and so their
   local values may differ at any given point in time.

   a) Let "senders" be the number of active senders in the RTP
      session.

   b) Let "members" be the current estimate of the number of receivers
      in the RTP session.

   c) Let tn and tp be the time for the next (last) scheduled
      RTCP RR transmission calculated prior to reconsideration.

   d) Let Tmin be the minimal interval between RTCP packets as per
      [1].  Unlike [1], the initial Tmin is set to 1 second (to allow
      for some group size sampling before sending the first RTCP
      packet), then it is set to 0.

   e) Let T_rr be the interval after which, having just sent a
      regularly scheduled RTCP packet, a receiver would schedule the
      transmission of its next regular RTCP packet following the rules
      of [1]: T_rr = T (the "calculated interval") with tn = tp + T.
      Note that Tmin as defined in this specification is used to
      compute the "calculated interval T".  T_rr refers to the last
      value of T that has been computed (because of reconsideration or
      to determine tn).

   f) Let t0 be the time at which an event that is to be reported is
      detected by a receiver.

   g) Let T_dither_max be the maximum interval for which an RTCP
      feedback packet MAY be additionally delayed (to prevent
      implosions).  For point-to-point sessions, T_dither_max is set
      to 0 and hence no additional delay is introduced.

   h) Let T_max_fb_delay be the upper bound within which feedback to
      an event needs to be reported back to the sender to be useful at
      all.  Note that this value is application-specific.

   i) Let te be the time for which a feedback packet is scheduled.



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   j) Let T_fd be the actual (randomized) delay for the transmission
      of feedback message in response to an event at time t0.

   k) Let allow_early be a Boolean variable that indicates whether the
      receiver currently may transmit feedback messages prior to its
      next regularly scheduled RTCP interval tn.  This variable is
      used to throttle the feedback sent by a single receiver.
      allow_early is adjusted (set to FALSE) after early feedback
      transmission and is reset to TRUE as soon as the next regular
      RTCP transmission has occurred.

   l) Let avg_rtcp_size be the moving average on the RTCP packet size
      as defined in [1].

   m) Let T_rr_interval be an (optional) minimal interval to be used
      between regular RTCP packets.  If T_rr_interval != 0 then
      regular RTCP packets will not be scheduled T_rr after the last
      regular RTCP transmission (at tp+T_rr) but only at least
      T_rr_interval after the last regular RTCP transmission (later
      than or at tp+T_rr).  T_rr_interval does not affect the
      calculation of T_rr and tp but may lead to regular RTCP packets
      being suppressed.  T_rr_interval does not affect transmission
      scheduling for Early RTCP packets.

   n) Let t_rr_last be the point in time at which the last RTCP packet
      has been scheduled and sent (i.e. has not been suppressed due to
      T_rr_interval).

      NOTE: Providing T_rr_interval as an independent variable is
      meant to minimize regular feedback (and thus bandwidth
      consumption) as needed by the application but still allow for
      more frequent use of Early RTCP packets to provide timely
      feedback.  This goal could not be achieved by reducing the
      overall RTCP bandwidth as RTCP bandwidth reduction would also
      impact the Early feedback.

   o) Let T_retention be the time window for which past RTCP feedback
      messages are stored by an AVPF entity.  This is  to ensure that
      feedback suppression also works for entities that have received
      feedback messages from other entities prior to noticing the
      feedback event itself.  T_retention MUST be set to at least 2
      seconds.

   The feedback situation for an event to report at a receiver is
   depicted in figure 2 below.  At time t0, such an event (e.g. a
   packet loss) is detected at the receiver.  The receiver decides --
   based upon current bandwidth, group size, and other (application-
   specific) parameters -- that a feedback message needs to be sent
   back to the sender.


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   To avoid an implosion of immediate feedback packets in multicast
   sessions, the receiver MUST delay the transmission of the RTCP
   feedback packet by a random amount T_fd (with the random number
   evenly distributed in the interval [0, T_dither_max]).
   Transmission of the compound RTCP packet MUST then be scheduled for
   te = t0 + T_fd.

   The T_dither_max parameter is derived from the regular RTCP
   interval (which, in turn, is based upon the group size).

   For a certain application scenario, a receiver may determine an
   upper bound for the acceptable local delay of feedback messages:
   T_max_fb_delay.  If an a priori estimation or the actual
   calculation of T_dither_max indicates that this upper bound MAY be
   violated (e.g. because T_dither_max > T_max_fb_delay), the receiver
   MAY decide not to send any feedback at all because the achievable
   gain is considered insufficient.

   If an RTCP feedback packet is scheduled, the time slot for the next
   scheduled (full) compound RTCP packet MUST be updated accordingly
   to a new tn (which will then be in the order of tn=tp+2*T_rr).
   This is to ensure that the short term average bandwidth used for
   RTCP with feedback does not exceed the bandwidth limit that would
   be used without feedback.

             event to
             report
             detected
                |
                |  RTCP feedback range
                |   (T_max_fb_delay)
                vXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX     ) )
   |---+--------+-------------+-----+------------| |--------+--->
       |        |             |     |            ( (        |
       |       t0            te                             |
       tp                                                   tn
                 \_______  ________/
                         \/
                   T_dither_max

   Figure 2: Event report and parameters for Early RTCP scheduling


   3.5 Early RTCP Algorithm

   Assume an active sender S0 (out of S senders) and a number N of
   receivers with R being one of these receivers.




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   Assume further that R has verified that using feedback mechanisms
   is reasonable at the current constellation (which is highly
   application specific and hence not specified in this memo).

   Assume that T_rr_interval is 0, if no minimal interval between
   regular RTCP packets is to be enforced, or T_rr_interval is set to
   some meaningful value, as given by the application.  This value
   then denotes the minimal interval between regular RTCP packets.

   Then, receiver R MUST use the following rules for transmitting one
   or more Feedback messages as minimal or full compound RTCP packet:


   3.5.1 Initialization

   Initially, R MUST set allow_early = TRUE and t_rr_last = NaN.

   Furthermore, the initialization of the RTCP variables as per [1]
   applies except that the initial value for Tmin.  For a unicast
   session, the initial Tmin is set to 0.  For a multicast session,
   Tmin is initialized to 1.0 seconds.

   3.5.2 Early Feedback Transmission

   Assume that R has scheduled the last RTCP RR packet for
   transmission at tp and has scheduled the next transmission
   (including possible reconsideration) for tn = tp + T_rr.  Assume
   also that the last T_rr_interval-based transmission (if any) has
   occurred at t_rr_last (if defined).

   1. At time t0, R detects the need to transmit one or more RTCP
   feedback messages (e.g. because media "units" needs to be ACKed or
   NACKed) and finds that sending the feedback information is useful
   for the sender.

   2. R first checks whether there is already a compound RTCP packet
   containing an RTCP feedback message scheduled for transmission (as
   early or regular RTCP packet).

        2.a) If so, the new feedback message MUST be included in the
        scheduled packet; the scheduling of the waiting RTCP feedback
        packet MUST remain unchanged.  When doing so, the feedback
        information of several RTCP feedback packets SHOULD be merged
        to produce as few feedback messages as possible.  This
        completes the course of immediate actions to be taken.

        2.b) If no RTCP feedback message is already scheduled for
        transmission, a new (minimal or full) compound RTCP feedback
        packet MUST be created and the minimal interval for
        T_dither_max MUST be chosen as follows:

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        i)   If the session is a unicast session (group size = 2) then
             T_dither_max = 0.

        ii)  If the session is a multicast session with potentially
             more than two group members then

                 T_dither_max = l * T_rr

             with l=0.5.

        The values given above for T_dither_max are minimal values.
        Application-specific feedback considerations may make it
        worthwhile to increase T_dither_max beyond this value.  This
        is up to the discretion of the implementer.

   3. Then, R MUST check whether its next regularly scheduled RTCP
   packet would be within the time bounds for the RTCP FB (t0 +
   T_dither_max > tn).

        3.a) If so, an Early RTCP packet MUST NOT be scheduled;
        instead the FB message(s) MUST be stored to be appended to the
        regular RTCP packet scheduled for tn.  This completes the
        course of immediate actions to be taken.

       3.b) Otherwise, the following steps are carried out.

   4. R MUST check whether it is allowed to transmit an Early RTCP
   packet (allow_early == TRUE).

       4.a) If allow_early == FALSE then R MUST check the time for the
       next scheduled RR:

            1.  If tn - t0 < T_max_fb_delay (i.e. if, despite late
                 reception, the feedback could still be useful for the
                 sender) then R MAY create an RTCP FB message for
                 transmission along with the RTCP packet at tn.

            2.  Otherwise, R MUST discard the RTCP feedback message.

       This completes the immediate course of actions to be taken.

       4.b) If allow_early == TRUE then R MUST schedule an Early RTCP
       packet for te = t0 + RND * T_dither_max with RND being a pseudo
       random function evenly distributed between 0 and 1.

   5. R MUST continuously monitor the received RTCP feedback packets
   contained in one or more (minimal) compound RTCP packets and keep
   each of these packets for at least T_retention.  When scheduling
   the transmission of an RTCP feedback message, R MUST check each of

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   the RTCP feedback messages in the one or more compound RTCP packets
   received in the interval [t0 - T_retention ; te] and act as
   follows:

        5.a) If R understands the received feedback message's semantics
        and the message contents is a superset of the feedback R wanted
        to send then R MUST discard its own feedback message and MUST
        re-schedule the next regular RTCP message transmission for tn
        (as calculated before).

        5.b) If R understands the received feedback message's semantics
        and the message contents is not a superset of the feedback R
        wanted to send then R SHOULD transmit its own feedback message
        as scheduled.  If there is an overlap between the feedback
        information to send and the feedback information received, the
        amount of feedback transmitted is up to R: R MAY send its
        feedback information unchanged, R MAY as well eliminate any
        redundancy between its own feedback and the feedback received
        so far.

        5.c) If R does not understand the received feedback message's
        semantics, R MAY send its own feedback message as Early RTCP
        packet, or R MAY re-schedule the next regular RTCP message
        transmission for tn (as calculated before) and MAY append the
        feedback message to the now regularly scheduled RTCP message.

        Note: With rule #3, receiving unknown feedback packets may not
        lead to feedback suppression at a particular receiver.  As a
        consequence, a given event may cause M different types of
        feedback packets (which are all appropriate but not the same
        and mutually not understood) to be scheduled, and a "large"
        receiver group may be partitioned into at most M groups.  Among
        members of each of these M groups, feedback suppression will
        occur following the rules #1 and #2 but no suppression will
        happen across groups.  As a result, O(M) RTCP feedback messages
        may be received by the sender.  Given that these M groups
        consist of receivers for the same application using the same
        (set of) codecs in the same RTP session, M is assumed to be
        small in the general case.  Given further that the O(M)
        feedback packets are randomly distributed over a time interval
        of T_dither_max, the resulting limited number of extra feedback
        packets (a) is assumed not to overwhelm the sender and (b)
        should be conveyed as all contain complementary pieces of
        information.

        Refer to section 4 on the comparison of feedback messages and
        for which feedback messages MUST be understood by a receiver.

   6. Otherwise, when te is reached, R MUST transmit the RTCP packet
   containing the FB message.  R then MUST set allow_early = FALSE,

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   MUST recalculate tn = tp + 2*T_rr, and MUST set tp to the previous
   tn.   As soon as the newly calculated tn is reached and R sends its
   next regularly scheduled RTCP RR or suppresses it because of
   T_rr_interval, it MUST set allow_early = TRUE again.



   3.5.3 Regular RTCP Transmission

   In regular intervals full compound RTCP packets MUST be sent.
   These packets MAY also contain one or more feedback messages.
   Transmission of regular RTCP packets is scheduled as follows:


   If T_rr_interval == 0 then the transmission MUST follow the rules
   as specified by [1] (except for the different Tmin) and MUST adhere
   to the adjustments of tn specified in section 3.5.2 (i.e. skip one
   regular transmission if an Early RTCP transmission has occurred).
   Timer reconsideration takes place when tn is reached as per [1] and
   the regular RTCP packet is transmitted after timer reconsideration.
   Whenever a regular RTCP message is sent, allow_early MUST be set to
   TRUE and tp, tn MUST be updated as per [1].  If this was the first
   transmission of an RTCP packet, Tmin MUST be set to 0.

   If T_rr_interval != 0 then the calculation for the transmission
   times MUST follow the rules as specified in [1] (except for the
   different Tmin) and MUST adhere to the adjustments of tn specified
   in section 3.5.2 (i.e. skip one regular transmission if an Early
   RTCP transmission has occurred).  Timer reconsideration takes place
   when tn is reached as per [1].  After timer reconsideration, the
   following actions are taken:

        If no full compound RTCP packet has been sent before (i.e. if
        t_rr_last == NaN) then a full compound RTCP packet MUST be
        scheduled.  Stored RTCP feedback messages MAY be included in
        the full compound RTCP packet.  t_rr_last MUST be set to tn.
        Tmin MUST be set to 0.

        Otherwise, an temporary value T_rr_current_interval is
        calculated as follows:

            T_rr_current_interval = RND*T_rr_interval

        with RND being a pseudo random function evenly distributed
        between 0.5 and 1.5.  This dithered value is used for the
        following alternatives:

        If t_rr_last + T_rr_current_interval <= tn then a full
        compound RTCP packet MUST be scheduled.  Stored RTCP feedback


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        messages MAY be included in the full compound RTCP packet.
        t_rr_last MUST be set to tn.

        If t_rr_last + T_rr_current_interval > tn and RTCP feedback
        messages have been stored and are awaiting transmission, an
        RTCP packet MUST be scheduled for transmission at tn.  This
        RTCP packet MAY be a minimal or a full compound RTCP packet
        (at the discretion of the implementer) and the compound RTCP
        packet MUST include the stored RTCP feedback message.
        t_rr_last MUST remain unchanged.

        Otherwise (if t_rr_last + T_rr_current_interval > tn but no
        stored RTCP feedback messages are awaiting transmission), no
        compound RTCP packet MUST be scheduled.

   In all the four cases above, allow early MUST be set to TRUE and tp
   and tn MUST be updated following the rules of [1] except for the
   five second minimum.

   3.5.4 Other Considerations

   Furthermore, if T_rr_interval != 0 then the timeout calculation for
   RTP/AVPF entities (section 6.3.5 of [1]) MUST be modified to use
   T_rr_interval instead of Tmin for computing Td.

   Whenever an RTCP packet is sent or received -- minimal or full
   compound, early or regularly scheduled -- the avg_rtcp_size
   variable MUST be updated accordingly (see [1]) and subsequent
   computations of tn MUST use the new avg_rtcp_size.


   3.6 Considerations on the Group Size

   This section provides some guidelines to the group sizes at which
   the various feedback modes may be used.


   3.6.1 ACK mode

   The group size MUST be exactly two participants, i.e. point-to-
   point communications.  Unicast addresses MUST be used in the
   session description.

   For unidirectional as well as bi-directional communication between
   two parties, 2.5% of the RTP session bandwidth are available for
   RTCP traffic from the receivers including feedback.  For a 64
   kbit/s stream this yields 1,600 bit/s for RTCP.  If we assume an
   average of 96 bytes (=768 bits) per RTCP packet a receiver can
   report 2 events per second back to the sender.  If acknowledgments
   for 10 events are collected in each feedback message then 20 events

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   can be acknowledged per second.  At 256 kbit/s 8 events could be
   reported per second; thus the ACKs may be sent in a finer
   granularity (e.g. only combining three ACKs per RTCP feedback
   message).

   From 1 Mbit/s upwards, a receiver would be able to acknowledge each
   individual frame (not packet!) in a 30 fps video stream.

   ACK strategies MUST be defined to work properly with these
   bandwidth limitations.  An indication whether or not ACKs are
   allowed for a session and, if so, which ACK strategy should be
   used, MAY be conveyed by out-of-band mechanisms, e.g. media-
   specific attributes in a session description using SDP.


   3.6.2 NACK mode

   Negative acknowledgements (or similar types of feedback) MUST be
   used for all groups larger than two.  Of course, NACKs MAY be used
   for point-to-point communications as well.

   Whether or not the use of Immediate or Early RTCP packets should be
   considered depends upon a number of parameters including session
   bandwidth, codec, special type of feedback, number of senders and
   receivers, among many others.

   The crucial parameters -- to which virtually all of the above can
   be reduced -- is the allowed minimal interval between two RTCP
   reports and the (average) number of events that presumably need
   reporting per time interval (plus their distribution over time, of
   course).  The minimum interval can be derived from the available
   RTCP bandwidth and the expected average size of an RTCP packet.
   The number of events to report e.g. per second may be derived from
   the packet loss rate and sender's rate of transmitting packets.
   From these two values, the allowable group size for the Immediate
   feedback mode can be calculated.

       Let N be the average number of events to be reported per
       interval T by a receiver, B the RTCP bandwidth fraction for
       this particular receiver and R the average RTCP packet size,
       then the receiver operates in Immediate Feedback mode is used
       as long as N<=B*T/R.

   The upper bound for the Early RTCP mode then solely depends on the
   acceptable quality degradation, i.e. how many events per time
   interval may go unreported.

       Using the above notation, Early RTCP mode can be roughly
       characterized by N > B*T/R as "lower bound".  An estimate for
       an upper bound is more difficult.  Setting N=1, we obtain for a

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       given R and B the interval T = R/B as average interval between
       events to be reported.  This information can be used as a hint
       to determine whether or not early transmission of RTCP packets
       is useful.

   Example: If a 256kbit/s video with 30 fps is transmitted through a
   network with an MTU size of some 1,500 bytes, then, in most cases,
   each frame would fit in its own packet leading to a packet rate of
   30 packets per second.  If 5% packet loss occurs in the network
   (equally distributed, no inter-dependence between receivers), then
   each receiver will have to report 3 packets lost each two seconds.
   Assuming a single sender and more than three receivers, this yields
   3.75% of the RTCP bandwidth allocated to the receivers and thus
   9.6kbit/s.  Assuming further a size of 120 bytes for the average
   compound RTCP packet allows 10 RTCP packets to be sent per second
   or 20 in two seconds.  If every receiver needs to report three
   packets, this yields a maximum group size of 6-7 receivers if all
   loss events shall be reported.  The rules for transmission of
   immediate RTCP packets should provide sufficient flexibility for
   most of this reporting to occur in a timely fashion.

   Extending this example to determine the upper bound for Early RTCP
   mode could lead to the following considerations: assume that the
   underlying coding scheme and the application (as well as the
   tolerant users) allow on the order of one loss without repair per
   two seconds.  Thus the number of packets to be reported by each
   receiver decreases to two per two seconds second and increases the
   group size to 10.  Assuming further that some number of packet
   losses are correlated, feedback traffic is further reduced and
   group sizes of some 12 to 16 (maybe even 20) can be reasonably well
   supported using Early RTCP mode.  Note, of course, that all those
   considerations are based upon statistics and will fail to hold in
   some cases.

   3.7 Summary of decision steps

   3.7.1 General Hints

   Before even considering whether or not to send RTCP feedback
   information an application has to determine whether this mechanism
   is applicable:

   1) An application has to decide whether -- for the current ratio of
      packet rate with the associated (application-specific) maximum
      feedback delay and the currently observed round-trip time (if
      available) -- feedback mechanisms can be applied at all.

      This decision may obviously be based upon (and dynamically
      revised following) regular RTCP reception statistics as well as
      out-of-band mechanisms.

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   2) The application has to decide -- for a certain observed error
      rate, assigned bandwidth, frame/packet rate, and group size --
      whether (and which) feedback mechanisms can be applied.

      Regular RTCP provides valuable input to this step, too.

   3) If these tests pass, the application has to follow the rules for
      transmitting Early RTCP packets or regularly scheduled RTCP
      packets with piggybacked feedback.


   3.7.2 Media Session Attributes

   Media sessions are typically described using out-of-band mechanisms
   to convey transport addresses, codec information, etc. between
   sender(s) and receiver(s).  Such a mechanisms consists of a format
   used to describe a media session and another mechanism for
   transporting this description.

   In the IETF, the Session Description Protocol (SDP) is currently
   used to describe media sessions while protocols such as SIP, SAP,
   RTSP, and HTTP (among others) are used to convey the descriptions.

   A media session description format MAY include parameters to
   indicate that RTCP feedback mechanisms MAY be used (=are supported)
   in this session and which of the feedback mechanisms MAY be
   applied.

   To do so, the profile "AVPF" MUST be indicated instead of "AVP".
   Further attributes may be defined to show which type(s) of feedback
   are supported.

   Section 4 contains the syntax specification to support RTCP
   feedback with SDP.  Similar specifications for other media session
   description formats are outside the scope of this document.


4. SDP Definitions

   This section defines a number of additional SDP parameters that are
   used to describe a session.  All of these are defined as media
   level attributes.


   4.1 Profile identification

   The AV profile defined in [4] is referred to as "AVP" in the
   context of e.g. the Session Description Protocol (SDP) [3].  The
   profile specified in this document is referred to as "AVPF".

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   Feedback information following the modified timing rules as
   specified in this document MUST NOT be sent for a particular media
   session unless the profile for this session indicates the use of
   the "AVPF" profile (exclusively or jointly with other AV profiles).


   4.2 RTCP Feedback Capability Attribute

   A new payload format-specific SDP attribute  is defined to indicate
   the capability of using RTCP feedback as specified in this
   document: "a=rtcp-fb".  The "rtcp-fb" attribute MUST only be used
   as an SDP media attribute and MUST NOT be provided at the session
   level.  The "rtcp-fb" attribute MUST only be used in media sessions
   for which the "AVPF" is specified.

   The "rtcp-fb" attribute SHOULD be used to indicate which RTCP
   feedback messages MAY be used in this media session for the
   indicated payload type.  A wildcard payload type ("*") MAY be used
   to indicate that the RTCP feedback attribute applies to all payload
   types.  If several types of feedback are supported and/or the same
   feedback shall be specified for a subset of the payload types,
   several "a=rtcp-fb:" lines MUST be used.

   If no "rtcp-fb" attribute is specified the RTP receivers SHOULD
   assume that the RTP senders only support generic NACKs.  In
   addition, the RTP receivers MAY send feedback using other suitable
   RTCP feedback packets as defined for the respective media type.
   The RTP receivers MUST NOT rely on the RTP senders reacting to any
   of the feedback messages.

   If one or more "rtcp-fb" attributes are present in a media session
   description, the RTCP receivers for the media session(s) containing
   the "rtcp-fb"

   o MUST ignore all "rtcp-fb" attributes of which they do not fully
      understand the semantics (i.e. where they do not understand the
      meaning of all values in the "a=rtcp-fb" line);

   o SHOULD provide feedback information as specified in this
      document using any of the RTCP feedback packets as specified in
      one of the "rtcp-fb" attributes for this media session; and

   o MUST NOT use other feedback messages than those listed in one of
      the "rtcp-fb" attribute lines.

   When used in conjunction with the offer/answer model [18], the
   offerer MAY present a set of these AVPF attributes to its peer.
   The answerer MUST remove all attributes it does not understand as
   well as those it does not support in general or does not wish to

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   use in this particular media session.  The answerer MUST NOT add
   feedback parameters to the media description and MUST NOT alter
   values of such parameters.  The answer is binding for the media
   session and both offerer and answerer MUST only use feedback
   mechanisms negotiated in this way.

   RTP senders MUST be prepared to receive any kind of RTCP feedback
   messages and MUST silently discard all those RTCP feedback messages
   that they do not understand.

   The syntax of the "rtcp-fb" attribute is as follows (the feedback
   types and optional parameters are all case sensitive):

   (In the following ABNF, SP and CRLF are used as defined in [3].)

   rtcp-fb-syntax = "a=rtcp-fb:" rtcp-fb-pt SP rtcp-fb-val CRLF

   rtcp-fb-pt         = "*"   ; wildcard: applies to all formats
                      / fmt   ; as defined in SDP spec

   rtcp-fb-val        = "ack" rtcp-fb-ack-param
                      / "nack" rtcp-fb-nack-param
                      / "trr-int" SP 1*DIGIT
                      / rtcp-fb-id rtcp-fb-param

   rtcp-fb-id         = 1*(alpha-numeric | "-" | "_")

   rtcp-fb-param      = SP "app" [SP byte-string]
                      / SP token [SP byte-string]
                      / ; empty

   rtcp-fb-ack-param  = SP "rpsi"
                      / SP "app" [SP byte-string]
                      / SP token [SP byte-string]
                      / ; empty

   rtcp-fb-nack-param = SP "pli"
                      / SP "sli"
                      / SP "rpsi"
                      / SP "app" [SP byte-string]
                      / SP token [SP byte-string]
                      / ; empty


   The literals of the above grammar have the following semantics:

   Feedback type "ack":

        This feedback type indicates that positive acknowledgements
        for feedback are supported.

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        The feedback type "ack" MUST only be used if the media session
        is allowed to operate in ACK mode as defined in 3.6.1.2.

        Parameters MAY be provided to further distinguish different
        types of positive acknowledgement feedback.  If no parameters
        are present, the Generic ACK as specified in section 6.2.2 is
        implied.

        The parameter "rpsi" indicates the use of Reference Picture
        Selection Indication feedback as defined in section 6.3.3.

        If the parameter "app" is specified, this indicates the use of
        application layer feedback.  In this case, additional
        parameters following "app" MAY be used to further
        differentiate various types of application layer feedback.
        This document does not define any parameters specific to
        "app".

        Further parameters for "ack" MAY be defined in other
        documents.

   Feedback type "nack":

        This feedback type indicates that negative acknowledgements
        for feedback are supported.

        The feedback type "nack", without parameters, indicates use of
        the General NACK feedback format as defined in section 6.2.1.

        The following three parameters are defined in this document
        for use with "nack" in conjunction with the media type
        "video":

        o "pli" indicates the use of Picture Loss Indication feedback
           as defined in section 6.3.1.
        o "sli" indicates the use of Slice Loss Indication feedback
           as defined in section 6.3.2.
        o "rpsi" indicates the use of Reference Picture Selection
           Indication feedback as defined in section 6.3.3.

        "app" indicates the use of application layer feedback.
        Additional parameters after "app" MAY be provided to
        differentiate different types of application layer feedback.
        No parameters specific to "app" are defined in this document.

        Further parameters for "nack" MAY be defined in other
        documents.

   Other feedback types <rtcp-fb-id>:

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        Other documents MAY define additional types of feedback; to
        keep the grammar extensible for those cases, the rtcp-fb-id is
        introduced as a placeholder.  A new feedback scheme name MUST
        to be unique (and thus MUST be registered with IANA).  Along
        with a new name, its semantics, packet formats (if necessary),
        and rules for its operation MUST be specified.

   Regular RTCP minimum interval "trr-int":

        The attribute "trr-int" is used to specify the minimum
        interval T_rr_interval between two regular (full compound)
        RTCP packets in milliseconds for this media session.  If "trr-
        int" is not specified, a default value of 0 is assumed.

   Note that it is assumed that more specific information about
   application layer feedback (as defined in section 6.4) will be
   conveyed as feedback types and parameters defined elsewhere.
   Hence, no further provision for any types and parameters is made in
   this document.

   Further types of feedback as well as further parameters may be
   defined in other documents.

   It is up to the recipients whether or not they send feedback
   information and up to the sender(s) to make use of feedback
   provided.


   4.3 Unicasting vs. Multicasting

   If a media session description indicates unicast addresses for a
   particular media type (and does not operate in multi-unicast mode
   with all recipients listed explicitly but still addressed via
   unicast), the RTCP feedback MAY operate in ACK feedback mode.

   If a media session description indicates multicast addresses for a
   particular media type or a multi-unicast session, ACK feedback mode
   MUST NOT be used.


   4.4 RTCP Bandwidth Modifiers

   The standard RTCP bandwidth assignments as defined in [1] and [2]
   may be overridden by bandwidth modifiers that explicitly define the
   maximum RTCP bandwidth.  For use with SDP, such modifiers are
   specified in [4]: "b=RS:<bw>" and "b=RR:<bw>" MAY be used to assign
   a different bandwidth (measured in bits per second) to RTP senders
   and receivers, respectively.  The precedence rules of [4] apply to
   determine the actual bandwidth to be used by senders and receivers.

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   Applications operating knowingly over highly asymmetric links (such
   as satellite links) SHOULD use this mechanism to reduce the
   feedback rate for high bandwidth streams to prevent deterministic
   congestion of the feedback path(s).


   4.5 Examples

   Example 1: The following session description indicates a session
   made up from an audio and a DTMF for point-to-point communication
   in which the DTMF stream uses Generic ACKs.  This session
   description could be contained in a SIP INVITE, 200 OK, or ACK
   message to indicate that its sender is capable of and willing to
   receive feedback for the DTMF stream it transmits.

      v=0
      o=alice 3203093520 3203093520 IN IP4 host.example.com
      s=Media with feedback
      t=0 0
      c=IN IP4 host.example.com
      m=audio 49170 RTP/AVPF 0 96
      a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000
      a=rtpmap:96 telephone-event/8000
      a=fmtp:96 0-16
      a=rtcp-fb:96 ack

   Example 2: The following session description indicates a multicast
   video-only session (using either H.261 or H.263+) with the video
   source accepting Generic NACKs for both codecs and Reference
   Picture Selection for H.263.  Such a description may have been
   conveyed using the Session Announcement Protocol (SAP).

      v=0
      o=alice 3203093520 3203093520 IN IP4 host.example.com
      s=Multicast video with feedback
      t=3203130148 3203137348
      m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
      c=IN IP4 224.2.1.183
      a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000
      m=video 51372 RTP/AVPF 98 99
      c=IN IP4 224.2.1.184
      a=rtpmap:98 H263-1998/90000
      a=rtpmap:99 H261/90000
      a=rtcp-fb:* nack
      a=rtcp-fb:98 nack rpsi

   Example 3: The following session description defines the same media
   session as example 2 but allows for mixed mode operation of AVP and
   AVPF RTP entities (see also next section).  Note that both media

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   descriptions use the same addresses; however, two m= lines are
   needed to convey information about both applicable RTP profiles.

      v=0
      o=alice 3203093520 3203093520 IN IP4 host.example.com
      s=Multicast video with feedback
      t=3203130148 3203137348
      m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
      c=IN IP4 224.2.1.183
      a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000
      m=video 51372 RTP/AVP 98 99
      c=IN IP4 224.2.1.184
      a=rtpmap:98 H263-1998/90000
      a=rtpmap:99 H261/90000
      m=video 51372 RTP/AVPF 98 99
      c=IN IP4 224.2.1.184
      a=rtpmap:98 H263-1998/90000
      a=rtpmap:99 H261/90000
      a=rtcp-fb:* nack
      a=rtcp-fb:98 nack rpsi

   Note that these two m= lines SHOULD be grouped by some appropriate
   mechanisms to indicate that both are alternatives actually
   conveying the same contents.  A sample mechanism by which this can
   be achieved is defined in [14].


5. Interworking and Co-Existence of AVP and AVPF Entities

   The AVPF profile defined in this document is an extension of the
   AVP profile as defined in [2].  Both profiles follow the same basic
   rules (including the upper bandwidth limit for RTCP and the
   bandwidth assignments to senders and receivers).  Therefore,
   senders and receivers of using either of the two profiles can be
   mixed in a single session (see e.g. example 3 in section 4.5).

   AVP and AVPF are defined in a way that, from a robustness point of
   view, the RTP entities do not need to be aware of entities of the
   respective other profile: they will not disturb each other's
   functioning.  However, the quality of the media presented may
   suffer.

   The following considerations apply to senders and receivers when
   used in a combined session.

   o AVP entities (senders and receivers)

      AVP senders will receive RTCP feedback packets from AVPF
      receivers and ignore these packets.  They will see occasional
      closer spacing of RTCP messages (e.g. violating the five second

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      rule) by AVPF entities.  As the overall bandwidth constraints
      are adhered to by both types of entities, they will still get
      their share of the RTCP bandwidth.  However, while AVP entities
      are bound by the five second rule, depending on the group size
      and session bandwidth, AVPF entities may provide more frequent
      RTCP reports than AVP ones will.  Also, the overall reporting
      may decrease slightly as AVPF entities may send bigger compound
      RTCP packets (due to the extra RTCP packets).

      If T_rr_interval is used as lower bound between regular RTCP
      packets, T_rr_interval is sufficiently large (e.g. T_rr_interval
      > M*Td as per section 6.3.5 of [1]), and no Early RTCP packets
      are sent by AVPF entities, AVP entities MAY accidentally time
      out those AVPF group members and hence under-estimate the group
      size.  Therefore, if AVP entities may be involved in a media
      session, T_rr_interval SHOULD NOT be larger than five seconds .

   o AVPF senders

      AVPF senders will receive feedback information only from AVPF
      receivers.  If they rely on feedback to provide the target media
      quality, the quality achieved for AVP receivers may be sub-
      optimal.

   o AVPF receivers

      AVPF receivers SHOULD send immediate or early RTCP feedback
      packets only if all (sending) entities in the media session
      support AVPF.  AVPF receivers MAY send feedback information as
      part of regularly scheduled compound RTCP packets following the
      timing rules of [1] and [2] also in media sessions operating in
      mixed mode.  However, the receiver providing feedback MUST NOT
      rely on the sender reacting to the feedback at all.


6. Format of RTCP Feedback Messages

   This section defines the format of the low delay RTCP feedback
   messages.  These messages classified into three categories as
   follows:

   - Transport layer feedback messages
   - Payload-specific feedback messages
   - Application layer feedback messages

   Transport layer feedback messages are intended to transmit general
   purpose feedback information, i.e. information independent of the
   particular codec or the application in use.  The information is
   expected to be generated and processed at the transport/RTP layer.


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   Currently, only a general positive acknowledgement (ACK) and a
   negative acknowledgement (NACK) message are defined.

   Payload-specific feedback messages transport information that is
   specific to a certain payload type and will be generated and acted
   upon at the codec "layer".  This document defines a common header
   to be used in conjunction with all payload-specific feedback
   messages.  The definition of specific messages is left to either
   RTP payload format specifications or to additional feedback format
   documents.

   Application layer feedback messages provide a means to
   transparently convey feedback from the receiver's to the sender's
   application.  The information contained in such a message is not
   expected to be acted upon at the transport/RTP or the codec layer.
   The data to be exchanged between two application instances is
   usually defined in the application protocol specification and thus
   can be identified by the application so that there is no need for
   additional external information.  Hence, this document defines only
   a common header to be used along with all application layer
   feedback messages.  From a protocol point of view, an application
   layer feedback message is treated as a special case of a payload-
   specific feedback message.

        NOTE: Proper processing of some feedback messages at the media
        sender side may require the sender to know which payload type
        the feedback message refers to.  Most of the time, this
        knowledge can likely be derived from a media stream using only
        a single payload type.  However, if several codecs are used
        simultaneously (e.g. with audio and DTFM) or when codec
        changes occur, the payload type information may need to be
        conveyed explicitly as part of the feedback message.  This
        applies to all payload-specific as well as application layer
        feedback messages.  It is up to the specification of a
        feedback message to define how payload type information is
        transmitted.

   This document defines two transport layer feedback and three
   (video) payload-specific feedback messages as well as a single
   container for application layer feedback messages.  Additional
   transport layer and payload specific feedback messages MAY be
   defined in other documents and MUST be registered through IANA (see
   section IANA considerations).

   The general syntax and semantics for the above RTCP feedback
   message types are described in the following subsections.


   6.1 Common Packet Format for Feedback Message


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   All feedback message MUST use a common packet format that is
   depicted in figure 3:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |V=2|P|   FMT   |       PT      |          length               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                  SSRC of packet sender                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                  SSRC of media source                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :            Feedback Control Information (FCI)                 :
   :                                                               :

   Figure 3: Common Packet Format for Feedback Messages


   The various fields V, P, SSRC and length are defined in the RTP
   specification [2], the respective meaning being summarized below:

   version (V): 2 bits
       This field identifies the RTP version.  The current version is
       2.

   padding (P): 1 bit
       If set, the padding bit indicates that the packet contains
       additional padding octets at the end which are not part of the
       control information but are included in the length field.

   Feedback message type (FMT): 5 bits
       This field identifies the type of the feedback message and is
       interpreted relative to the RTCP message type (transport,
       payload-specific, or application layer feedback).  The values
       for each of the three feedback types are defined in the
       respective sections below.

   Payload type (PT): 8 bits
       This is the RTCP packet type which identifies the packet as
       being an RTCP Feedback Message.  Two values are defined (TBA.
       by IANA):

             Name   | Value | Brief Description
          ----------+-------+------------------------------------
             RTPFB  |  205  | Transport layer feedback message
             PSFB   |  206  | Payload-specific feedback message

   Length: 16 bits
       The length of this packet in 32-bit words minus one, including
       the header and any padding.  This is in line with the

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       definition of the length field used in RTCP sender and receiver
       reports [3].

   SSRC of packet sender: 32 bits
       The synchronization source identifier for the originator of
       this packet.

   SSRC of media source: 32 bits
       The synchronization source identifier of the media source that
       this piece of feedback information is related to.

   Feedback Control Information (FCI): variable length
       The following three sections define which additional
       information MAY be included in the feedback message for each
       type of feedback (further FCI contents MAY be specified in
       further documents).

       Each RTCP feedback packet MUST contain at least one feedback
       message in the FCI field.  Sections 6.2 and 6.3 define for each
       FCI type, whether or not multiple feedback messages MAY be
       contained in a single FCI field.  If multiple feedback messages
       are contained in one FCI field, they MUST be of the same type
       as.  If multiple types of feedback need to be conveyed, then
       several RTCP feedback packets MUST be generated and SHOULD
       concatenated in the same compound RTCP packet.


   6.2 Transport Layer Feedback Messages

   Transport Layer Feedback messages are identified by the value RTPFB
   as RTCP message type.

   Two general purpose transport layer feedback messages are defined
   so far: General ACK and General NACK.  They are identified by means
   of the FMT parameter as follows:

       0:   unassigned
       1:   Generic NACK
       2:   Generic ACK
       3-30: unassigned
       31:  reserved for future expansion of the sequence number space

   The following two subsections define the packet formats for these
   messages.


   6.2.1 Generic NACK

   The Generic NACK message is identified by PT=RTPFB and FMT=1.


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   The FCI field MUST contain at least one and MAY contain more than
   one Generic NACK.

   The Generic NACK packet is used to indicate the loss of one or more
   RTP packets.  The lost packet(s) are identified by the means of a
   packet identifier and a bit mask.

   The Feedback control information (FCI) field has the following
   Syntax (figure 4):

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |            PID                |             BLP               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Figure 4: Syntax for the Generic NACK message


   Packet ID (PID): 16 bits
       The PID field is used to specify a lost packet.  Typically, the
       RTP sequence number is used for PID as the default format, but
       RTP Payload Formats may decide to identify a packet
       differently.

   bitmask of following lost packets (BLP): 16 bits
       The BLP allows for reporting losses of any of the 16 RTP
       packets immediately following the RTP packet indicated by the
       PID.  The BLP's definition is identical to that given in [10].
       Denoting the BLP's least significant bit as bit 1, and its most
       significant bit as bit 16, then bit i of the bit mask is set to
       1 if the receiver has not received RTP packet number (PID+i)
       (modulo 2^16) and indicates this packet is lost; bit i is set
       to 0 otherwise.  Note that the sender MUST NOT assume that a
       receiver has received a packet because its bit mask was set to
       0.   For example, the least significant bit of the BLP would be
       set to 1 if the packet corresponding to the PID and the
       following packet have been lost.  However, the sender cannot
       infer that packets PID+2 through PID+16 have been received
       simply because bits 2 through 15 of the BLP are 0; all the
       sender knows is that the receiver has not reported them as lost
       at this time.

   The length of the feedback message MUST be set to 2+n, with n being
   the number of Generic NACKs contained in the FCI field.

   The Generic NACK message implicitly references the payload type
   through the sequence number(s).



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   6.2.2 Generic ACK

   The Generic ACK message is identified by PT=RTPFB and FMT=2.
   The FCI field MUST contain at least one and MAY contain more than
   one Generic ACK.

   The Generic ACK packet is used to indicate that one or several RTP
   packets were received correctly.  The received packet(s) are
   identified by the means of a packet identifier and a bit mask.
   ACKing of a range of consecutive packets is also possible.

   The Feedback control information (FCI) field has the following
   syntax:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |              PID              |R|       BLP/#packets          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Figure 5: Syntax for the Generic ACK message


   Packet ID (1st PID): 16 bits
       This PID field is used to specify a correctly received packet.
       Typically, the RTP sequence number is used for PID as the
       default format, but RTP Payload Formats may decide to identify
       a packet differently.

   Range of ACKs (R): 1 bit
       The R-bit indicates that a range of consecutive packets are
       received correctly.  If R=1 then the PID field specifies the
       first packet of that range and the next field (BLP/#packets)
       will carry the number of packets being acknowledged.  If R=0
       then PID specifies the first packet to be acknowledged and
       BLP/#packets provides a bit mask to selectively indicate
       individual packets that are acknowledged.

   Bit mask of lost packets (BLP)/#packets (PID): 15 bits
       The semantics of this field depends on the value of the R-bit.

       If R=1, this field is used to identify the number of additional
       packets of to be acknowledged:

            #packets = <highest seq# to be ACKed> - <PID>

       That is, #packets MUST indicate the number of packet to be
       ACKed minus one.  In particular, if only a single packet is to
       be ACKed and R=1 then #packets MUST be set to 0x0000.


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       Example: If all packets between and including PIDx = 380 and
       PIDy = 422 have been received, the Generic ACK would contain
       PID = PIDx = 380 and #packets = PIDy - PID = 42.  In case the
       PID wraps around, modulo arithmetic is used to calculate the
       number of packets.

       If R=0, this field carries a bit mask. The BLP allows for
       reporting reception of any of the 15 RTP packets immediately
       following the RTP packet indicated by the PID.  The BLP's
       definition is identical to that given in [10] except that,
       here, BLP is only 15 bits wide.  Denoting the BLP's least
       significant bit as bit 1, and its most significant bit as bit
       15, then bit i of the bitmask is set to 1 if the receiver has
       received RTP packet number (PID+i) (modulo 2^16) and decides to
       ACK this packet; bit i is set to 0 otherwise.  If only the
       packet indicated by PID is to be ACKed and R=0 then BLP MUST be
       set to 0x0000.

