SALUD D. Worley
Internet-Draft Ariadne
Intended status: Standards Track June 5, 2016
Expires: December 7, 2016

A Simpler Method for Processing Alert-Info URNs
draft-worley-alert-info-fsm-02

Abstract

The "alert" namespace of uniform resource names (URNs) can be used in the Alert-Info header field of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) requests and responses to inform a VoIP telephone (user agent) of the characteristics of the call that the user agent has originated or terminated. Based on the URNs in the Alert-Info header field, the user agent must select an the best available signal to present to its user to indicate the characteristics of the call. This document describes a method by which a user agent's designer can, based on the user agent's signals and their meanings, constructing a finite state machine (FSM) to process the URNs to select a signal in a way that obeys the restrictions given in the definition of the "alert" URN namespace. In many situations, the resulting FSM is simpler and faster than the previously described selection algorithm.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on December 7, 2016.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.


Table of Contents

1. Introduction

A SIP user agent server determines an alerting signal (the ring tone) to present to its user (the called user) by processing the Alert-Info header field(s) in the incoming INVITE request.[RFC3261] Similarly, a SIP user agent client determines an alerting signal (the ringback tone) to present to its user (the calling user) by processing the Alert-Info header field(s) in the incoming provisional response to its outgoing INVITE request.

[RFC3261] envisioned that the Alert-Info header field value would be a URL that the user agent could use to retrieve a signal. This usage has security problems and is inconvenient to implement in practice. [RFC7462] introduced an alternative practice: The values could be URNs in the "alert" URN namespace which specify features of the call or of the signal that should be signaled to the user. [RFC7462] defined a large set of "alert" URNs and procedures for extending the set.

However, a user agent is unlikely to provide alerting signals that can render more than a small subset of the possible combinations of "alert" URNs, so the user agent is frequently required to select one alerting signal which renders only a subset of the information in the Alert-Info header field(s). The requirements for the process of selecting an alerting signal based on "alert" URNs are given in section 11.1 of [RFC7462] and can be described as follows:

The "alert" URNs are processed from left to right. Each "alert" URN has precedence over all URNs that follow it, and its interpretation is subordinate to all URNs that precede it.

As each URN is processed, one of the UA's signals is chosen which expresses that URN as far as can be done without reducing the degree to which any of the preceding URNs were expressed by the signal chosen for the preceding urn. Thus, as processing proceeds, the chosen signals become increasingly specific and contain more information, but all of the information about a particular URN that is expressed by the signal chosen for that URN is also expressed by the signals chosen for all following URNs.

If the entirety of the current URN cannot be expressed by any allowed signal, then in turn, each of the trailing alert-ind-parts (the sections separated by colons) is removed until the reduced URN can be expressed by some signal, and that signal also expresses at least the same reduced versions of the preceding URNs that were expressed by the signal chosen for the preceding URN. This can be described as "a signal that expresses as much of the current URN as possible while still expressing as much of the previous URNs as the preceding signal did."

    Alert-Info: urn:alert:category-a:part-a1:part-a2,
                urn:alert:category-b:part-b1:part-b2
      

So, for instance, consider processing

But let us suppose the UA has a signal for urn:alert:category-a:part-a1, and chooses that signal when processing the first URN. All processing after this point will be restricted to signals that express urn:alert:category-a:part-a1, or a more specific URN of the category-a category.

The UA then goes on to examine the next URN, urn:alert:category-b:part-b1:part-b2. If there is a signal that expresses both urn:alert:category-a:part-a1 and urn:alert:category-b:part-b1:part-b2, then the UA chooses that signal. If there is no such signal, the second URN is reduced to urn:alert:category-b:part-b1, and the UA checks for a signal that expresses that URN along with urn:alert:category-a:part-a1. If there is no such signal that matches that relaxed requirement, the second URN is reduced to urn:alert:category-b, which is discarded, and the chosen signal for the first URN is chosen for the second URN. In any case, all processing after this point will be restricted to signals that express urn:alert:category-a:part-a1 or a more specific URN of the category-a category, and also express the chosen part of urn:alert:category-b:part-b1:part-b2.

This process is continued until the last "alert" URN is processed; the signal chosen for that URN is the signal that the UA uses.

Section 12 of [RFC7462] gives one possible algorithm for selecting a signal which satisfies the requirements of section 11.1. That algorithm can be used regardless of the set of alerting signals that the user agent provides and their specified meanings. This demonstrates that the rules can always be satisfied. However, the algorithm is complex and slow.

The purpose of this document is to describe an easier method for selecting signals that conforms to section 11.1. Once the user agent designer has chosen a set of signals, a finite state machine is constructed that selects alerting signals based on the URNs in the Alert-Info header field(s) in a SIP message.

To select a ring tone or ringback tone based on a SIP message, the user agent processes the "alert" URNs in the Alert-Info header field from left to right. Initially the FSM is in a designated initial state. The user agent maps each successive URN into the corresponding symbol, and then executes the state transition of the FSM specified by the symbol. The state of the FSM after processing the URNs determines which signal the user agent will present to the user.

Note that the user agent generally has two FSMs, because a user agent usually wants to signal different information in ring tones than it signals in ringback tones. One FSM is used to select the ring tone to present for an incoming INVITE request. The other FSM is used to select the ringback tone to present based on an incoming provisional response to an outgoing INVITE request. Both FSMs are constructed in the same way, but the constructions are based on different lists of signals and corresponding URNs.

All of the steps of the method after the designer has selected the signals and their URNs is algorithmic, and the algorithm assures that the operation of the FSM will satisfy the constraints of section 11.1 of [RFC7462]. An implementation of the algorithmic steps is provided in [code]

2. Selecting the Signals and Their Corresponding "alert" URNs

The designer must select signals that the UA will generate and define the meanings that the signals will have to the user. Based on this, the designer determines for each signal the "alert" URN or combination of "alert" URNs that indicate that meaning in SIP messages, and consequently should elicit that signal from the UA.

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    external source                 urn:alert:source:external
      
    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    internal source                 urn:alert:source:internal
      
    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    high priority                   urn:alert:priority:high
    low priority                    urn:alert:priority:low
      
    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    default                         (none)
      

For example, suppose the UA has a particular ring tone for calls from an external source. A call from an exteral source is marked with the URN urn:alert:source:external (specified in section 9 of [RFC7462]). Thus, the table of signals includes:

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ------------------------------  -------------------------------
    high priority, internal source  urn:alert:priority:high,
                                        urn:alert:source:internal
      

A signal can be defined to indicate a combination of conditions. For instance, a signal that is used only for high-priority, internal-source calls expresses two URNs, and will only be used when both URNs are present in Alert-Info:

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    recall                          urn:alert:service:recall
      
    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    recall generally                urn:alert:service:recall
    recall due to callback          urn:alert:service:recall:callback
      

A signal can be defined to cover a number of related conditions by specifying a URN that is a common prefix of the URNs for the various conditions. For instance, the URNs for "recall due to callback", "recall due to call hold", and "recall due to transfer" all start with urn:alert:service:recall, and so one signal can be provided for all of them by:

    Signal                URN(s)
    --------------------- -------------------------------
    high priority         urn:alert:priority:high
    extra high priority   urn:alert:priority:high:extra-high@example.com
      

The designer may wish to define extension URNs that provide more specific information about a call than the standard "alert" URNs do. One method is to add additional components to standard URNs. For instance, an extra-high priority could be indicated by the URN urn:alert:priority:high:extra-high@example. The final "extra-high@example" is an "alert-ind-part" that is a private extension. (See section 7 and 10.2 of [RFC7462] for a discussion of private extensions.) In any case, adding an alert-ind-part to a URN makes its meaning more specific, in that any call to which the longer URN can be applied can also have the shorter URN applied. In this case, "extra-high-priority calls" are considered a subset of "high-priority calls".

    Signal                     URN(s)
    -----------------------    -------------------------------
    unclassified               urn:alert:security@example:unclassified
    confidential               urn:alert:security@example:confidential
    secret                     urn:alert:security@example:secret
    top-secret                 urn:alert:security@example:top-secret
      

In some circumstances, the designer may want to create an entirely new category of "alert" URNs to indicate a type of information that is not indicated by any standard category of URNs. In that case, the designer uses a private extension as the alert-category (the third component of the URN), combined with whatever alert-ind-part (fourth component) values are desired. For example, a simplified version of the U.S. military security designations could be:

In addition, the set of alert-ind-parts for the new alert-category should be comprehensive and disjoint, in that every message should be described by exactly one of them.

3. General Considerations for Processing Alert-Info

In this section, we will discuss various considerations which arise when processing Alert-Info. These have to be taken care of properly in order to conform to the standards, as well as to endure a good user experience. But since they are largely independent of the generated finite state machine and its processing, they are gathered here in a seperate section.

The UA may have a number of different finite state machines (FSMs) for processing URNs. Generally, there will be different FSMs for processing Alert-Info in incoming INVITE requests and for incoming provisional responses to outgoing INVITE requests. But any situation that changes the set of signals that the UA is willing to generate specifies a different set of signals and corresponding URNs, and thus generates a different FSM. For example, if a call is active on the UA, all audible signals may become unavailable, or audible signals may be available only if urn:alert:priority:high is specified.

Similarly, if the set of signals is customized by user action or local policy, the generated FSM must be updated. This can be done by regenerating it according to the method described here, or by generating a "generic" FSM and instantiating it based on the available signals. (See Section 11 for a discussion of this.)

Note that the values in an Alert-Info header field are allowed to be URIs of any schema, and within the "urn" schema, are allowed to have any namespace.[RFC3261] The processing of URIs that are not "alert" URNs is not considered by this document, nor is that processing specified by [RFC7462]. But the algorithm designer must consider what to do with such URIs if they are encountered. The simplest choice is to ignore them. Alternatively, the algorithm may examine the URI to determine if it names an alerting signal or describes how to retrieve an alerting signal, and if so, choose to render that signal, rather than processing the "alert" URNs to select a signal. In any case, the remainder of this document assumes that all Alert-Info URIs that are not "alert" URNs have been removed.

The UA may also receive "alert" URNs that are semantically invalid in various ways. E.g., the URN may have only three components, despite that all valid "alert" URNs have at least one alert-ind-part, and thus four components. The only useful strategy is to ignore such URNs (and possibly log them for analysis).

The method described here is robust in its handling of categories and alert-ind-parts which are unknown to the UA, and as a consequence, also if they are not valid standardized URNs. Thus, these error conditions need not be handled specially.

4. Constructing the Finite State Machine for a Very Simple Example

Constructing the FSM involves:

  1. Listing the URNs which are expressed by the various signals of the user agent.
  2. From the expressed URNs, constructing the finite alphabet of symbols into which input URNs are mapped and which drive the state transitions of the FSM.
  3. Constructing the states of the FSM and the transitions between them.
  4. Selecting a signal to be associated with each FSM state.

We will explain the process using a very simple example in which there are two signals, one expressing "internal source" and one expressing "external source", along with a default signal (for when there is no source information to signal). The "internal source" signal expresses urn:alert:source:internal, and the "external source" signal expresses urn:alert:source:external.

4.1. Listing the Expressed URNs

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    default                         (none)
    internal source                 urn:alert:source:internal
    external source                 urn:alert:source:external.
    
    urn:alert:source:external
    urn:alert:source:internal
          

The first step is to establish for each of the user agent's signals what call characteristics it represents, which is to say, the set of "alert" URNs which are its information content.

4.2. Constructing the Alphabet

In order to reduce the infinite set of possible "alert" URNs to a finite alphabet of input symbols which cause the FSM's transitions, the designer must partition the "alert" URNs into a finite set of categories.

Once we've listed all the expressed URNs, we can list all of the alert-categories that are relevant to the user agent's signaling; "alert" URNs in any other alert-category cannot affect the signaling and can be ignored. (The easiest method to achieve is to skip over them during Alert-Info processing. A more formal method is to map all of these URNs into one "Other" symbol, and then for each state of the FSM, have the Other symbol transition to that same state.)

    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
          

Within each relevant alert-category, we now define a distinct symbol for every expressed URN and for all of their "ancestor" URNs (those that can be created by removing one or more trailing alert-ind-parts). In order to name the symbols in a way that distinguishes them from the corresponding URNs, we remove the initial "urn:alert:" and capitalize each alert-ind-part. Thus in our example, we get these symbols: [RFC7462] section 7 -- although the processing algorithm must be prepared to screen out such a purported URN if it appears in the Alert-Info header field.) However, its existance as a symbol will be useful later when we construct the FSM.

    Source:Other
    Source:External:Other
    Source:Internal:Other
          

For each of these symbols, we add a symbol that classifies URNs that extend the symbol's corresponding URN with alert-ind-parts that cannot be expressed:

We can then simplify the set of symbols by removing the ones like Source:External:Other and Source:Internal:Other that consist of adding "Other" to a symbol which corresponds to an expressed URN which is not ancestral to any other expressed URN.

    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
    Source:Other
          
                            urn:alert
                                |
                            {   |    } 
                            { source } --> 1
                            {   |    }            
                                |
            +-------------------+-------------------+
            |                    |                  |
       {    |      }        {    |      }        {  |  }           
       { external* } --> 2  { internal* } --> 3  { ... } --> 4
       {    |      }        {    |      }        {     }           
       {   ...     }        {   ...     }
       {           }        {           }

    1 = Source
    2 = Source:External
    3 = Source:Internal
    4 = Source:Other
          

This leaves the following symbols for the "source" category:

4.3. Constructing the States and Transitions

The user agent processes the Alert-Info URNs left-to-right using a finite state machine (FSM), with each successive URN causing the FSM to transition to a new state. Each state of the FSM records the information which has so far been extracted from the URNs. The state of the FSM after processing all the URNs determines which signal the user agent will present to the user.

We label each state with a set of symbols, one from each relevant category, which describe the information that's been extracted from all of the URNs that have so far been processed. The initial state is labeled with the "null" symbols that are just the category names, because no information has yet been recorded. In our simple example, the initial state is labeled "Source", since that's the only relevant category.

    State: Source (initial state)
        

Each state has a corresponding alerting signal, which is the signal that the user agent will produce when URN processing leaves the FSM in that state. The signal is the one that best expresses the information that has been extracted from the URNs. Usually the choice of signal is obvious to the designer, but there are certain constraints that the choice must satisfy. The main constraint is that the signal's expressed URNs must be semantic supersets of (i.e., identical to or a prefix of) the URNs corresponding to the symbols in the state's label. In particular, if the expressed URN of the signal in a certain category is shorter than the state's label, we show that in the state's name by putting parentheses around the trailing part of the symbol that is not expressed by the signal. For instance, if the symbol in the label is "Source:External" but the signal only expresses "Source" (i.e., no "source" URN at all), then the symbol in the label is modified to be "Source:(External)". Note that the parentheses are part of the state name, so in some circumstances there may be two or more distinct states labeled with the same symbols, but with different placement of parentheses within the symbols.

The initial state's label is the null symbols for the relevant categories, so the only allowed signal is the default signal, which expresses no URNs:

    State: Source (initial state)
    Signal: default
        

From each state, we must construct the transition for each possible input symbol. For a particular state and symbol, we construct the label of the destination state by combining the input symbol with the symbol in the start state's label for the same category. If one of the symbols is a prefix of the other, we select the longer one; if not, we select the symbol in the start state's label.

    State: Source (initial state)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Source:Other
        

Thus, in our simple example, the initial state has the following transitions:

However, there is a further constraint on the destination state: Its signal must express URNs that at least contain the expressed URNs of the signal of the start state. Within that constraint, and being compatible with the destination state's label, for the category of the input URN, the destination state's signal must express the longest URN that can be expressed by any signal.

In our example, this means that the destination Source:External state has the "external source" signal, which expresses urn:alert:source:external. Since that signal expresses all of the state's label, it is the chosen state. Similarly, the destination Source:Internal state has the "internal source" signal. But for the transition on input Source:Other, the "Source:Other" state must have the default signal, as there is no signal that expresses urn:alert:source:[some-unknown-alert-ind-part]. So the destination state is "Source:(Other)", where the parentheses record that the "Other" part of the label is not expressed by the state's signal.

