A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for CableLabs
draft-cardona-cablelabs-urn-01

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Abstract

This document describes the Namespace Identifier (NID) for Uniform Resource Namespace (URN) resources published by Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs). CableLabs publishes specifications that define unique and persistent resources that make use of the Cablelabs URN namespace.

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  URN Specification for CableLabs
3.  Example
4.  Namespace Considerations
5.  Community Considerations
6.  IANA Considerations
7.  Security Considerations
8.  References
    8.1.  Normative References
    8.2.  Informative References
§  Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

CableLabs is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those technical advancements into their business objectives. Within CableLabs, specification activities are organized into projects such as DOCSIS(r), PacketCable(tm), and OpenCable(tm), and technical work is conducted in focus teams. Product vendors, manufacturers, and cable operator members are invited to join the focus teams that create technical specifications.

From time to time, some specifications developed by CableLabs require a URN namespace to uniquely identify resources. CableLabs manages these resource assignments prior to specification publication and ensures they are both unique and persistent.

This document defines a full and complete NID registration that follows [RFC3406] (Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom, “Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms,” October 2002.) for the purpose of having unique and persistent namespace definitions in CableLabs specifications.

2.  URN Specification for CableLabs

Namespace ID:

The NID "cablelabs" is requested.

Registration Information:

registration version number: 1
registration date: 2008-07-02

Declared registrant of the namespace:

Registering organization

Name: Cable Television Laboratories Inc.
Address: 858 Coal Creek Circle, Louisville, CO 80027, USA

Designated contact

Role: Standards Manager
Email: ietf-standards@cablelabs.com

Declaration of syntactic structure:

The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the "cablelabs" NID will have the following structure: urn:cablelabs:{CLresource}:{CLResourceSpecificString} where the "CLresource" is a US-ASCII string that conforms to the URN syntax requirements [RFC2141] (Moats, R., “URN Syntax,” May 1997.) and defines a specific class of resource type. Each resource type has a specific labeling scheme that is covered by "CLResourceSpecificString", which also conforms to the naming requirements of [RFC2141] (Moats, R., “URN Syntax,” May 1997.).

CableLabs maintains the CableLabs Assigned Names and Numbers [CANN] (Cable Television Laboratories Inc., “CableLabs' Assigned Names and Numbers,” 2008.) specification that will contain the assignment of "CLresources" and the specific registration values assigned for each resource class.

Relevant ancillary documentation:

CableLabs publishes information on the registered resources in the [CANN] (Cable Television Laboratories Inc., “CableLabs' Assigned Names and Numbers,” 2008.) specification available at: http://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/cpSpecs.html

Identifier uniqueness considerations:

CableLabs will manage resources using the "cablelabs" NID and will be the authority for managing the resources and subsequent strings associated. CableLabs is expected to guarantee the uniqueness of the strings themselves or it may permit secondary responsibility for certain defined resources.

CableLabs could allow the use of experimental type values for testing purposes only. Note that using experimental types may create collisions as multiple users may use the same values for resources and specific strings.

Identifier persistence considerations:

CableLabs keeps track of its assigned names and numbers for protocol use in the [CANN] (Cable Television Laboratories Inc., “CableLabs' Assigned Names and Numbers,” 2008.) specification. [CANN] (Cable Television Laboratories Inc., “CableLabs' Assigned Names and Numbers,” 2008.) will be updated to document the registered resources in the "cablelabs" NID.

Process of identifier assignment:

CableLabs will provide procedures for registration of each type of resource that it maintains. Each such resource may have three types of registration activities:

1. Registered values associated with CableLabs documents or services
2. Registration of values or sub-trees to other entities
3. Name models for use in experimental purposes

Process for identifier resolution:

The namespace is not listed with a resolution discovery system; this is not applicable for this URN registration.

Rules for Lexical Equivalence:

No special considerations; the rules for lexical equivalence of [RFC2141] (Moats, R., “URN Syntax,” May 1997.) apply.

Conformance with URN Syntax:

No special considerations.

Validation mechanism:

None specified. URN assignment will be handled by procedures implemented in support of CableLabs activities.

Scope:

Global

3.  Example

The following example represents an hypothetical URN that could be assigned by Cablelabs.

urn:cablelabs:packetcable-example:ue:rst-sample

Defines the URN to be used for the User Equipment (UE) implementing the sample Residential SIP Telephony Application (RST) defined in the Packetcable specifications.

4.  Namespace Considerations

CableLabs develops specifications that may require the use of data models.

URN Namespaces are key constructs to manage the definitions of those data models reliably with persistence and uniqueness.

The use of URNs should also help specification authors to maintain different versions of URNs and dependencies between urns, across different versions of CableLabs specifications if they so wish.

5.  Community Considerations

The CableLabs specifications are publicly available or licensed to manufacturers in a nondiscriminatory basis.

CableLabs will maintain the allocation of resources for the "cablelabs" NID and maintain updated the corresponding specifications where those resources are referenced or used.

6.  IANA Considerations

The requested NID has been entered into the IANA registry for URN NIDs. The update can be found at: http://www.iana.org/assignments/urn-namespaces and any associated mirrors.

7.  Security Considerations

There are no additional security considerations other than those normally associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.

8.  References

8.1. Normative References

8.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses