Attention Request (POKE) for Instant Messaging
draft-garcia-simple-poke-01

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Abstract

This document specifies a message content type and XML format to request attention from a targeted user. This feature is usually known as poke, nudge or buzz in existing messaging platforms. Its primary use is as an additional instant messaging capability that can be sent in the middle of a instant messaging session or in a standalone message at any time.

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
    1.1.  Requirements Language
2.  Message Content
3.  XML Document Format
4.  Security Considerations
5.  IANA Considerations
    5.1.  Content-Type Registration for 'application/im-poke+xml'
    5.2.  URN Sub-Namespace Registration for 'urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke'
    5.3.  Schema registration
6.  Acknowledgements
7.  References
    7.1.  Normative References
    7.2.  Informative References
§  Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

Some existing messaging platforms include the capability to send a message to a user requesting his attention (e.g. XMPP [XEP‑0224] (Monitzer, A., “XEP-0224: Attention,” august 2008.)). This feature is usually known as poke, nudge or buzz, and in desktop applications the notification is usually implemented using a combination of sound and the vibration of chat windows.

This document describes the XML message format to encode this attention request.

This message can be used inside an instant messaging session (for example a MSRP session) or as a standalone message (for example in a SIP MESSAGE). In session mode, the poke message is sent as part of the messaging stream and its usage is negotiated just like any other media type in that stream, with details depending on the session mode protocol.

The receiver of this message can present it to the user in different ways depending on the device capabilities and the user preferences. The message format does not include support to specify sender preferences for the realization of the attention request.

1.1.  Requirements Language

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 [RFC2119] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).

2.  Message Content

The only XML element of the message is the poke element. This is the root element of the message and doesn't define any additional attribute. The schema (Section 3 (XML Document Format)) should be consulted for the normative message format.

In order to include additional functionality, the XML schema can be extended in future documents. Additional elements MUST use their own namespaces and MUST be designed such that receivers can safely ignore such extensions. Adding elements to the namespace defined in this document is not permitted.

This is the example of a poke message:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <poke xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke"/>

3.  XML Document Format

<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  targetNamespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke"
  xmlns:tns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke"
  elementFormDefault="qualified"
  attributeFormDefault="unqualified">
  <xs:element name="poke">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:any namespace="##other" processContents="lax"
          minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

4.  Security Considerations

The poke message is a specialized type of instant messaging, all the security considerations for the instant messages also applies to the poke messages.

Pokes rate MUST be controlled and limited in the receiving side to minify the effect of malicious nodes sending these messages too often (the limit is an implementor decission).

5.  IANA Considerations

5.1.  Content-Type Registration for 'application/im-poke+xml'

   To: ietf-types@iana.org
   Subject: Registration of MIME media type application/
      im-poke+xml
   MIME media type name: application
   MIME subtype name: im-poke+xml
   Required parameters: (none)
   Optional parameters: charset; Indicates the character encoding of
      enclosed XML.  Default is UTF-8.
   Encoding considerations: Uses XML, which can employ 8-bit characters,
      depending on the character encoding used.  See [RFC3023],
      section 3.2.
   Security considerations: This content type is designed to carry
      information about current user activity, which may be considered
      private information.  Appropriate precautions should be adopted to
      limit disclosure of this information.
   Interoperability considerations: This content type provides a common
      format for sending attention requests.
   Published specification: RFC XXXX
   Applications which use this media type: Instant messaging systems.
   Additional information: none
   Person & email address to contact for further information: Gustavo
      Garcia, ggb@tid.es
   Intended usage: LIMITED USE
   Author/Change controller: This specification is a work item of the
      IETF SIMPLE working group, with the mailing list address
      simple@ietf.org.
   Other information: This media type is a specialization of
      application/xml [RFC3023], and many of the considerations
      described there also apply to application/im-poke+xml.

5.2.  URN Sub-Namespace Registration for 'urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke'

   URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke
   Description: This is the XML namespace for XML elements defined by
      [RFC XXXX] to describe attention request by an instant messaging
      client using the application/im-poke+xml content type.
   Registrant Contact: IETF, SIMPLE working group, simple@ietf.org,
      Gustavo Garcia, ggb@tid.es
   XML:

    BEGIN
      <?xml version="1.0"?>
      <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.0//EN"
      "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic10.dtd">
      <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
      <head>
           <meta http-equiv="content-type"
           content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"/>
           <title>Attention Request (POKE) for Instant Messaging</title>
      </head>
      <body>
          <h1>Namespace for SIMPLE poke extension</h1>
          <h2>urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:im-poke</h2>
          <p>See <a href="[URL of published RFC]">[RFCXXXX]</a>.</p>
       </body>
       </html>
    END

5.3.  Schema registration

This section registers a new XML schema per the procedures in [RFC3688] (Mealling, M., “The IETF XML Registry,” January 2004.).

   URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:schema:im-poke
   Registrant Contact: IETF, SIMPLE working group, (simple@ietf.org),
      Gustavo Garcia (ggb@tid.es).

The XML for this schema can be found as the sole content of Section 3 (XML Document Format).

6.  Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the valuable ideas and support given by Guido Garcia and the useful comments received from Jose Luis Urien.

7.  References

7.1. Normative References

7.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses