One document matched: draft-ietf-conneg-media-features-00.txt

INTERNET-DRAFT                                           Larry Masinter
draft-ietf-conneg-media-features-00.txt                    Koen Holtman 
                                                              Andy Mutz
                                                               Dan Wing
expires in 6 months				         March 11, 1998
    
              Media Features for Display, Print, and Fax
    
Status of this memo

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Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This specification defines some common media features for describing
image resolution, size, color, and image representation methods that
are common to web browsing, printing, and facsimile applications.
These features are registered for use within the framework of [REG].

Introduction
    
This work was originally motivated by the requirements from web
browsers to send the browser's display characteristics to the web
server to allow the server to choose an appropriate representation.
     
This specification defines some common media features [REG] by which a
recipient may inform a sender as to the characteristics of its message
handling.  The sender may then provide the variant of the message that
is most suitable for the recipient.

Different variants would typically be higher or lower resolution
images (for example) as appropriate.  In the case of a sending to a
printer, the result would be higher quality output.  In the case of a
small screen device (cellphone, portable digital assistant), the
result would be faster transmission.

Media features may be used in many different protocol situations.
Those defined in this specification can indicate the display or
printer dimensions (in pixels), display resolution (in pixels/inch),
color capability and bit-depth, display media type, or . The physical
dimensions of the display can be inferred from the display size and
display resolution. In the case of paper output, the paper size may be
expressed as a token from a list of certain standard paper sizes.
These are presented formally in the Notation section.
    
pix-x (integer)
pix-y (integer)
    
  These features indicate the display size of the recipient for
  display or print, measured in pixels; they indicate horizontal
  (pix-x) and vertical (pix-y) dimensions.

res (integer)
    
   This feature indicates a resolution that the recipient can display
   or print without loss, measured in pixels per inch.  Certain
   resources such as images may have similar total pixel size but
   differing data size and quality depending on degree of compression.
     
   Note: While English units are not universal, it is preferable to
   avoid multiple unit definitions. Equivalent metric definitions
   are available.
    
res-x (integer)
res-y (integer)

   In cases where non-square aspect ratio is supported, these features
   can be used for specifying horizontal (res-x) and vertical (res-y)
   resolution capabilities.

UA-media (token)
    
   This feature indicates the recipients device media, indicated with
   an simple token.  All (except for "screen" and "screen-paged") are
   taken from the Printer MIB MediaType set defined in RFC 1759 [PRINTMIB].
   Other tokens may be registered and used as needed.
    
   They are defined as:  
        screen           A refreshable display 
        screen-paged     a refreshable display which cannot scroll 

        stationery       Separately cut sheets of an opaque material
        transparency     Separately cut sheets of a transparent material
        envelope         Envelopes that can be used for conventional
                         mailing purposes
        envelope-plain   Envelopes that are not preprinted and have no
                         windows
        envelope-window  Envelopes that have windows for addressing
                         purposes
        continuous-long  Continuously connected sheets of an opaque
                         material connected along the long edge
        continuous-short Continuously connected sheets of an opaque
                         material connected along the short edge
        tab-stock        Media with tabs
        multi-part-form  Form medium composed of multiple layers not
                         pre-attached to one another; each sheet may be
                         drawn separately from an input source
        labels           Label stock
        multi-layer      Form medium composed of multiple layers which
                         are pre-attached to one another; e.g., for
                         use with impact printers"
    
papersize (token)

   For stationery, it is often useful to have information about the
   size of display used.  While it is more precise and predictable to
   use absolute resolution and pixel sizes, some applications find it
   useful to provide paper size in lieu of or in addition to this
   information.  Paper sizes names and definitions are taken from RFC
   1759 [PRINTMIB], which in turn imported the definitions from
   ISO/IEC 10175:

   Examples of paper size tokens, with names from [MIB], are:
     na-letter:        8.5x11.0 inches 
     iso-A4:           210x297 mm    
     iso-B4:           250x353 mm
     iso-A3:           297x420 mm            
     na-legal:         8.5x14 inches

color (integer) 
grey (integer)
    
   The color capabilities of the recipient are indicated with feature
   tag and a parameter describing the number of color channel bits
   available.  Values of n are typically (but not limited to) 2, 8, or
   24.  For example: grey=8 indicates a display capable of
   representing an image in 256 levels of a single color, while
   color=8 indicates a display capable of representing an image with a
   palette of 256 colors.
  
tiff (token)

   The ability to process Internet Media type image/tiff application
   profiles, defined by [TIFF].  If additional feature tags are given
   for describing resolution, media sizes and so forth, they are added
   to those application profiles. This feature is important for Internet
   Fax [FPIM], [MDN].

Examples of use of features

   The following examples of feature comparison show how these features
   can be used to describe various capabilities:
   pix-x<=1024, pix-y<=768 
      indicates a 1024x768 display 
    
   res<=72
      indicates a 72 dpi display  
    
   UA-media=stationery 
      indicates the display is a cut sheet of opaque material, such as   
      paper.  
  
   papersize=iso-a4
      indicates the display size is 210x297mm. 
   
   color<=24
      indicates the display supports 24-bit (8-bit/channel) color.   
       
   papersize=na-letter,res-x={204,200,300},res-y={98,196,100},tiff=F
      might be used for a fax machine with 'simple mode'.
   papersize=na-letter,res-x<=400,res-y<=400,tiff={M,J}
      might be used for a fax machine with enhanced capabilities.
      
Acknowledgments   
    
   This document is based on a previous draft co-authored with Lou
   Montoulli. It had benefited from the comments of Graham Klyne, Ho
   John Lee, Brian Behlendorf, and Jeff Mogul.
    
References   
    
   [MIB] R.  Smith, F.  Wright, T.  Hastings, S.  Zilles, J.
        Gyllenskog. "Printer MIB." RFC 1759, March 1995.

   [REG] K. Holtman, A. Mutz. "Feature Tag Registration Procedures",
        draft-ietf-conneg-feature-reg-00.txt, March 1998.

   [MDN] D. Wing, L. Masinter, "Using Message Disposition
        Notifications to Indicate Capabilities",
        draft-ietf-fax-mdn-features-01.txt, March 1998.

   [TIFF] Parsons, G., Rafferty, J., and S. Zilles, "Tag Image File
        Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration", Work in
        Progress, Internet Draft, draft-ietf-fax-tiff-reg-XX.txt.

   [FPIM] L. Masinter, D. Wing, "Extended Mode of Facsimile Using
        Internet Mail", draft-ietf-fax-fpim-02.txt, March, 1998.

Author's Addresses     
   
   Larry Masinter  
   Xerox Palo Alto Research Center  
   3333 Coyote Hill Road  
   Palo Alto CA 94304  
   Fax +1 415 812 4333  
   Email: masinter@parc.xerox.com   
 
   Dan Wing
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   101 Cooper Street
   Santa Cruz, CA 95060  USA
   Phone: +1 408 457 5200
   Fax:   +1 408 457 5208
   EMail: dwing@cisco.com

   Andrew H.  Mutz  
   Hewlett-Packard Company  
   1501 Page Mill Road 3U-3  
   Palo Alto CA 94304, USA  
   Fax +1 415 857 4691  
   Email: mutz@hpl.hp.com  
    
   Koen Holtman
   Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
   Postbus 513
   Kamer HG 6.57
   5600 MB Eindhoven (The Netherlands)
   Email: koen@win.tue.nl