Subject: Suggested readings for MMusic session

From: [email-masked] (Eve Schooler)
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 02:59:20 PST

Hi all,

For those of you in search of things to do while in transit
to Danvers :-)  you may consider printing out a few of the suggested 
readings from the list below.  It was compiled to accompany the 
discussion items from the agenda for the MMusic session (it is in no 
particular order here).  

- Session description protocol: 
  "ftp://ftp.isi.edu/confctrl/docs/draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-00.{txt, ps}
  [in internet-drafts directories as well]

- Agreement protocol: 
  "ftp://ftp.isi.edu/confctrl/docs/agree.ps"
  [finally in I-D format, and ready for formal submission.]

- Coordination protocol discussion:
  "ftp://gaiai.cs.umass.edu/pub/{Sch9504:Dynamic.ps.gz, 
				 Sch9502:Message.ps.gz}"

- Relationship between RTCP and session protocols:
  "ftp://ftp.isi.edu/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-avt-rtp-07.{txt, ps}"
  [in other internet-drafts directories]

- WWW and E-mail based session prototypes:
  "http://www.eit.com/softare/shared_mosaic.html"
 
- ITU pointers:
 "ftp://ftp.csn.net/ConferTech/" and "http://www.imtc.org/imtc "

- Working Group recharter (appended below):
  "ftp://ftp.isi.edu/confctrl/recharter"

  This warrants some explanation.  
  
  Abel Weinrib, who has co-chaired the MMusic working group since its
  inception, has taken on the task to head the Internet Research Task
  Force!  As a result of this new responsibility, he is stepping down
  from the chairship of this group.  Although we will certainly miss 
  his direct involvement, we would like to wish him the very best in 
  this exciting new role and hope he will remain involved in the WG 
  to the extent possible.

  Consequently, the chairship has been undergoing some transition.
  Presently, we have tapped Mark Handley of UCL and Ruth Lang of SRI to
  potentially help set the new direction (I say potentially only
  because the new charter has not been formally approved yet).  For
  those of you who may not know, they too have been integral members of
  the group since its beginning.  Although I expect to remain involved,
  I have been consumed this year with graduate school, but look forward
  to June when the completion of class requirements will allow me to
  participate more fully again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Multiparty Multimedia Session Control (mmusic)
----------------------------------------------

Charter

Current Status: Active Working Group

Chairs:
     Mark Handley		<[email-masked]>
     Ruth Lang			<[email-masked]>  
     Eve Schooler		<[email-masked]>

Transport Area Director:
     Allison Mankin		<[email-masked]>

Mailing lists:
     General Discussion		[email-masked]
     To Subscribe		[email-masked]
     Archive			ftp.isi.edu:confctrl/confctrl.mail

Description of Working Group:

The demand for Internet multimedia teleconferencing has arrived as
evidenced by the explosive growth of the MBONE.  Multimedia session
control, defined as the advertisement, management, and coordination of
multiple sessions and their multiple users in multiple media (e.g.,
audio, video, collaborative applications), is one component of the
infrastructure required to support widespread teleconferencing.  The
Multiparty MUltimedia SessIon Control Working Group (MMUSIC) is
chartered to design and specify three protocols to perform these
functions, and to ensure session-level interoperability between
different teleconferencing implementations.

The protocols defined by this Working Group will support a range of
conference styles from tightly- to loosely-controlled sessions.
Tightly-controlled sessions require some degree of consistency among
sites, and often provide mechanisms to directly contact other users
for conference initiation and for negotiation of parameters such as
membership, media encodings, and encryption keys.  Loosely-controlled
sessions are more tolerant of losses and inconsistencies, permit fluid
(even unknown) membership, and rely on well-known, published
conference characteristics to dictate policy of constituent
applications.

Originally chartered to propose tightly-controlled conferencing
solutions, this group was rechartered in April 1995 to provide a more
balanced focus on the range of conferencing styles, with renewed
attention to solutions for the loosely-controlled conferences that are
pervasive on the MBONE today.  Toward this end, MMUSIC has already
sponsored the design and implementation of a Session Agreement
Protocol to manage shared ephemeral teleconferencing state for both
tightly- and loosely-controlled conferences.  The Working Group will
formally document the Session Agreement Protocol, and provide an
accompanying usage document to describe its application to the
coordination of multiple users in multiple media.  MMUSIC will adopt
additional goals including the documentation and extension of the
Session Description Protocol (SDP), the development of a Framework
document which embodies the architectural working model for protocols
developed by this Working Group, and the development of a Session
Coordination Protocol to manage the distributed processes (media
agents) that comprise the endpoint of a user's session.

The Working Group's protocols will reflect coordination with other
efforts related to multimedia conferencing, such as the RTP and RTCP
protocols developed by the Audio/Video Transport Working Group,
resource reservation and management at the network level, schemes for
multicast address allocation, World-Wide Web- and email-based session
advertisement and orchestration, and directory services for
cataloguing users and sessions.  In addition, the Working Group's
protocols will identify and describe interoperability issues with
related international standards such as T.120 (e.g., T.124, Generic
Conference Control) and industry consortium specifications such as the 
Personal Conferencing Working Group, and establish liaisons to the related
standards body if appropriate for the purpose of ensuring widely
usable standards.

The Working Group will be supported by the three Co-Chairs who will
share responsibility for technical direction of the working group.
Mark Handley and Ruth Lang will be responsible for the "day-to-day"
operation and management of the Working Group (e.g., meeting
scheduling, minutes, etc.).  Eve Schooler's role will be as primary
architect; she will not perform much of the "day-to-day" management of
the Working Group because of full-time doctoral program load.

Goals and Milestones:

Mar  95	Post an Internet-Draft describing the Session Description Protocol.

May  95  Post an Internet-Draft describing the MMUSIC Architectural Framework.

Jun  95	Submit a revised Internet-Draft on the Session Description Protocol.

Nov  95	Submit the Session Description Protocol to the IESG for
	consideration as an Experimental Protocol.

Apr  95	Post an Internet-Draft describing the Session Agreement Protocol.

Jun  95	Submit a revised Internet-Draft on the Session Agreement Protocol.

Nov  95 Submit the Session Agreement Protocol to the IESG for
	consideration as an Experimental Protocol.

Jul  95	Post an Internet-Draft describing the Usage of the Session
	Agreement Protocol.

Sept 95	Submit a revised Internet-Draft on the Session Agreement
	Protocol Usage document.

Nov  95	Submit the Session Agreement Protocol Usage document to the
	IESG for consideration as an Informational RFC.

Jul  95	Post an Internet-Draft describing Requirements for a Session
	Coordination Protocol.

Sept 95	Post an Internet-Draft describing the Session Coordination Protocol.

Jan  96	Submit a revised Internet-Draft on the Session Coordination Protocol.

Mar  96	Submit the Session Coordination Protocol to the IESG for
	consideration as an Experimental Protocol.

[Last updated: 3/30/95]

---

From: Ruth Lang <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 02 Apr 1995 15:07:42 -0700

>   "ftp://gaiai.cs.umass.edu/pub/{Sch9504:Dynamic.ps.gz, 

The ftp site is gaia.cs.umass.edu.

Ruth