   The length of the feedback message MUST be set to 2+n, with n being
   the number of Generic ACKs contained in the FCI field.

   The Generic ACK message implicitly references the payload type
   through the sequence number(s).


   6.3 Payload Specific Feedback Messages

   Payload-Specific Feedback Messages are identified by the value
   PT=PSFB as RTCP message type.

   Three payload-specific feedback messages are defined so far plus an
   application layer feedback message.  They are identified by means
   of the FMT parameter as follows:

     0:     unassigned
     1:     Picture Loss Indication (PLI)
     2:     Slice Lost Indication (SLI)
     3:     Reference Picture Selection Indication (RPSI)
     4-14:  reserved
     15:    Application layer feedback message
     16-30: unassigned
     31:    reserved for future expansion of the sequence number space

   The following subsections define the packet formats for the
   payload-specific messages, section 6.4 defines the application
   layer feedback message.





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   6.3.1 Picture Loss Indication (PLI)

   The PLI feedback message is identified by PT=PSFB and FMT=1.
   There MUST be exactly one PLI contained in the FCI field.


   6.3.1.1 Semantics

   With the Picture Loss Indication message, a decoder informs the
   encoder about the loss of an undefined amount of coded video data
   belonging to one or more pictures.  When used in conjunction with
   any video coding scheme that is based on inter-picture prediction,
   an encoder that receives a PLI becomes aware that the prediction
   chain may be broken.  The sender MAY react to a PLI by transmitting
   an intra-picture to achieve resynchronization (making effectively
   similar to the FIR as defined in [10]); however, the sender MUST
   consider congestion control as outlined in section 7 which MAY
   restrict its ability to send an intra frame.

   Other RTP payload specifications such as RFC 2032 [10] already
   define a feedback mechanism for some for certain codecs.  An
   application supporting both schemes MUST use the feedback mechanism
   defined in this specification when sending feedback.  For backward
   compatibility reasons, such an application SHOULD also be capable
   to receive and react to the feedback scheme defined in the
   respective RTP payload format, if this is required by that payload
   format.


   6.3.1.2 Message Format

   PLI does not require parameters.  Therefore, the length field MUST
   be 2, and there MUST NOT be any Feedback Control Information.

   The semantics of this feedback message is independent of the
   payload type.


   6.3.1.3 Timing Rules

   The timing follows the rules outlined in section 3.  In systems
   that employ both PLI and other types of feedback it may be
   advisable to follow the regular RTCP RR timing rules for PLI, since
   PLI is not as delay critical as other FB types.


   6.3.1.4 Remarks

   PLI messages typically trigger the sending of full intra pictures.
   Intra pictures are several times larger then predicted (inter)

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   pictures.  Their size is independent of the time they are
   generated.  In most environments, especially when employing
   bandwidth-limited links, the use of an intra picture implies an
   allowed delay that is a significant multitude of the typical frame
   duration.  An example: If the sending frame rate is 10 fps, and an
   intra picture is assumed to be 10 times as big as an inter picture,
   then a full second of latency has to be accepted.  In such an
   environment there is no need for a particular short delay in
   sending the feedback message.  Hence waiting for the next possible
   time slot allowed by RTCP timing rules as per [2] does not have a
   negative impact on the system performance.


   6.3.2 Slice Lost Indication (SLI)

   The SLI feedback message is identified by PT=PSFB and FMT=2.
   The FCI field MUST contain at least one and MAY contain more than
   one SLI.


   6.3.2.1 Semantics

   With the Slice Lost Indication a decoder can inform an encoder that
   it has detected the loss or corruption of one or several
   consecutive macroblock(s) in scan order (see below).  This feedback
   message MUST NOT be used for video codecs with non-uniform,
   dynamically changeable macroblock sizes such as H.263 with enabled
   Annex Q.  In such a case, an encoder cannot always identify the
   corrupted spatial region.


   6.3.2.2 Format

   The  Slice Lost Indication uses one additional PCI field the
   content of which is depicted in figure 6.  The length of the
   feedback message MUST be set to 2+n, with n being the number of
   SLIs contained in the FCI field.


    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |0| Payload Type|      MBZ      |             First             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |            Number             |          PictureId            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Figure 6: Syntax of the Slice Lost Indication (SLI)

   0: 1 bit

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       MUST be set to '0' upon transmission and MUST be ignored upon
       reception.

   Payload Type: 7 bits
       This field contains the Payload Type of the RTP packet (i.e.
       the codec) the SLI message refers to.

   MBZ: 8 bits
       MUST be set to '0' upon transmission and MUST be ignored upon
       reception.

   First: 16 bits
       The macroblock (MB) address of the first lost macroblock.  The
       MB numbering is done such that the macroblock in the upper left
       corner of the picture is considered macroblock number 1 and the
       number for each macroblock increases from left to right and
       then from top to bottom in raster-scan order (such that if
       there is a total of N macroblocks in a picture, the bottom
       right macroblock is considered macroblock number N).

   Number: 16 bits
       The number of lost macroblocks, in scan order as discussed
       above.

   PictureID: 16 bits
       The six least significant bits of the a codec-specific
       identifier that is used to reference the picture in which the
       loss of the macroblock (s) has occurred.  For many video
       codecs, the PictureID is identical to the Temporal Reference.


   6.3.2.3 Timing Rules

   The efficiency of algorithms using the Slice Lost Indication is
   reduced greatly when the Indication is not transmitted in a timely
   fashion.  Motion compensation propagates corrupted pixels that are
   not reported as being corrupted.  Therefore, the use of the
   algorithm discussed in section 3 is highly recommended.













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   6.3.2.4 Remarks

   The term Slice is defined and used here in the sense of MPEG-1 -- a
   consecutive number of macroblocks in scan order.  More recent video
   coding standards sometimes have a different understanding of the
   term Slice.  In H.263 (1998), for example, a concept known as
   "rectangular Slice" exist.  The loss of one Rectangular Slice may
   lead to the necessity of sending more than one SLI in order to
   precisely identify the region of lost/damaged MBs.

   The first field of the FCI defines the first macroblock of a
   picture as 1 and not, as one could suspect, as 0.  This was done to
   align this specification with the comparable mechanism available in
   H.245.  The maximum number of macroblocks in a picture (2**13 or
   8192) corresponds to the maximum picture sizes of most of the ITU-T
   and ISO/IEC video codecs.  If future video codecs offer larger
   picture sizes and/or smaller macroblock sizes, then an additional
   feedback message has to be defined.  The six least significant bits
   of the Temporal Reference field are deemed to be sufficient to
   indicate the picture in which the loss occurred.

   The reaction to a SLI is not part of this specification.  One
   typical way of reacting to a SLI is to use intra refresh for the
   affected spatial region.

   Algorithms were reported that keep track of the regions affected by
   motion compensation, in order to allow for a transmission of Intra
   macroblocks to all those areas, regardless of the timing of the FB
   (see H.263 (2000) Appendix I [13] and [15]).  While, when those
   algorithms are used, the timing of the FB is less critical then
   without, it has to be observed that those algorithms correct large
   parts of the picture and, therefore, have to transmit much higher
   data volume in case of delayed FBs.


   6.3.3 Reference Picture Selection Indication (RPSI)

   The RPSI feedback message is identified by PT=PSFB and FMT=3.
   There MUST be exactly one RPSI contained in the FCI field.


   6.3.3.1 Semantics

   Modern video coding standards such as MPEG-4 visual version 2 [12]
   or H.263 version 2 [13] allow to use older reference pictures than
   the most recent one for predictive coding.  Typically, a first-in-
   first-out queue of reference pictures is maintained.  If an encoder
   has learned about a loss of encoder-decoder synchronicity, a known-
   as-correct reference picture can be used. As this reference picture


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   is temporally further away then usual, the resulting predictively
   coded picture will use more bits.

   Both MPEG-4 and H.263 define a binary format for the "payload" of
   an RPSI message that includes information such as the temporal ID
   of the damaged picture and the size of the damaged region.  This
   bit string is typically small -- a couple of dozen bits --, of
   variable length, and self-contained, i.e. contains all information
   that is necessary to perform reference picture selection.

   Note that both MPEG-4 and H.263 allow the use of RPSI with positive
   feedback information as well.  That is, pictures (or Slices) are
   reported that were decoded without error.  Note that any form of
   positive feedback MUST NOT be used when in a multicast environment
   (reporting positive feedback about individual reference pictures at
   RTCP intervals is not expected to be of much use anyway).


   6.3.3.2 Format

   The FCI for the RPSI message follows the format depicted in figure
   7:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      PB       |0| Payload Type|  Native RPSI bit string      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   as defined per codec       ...                |  Padding (0)|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Figure 7: Syntax of the Reference Picture Selection Indication
   (RPSI)


   PB: 8 bits
       The number of unused bits required to pad the length of the
       RPSI message to a multiple of 32 bits.

   0:  1 bit
        MUST be set to zero upon transmission and ignored upon
        reception.

   Payload Type: 8 bits
        Indicates the RTP payload type in the context of which the
        native RPSI bit string MUST be interpreted.

   Native RPSI bit string: variable length
       The RPSI information as natively defined by the video codec.


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   Padding: #PB bits
       A number of bits set to zero to fill up the contents of the
       RPSI message to the next 32 bit boundary.  The number of
       padding bits MUST be indicated by the PB field.


   6.3.3.3 Timing Rules

   RPS is even more critical to delay then algorithms using SLI.  This
   is due to the fact that the older the RPS message is, the more bits
   the encoder has to spend to re-establish encoder-decoder
   synchronicity.  See [15] for some information about the overhead of
   RPS for certain bit rate/frame rate/loss rate scenarios.

   Therefore, RPS messages should typically be sent as soon as
   possible, employing the algorithm of section 3.


   6.4 Application Layer Feedback Messages

   Application Layer Feedback Messages are a special case of payload-
   specific messages and identified by PT=PSFB and FMT=15.
   There MUST be exactly one Application Layer Feedback message
   contained in the FCI field.

   These messages are used to transport application defined data
   directly from the receiver's to the sender's application. The data
   that is transported is not identified by the feedback message.
   Therefore, the application MUST be able to identify the messages
   payload.

   Usually, applications define their own set of messages, e.g.
   NEWPRED  messages in MPEG-4 or feedback messages in H.263/Annex N,
   U.  These  messages do not need any additional information from the
   RTCP  message.  Thus the application message is simply placed into
   the FCI field as follows and the length field is set accordingly.

   Application Message (FCI): variable length
       This field contains the original application message that
       should be transported from the receiver to the source. The
       format is application dependent. The length of this field is
       variable. If the application data is not 32-bit-aligned,
       padding bits and bytes must be added.  Identification of
       padding is up to the application layer and not defined in this
       specification.

   The application layer feedback message specification MUST define
   whether or not the message needs to be interpreted specifically in
   the context of a certain codec (identified by the RTP payload
   type).  If a reference to the payload type is required for proper

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   processing, the application layer feedback message specification
   MUST define a way to communicate the payload type information as
   part of the application layer feedback message itself.

7. Early Feedback and Congestion Control

   In the previous sections, the feedback messages were defined as
   well as the timing rules according to which to send these messages.
   The way to react to the feedback received depends on the
   application using the feedback mechanisms and hence is beyond the
   scope of this document.

   However, across all applications, there is a common requirement for
   (TCP-friendly) congestion control on the media stream as defined in
   [1] and [2] when operating in a best-effort network environment.

   Low delay feedback supports the use of congestion control
   algorithms in two ways:

   o The potentially more frequent RTCP messages allow the sender to
      monitor the network state more closely than with regular RTCP
      and therefore enable reacting to upcoming congestion in a more
      timely fashion.

   o The feedback messages themselves may convey additional
      information as input to congestion control algorithms and thus
      improve reaction over conventional RTCP. (For example, ACK-based
      feedback may even allow to construct closed loop algorithms and
      NACK-based systems may provide further information on the packet
      loss distribution.)

   A congestion control algorithm that shares the available bandwidth
   fair with competing TCP connections, e.g. TFRC [16], SHOULD be used
   to determine the data rate for the media stream (if the low delay
   RTP session is transmitted in a best effort environment).

   RTCP feedback messages or RTCP SR/RR packets that indicate recent
   packet loss MUST NOT lead to a (mid-term) increase in the
   transmission data rate and SHOULD lead to a (short-term) decrease
   of the transmission data rate.  Such messages SHOULD cause the
   sender to adjust the transmission data rate to the order of the
   throughput TCP would achieve under similar conditions (e.g. using
   TFRC).

   RTCP feedback messages or RTCP SR/RR packets that indicate no
   recent packet loss MAY cause the sender to increase the
   transmission data rate to roughly the throughput TCP would achieve
   under similar conditions (e.g. using TFRC).



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8. Security Considerations

   RTP packets transporting information with the proposed payload
   format are subject to the security considerations discussed in the
   RTP specification [1] and in the RTP/AVP profile specification [2].
   This profile does not specify any additional security services.

   This profile modifies the timing behavior of RTCP and eliminates
   the minimum RTCP interval of five seconds and allows for earlier
   feedback to be provided by receivers.  Group members of the
   associated RTP session (possibly pretending to represent a large
   number of entities) may disturb the operation of RTCP by sending
   large numbers of RTCP packets thereby reducing the RTCP bandwidth
   available for regular RTCP reporting as well as for early feedback
   messages.  (Note that an entity need not be member of a multicast
   group to cause these effects.)

   Feedback information may be suppressed if unknown RTCP feedback
   packets are received.  This introduces the risk of a malicious
   group member reducing early feedback by simply transmitting
   payload-specific RTCP feedback packets with random contents that
   are neither recognized by any receiver (so they will suppress
   feedback) nor by the sender (so no repair actions will be taken).

   A malicious group member can also report arbitrary high loss rates
   in the feedback information to make the sender throttle the data
   transmission and increase the amount of redundancy information or
   take other action to deal with the pretended packet loss (e.g. send
   fewer frames or decrease audio/video quality).  This may result in
   a degradation of the quality of the reproduced media stream.

   Finally, a malicious group member can act as a large number of
   group members and thereby obtain an artificially large share of the
   early feedback bandwidth and reduce the reactivity of the other
   group members -- possibly even causing them to no longer operate in
   immediate or early feedback mode and thus undermining the whole
   purpose of this profile.

   Senders as well as receivers SHOULD behave conservative when
   observing strange reporting behavior.  For excessive failure
   reporting from one or a few receivers, the sender MAY decide to no
   longer consider this feedback when adapting its transmission
   behavior for the media stream.  In any case, senders and receivers
   SHOULD still adhere to the maximum RTCP bandwidth but make sure
   that they are capable of transmitting at least regularly scheduled
   RTCP packets.  Senders SHOULD carefully consider how to adjust
   their transmission bandwidth when encountering strange reporting
   behavior; they MUST NOT increase their transmission bandwidth even
   if ignoring suspicious feedback.


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   Attacks using false RTCP packets (regular as well as early ones)
   can be avoided by authenticating all RTCP messages.  This can be
   achieved by using the AVPF profile together with the Secure RTP
   profile as defined in [17]; as a prerequisite, an appropriate
   combination of those two profiles (an "SAVPF") needs to be
   specified.


9. IANA Considerations

   The following contact information shall be used for all
   registrations included here:

     Contact:      Joerg Ott
                   mailto:jo@acm.org
                   tel:+49-421-201-7028

   The feedback profile as an extension to the profile for audio-
   visual conferences with minimal control needs to be registered for
   the Session Description Protocol (specifically the type "proto"):
   "RTP/AVPF".

   SDP Protocol ("proto"):

     Name:               RTP/AVPF
     Long form:          Extended RTP Profile with RTCP-based Feedback
     Type of name:       proto
     Type of attribute:  Media level only
     Purpose:            See this document
     Reference:          This document

   SDP Attribute ("att-field"):

     Attribute name:     rtcp-fb
     Long form:          RTCP Feedback parameter
     Type of name:       att-field
     Type of attribute:  Media level only
     Subject to charset: No
     Purpose:            See this document
     Reference:          This document
     Values:             See this document and registrations below


   A new registry needs to be set up for the "rtcp-fb" attribute, with
   the following registrations created initially: "ack", "nack", "trr-
   int", and "app" as defined in this document.

   Initial value registration for the attribute "rtcp-fb"

     Value name:     ack

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     Long name:      Positive acknowledgement
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     nack
     Long name:      Negative Acknowledgement
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     trr-int
     Long name:      Minimal receiver report interval
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     app
     Long name:      Application-defined paramater
     Reference:      This document.

   Further entries may be registered on a first-come first serve
   basis.  Each new registration needs to indicate the parameter name
   and the syntax of possible additional arguments.  For each new
   registration, it is mandatory that a permanent, stable, and
   publicly accessible document exists that specifies the semantics of
   the registered parameter, the syntax and semantics of its
   parameters as well as corresponding feedback packet formats (if
   needed).  The general registration procedures of [3] apply.

   For use with both "ack" and "nack", a joint sub-registry needs to
   be set up that initially registers the following values:

   Initial value registration for the attribute values "ack" and
   "nack":

     Value name:     sli
     Long name:      Slice Loss Indication
     Usable with:    nack
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     pli
     Long name:      Picture Loss Indication
     Usable with:    nack
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     rpsi
     Long name:      Reference Picture Selection Indication
     Usable with:    ack, nack
     Reference:      This document.

     Value name:     app
     Long name:      Application layer feedback
     Usable with:    ack, nack
     Reference:      This document.


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   Further entries may be registered on a first-come first serve
   basis.  Each registrations needs to indicate the parameter name,
   the syntax of possible additional arguments, and whether the
   parameter is applicable to "ack" or "nack" feedback or both or some
   different "rtcp-fb" attribute parameter.  For each new
   registration, it is mandatory that a permanent, stable, and
   publicly accessible document exists that specifies the semantics of
   the registered parameter, the syntax and semantics of its
   parameters as well as corresponding feedback packet formats (if
   needed).  The general registration procedures of [3] apply.

   Two RTCP Control Packet Types: for the class of transport layer
   feedback messages ("RTPFB") and for the class of payload-specific
   feedback messages ("PSFB").  Section 6 suggests RTPFB=205 and
   PSFB=206 to be added to the RTCP registry.

   RTP RTCP Control Packet types (PT):

     Name:          RTPFB
     Long name:     Generic RTP Feedback
     Value:         205
     Reference:     This document.

     Name:          PSFB
     Long name:     Payload-specific
     Value:         206
     Reference:     This document.

   As AVPF defines additional RTCP payload types, the corresponding
   "reserved" RTP payload type space (72--76, as defined in [2]),
   needs to be expanded accordingly (to cover the range 72--78).

   A new sub-registry needs to be set up for the FMT values for both
   the RTPFB payload type and the PSFB payload type, with the
   following registrations created initially:
   Within the RTPFB range, the following three format (FMT) values are
   initially registered:

     Name:           Generic NACK
     Long name:      Generic negative acknowledgement
     Value:          1
     Reference:      This document.

     Name:           Generic ACK
     Long name:      Generic positive acknowledgement
     Value:          2
     Reference:      This document.



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     Name:           Extension
     Long name:      Reserved for future extensions
     Value:          31
     Reference:      This document.


   Within the PSFB range, the following five format (FMT) values are
   initially registered:

     Name:           PLI
     Long name:      Picture Loss Indication
     Value:          1
     Reference:      This document.

     Name:           SLI
     Long name:      Slice Loss Indication
     Value:          2
     Reference:      This document.

     Name:           RPSI
     Long name:      Reference Picture Selection Indication
     Value:          3
     Reference:      This document.

     Name:           AFB
     Long name:      Application Layer Feedback
     Value:          1
     Reference:      This document.

     Name:           Extension
     Long name:      Reserved for future extensions.
     Value:          31
     Reference:      This document.

   Further entries may be registered on a first-come first serve
   basis.  Each registration needs to indicate the FMT value, if there
   is a specific feedback message to go into the FCI field, and
   whether or not multiple feedback messages may be stacked in a
   single FCI field.  For each new registration, it is mandatory that
   a permanent, stable, and publicly accessible document exists that
   specifies the semantics of the registered parameter as well as the
   syntax and semantics of the associated feedback message (if any).
   The general registration procedures of [3] apply.







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10. Acknowledgements

   This document is a product of the Audio-Visual Transport (AVT)
   Working Group of the IETF.  The authors would like to thank Steve
   Casner and Colin Perkins for their comments and suggestions as well
   as for their responsiveness to numerous questions.  The authors
   would also like to thank Magnus Westerlund for his review and his
   valuable suggestions; Shigeru Fukunaga, Koichi Yano, Akihiro
   Miyazaki, and Rolf Hakenberg for the contributions on for feedback
   message formats and semantics; and Andreas Buesching for his
   feedback based upon implementation and testing.


11. Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain
   it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied,
   published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction
   of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this
   paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works.

   However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such
   as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet
   Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the
   purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the
   procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process
   must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages
   other than English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on
   an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
   IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF
   THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE."











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12. Authors' Addresses

   Joerg Ott            {sip,mailto}:jo@tzi.org
   Uni Bremen TZI
   MZH 5180
   Bibliothekstr. 1
   D-28359 Bremen
   Germany

   Stephan Wenger       stewe@cs.tu-berlin.de
   TU Berlin
   Sekr. FR 6-3
   Franklinstr. 28-29
   D-10587 Berlin
   Germany

   Noriyuki Sato
   Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
   1-2-27 Shiromi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 540-6025 Japan
   Tel.  +81 6 6949 5101
   Fax.  +81 6 6949 5108
   Mail  sato652@oki.com

   Carsten Burmeister
   Panasonic European Laboratories GmbH
   Monzastr. 4c, 63225 Langen, Germany
   Tel.  +49-(0)6103-766-263
   Fax.  +49-(0)6103-766-166
   Mail  burmeister@panasonic.de

   Jose Rey
   Panasonic European Laboratories GmbH
   Monzastr. 4c, 63225 Langen, Germany
   Tel.  +49-(0)6103-766-134
   Fax.  +49-(0)6103-766-166
   Mail  hakenberg@panasonic.de


11. Bibliography

   [1]  H. Schulzrinne, S. Casner, R. Frederick, and V. Jacobson, "RTP
        - A Transport Protocol for Real-time Applications," Internet
        Draft, draft-ietf-avt-rtp-new-11.txt, Work in Progress,
        November 2001.

   [2]  H. Schulzrinne and S. Casner, "RTP Profile for Audio and Video
        Conferences with Minimal Control," Internet Draft draft-ietf-
        avt-profile-new-12.txt, November 2001.



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   [3]  M. Handley, V. Jacobson, and Colin Perkins, "SDP: Session
        Description Protocol", Internet Draft draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-
        new-10.txt, May 2002.

   [4]  S. Casner, "SDP Bandwidth Modifiers for RTCP Bandwidth",
        Internet Draft draft-ietf-avt-rtcp-bw-05.txt, November 2001.

   [5]  C. Perkins and O. Hodson, "2354 Options for Repair of
        Streaming Media," RFC 2354, June 1998.

   [6]  J. Rosenberg and H. Schulzrinne, "An RTP Payload Format for
        Generic Forward Error Correction,", RFC 2733, December 1999.

   [7]  C. Perkins, I. Kouvelas, O. Hodson, V. Hardman, M. Handley,
        J.C. Bolot, A. Vega-Garcia, and S. Fosse-Parisis, "RTP Payload
        for Redundant Audio Data," RFC 2198, September 1997.

   [8]  S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
        Levels," RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [9]  H. Schulzrinne and S. Petrack, "RTP Payload for DTMF Digits,
        Telephony Tones and Telephony Signals," RFC 2833, May 2000.

   [10] T. Turletti and C. Huitema, "RTP Payload Format for H.261
        Video Streams, RFC 2032, October 1996.

   [11] C. Bormann, L. Cline, G. Deisher, T. Gardos, C. Maciocco, D.
        Newell, J. Ott, G. Sullivan, S. Wenger, and C. Zhu, "RTP
        Payload Format for the 1998 Version of ITU-T Rec. H.263 Video
        (H.263+)," RFC 2429, October 1998.

   [12] ISO/IEC 14496-2:1999/Amd.1:2000, "Information technology -
        Coding of audio-visual objects - Part2: Visual", July 2000.

   [13] ITU-T Recommendation H.263, "Video Coding for Low Bit Rate
        Communication," November 2000.

   [14] G. Camarillo, J. Holler, G. Eriksson, H. Schulzrinne,
        "Grouping of media lines in SDP," Internet Draft, draft-ietf-
        mmusic-fid-05.txt, Work in Progress, September 2001.

   [15] B. Girod, N. Faerber, "Feedback-based error control for mobile
        video transmission," Proceedings IEEE, Vol. 87, No. 10, pp.
        1707 - 1723, October, 1999.

   [16] M. Handley, J. Padhye, S. Floyd, J. Widmer, "TCP friendly Rate
        Control (TFRC): Protocol Specification," Internet Draft,
        draft-ietf-tsvwg-tfrc-03.txt, Work in Progress, July 2001.



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   [17] M. Baugher, R. Blom, E. Carrarra, D. McGrew, M. Naslund, K.
        Norrman, D. Oran, "The Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol,"
        Internet Draft, draft-ietf-avt-srtp-05.txt, Work in Progress,
        June 2002.

   [18] J. Rosenberg and H. Schulzrinne, "An offer/answer model with
        SDP," Internet Draft draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-offer-answer-
        02.txt, February 2002.











































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