    State: Source (initial state)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Source:(Other)

    State: Source:External
    Signal: external source (urn:alert:source:external)

    State: Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source (urn:alert:source:internal)

    State: Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
        

Thus, the initial state and the states it can transition to are:

    State: Source:External
    Signal: external source (urn:alert:source:external)
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Source:External
        Source:Other -> Source:External
        
    State: Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source (urn:alert:source:internal)
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:Internal
        Source:Internal -> Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Source:Internal
        
    State: Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:(Other)
        Source:Internal -> Source:(Other)
        Source:Other -> Source:(Other)
        

Looking at the state Source:External, we see that it is incompatible with all input symbols other than Source:External, and thus all of its transitions are to itself:

4.4. Summary

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    default                         (none)
    internal source                 urn:alert:source:internal
    external source                 urn:alert:source:external.
        
    urn:alert:source:external
    urn:alert:source:internal
        
    source
        
    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
    Source:Other
        
    State: Source (initial state)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Source:(Other)
        
    State: Source:External
    Signal: external source (urn:alert:source:external)
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Source:External
        Source:Other -> Source:External
        
    State: Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source (urn:alert:source:internal)
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:Internal
        Source:Internal -> Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Source:Internal
        
    State: Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Source:External -> Source:(Other)
        Source:Internal -> Source:(Other)
        Source:Other -> Source:(Other)
        

To summarize the steps of the method:

  1. The signals have the meanings:
  2. The FSM can be constructed by processing the file "very-simple.txt" with the program "alert-info-fsm.py" in [code]. The stages of the construction are:
  3. The expressed URNs are
  4. The relevant categories of "alert" URNs are only:
  5. Thus, the infinite universe of possible "alert" URNs can be reduced to these symbols, which are the categories of URNs that are different in ways that are significant to the resolution process:
  6. The FSM is:

4.5. Examples of Processing Alert-Info URNs

In the trivial case where the user agent receives no Alert-Info URNs, then processing begins and ends with the FSM in the initial state and selects the default signal.

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>
          
    State: Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
          

If the user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:external>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>
          
    State: Source
        Process: Source:External (urn:alert:source:external)
    State: Source:External
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:External
    Signal: external source
          

If the user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:unclassified>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>
          
    State: Source
        Process: Source:Other (urn:alert:source:unclassified)
    State: Source:(Other)
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
          

If the user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:priority:high>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>
          
    State: Source
        Ignore: urn:alert:priority:high
    State: Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
          

If the user agent receives

5. Example with "source" and "priority" URNs

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    default                         (none)
    external source                 urn:alert:source:external
    internal source                 urn:alert:source:internal
    low priority                    urn:alert:priority:low
    low priority/external source    urn:alert:priority:low,
                                        urn:alert:source:external
    low priority/internal source    urn:alert:priority:low,
                                        urn:alert:source:internal
    high priority                   urn:alert:priority:high
    high priority/external source   urn:alert:priority:high,
                                        urn:alert:source:external
    high priority/internal source   urn:alert:priority:high,
                                        urn:alert:source:internal
        

Now consider an example where the user agent can signal "external source", "internal source", "low priority", and "high priority" individually or in any combination of source and priority, along with a default signal. This example is essentially the cartesian product of two copies of the example in Section 4, one dealing with the call's source and one dealing with the call's priority. So there is a total of 9 signals:

    urn:alert:source:external
    urn:alert:source:internal
    urn:alert:priority:low
    urn:alert:priority:high
        

The expressed URNs are:

    source
    priority
        

The relevant categories of "alert" URNs are only:

    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
    Source:Other
    Priority
    Priority:Low
    Priority:High
    Priority:Other
        

The alphabet of symbols is:

State: Priority/Source
Signal: default
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source
    Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source
    Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source
    Source:Other -> Priority/Source:(Other)
    Source:External -> Priority/Source:External
    Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:(Other)/Source
Signal: default
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source
    Priority:High -> Priority:(Other)/Source
    Priority:Low -> Priority:(Other)/Source
    Source:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
    Source:External -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
    Source:Internal -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
Signal: default
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
        
State: Priority:(Other)/Source:External
Signal: external source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
        
State: Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
Signal: internal source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:High/Source
Signal: high priority
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:High/Source
    Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source
    Priority:Low -> Priority:High/Source
    Source:Other -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
    Source:External -> Priority:High/Source:External
    Source:Internal -> Priority:High/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:High/Source:(Other)
Signal: high priority
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
        
State: Priority:High/Source:External
Signal: high priority/external source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:High/Source:External
        
State: Priority:High/Source:Internal
Signal: high priority/internal source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:High/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:Low/Source
Signal: low priority
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:Low/Source
    Priority:High -> Priority:Low/Source
    Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source
    Source:Other -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
    Source:External -> Priority:Low/Source:External
    Source:Internal -> Priority:Low/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
Signal: low priority
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
        
State: Priority:Low/Source:External
Signal: low priority/external source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:Low/Source:External
        
State: Priority:Low/Source:Internal
Signal: low priority/internal source
Transitions:
    any -> Priority:Low/Source:Internal
        
State: Priority/Source:(Other)
Signal: default
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
    Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
    Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
    Source:Other -> Priority/Source:(Other)
    Source:External -> Priority/Source:(Other)
    Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:(Other)
        
State: Priority/Source:External
Signal: external source
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
    Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source:External
    Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source:External
    Source:Other -> Priority/Source:External
    Source:External -> Priority/Source:External
    Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:External
        
State: Priority/Source:Internal
Signal: internal source
Transitions:
    Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
    Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source:Internal
    Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source:Internal
    Source:Other -> Priority/Source:Internal
    Source:External -> Priority/Source:Internal
    Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:Internal
        

The 16 states are as follows, where 10 states have a simple structure because from them, no further information can be recorded.

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:source:unclassified>,
        <urn:alert:priority:high>

    State: Source/Priority
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:Internal/Priority
        Process: Source:(Other) (urn:alert:source:unclassified)
    State: Source:Internal/Priority
        Process: Priority:High (urn:alert:priority:high)
    State: Source:Internal/Priority:High
    Signal: internal source/high priority
   

An example of processing that involves multiple "source" URNs and one "priority" URN:

6. Example 1 of RFC 7462

    Signal                          URN(s)
    ----------------------------    -------------------------------
    default                         (none)
    internal source                 urn:alert:source:external
    external source                 urn:alert:source:internal
    high low                        urn:alert:priority:low
    high priority                   urn:alert:priority:high
        

A more complicated example is in section 12.2.1 of [RFC7462]. It is like the example in Section 5, except that the user agent can only signal "external source", "internal source", "low priority", and "high priority" individually but not in combination, as well as a default signal:

    urn:alert:source:external
    urn:alert:source:internal
    urn:alert:priority:low
    urn:alert:priority:high
        

The signals can express the following URNs:

    source
    priority
        

The relevant categories of "alert" URNs are:

    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
    Source:Other
    Priority
    Priority:Low
    Priority:High
    Priority:Other
        

The alphabet of symbols is:

    State: Priority/Source
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source
        Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source
        Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source
        Source:Other -> Priority/Source:(Other)
        Source:External -> Priority/Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:Internal
        
    State: Priority:(Other)/Source
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source
        Priority:High -> Priority:(Other)/Source
        Priority:Low -> Priority:(Other)/Source
        Source:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
        Source:External -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
        
    State: Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
        
    State: Priority:(Other)/Source:External
    Signal: external source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
        
    State: Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
        
    State: Priority:High/Source
    Signal: high priority
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:High/Source
        Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source
        Priority:Low -> Priority:High/Source
        Source:Other -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
        Source:External -> Priority:High/Source:(External)
        Source:Internal -> Priority:High/Source:(Internal)
        
    State: Priority:High/Source:(Other)
    Signal: high priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
        
    State: Priority:High/Source:(External)
    Signal: high priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:High/Source:(External)
        
    State: Priority:High/Source:(Internal)
    Signal: high priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:High/Source:(Internal)
        
    State: Priority:Low/Source
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:Low/Source
        Priority:High -> Priority:Low/Source
        Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source
        Source:Other -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
        Source:External -> Priority:Low/Source:(External)
        Source:Internal -> Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
        
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
        
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(External)
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:Low/Source:(External)
        
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
        
    State: Priority/Source:(Other)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:(Other)
        Priority:High -> Priority:High/Source:(Other)
        Priority:Low -> Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
        Source:Other -> Priority/Source:(Other)
        Source:External -> Priority/Source:(Other)
        Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:(Other)
        
    State: Priority/Source:External
    Signal: external source
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:External
        Priority:High -> Priority:(High)/Source:External
        Priority:Low -> Priority:(Low)/Source:External
        Source:Other -> Priority/Source:External
        Source:External -> Priority/Source:External
        Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:External
        
    State: Priority:(High)/Source:External
    Signal: external source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(High)/Source:External
        
    State: Priority:(Low)/Source:External
    Signal: external source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(Low)/Source:External
        
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
        Priority:Other -> Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
        Priority:High -> Priority:(High)/Source:Internal
        Priority:Low -> Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
        Source:Other -> Priority/Source:Internal
        Source:External -> Priority/Source:Internal
        Source:Internal -> Priority/Source:Internal
        
    State: Priority:(High)/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(High)/Source:Internal
        
    State: Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
        any -> Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal

      <t>As an example of processing, if the user agent receives
      <figure><artwork><![CDATA[
    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>
        
    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
   

In this example, the FSM has 20 states because both "source" and "priority" URNs are recorded, but the order in which the two appear affects the signal:

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:unclassified>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:priority:high>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Other (urn:alert:source:unclassified)
    State: Priority/Source:(Other)
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Source:(Other)/Internal
        Process: Priority:High (urn:alert:priority:high)
    State: Priority:High/Source:(Other)
    Signal: high priority

      <t>As an example of processing, if the user agent receives
      <figure><artwork><![CDATA[
    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>
        
    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
   

A more complicated example involves multiple "source" URNs which do not select a non-default signal and one "priority" URN which can be signaled:

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:unclassified>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:priority:high>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Other (urn:alert:source:unclassified)
    State: Priority/Source:(Other)
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:(Other)
        Process: Priority:High (urn:alert:priority:high)
    State: Priority:High/Source:(Other)
    Signal: high priority
   

A more complicated example involves multiple "source" URNs which do not select a non-default signal and one "priority" URN which can be signaled:

    states with signal "high priority":
        Priority:High/Source
        Priority:High/Source:(Other)
        Priority:High/Source:(External)
        Priority:High/Source:(Internal)
      
    states with signal "low priority":
        Priority:Low/Source
        Priority:Low/Source:(Other)
        Priority:Low/Source:(External)
        Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
      
    states with signal "external source":
        Priority/Source:External
        Priority:(High)/Source:External
        Priority:(Low)/Source:External
        Priority:(Other)/Source:External
      
    states with signal "internal source":
        Priority/Source:Internal
        Priority:(High)/Source:Internal
        Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
        Priority:(Other)/Source:Internal
      

Since the only characteristic of a state that affects the output of the FSM is the state's signal, several groups of states in this FSM can be merged using standard FSM optimization algorithms:

7. Examples 2, 3, and 4 of RFC 7462

Example 2, 3, and 4 of [RFC7462] are similar to the example in Section 5, but they do not include a signal for the combination "internal source, low priority" to make resolution examples work asymmetrically.

The FSM for this example has the same alphabet as the FSM of Section 5. Most of the states of this FSM are the same as the states of the FSM of Section 5, but the state Source:Internal/Priority:Low is missing because there is no signal for that combination. It is replaced by two states: One state is Source:Internal/Priority:(Low); it records that Source:Internal was specified first (and is to be signaled) and that Priority:Low was specified later (and can not be signaled -- but it still prevents any further "priority" URN from having an effect). The other state is Source:(Internal)/Priority:Low; it records the reverse sequence of events.

    State: Priority:Low/Source
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
	Source:Internal -> Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
	(other transitions unchanged)
        
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
    Signal: low priority
    Transitions:
	any -> Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
        
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
	Priority:Low -> Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
	(other transitions unchanged)
        
    State: Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
    Transitions:
	any -> Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
        

The changes in the FSM are:

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:source:unclassified>,
        <urn:alert:priority:high>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
        Process: Source:Other (urn:alert:source:unclassified)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
        Process: Priority:High (urn:alert:priority:high)
    State: Priority:High/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source/high priority
        

An example of processing that involves multiple "source" URNs and one "priority" URN:

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
        

If the user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:external>,
        <urn:alert:priority:low>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:External (urn:alert:source:external)
    State: Priority/Source:External
        Process: Priority:Low (urn:alert:priority:low)
    State: Priority:Low/Source:External
    Signal: external source/low priority
        

If the user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:priority:low>
        
    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority/Source:Internal
        Process: Priority:Low (urn:alert:priority:low)
    State: Priority:(Low)/Source:Internal
    Signal: internal source
        

Suppose the same user agent receives

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:priority:low>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Priority:Low (urn:alert:priority:low)
    State: Priority:Low/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
    Signal: low priority
        

If the order of the URNs is reversed, what is signaled is still the the meaning of now different first URN:

    Alert-Info: <urn:alert:priority:low>,
        <urn:alert:source:internal>,
        <urn:alert:source:external>

    State: Priority/Source
        Process: Priority:Low (urn:alert:priority:low)
    State: Priority:Low/Source
        Process: Source:Internal (urn:alert:source:internal)
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
        Process: Source:External (urn:alert:source:external)
    State: Priority:Low/Source:(Internal)
    Signal: low priority
        

Notice that the existence of the new states prevents later URNs of a category from overriding earlier URNs of that category, even if the earlier one was not itself signalable:

8. An Example that Subsets Internal Sources

    urn:alert:source:internal
    urn:alert:source:internal:vip@example
    urn:alert:source:external
    
    Source
    Source:Internal
    Source:Internal:Vip@example
    Source:Internal:Other
    Source:Other
    

In the the example of Section 4, there are signals for "external source" and "internal source". Let us add to that example a signal for "source internal from a VIP". That last signal expresses the private extension URN urn:alert:source:internal:vip@example, which is a subset of urn:alert:source:internal, which is expressed by the "source internal" signal. There is a total of 3 expressed URNs, one of which is a subset of another:

9. An Example of "service" URNs

    urn:alert:service:forward
    urn:alert:service:recall:callback
        
    Service
    Service:Forward
    Service:Recall
    Service:Recall:Callback
    Service:Recall:Other
    Service:Other
    

In this example there are signals for "service forward" (the call has been forwarded) and "source recall callback" (a recall due to a callback). This gives 2 expressed URNs:

10. Prioritizing Signals

The specifications in [RFC7462] are oriented toward giving the sender of Alert-Info control over which of the "alert" URNs are most important. But in some situations, the user may prefer to prioritize expressing one URN category over another regardless of the order the URNs appear in Alert-Info. This section describes how that can be accommodated within the framework of [RFC7462], and presents the FSM that this method generates.

This example uses the signals of Section 6, viz., "external source", "internal source", "low priority" and "high priority", but this time, we want to signal "high priority" in preference to any other signal that might be applicable.

    urn:alert:priority:high
    urn:alert:priority:high, urn:alert:source:internal
    urn:alert:priority:high, urn:alert:source:external
    

We accommodate this within the framework of [RFC7462] by assigning the signal "high priority" for each of these combinations of URNs:

    urn:alert:source:external
    urn:alert:source:internal
    urn:alert:priority:low
    urn:alert:priority:high
    
    source
    priority
    
    Source
    Source:External
    Source:Internal
    Source:Other
    Priority
    Priority:Low
    Priority:High
    Priority:Other
    

The intermediate steps of the method produce the same results as before. The signals can express the following URNs:

    Priority:(High)/Source:External and
    Priority:High/Source:(External) become:
        State: Priority:High/Source:External
        Signal: high priority

    Priority:(High)/Source:Internal and
    Priority:High/Source:(Internal) become:
        State: Priority:High/Source:Internal
        Signal: high priority
    

When the FSM is constructed, it is the same as the FSM for Section 6, except that certain states are effectively renamed and merged, because any "source" is defined to be expressed if high priority is expressed:

11. Dynamic Sets of Signals

This section discusses how to construct FSMs for user agent that allows the user to configure the use of ringtones. