CLUE WG A. Romanow
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems
Intended status: Informational S. Botzko
Expires: June 15, 2014 M. Barnes
Polycom
December 12, 2013
Requirements for Telepresence Multi-Streams
draft-ietf-clue-telepresence-requirements-07.txt
Abstract
This memo discusses the requirements for specifications, that enable
telepresence interoperability by describing behaviors and protocols
for Controlling Multiple Streams for Telepresence (CLUE). In
addition, the problem statement and related definitions are also
covered herein.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
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Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
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This Internet-Draft will expire on June 15, 2014.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Appendix A. Changes From Earlier Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A.1. Changes from draft -06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A.2. Changes from draft -05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A.3. Changes from draft -04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A.4. Changes from draft -03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A.5. Changes from draft -02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A.6. Changes from draft -01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A.7. Changes From Draft -00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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1. Introduction
Telepresence systems greatly improve collaboration. In a
telepresence conference (as used herein), the goal is to create an
environment that gives the users a feeling of (co-located) presence -
the feeling that a local user is in the same room with other local
users and the remote parties. Currently, systems from different
vendors often do not interoperate because they do the same tasks
differently, as discussed in the Problem Statement section below.
The approach taken in this memo is to set requirements for a future
specification(s) that, when fulfilled by an implementation of the
specification(s), provide for interoperability between IETF protocol
based telepresence systems. It is anticipated that a solution for
the requirements set out in this memo likely involves the exchange of
adequate information about participating sites; information that is
currently not standardized by the IETF.
The purpose of this document is to describe the requirements for a
specification that enables interworking between different SIP-based
[RFC3261] telepresence systems, by exchanging and negotiating
appropriate information. In the context of the requirements in this
document and related solution documents, this includes both point to
point SIP sessions as well as SIP based conferences as described in
the SIP conferencing framework [RFC4353] and the SIP based conference
control [RFC4579] specifications. Non IETF protocol based systems,
such as those based on ITU-T Rec. H.323, are out of scope. These
requirements are for the specification, they are not requirements on
the telepresence systems implementing the solution/protocol that will
be specified.
Telepresence systems of different vendors, today, can follow
radically different architectural approaches while offering a similar
user experience. CLUE will not dictate telepresence architectural
and implementation choices; however it will describe a protocol
architecture for CLUE and how it relates to other protocols. CLUE
enables interoperability between telepresence systems by exchanging
information about the systems' characteristics. Systems can use this
information to control their behavior to allow for interoperability
between those systems.
A telepresence session requires at least one sending and one
receiving endpoint. Multiparty telepresence sessions include more
than two endpoints, and centralized infrastructure such as Multipoint
Control Units (MCUs) or equivalent. CLUE specifies the syntax,
semantics, and control flow of information to enable the best
possible user experience at those endpoints.
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Sending endpoints, or MCUs, are not mandated to use any of the CLUE
specifications that describe their capabilities, attributes, or
behavior. Similarly, it is not envisioned that endpoints or MCUs
must ever take into account information received. However, by making
available as much information as possible, and by taking into account
as much information as has been received or exchanged, MCUs and
endpoints are expected to select operation modes that enable the best
possible user experience under their constraints.
The document structure is as follows: Definitions are set out,
followed by a description of the problem of telepresence
interoperability that led to this work. Then the requirements to a
specification addressing the current shortcomings are enumerated and
discussed.
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 [RFC2119].
3. Definitions
The following terms are used throughout this document and serve as
reference for other documents.
Audio Mixing: refers to the accumulation of scaled audio signals
to produce a single audio stream. See RTP Topologies, [RFC5117].
Conference: used as defined in [RFC4353], A Framework for
Conferencing within the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
Endpoint: The logical point of final termination through
receiving, decoding and rendering, and/or initiation through
capturing, encoding, and sending of media streams. An endpoint
consists of one or more physical devices which source and sink
media streams, and exactly one [RFC4353] Participant (which, in
turn, includes exactly one SIP User Agent). In contrast to an
endpoint, an MCU may also send and receive media streams, but it
is not the initiator nor the final terminator in the sense that
Media is Captured or Rendered. Endpoints can be anything from
multiscreen/multicamera rooms to handheld devices.
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Endpoint Characteristics: include placement of Capture and
Rendering Devices, capture/render angle, resolution of cameras and
screens, spatial location and mixing parameters of microphones.
Endpoint characteristics are not specific to individual media
streams sent by the endpoint.
Layout: How rendered media streams are spatially arranged with
respect to each other on a single screen/mono audio telepresence
endpoint, and how rendered media streams are arranged with respect
to each other on a multiple screen/speaker telepresence endpoint.
Note that audio as well as video is encompassed by the term
layout--in other words, included is the placement of audio streams
on speakers as well as video streams on video screens.
Local: Sender and/or receiver physically co-located ("local") in
the context of the discussion.
MCU: Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) - a device that connects two or
more endpoints together into one single multimedia conference
[RFC5117]. An MCU may include a Mixer [RFC4353].
Media: Any data that, after suitable encoding, can be conveyed
over RTP, including audio, video or timed text.
Model: a set of assumptions a telepresence system of a given
vendor adheres to and expects the remote telepresence system(s)
also to adhere to.
Remote: Sender and/or receiver on the other side of the
communication channel (depending on context); not Local. A remote
can be an Endpoint or an MCU.
Render: the process of generating a representation from a media,
such as displayed motion video or sound emitted from loudspeakers.
Telepresence: an environment that gives non co-located users or
user groups a feeling of (co-located) presence - the feeling that
a Local user is in the same room with other Local users and the
Remote parties. The inclusion of Remote parties is achieved
through multimedia communication including at least audio and
video signals of high fidelity.
4. Problem Statement
In order to create a "being there" experience characteristic of
telepresence, media inputs need to be transported, received, and
coordinated between participating systems. Different telepresence
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systems take diverse approaches in crafting a solution, or, they
implement similar solutions quite differently.
They use disparate techniques, and they describe, control and
negotiate media in dissimilar fashions. Such diversity creates an
interoperability problem. The same issues are solved in different
ways by different systems, so that they are not directly
interoperable. This makes interworking difficult at best and
sometimes impossible.
Worse, many telepresence systems use proprietary protocol extensions
to solve telepresence-related problems, even if those extensions are
based on common standards such as SIP.
Some degree of interworking between systems from different vendors is
possible through transcoding and translation. This requires
additional devices, which are expensive, often not entirely
automatic, and they sometimes introduce unwelcome side effects, such
as additional delay or degraded performance. Specialized knowledge
is currently required to operate a telepresence conference with
endpoints from different vendors, for example to configure
transcoding and translating devices. Often such conferences do not
start as planned, or are interrupted by difficulties that arise.
The general problem that needs to be solved can be described as
follows. Today, each endpoint sends audio and video captures based
upon an implicitly assumed model for rendering a realistic depiction
based on this information. If all endpoints are manufactured by the
same vendor, they work with the same model and render the information
according to the model implicitly assumed by the vendor. However, if
the devices are from different vendors, the models they each use for
rendering presence can and usually do differ. The result can be that
the telepresence systems actually connect, but the user experience
suffers, for example because one system assumes that the first video
stream is captured from the right camera, whereas the other assumes
the first video stream is captured from the left camera.
If Alice and Bob are at different sites, Alice needs to tell Bob
about the camera and sound equipment arrangement at her site so that
Bob's receiver can create an accurate rendering of her site. Alice
and Bob need to agree on what the salient characteristics are as well
as how to represent and communicate them. Characteristics may
include number, placement, capture/render angle, resolution of
cameras and screens, spatial location and audio mixing parameters of
microphones.
The telepresence multi-stream work seeks to describe the sender
situation in a way that allows the receiver to render it
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realistically even though it may have a different rendering model
than the sender.
5. Requirements
Although some aspects of these requirements can be met by existing
technology, such as SDP, they are stated here to have a complete
record of what the requirements for CLUE are, whether new work is
needed or they can be met by existing technology. Figuring this out
will be part of the solution development, rather than part of the
requirements. Note, the term "solution" is used in these
requirements to mean the protocol specifications, including
extensions to existing protocols as well as any new protocols,
developed to support the use cases. The solution can introduce
additional functionality that isn't mapped directly to these
requirements - e.g., the detailed information carried in the
signaling protocol(s). In cases where the requirements are directly
related to a specific use case, a reference to the use case is
provided.
REQMT-1: The solution MUST support a description of the spatial
arrangement of source video images sent in video streams
which enables a satisfactory reproduction at the receiver
of the original scene. This applies to each site in a
point to point or a multipoint meeting and refers to the
spatial ordering within a site, not to the ordering of
images between sites.
Use case point to point symmetric, and all other use
cases.
REQMT-1a: The solution MUST support a means of allowing
the preservation of the order of images in the
captured scene. For example, if John is to
Susan's right in the image capture, John is
also to Susan's right in the rendered image.
REQMT-1b: The solution MUST support a means of allowing
the preservation of order of images in the
scene in two dimensions - horizontal and
vertical.
REQMT-1c: The solution MUST support a means to identify
the point of capture of individual video
captures in three dimensions.
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REQMT-1d: The solution MUST support a means to identify
the area of coverage of individual video
captures in three dimensions.
REQMT-2: The solution MUST support a description of the spatial
arrangement of captured source audio sent in audio streams
which enables a satisfactory reproduction at the receiver
in a spatially correct manner. This applies to each site
in a point to point or a multipoint meeting and refers to
the spatial ordering within a site, not the ordering of
channels between sites.
Use case point to point symmetric, and all use cases,
especially heterogeneous.
REQMT-2a: The solution MUST support a means of preserving
the spatial order of audio in the captured
scene. For example, if John sounds as if he is
at Susan's right in the captured audio, John
voice is also placed at Susan's right in the
rendered image.
REQMT-2b: The solution MUST support a means to identify
the number and spatial arrangement of audio
channels including monaural, stereophonic
(2.0), and 3.0 (left, center, right) audio
channels.
REQMT-2c: The solution MUST support a means to identify
the point of capture of individual audio
captures in three dimensions.
REQMT-2d: The solution MUST support a means to identify
the area of coverage of individual audio
captures in three dimensions.
REQMT-3: The solution MUST enable individual audio streams to be
associated with one or more video image captures, and
individual video image captures to be associated with one
or more audio captures, for the purpose of rendering
proper position.
Use case is point to point symmetric, and all use cases.
REQMT-4: The solution MUST enable interoperability between
endpoints that have a different number of similar devices.
For example, one endpoint may have 1 screen, 1 speaker, 1
camera, 1 mic, and another endpoint may have 3 screens, 2
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speakers, 3 cameras and 2 microphones. Or, in a multi-
point conference, one endpoint may have one screen,
another may have 2 screens and a third may have 3 screens.
This includes endpoints where the number of devices of a
given type is zero.
Use case is asymmetric point to point and multipoint.
REQMT-5: The solution MUST support means of enabling
interoperability between telepresence endpoints where
cameras are of different picture aspect ratios.
REQMT-6: The solution MUST provide scaling information which
enables rendering of a video image at the actual size of
the captured scene.
REQMT-7: The solution MUST support means of enabling
interoperability between telepresence endpoints where
displays are of different resolutions.
REQMT-8: The solution MUST support methods for handling different
bit rates in the same conference.
REQMT-9: The solution MUST support means of enabling
interoperability between endpoints that send and receive
different numbers of media streams.
Use case heterogeneous and multipoint.
REQMT-10: The solution MUST ensure that endpoints that support
telepresence extensions can establish a session with a SIP
endpoint that does not support the telepresence
extensions. For example, in the case of a SIP endpoint
that supports a single audio and a single video stream, an
endpoint that supports the telepresence extensions would
setup a session with a single audio and single video
stream using existing SIP and SDP mechanisms.
REQMT-11: The solution MUST support a mechanism for determining
whether or not an endpoint or MCU is capable of
telepresence extensions.
REQMT-12: The solution MUST support a means to enable more than two
endpoints to participate in a teleconference.
Use case multipoint.
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REQMT-13: The solution MUST support both transcoding and switching
approaches to providing multipoint conferences.
REQMT-14: The solution MUST support mechanisms to allow media from
one source endpoint or/and multiple source endpoints to be
sent to a remote endpoint at a particular point in time.
Which media is sent at a point in time may be based on
local policy.
REQMT-15: The solution MUST provide mechanisms to support the
following:
* Presentations with different media sources
* Presentations for which the media streams are visible
to all endpoints
* Multiple, simultaneous presentation media streams,
including presentation media streams that are spatially
related to each other.
Use case is presentation.
REQMT-16: The specification of any new protocols for the solution
MUST provide extensibility mechanisms.
REQMT-17: The solution MUST support a mechanism for allowing
information about media captures to change during a
conference.
REQMT-18: The solution MUST provide a mechanism for the secure
exchange of information about the media captures.
6. Acknowledgements
This draft has benefitted from all the comments on the mailing list
and a number of discussions. So many people contributed that it is
not possible to list them all. However, the comments provided by
Roberta Presta, Christian Groves and Paul Coverdale during WGLC were
particularly helpful in completing the WG document.
7. IANA Considerations
There are no IANA considerations associated with this specification.
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8. Security Considerations
Requirement REQMT-18 identifies the need to securely transport the
information about media captures. It is important to note that
session setup for a telepresence session will use SIP for basic
session setup and either SIP or CCMP for a multi-party telepresence
session. Information carried in the SIP signaling can be secured by
the SIP security mechanisms as defined in [RFC3261]. In the case of
conference control using CCMP, the security model and mechanisms as
defined in the XCON Framework [RFC5239] and CCMP [RFC6503] documents
would meet the requirement. Any additional signaling mechanism used
to transport the information about media captures would need to
define the mechanisms by the which the information is secure. The
details for the mechanisms needs to be defined and described in the
CLUE framework document and related solution document(s).
9. Informative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC3261] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston,
A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E.
Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261,
June 2002.
[RFC4353] Rosenberg, J., "A Framework for Conferencing with the
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 4353,
February 2006.
[RFC4579] Johnston, A. and O. Levin, "Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP) Call Control - Conferencing for User Agents",
BCP 119, RFC 4579, August 2006.
[RFC5117] Westerlund, M. and S. Wenger, "RTP Topologies", RFC 5117,
January 2008.
[RFC5239] Barnes, M., Boulton, C., and O. Levin, "A Framework for
Centralized Conferencing", RFC 5239, June 2008.
[RFC6503] Barnes, M., Boulton, C., Romano, S., and H. Schulzrinne,
"Centralized Conferencing Manipulation Protocol",
RFC 6503, March 2012.
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Appendix A. Changes From Earlier Versions
Note to the RFC-Editor: please remove this section prior to
publication as an RFC.
A.1. Changes from draft -06
Addressing IETF LC comments/editorial nits resulting in the following
changes:
o Included expansion of CLUE in the abstract.
o Deleted definitions for "Left" and "Right".
o Section 5 - clarified that solution = protocol specifications to
support requirements.
o REQMT-1d, REQMT-2d: Changed term "extent" to "area of coverage"
o REQMT-10 - clarified requirement with regards to interworking with
non-CLUE endpoints
o REQMT-15 - reworded to be more specific and normative
o REQMT-16 - expanded on what is meant by "extensibility"
A.2. Changes from draft -05
Addressing WGLC comments resulting in the following changes:
o REQMT-12: Changed term "site" to "endpoint"
o Intro: clarified that SIP based conferencing also is relevant to
CLUE.
o Intro: clarified that while CLUE doesn't dictate implementation
choices, it does describe a framework for the protocol solution.
o Clarified that mapping to use cases isn't comprehensive (i.e.,
only done when there is a direct correlation).
o Added text that the requirements do not reflect all those required
for the solution - i.e., the solution can provide more
functionality as needed.
o Editorial nits and clarifications - changed lc "must" to UC
(REQMT-17).
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A.3. Changes from draft -04
o Removed REQMT-2c, related to issue #37 in the tracker.
o Deleted REQMT-3b. Condensed REQMT-3 to subsume REQMT-3a. This is
related to Issue #38 in the tracker.
o Updated REQMT-14 based on (mailing list) resolution of Issue #39.
o Deleted OPEN issue section as those were transferred to the ID
tracker and have been resolved either by changes to this document
or to earlier versions of the document
A.4. Changes from draft -03
o Added a tad more text to the security section Paragraph 18.
A.5. Changes from draft -02
o Updated IANA section - i.e., no IANA registrations required.
o Added security requirement Paragraph 18.
o Added some initial text to the security section.
A.6. Changes from draft -01
o Cleaned up the Problem Statement section, re-worded.
o Added Requirement Paragraph 17 in response to WG Issue #4 to make
a requirement for dynamically changing information. Approved by
WG
o Added requirements #1.c and #1.d. Approved by WG
o Added requirements #2.d and #2.e. Approved by WG
A.7. Changes From Draft -00
o Requirement #2, The solution MUST support a means to identify
monaural, stereophonic (2.0), and 3.0 (left, center, right) audio
channels.
changed to
The solution MUST support a means to identify the number and
spatial arrangement of audio channels including monaural,
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stereophonic (2.0), and 3.0 (left, center, right) audio channels.
o Added back references to the Use case document.
* Requirement #1 Use case point to point symmetric, and all other
use cases.
* Requirement #2 Use case point to point symmetric, and all use
cases, especially heterogeneous.
* Requirement #3 Use case point to point symmetric, and all use
cases.
* Requirement #4 Use case is asymmetric point to point, and
multipoint.
* Requirement #9 Use case heterogeneous and multipoint.
* Requirement #12 Use case multipoint.
Authors' Addresses
Allyn Romanow
Cisco Systems
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
Email: allyn@cisco.com
Stephen Botzko
Polycom
Andover, MA 01810
US
Email: stephen.botzko@polycom.com
Mary Barnes
Polycom
Email: mary.ietf.barnes@gmail.com
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