Network Working Group                                           A. Niemi
Internet-Draft                                                   K. Kiss
Intended status: Standards Track                                   Nokia
Expires: November 12, 2009                                     S. Loreto
                                                                Ericsson
                                                            May 11, 2009


   Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Notification Extension for
                       Notification Rate Control
                draft-ietf-sipcore-event-rate-control-00

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Abstract

   This document specifies mechanisms for adjusting the rate of Session
   Initiation Protocol (SIP) event notifications.  These mechanisms can
   be applied in subscriptions to all SIP event packages.


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Definitions and Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.1.  Use Case for maximizing the rate of notifications  . . . .  4
     3.2.  Use Case for minimizing the rate of notifications  . . . .  5
     3.3.  Use Case for specifying the average rate of
           notifications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     3.4.  Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     3.5.  The maximum rate mechanism for Resource List Server  . . .  7
     3.6.  Basic Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.  Operation of the maximum rate mechanism  . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.1.  Subscriber Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.2.  Notifier Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.3.  Selecting the maximum rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     4.4.  Buffer Policy Description  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
       4.4.1.  Partial State Notifications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
       4.4.2.  Full State Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     4.5.  Estimated Bandwidth Savings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   5.  Operation of the minimum rate mechanism  . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.1.  Subscriber Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.2.  Notifier Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   6.  Operation of the average rate mechanism  . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     6.1.  Subscriber Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     6.2.  Notifier Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.3.  Calculating the timeout  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   7.  Usage of "min-interval", "max-interval" and
       "average-interval" in a combination  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   8.  Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.1.  "min-interval", "max-interval" and "average-interval"
           Header Field Parameters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.2.  Augmented BNF Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   9.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   10. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   11. Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21




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1.  Introduction

   The SIP events framework [RFC3265] defines a generic framework for
   subscriptions to and notifications of events related to SIP systems.
   This framework defines the methods SUBSCRIBE and NOTIFY, and
   introduces the concept of an event package, which is a concrete
   application of the SIP events framework to a particular class of
   events.

   One of the things the SIP events framework mandates is that each
   event package specification defines an absolute maximum on the rate
   at which notifications are allowed to be generated by a single
   notifier.  Such a limit is provided in order to reduce network
   congestion.

   All of the existing event package specifications include a maximum
   notification rate recommendation, ranging from once in every five
   seconds [RFC3856], [RFC3680], [RFC3857] to once per second [RFC3842].

   Per the SIP events framework, each event package specification is
   also allowed to define additional throttle mechanisms which allow the
   subscriber to further limit the rate of event notification.  So far
   none of the event package specifications have defined such a
   mechanism.

   The resource list extension [RFC4662] to the SIP events framework
   also deals with rate limiting of event notifications.  The extension
   allows a subscriber to subscribe to a heterogeneous list of resources
   with a single SUBSCRIBE request, rather than having to install a
   subscription for each resource separately.  The event list
   subscription also allows rate limiting, or throttling of
   notifications, by means of the Resource List Server (RLS) buffering
   notifications of resource state changes, and sending them in batches.
   However, the event list mechanism provides no means for the
   subscriber to set the interval for the throttling; it is strictly an
   implementation decision whether batching of notifications is
   supported, and by what means.

   This document defines an extension to the SIP events framework
   defining the following three "Event" header field parameters that
   allow a subscriber to set a Minimum, a Maximum and an Average rate of
   event notifications generated by the notifier:

   min-interval:  specifies a minimum notification time period between
      two notifications, in seconds.






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   max-interval:  specifies a maximum notification time period between
      two notifications, in seconds.  Whenever the time since the most
      recent notification exceeds the value in the "max-interval"
      parameter, then the current state would be sent in its entirety,
      just like after a subscription refresh.

   average-interval:  specifies an average cadence at which
      notifications are desired, in seconds.  It works similar to the
      "max-interval" parameter, except that it will reduce the frequency
      at which notifications are sent if several have already been sent
      recently.

   The requirements and model are further discussed in Section 3.  All
   those mechanisms are simply timer values that indicates the minimum,
   maximum and average time period allowed between two notifications.
   As a result of those mechanism, a compliant notifier will adjust the
   rate at which it generates notifications.

   These mechanisms are applicable to any event subscription, both
   single event subscription and event list subscription.


2.  Definitions and Document Conventions

   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] and
   indicate requirement levels for compliant implementations.

      Indented passages such as this one are used in this document to
      provide additional information and clarifying text.  They do not
      contain normative protocol behavior.


3.  Overview

3.1.  Use Case for maximizing the rate of notifications

   A presence client in a mobile device contains a list of 100 buddies
   or presentities.  In order to decrease the processing and network
   load of watching 100 presentities, the presence client has employed a
   Resource List Server (RLS) with the list of buddies, and therefore
   only needs a single subscription to the RLS in order to receive
   notification of the presence state of the resource list.

   In order to control the buffer policy of the RLS, the presence client
   sets a maximum rate ("min-interval" parameter), i.e. a minimum time
   interval between two notifications.  Alternatively, the presence



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   client could set the maximum rate for the resource list via a list
   manipulation interface, e.g., using the XML Configuration Access
   Protocol (XCAP) [RFC4825].

   The RLS will buffer notifications that do not comply with the maximum
   rate and batch all of the buffered state changes together in a single
   notification only when allowed by the maximum rate.  The maximum rate
   applies to the overall resource list, which means that there is a
   hard cap imposed by the maximum rate to the amount of traffic the
   presence client can expect to receive.

   For example, with a "min-interval" of 20 seconds, the presence
   application can expect to receive a notification at a minimum of
   every 20 seconds.

   The presence client can also modify the "min-interval" parameter
   during the lifetime of the subscription.  For example, if the User
   Interface (UI) of the application shows inactivity for a period of
   time, it can simply pause the notifications by setting the "min-
   interval" parameter to the subscription expiration time, while still
   keeping the subscription alive.  When the user becomes active again,
   the presence client can resume the stream of notifications by re-
   setting the "min-interval" parameter to the earlier used value.

      Currently, a subscription refresh is needed in order to update the
      maximum rate.  However, this is highly inefficient, since each
      refresh automatically generates a (full-state) notification
      carrying the latest resource state.  There is work
      [I-D.ietf-sipcore-subnot-etags] ongoing to solve these
      inefficiencies.

3.2.  Use Case for minimizing the rate of notifications

   A location application is monitoring the movement of a target.

   In order to decrease the processing and network load, the location
   application has made a subscription with a set of location filters
   [I-D.ietf-geopriv-loc-filters] that specify trigger criterias, for
   example, to send an update only when the target has moved at least n
   meters.  However, the application is also interested to receive the
   current state periodically even if the state of the target is
   unchanged or has not changed enough to satisfy any of the trigger
   criteria, i.e. has not moved at least n meters within the period.

   In order to control the actual state, the location application sets a
   minimum rate ("max-interval" parameter), i.e. a maximum time interval
   between two notifications.  The minimum rate setting triggers a
   notification that is exactly and precisely like a notification after



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   a subscription refresh.

   The location application can also modify the "max-interval" parameter
   during the lifetime of the subscription.

3.3.  Use Case for specifying the average rate of notifications

   The previous mechanisms introduce a static and instantaneous rate
   control.  However there are some applications that would work better
   with an adaptive rate control.  This section illustrates the tracking
   scenario.

   A tracking application is monitoring a target.

   In order to decrease the processing and network load, the tracking
   application wants to make a subscription that dynamically increases
   the interval between notifications if the target has sent out several
   notifications recently.

   In order to set an adaptive rate control, the application defines a
   average cadence ("average-interval" parameter) at which notifications
   are desired.  The "average-interval" parameter value is used by the
   notifier to dynamically calculate the maximum time allowed between
   two subscriptions.  In order to dynamically calculate the maximum,
   the Notifier takes into consideration the frequency at which
   notifications have been sent recently.

   This type of rate control allows the notifier to dynamically increase
   or decrease the Notification frequency.

   The tracking application can also modify the "average-interval"
   parameter during the lifetime of the subscription.

3.4.  Requirements

   REQ1:   The subscriber must be able to set the minimum time period
           ("min-interval" parameter) between two notifications in a
           specific subscription.

   REQ2:   The subscriber must be able to set the maximum time period
           ("max-interval" parameter) between two notifications in a
           specific subscription.

   REQ3:   The subscriber must be able to set an average cadence
           ("average-interval" parameter) at which notifications are
           desired in a specific subscription.





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   REQ4:   It must be possible to apply all together, or in any
           combination, the "min-interval", "max-interval" and "average-
           interval" mechanisms in a specific subscription.

   REQ5:   It must be possible to use of the different rate control
           mechanisms in subscriptions to any events.

   REQ6:   It must be possible to use the different rate control
           mechanisms together with any other event filtering
           mechanisms.

   REQ7:   The notifier must be allowed to use a policy in which the
           minimum time period between two notifications is adjusted
           from the value given by the subscriber.

              For example, due to congestion reasons, local policy at
              the notifier could temporarily dictate a policy that in
              effect increases the subscriber-configured minimum time
              period between two notifications.

   REQ8:   The different rate control mechanisms must discuss corner
           cases for setting the time periods between two notifications.
           At a minimum, the mechanisms must include discussion of the
           situation resulting from a minimum, maximum or average time
           period which exceeds the subscription duration, and should
           provide mechanisms for avoiding this situation.

   REQ9:   The different rate control mechanisms must be possible to be
           installed, modified, or removed in the course of an active
           subscription.

   REQ10:  The different rate control mechanisms must allow for the
           application of authentication and integrity protection
           mechanisms to subscriptions invoking that mechanism.

      Note that Section 10 contains further discussion on the security
      implications of the different rate control mechanisms.

3.5.  The maximum rate mechanism for Resource List Server

   When applied to a list subscription, the maximum rate mechanism has
   some additional considerations.  Specifically, the maximum rate
   applies to the aggregate notification stream resulting from the list
   subscription, rather than explicitly controlling the notification of
   each of the implied constituent events.  Moreover, the list event
   notifier can use the maximum rate mechanism on its own to control the
   rate of the individual subscriptions to avoid overflowing its buffer.




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   The notifier is responsible for sending out event notifications upon
   state changes of the subscribed resource.  We can model the notifier
   as consisting of three components: the event state resource(s), the
   Resource List Server (RLS) (or any other notifier), a notification
   buffer, and finally the subscriber, or watcher of the event state, as
   shown in Figure 1.

                       +--------+
                       | Event  |
        +--------+     |Resource|     +--------+
        | Event  |     +--------+     | Event  |
        |Resource|         |          |Resource|
        +---.=---+         |          +---=----+
              `-..         |         _.--'
                  ``-._    |    _.--'
                       +'--'--'-+
                       |Resource|
                       |  List  |
                       | Server |
                       +---.----+
                           |
                           |
                        )--+---(
                        |      |       .------------.
                        |Buffer|<======'min-interval|
                        |      |       `------------'
                        )--.---(
                           |
                           |
                       .---+---.
                       | Event |
                       |Watcher|
                       `-------'


       Figure 1: Model for the Resource List Server (RLS) Supporting
                                Throttling

   In short, the RLS reads event state changes from the event state
   resource, either by creating a back end subscription, or by other
   means; it packages them into event notifications, and submits them
   into the output buffer.  The rate at which this output buffer drains
   is controlled by the subscriber via the maximum rate mechanism.  When
   a set of notifications are batched together, the way in which
   overlapping resource state is handled depends on the type of the
   resource state:





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      In theory, there are many buffer policies that the notifier could
      implement.  However, we only concentrate on two practical buffer
      policies in this specification, leaving additional ones for
      further study and out of the scope of this work.  These two buffer
      policies depend on the mode in which the notifier is operating.

   Full-state:  Last (most recent) full state notification of each
      resource is sent out, and all others in the buffer are discarded.
      This policy applies to those event packages that carry full-state
      notifications.

   Partial-state:  The state deltas of each buffered partial
      notification per resource are merged, and the resulting
      notification is sent out.  This policy applies to those event
      packages that carry partial-state notifications.

3.6.  Basic Operation

   A subscriber that wants to limit the rate of event notification in a
   specific event subscription does so by including a "min-interval"
   Event header parameter as part of the SUBSCRIBE request.  The "min-
   interval" value indicates the minimum time allowed between
   transmission of two consecutive notifications in a subscription.

      Note that the witnessed time between two consecutive received
      notifications may not conform to the "min-interval" value for a
      number of reasons.  For example, network jitter and
      retransmissions may result in the subscriber receiving the
      notifications with smaller intervals than the "min-interval" value
      recommends.

   A subscriber that wants to have a maximum notification time period in
   a specific event subscription does so by including a "max-interval"
   Event header parameter as part of the SUBSCRIBE request.  The "max-
   interval" value indicates the maximum time allowed between
   transmission of two consecutive notifications in a subscription.

   A subscriber that wants to have an average cadence for the
   notifications in a specific event subscription does so by including a
   "average-interval" Event header parameter as part of the SUBSCRIBE
   request.

   A notifier that supports the different rate control mechanisms will
   comply with the value given in "min-interval", "max-interval" and
   "average-interval" parameters and adjust its rate of notification
   accordingly.  However, if the notifier needs to lower the
   subscription expiration value or a local policy at the notifier can
   not satisfy the rate control request, then the notifier can adjust



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   opportunely the subscriber requested rate control.

   Rate controlled notifications will have exactly the same properties
   as the ones without rate control, with the exception that they will
   be generated within the timing constraints requested.


4.  Operation of the maximum rate mechanism

4.1.  Subscriber Behavior

   In general, the way in which a subscriber generates SUBSCRIBE
   requests and processes NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265
   [RFC3265].

   A subscriber that wishes to apply a maximum rate to notifications in
   a subscription MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that includes a
   minimum time interval between two consecutive notifications included
   in the "min-interval" Event header field parameter.  The value of
   this parameter is an integral number of seconds in decimal.

   A subscriber that wishes to remove a the maximum rate control from
   notifications MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that does not
   include a "min-interval" Event header field parameter.

   There are two main consequences for the subscriber when applying the
   maximum rate mechanism: state transitions may be lost, and event
   notifications may be delayed.  If either of these side effects
   constitute a problem to the application that is to utilize event
   notifications, developers are instructed not to use the mechanism.

4.2.  Notifier Behavior

   In general, the way in which a notifier processes SUBSCRIBE requests
   and generates NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265 [RFC3265].

   A notifier that supports the maximum rate mechanism MUST extract the
   value of the "min-interval" Event header parameter and use it as the
   suggested time allowed between two notifications.  This value can be
   adjusted by the notifier, as defined in Section 4.3.

   A compliant notifier MUST reflect back the possibly adjusted minimum
   time interval in a "min-interval" Subscription-State header field
   parameter of the subsequent NOTIFY requests.  The indicated "min-
   interval" value is adopted by the notifier, and the notification rate
   is adjusted accordingly.

   A notifier that does not understand this extension will not reflect



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   the "min-interval" Subscription-State header field parameter in the
   NOTIFY requests; the absence of this parameter serves as a hint to
   the subscriber that no rate control is supported by the notifier.

   A compliant notifier MUST NOT generate notifications more frequently
   than the maximum rate allows for, except when generating the
   notification either upon receipt of a SUBSCRIBE request (the first
   notification), when the subscription state is changing from "pending"
   to "active" state or upon termination of the subscription (the last
   notification).  Such notifications reset the timer for the next
   notification, even though they do not need to abide by it.

   When a local policy dictates a maximum rate for notifications, a
   notifier will not generate notifications more frequently than the
   local policy maximum rate, even if the subscriber is not asking for
   maximum rate control.  The notifier MAY inform the subscriber about
   such local policy maximum rate using the "min-interval" Subscription-
   State header field parameter included in the subsequent NOTIFY
   requests.

   Retransmissions of NOTIFY requests are not affected by the maximum
   rate mechanism, i.e., the maximum rate mechanism only applies to the
   generation of new transactions.  In other words, the maximum rate
   mechanism does not in any way break or modify the normal
   retransmission mechanism.

4.3.  Selecting the maximum rate

   Special care needs to be taken when selecting the "min-interval"
   value.  Using the "min-interval" syntax it is possible to insist both
   very short and very long intervals between notifications.  For
   example, the maximum rate could potentially set a minimum time value
   between notifications that exceeds the subscription expiration value.
   Such a configuration would effectively quench the notifier, resulting
   in exactly two notifications to be generated.

   In some cases it makes sense to pause the notification stream on an
   existing subscription dialog on a temporary basis without terminating
   the subscription, e.g. due to inactivity on the application UI.
   Whenever a subscriber discovers the need to perform the notification
   pause operation, it SHOULD set the "min-interval" value to the
   remaining subscription expiration value.  This results in receiving
   no further notifications until the subscription expires, renewed or
   notifications are resumed by the subscriber.

   The notifier is responsible for adjusting the proposed maximum rate
   value based on its local policy or other properties.




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   If the subscriber requests a "min-interval" value greater than the
   subscription expiration, the notifier MUST lower the "min-interval"
   value and set it to the expiration time left.  According to RFC 3265
   [RFC3265] the notifier may also shorten the subscription expiry
   anytime during an active subscription.  For such cases, the notifier
   MUST also lower the "min-interval" value and set it to the reduced
   expiration time.

   The notifier MAY also choose a higher "min-interval" value, e.g.,
   because of static configuration given by local policy.  The notifier
   MUST include the adjusted "min-interval" value in the Subscription-
   State header field's "min-interval" parameter in each of the NOTIFY
   requests.  In addition, different event packages MAY define
   additional constraints to the allowed "min-interval" intervals.  Such
   constraints are out of the scope of this specification.

4.4.  Buffer Policy Description

4.4.1.  Partial State Notifications

   With partial notifications, the notifier will always need to keep
   both a copy of the current full state of the resource F, as well as
   the last successfully communicated full state view F' of the resource
   in a specific subscription.  The construction of a partial
   notification then involves creating a difference of the two states,
   and generating a notification that contains that difference.

   When the maximum rate mechanism is applied to the subscription, it is
   important that F' is replaced with F only when the difference of F
   and F' was already included in a partial state notification to the
   subscriber allowed by the maximum rate mechanism.  Additionally, the
   notifier implementation SHOULD check to see that the size of an
   accumulated partial state notification is smaller than the full
   state, and if not, the notifier SHOULD send the full state
   notification instead.

4.4.2.  Full State Notifications

   With full state notifications, the notifier only needs to keep the
   full state of the resource, and when that changes, send the resulting
   notification over to the subscriber.

   When the maximum rate mechanism is applied to the subscription, the
   notifier receives the state changes of the resource, and generates a
   notification.  If there is a pending notification, the notifier
   simply replaces that notification with the new notification,
   discarding the older state.




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4.5.  Estimated Bandwidth Savings

   It is difficult to estimate the total bandwidth savings accrued by
   using the maximum rate mechanism over a subscription, since such
   estimates will vary depending on the usage scenarios.  However, it is
   easy to see that given a subscription where several full state
   notifications would have normally been sent in any given interval set
   by the "min-interval" parameter, only a single notification is sent
   during the same interval when using the maximum rate mechanism,
   yielding bandwidth savings of several times the notification size.

   With partial-state notifications, drawing estimates is further
   complicated by the fact that the states of consecutive updates may or
   may not overlap.  However, even in the worst case scenario, where
   each partial update is to a different part of the full state, a rate
   controlled notification merging all of these n partial states
   together should at a maximum be the size of a full-state update.  In
   this case, the bandwidth savings are approximately n times the size
   of the NOTIFY header.

   It is also true that there are several compression schemes available
   that have been designed to save bandwidth in SIP, e.g., SigComp
   [RFC3320] and TLS compression [RFC3943].  However, such compression
   schemes are complementary rather than competing mechanisms to the
   maximum rate mechanism.  After all, they can both be applied
   simultaneously, and in such a way that the compound savings are as
   good as the sum of applying each one alone.


5.  Operation of the minimum rate mechanism

5.1.  Subscriber Behavior

   In general, the way in which a subscriber generates SUBSCRIBE
   requests and processes NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265
   [RFC3265].

   A subscriber that wishes to apply a minimum rate to notifications in
   a subscription MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that includes a
   maximum time interval between two consecutive notifications included
   in the "max-interval" Event header field parameter.

   A subscriber that wishes to remove the minimum rate control from
   notifications MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that does not
   include a "max-interval" Event header field parameter.  The value of
   this parameter is an integral number of seconds in decimal.

   The main consequence for the subscriber when applying the minimum



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   rate mechanism is that it can receive a notification even if nothing
   has changed in the current state of the notifier.

   There is work [I-D.ietf-sipcore-subnot-etags] ongoing to only send a
   reference in a notification if nothing has changed.

5.2.  Notifier Behavior

   In general, the way in which a notifier processes SUBSCRIBE requests
   and generates NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265 [RFC3265].

   A notifier that supports the minimum rate mechanism MUST extract the
   value of the "max-interval" Event header parameter and use it as the
   suggested maximum time allowed between two notifications.  This value
   can be adjusted by the notifier based on its local policy or other
   properties.

   A compliant notifier MUST reflect back the possibly adjusted maximum
   time interval in a "max-interval" Subscription-State header field
   parameter of the subsequent NOTIFY requests.  The indicated "max-
   interval" value is adopted by the notifier, and the notification rate
   is adjusted accordingly.

   A notifier that does not understand this extension, will not reflect
   the "max-interval" Subscription-State header field parameter in the
   NOTIFY requests; the absence of this parameter serves as a hint to
   the subscriber that no rate control is supported by the notifier.

   A compliant notifier MUST generate notifications whenever the time
   since the most recent notification exceeds the value in the "max-
   interval" parameter.  The NOTIFY request then MUST contain the
   current state in its entirety, just like after a subscription
   refresh.

   Retransmissions of NOTIFY requests are not affected by the minimum
   rate mechanism, i.e., the minimum rate mechanism only applies to the
   generation of new transactions.  In other words, the minimum rate
   mechanism does not in any way break or modify the normal
   retransmission mechanism.


6.  Operation of the average rate mechanism

6.1.  Subscriber Behavior

   In general, the way in which a subscriber generates SUBSCRIBE
   requests and processes NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265
   [RFC3265].



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   A subscriber that wishes to apply an average rate to notifications in
   a subscription MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that includes a
   proposed average time interval between two consecutive notifications
   included in a "average-interval" Event header field parameter.  The
   value of this parameter is an integral number of seconds in decimal.

   A subscriber that wishes to remove the average rate control from
   notifications MUST construct a SUBSCRIBE request that does not
   include the "average-interval" Event header field parameter.

   The main consequence for the subscriber when applying the average
   rate mechanism is that it can receive a notification even if nothing
   has changed in the current state of the notifier.

   There is work [I-D.ietf-sipcore-subnot-etags] ongoing to only send a
   reference in a notification if nothing has changed.

6.2.  Notifier Behavior

   In general, the way in which a notifier processes SUBSCRIBE requests
   and generates NOTIFY requests is according to RFC 3265 [RFC3265].

   A notifier that supports the average rate mechanism MUST extract the
   value of the "average-interval" Event header parameter, and uses it
   to calculate the maximum time allowed between two transactions as
   defined in Section 6.3.  This value can be adjusted by the notifier
   based on its local policy or other properties.

   A compliant notifier MUST reflect back the possibly adjusted average
   time interval in an "average-interval" Subscription-State header
   field parameter of the subsequent NOTIFY requests.  The indicated
   "average-interval" value is adopted by the notifier, and the
   notification rate is adjusted accordingly.

   A notifier that does not understand this extension will not reflect
   the "average-interval" Subscription-State header parameter in the
   NOTIFY requests; the absence of this parameter serves as a hint to
   the subscriber that no rate control is supported by the notifier.

   A compliant notifier MUST generate notifications whenever the time
   since the most recent notification exceeds the value calculated using
   the formula defined in Section 6.3.

   The average rate mechanism is implemented as follows:







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   1)  When a subscription is first created, the notifier creates a
       record that keeps track of the number of notifications that have
       been sent in the "period".  This record is initialized to contain
       a history of having sent one message every "average-interval"
       seconds for the "period".

   2)  The "timeout" value is calculated according to the equation given
       in Section 6.3.

   3)  If the timeout period passes without a NOTIFY request being sent
       in the subscription, then the current resource state is sent
       (subject to any filtering associated with the subscription).

   4)  Whenever a NOTIFY request is sent (regardless of whether due to a
       timeout or a state change), the notifier updates the notification
       history record, recalculates the value of "timeout," and returns
       to step 3.

   Retransmissions of NOTIFY requests are not affected by the timeout,
   i.e., the timeout only applies to the generation of new transactions.
   In other words, the timeout does not in any way break or modify the
   normal retransmission mechanism.

6.3.  Calculating the timeout

   The formula used to vary the absolute pacing in a way that will meet
   the average rate requested over the period is given in equation (1):

   timeout = (average-interval ^ 2) * count / period              (1)


   The output of the formula, "timeout", is the time to the next
   notification, expressed in seconds.  The formula has three inputs:

   average-interval:  The value of the "average-interval" parameter
      conveyed in the Event header field, in seconds.

   period:  The rolling average period, in seconds.  A suggested
      reasonable period is 60 seconds.

      [OPEN ISSUE] Is the period value something we should be able to
      tune, or we can simply specify a reasonable period?

   count:  The number of notifications that have been sent during the
      last "period" of seconds.

   In case both the maximum rate and the average rate mechanisms are
   used in the same subscription the formula used to dynamically



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   calculate the timeout is given in equation (2):


timeout = MAX[min-interval, (average-interval ^ 2) * count / period] (2)


   min-interval:  The value of the "min-interval" parameter conveyed in
      the Event header field, in seconds.

   The formula in (2) makes sure that for all the possible values of the
   "min-interval" and "average-interval" parameters, with "average-
   interval" > "min-interval", the timeout never results in a lower
   value than the value of the "min-interval" parameter.


7.  Usage of "min-interval", "max-interval" and "average-interval" in a
    combination

   Applications can subscribe to an event package using all the rate
   control mechanisms individually, or in combination; in fact there is
   no technical incompatibility among them.  However there are some
   combinations of the different rate control mechanisms that make
   little sense to be used together.  This section lists all the
   combinations that are possible to insert in a subscription; the
   utility to use each combination in a subscription is also analyzed.

   min-interval and max-interval:  this combination allows to reduce the
      notification frequency rate, but at the same time assures the
      reception of a notification every time the most recent
      notification exceeds a specified interval.

      A subscriber SHOULD choose a "max-interval" value higher than the
      "min-interval" value, otherwise the notifier MUST adjust the
      subscriber provided "max-interval" value to a value equivalent or
      higher than the "min-interval" value.

   min-interval and average-interval:  it works in a similar way as the
      combination above, but with the difference that the interval at
      which notifications are assured changes dynamically.

      A subscriber SHOULD choose a "average-interval" value higher than
      the "min-interval" value, otherwise the notifier MUST adjust the
      subscriber provided "average-interval" value to a value equivalent
      or higher than the "min-interval" value.







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   max-interval and average-interval:  as both the parameters are
      designed as minimum rate mechanisms, this combination makes sense
      only in some corner cases.

      A subscriber SHOULD choose a "max-interval" value higher than the
      "average-interval" value, otherwise the notifier MUST not consider
      the "max-interval" value.

   min-interval, max-interval and average-interval:  this combination
      makes little sense to be used.


8.  Syntax

   This section describes the syntax extensions required for the
   different rate control mechanisms.

8.1.  "min-interval", "max-interval" and "average-interval" Header Field
      Parameters

   The "min-interval", "max-interval" and "average-interval" parameters
   are added to the rule definitions of the Event header field and the
   Subscription-State header field in the SIP Events [RFC3265] grammar.
   Usage of this parameter is described in Section 4, Section 5 and
   Section 6.

8.2.  Augmented BNF Definitions

   This section describes the Augmented BNF [RFC5234] definitions for
   the new syntax elements.  Note that we derive here from the ruleset
   present in SIP Events [RFC3265], adding additional alternatives to
   the alternative sets of "event-param" and "subexp-params" defined
   therein.

      event-param    =/  min-interval-param
      subexp-params  =/  min-interval-param
      min-interval-param =   "min-interval" EQUAL delta-seconds

      event-param    =/  max-interval-param
      subexp-params  =/  max-interval-param
      max-interval-param =   "max-interval" EQUAL delta-seconds

      event-param    =/  average-interval-param
      subexp-params  =/  average-interval-param
      average-interval-param =   "average-interval" EQUAL delta-seconds






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9.  IANA Considerations

   This specification registers three new SIP header field parameters,
   defined by the following information which is to be added to the
   Header Field Parameters and Parameter Values sub-registry under
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/sip-parameters.

                                             Predefined
      Header Field         Parameter Name      Values     Reference
      -------------------- ---------------   ----------   ---------
      Event                min-interval          No           [RFCxxxx]
      Subscription-State   min-interval          No           [RFCxxxx]
      Event                max-interval          No           [RFCxxxx]
      Subscription-State   max-interval          No           [RFCxxxx]
      Event                average-interval      No           [RFCxxxx]
      Subscription-State   average-interval      No           [RFCxxxx]

   (Note to the RFC Editor: please replace "xxxx" with the RFC number of
   this specification, when assigned.)


10.  Security Considerations

   Naturally, the security considerations listed in SIP events
   [RFC3265], which the rate control mechanisms described in this
   document extends, apply in entirety.  In particular, authentication
   and message integrity SHOULD be applied to subscriptions with this
   extension.


11.  Acknowledgments

   Thanks to Pekka Pessi, Dean Willis, Eric Burger, Alex Audu, Alexander
   Milinski, Jonathan Rosenberg, Cullen Jennings, Adam Roach, Hisham
   Khartabil and Dale Worley for support and/or review of this work.

   Thanks to Brian Rosen for the idea of the "force" and "average"
   mechanisms, and to Adam Roach for the work on the averaging
   algorithm.


12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.




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   [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.

   [RFC3265]  Roach, A., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific
              Event Notification", RFC 3265, June 2002.

   [RFC4662]  Roach, A., Campbell, B., and J. Rosenberg, "A Session
              Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Notification Extension for
              Resource Lists", RFC 4662, August 2006.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008.

12.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-geopriv-loc-filters]
              Mahy, R. and B. Rosen, "A Document Format for Filtering
              and Reporting Location Notications in the  Presence
              Information Document Format Location Object (PIDF-LO)",
              draft-ietf-geopriv-loc-filters-03 (work in progress),
              November 2008.

   [I-D.ietf-sipcore-subnot-etags]
              Niemi, A., "An Extension to Session Initiation Protocol
              (SIP) Events for Conditional  Event Notification",
              draft-ietf-sipcore-subnot-etags-02 (work in progress),
              April 2009.

   [RFC3320]  Price, R., Bormann, C., Christoffersson, J., Hannu, H.,
              Liu, Z., and J. Rosenberg, "Signaling Compression
              (SigComp)", RFC 3320, January 2003.

   [RFC3680]  Rosenberg, J., "A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event
              Package for Registrations", RFC 3680, March 2004.

   [RFC3842]  Mahy, R., "A Message Summary and Message Waiting
              Indication Event Package for the Session Initiation
              Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3842, August 2004.

   [RFC3856]  Rosenberg, J., "A Presence Event Package for the Session
              Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3856, August 2004.

   [RFC3857]  Rosenberg, J., "A Watcher Information Event Template-
              Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)",
              RFC 3857, August 2004.




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   [RFC3943]  Friend, R., "Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
              Compression Using Lempel-Ziv-Stac (LZS)", RFC 3943,
              November 2004.

   [RFC4825]  Rosenberg, J., "The Extensible Markup Language (XML)
              Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP)", RFC 4825, May 2007.


Authors' Addresses

   Aki Niemi
   Nokia
   P.O. Box 407
   NOKIA GROUP, FIN  00045
   Finland

   Phone: +358 50 389 1644
   Email: aki.niemi@nokia.com


   Krisztian Kiss
   Nokia
   313 Fairchild Dr
   Mountain View, CA  94043
   US

   Phone: +1 650 391 5969
   Email: krisztian.kiss@nokia.com


   Salvatore Loreto
   Ericsson
   Hirsalantie 11
   Jorvas  02420
   Finland

   Email: salvatore.loreto@ericsson.com














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