2913
PROPOSED STANDARD
MIME Content Types in Media Feature Expressions
Authors: G. Klyne
Date: September 2000
Area: app
Working Group: conneg
Stream: IETF
Abstract
This memo defines a media feature tag whose value is a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) content type. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
RFC 2913
PROPOSED STANDARD
Network Working Group G. Klyne
Request for Comments: 2913 Content Technologies
Category: Standards Track September 2000
<span class="h1">MIME Content Types in Media Feature Expressions</span>
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
In "A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets", an expression format
is presented for describing media feature capabilities using simple
media feature tags.
This memo defines a media feature tag whose value is a Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) content type. This allows the
construction of feature expressions that take account of the MIME
content type of the corresponding data.
Table of Contents
<a href="#section-1">1</a>. Introduction .................................................. <a href="#page-2">2</a>
<a href="#section-1.1">1.1</a> Terminology and document conventions ...................... <a href="#page-2">2</a>
<a href="#section-2">2</a>. Motivation and goals .......................................... <a href="#page-3">3</a>
<a href="#section-3">3</a>. MIME content type feature tag ................................. <a href="#page-3">3</a>
<a href="#section-4">4</a>. Examples ...................................................... <a href="#page-4">4</a>
<a href="#section-4.1">4.1</a> Simple text ............................................... <a href="#page-4">4</a>
<a href="#section-4.2">4.2</a> Fax image ................................................. <a href="#page-4">4</a>
<a href="#section-4.3">4.3</a> Voice message ............................................. <a href="#page-4">4</a>
<a href="#section-4.4">4.4</a> Web browser capabilities .................................. <a href="#page-5">5</a>
<a href="#section-5">5</a>. IANA Considerations ........................................... <a href="#page-5">5</a>
<a href="#section-6">6</a>. Security Considerations ....................................... <a href="#page-5">5</a>
<a href="#section-7">7</a>. Acknowledgements .............................................. <a href="#page-5">5</a>
<a href="#section-8">8</a>. References .................................................... <a href="#page-6">6</a>
<a href="#section-9">9</a>. Author's Address .............................................. <a href="#page-6">6</a>
<a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a>: 'Type' feature tag registration ...................... <a href="#page-7">7</a>
Full Copyright Statement ......................................... <a href="#page-9">9</a>
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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>. Introduction</span>
In "A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets" [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>], an expression
format is presented for describing media feature capabilities as a
combination of simple media feature tags, registered according to
"Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure" [<a href="#ref-2" title=""Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure"">2</a>]. This provides a
format for message handling agents to describe the media feature
content of messages that they can handle.
This memo defines a media feature tag whose value is a MIME content
type. This allows the construction of feature expressions that take
account of the MIME content type of the corresponding data.
Note that a content type feature value may contain parameters, but
this is discouraged. See <a href="#section-3">section 3</a> and <a href="#appendix-A">appendix A</a>, "Summary of the
media features indicated" for discussion of this point.
<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-1.1" href="#section-1.1">1.1</a> Terminology and document conventions</span>
This section defines a number of terms and other document
conventions, which are used with specific meaning in this memo.
media feature
information that indicates facilities assumed to be available
for the message content to be properly rendered or otherwise
presented. Media features are not intended to include
information that affects message transmission.
feature set
some set of media features described by a media feature
assertion, as described in "A Syntax for Describing Media
Feature Sets" [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>]. (See that memo for a more formal definition
of this term.)
feature set expression
a string that describes some feature set, formulated according
to the rules in "A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"
[<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>] (and possibly extended by other specifications).
This specification uses syntax notation and conventions described in
<a href="./rfc2234">RFC 2234</a>, "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF" [<a href="#ref-3" title=""Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF"">3</a>].
NOTE: Comments like this provide additional nonessential
information about the rationale behind this document. Such
information is not needed for building a conformant
implementation, but may help those who wish to understand the
design in greater depth.
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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>. Motivation and goals</span>
The media feature expression syntax [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>] and feature tags [<a href="#ref-2" title=""Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure"">2</a>] were
designed with a view to providing content media information that
augments basic MIME content type information. There are some
situations where it is useful to be able include that content type
information in a media feature expression:
o Media feature details may depend upon the content type being used.
The media feature combining algebra and syntax [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>] cannot apply to
content type information unless it appears in the feature
expression.
For example, in HTTP 1.1 [<a href="#ref-4" title=""Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1"">4</a>] with Transparent Content Negotiation
(TCN) [<a href="#ref-5" title=""Transparent Content Negotiation in HTTP"">5</a>] acceptable content types and other media features are
indicated in different request headers, with no clear way to
indicate that they may be acceptable only in certain combinations.
o It is sometimes useful for all media capability information to be
included in a single expression. For example, DSN and MDN
extensions [<a href="#ref-6" title=""Indicating Supported Media Features Using Extensions to DSN and MDN"">6</a>] that allow a recipient to indicate media
capabilities provide a single field for conveying this
information.
o When media features are used to describe a message content, they
may refer to inner parts of a MIME composite; e.g. the component
parts of a 'multipart', files in a compressed archive, or
encrypted message data.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>. MIME content type feature tag</span>
Feature tag name Legal values
---------------- ------------
type <string>
containing a MIME content-type value.
Reference: this document, <a href="#appendix-A">appendix A</a>.
The 'type' feature tag indicates a MIME media content type (i.e.
that appears in a 'Content-type:' header of the corresponding MIME-
formatted data). It must be a string of the form "type/subtype",
where 'type' and 'subtype' are defined by the MIME specification [<a href="#ref-7" title=""Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies"">7</a>].
Only lower-case letters should be used.
The content type must be given without any content-type parameter
values.
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To include information in media feature expressions that is otherwise
conveyed in a MIME content-type parameter, a separate media feature
tag should be registered [<a href="#ref-2" title=""Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure"">2</a>] and used in the media feature
expression. This is illustrated by the use of 'charset' in the
example at 4.1 below -- the 'charset' tag is defined by a separate
registration [<a href="#ref-10" title=""Registration of Charset and Languages Media Features Tags"">10</a>].
NOTE: Allowing content-type parameters to be part of a type tag
value was considered, but rejected because of concerns about
canonicalization, ordering, case sensitivity, etc. Only exact,
case-sensitive, character matching is defined for media feature
expressions [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>].
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>. Examples</span>
<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1" href="#section-4.1">4.1</a> Simple text</span>
(& (type="text/plain") (charset=US-ASCII)
(color=binary) (paper-size=A4) )
<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.2" href="#section-4.2">4.2</a> Fax image</span>
(& (type="image/tiff")
(color=binary)
(image-file-structure=TIFF-S)
(dpi=200)
(dpi-xyratio=[200/100,200/200])
(paper-size=A4)
(image-coding=MH) (MRC-mode=0)
(ua-media=stationery) )
<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.3" href="#section-4.3">4.3</a> Voice message</span>
(& (type="multipart/voice-message")
(VPIM-version="3.0")
(audio-codec=[G726-32,GSM-610])
(audio-file-structure=[None,WAV])
(ua-terminal=mobile-handset)
(audio-channels=1) )
NOTE: in this case, some media features apply to MIME parts
contained within the declared 'multipart/voice- message'
content type. The goal here is not so much to mirror the MIME
structure as to convey useful information about the (possible)
message content.
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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.4" href="#section-4.4">4.4</a> Web browser capabilities</span>
(& (pix-x<=800) (pix-y<=600)
(| (& (type="text/html") (charset=iso-8859-1)
(color=limited) )
(& (type="text/plain") (charset=US-ASCII) )
(& (type="image/gif") (color=mapped))
(& (type="image/jpeg") (color=full) ) ) )
This example describes an HTML viewer that can deal with a limited
number of color text tags, a gif viewer that supports mapped color,
and a jpeg viewer that supports color.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>. IANA Considerations</span>
<a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a> of this document calls for registration of a feature tag
in the "IETF tree", as defined in <a href="#section-3.1.1">section 3.1.1</a> of "Media Feature Tag
Registration Procedure" [<a href="#ref-2" title=""Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure"">2</a>] (i.e. these feature tags are subject to
the "IETF Consensus" policies described in <a href="./rfc2434">RFC 2434</a> [<a href="#ref-9" title="">9</a>]).
ASN.1 identifier 1.3.6.1.8.1.30 has been assigned by the IANA for
this registered feature tag and has been placed in the body of the
registration.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>. Security Considerations</span>
This memo is not believed to introduce any security considerations
that are not already inherent in the use of media feature tags and
expressions [<a href="#ref-1" title=""A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets"">1</a>,<a href="#ref-2" title=""Media Feature Tag Registration Procedure"">2</a>].
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-7" href="#section-7">7</a>. Acknowledgements</span>
This proposal draws from discussions in the IETF 'conneg' working
group. The voice message example is based on some ideas by Glen
Parsons.
The author would like to thank the following people who offered
comments that led to significant improvements: Ted Hardie, Larry
Masinter, Paul Hoffman, Jacob Palme, Ned Freed.
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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-8" href="#section-8">8</a>. References</span>
[<a id="ref-1">1</a>] Klyne, G., "A Syntax for Describing Media Feature Sets", <a href="./rfc2533">RFC</a>
<a href="./rfc2533">2533</a>, March 1999.
[<a id="ref-2">2</a>] Holtman, K., Mutz, A. and T. Hardie, "Media Feature Tag
Registration Procedure", <a href="./rfc2506">RFC 2506</a>, March 1999.
[<a id="ref-3">3</a>] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", <a href="./rfc2234">RFC 2234</a>, November 1997.
[<a id="ref-4">4</a>] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H. and T.
Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", <a href="./rfc2068">RFC</a>
<a href="./rfc2068">2068</a>, January 1997.
[<a id="ref-5">5</a>] Holtman, K. and A. Mutz, "Transparent Content Negotiation in
HTTP", <a href="./rfc2295">RFC 2295</a>, March 1998.
[<a id="ref-6">6</a>] Wing, D., "Indicating Supported Media Features Using Extensions
to DSN and MDN", <a href="./rfc2530">RFC 2530</a>, March 1999.
[<a id="ref-7">7</a>] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies",
<a href="./rfc2045">RFC 2045</a>, November 1996.
[<a id="ref-8">8</a>] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", <a href="./rfc2046">RFC 2046</a>, November
1996.
[<a id="ref-9">9</a>] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
Considerations Section in RFCs", <a href="./rfc2434">RFC 2434</a>, October 1998.
[<a id="ref-10">10</a>] Hoffman, P., "Registration of Charset and Languages Media
Features Tags", Work in Progress.
<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-9" href="#section-9">9</a>. Author's Address</span>
Graham Klyne
Content Technologies Ltd.
1220 Parkview,
Arlington Business Park
Theale
Reading, RG7 4SA
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 118 930 1300
Fax: +44 118 930 1301
EMail: [email protected]
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Appendix A: 'Type' feature tag registration
- Media Feature tag name(s):
Type
- ASN.1 identifier associated with this feature tag:
1.3.6.1.8.1.30
- Summary of the media features indicated:
This feature tag indicates a MIME content type that a message
agent is capable of handling, or that is contained within some
message data.
The content type consists of the MIME media type and subtype,
presented using all lower case letters and with any whitespace
characters removed.
- Values appropriate for use with this feature tag:
String
- The feature tag is intended primarily for use in the following
applications, protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
Any application that wishes to convey MIME content type
information in a media feature expression.
- Examples of typical use:
(type="image/tiff")
(& (type="text/plain") (charset=US-ASCII) )
- Related standards or documents:
MIME, <a href="./rfc2045">RFC 2045</a> [<a href="#ref-7" title=""Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies"">7</a>]
MIME, <a href="./rfc2046">RFC 2046</a> [<a href="#ref-8" title=""Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types"">8</a>]
Registration of Charset and Languages Media Features Tags [<a href="#ref-10" title=""Registration of Charset and Languages Media Features Tags"">10</a>]
- Considerations particular to use in individual applications,
protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
(N/A)
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- Interoperability considerations:
String feature matching is case sensitive, so consistent use of
case for content type values and parameters is essential if
content type value matching is to be achieved in a fashion
consistent with MIME content type matching.
Similarly, white space must be used consistently.
This registration specifies a canonical form to be used for
content type values (lower case letters and remove all
whitespace).
- Related feature tags:
(N/A)
- Intended usage:
Common
- Author/Change controller:
IETF
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Full Copyright Statement
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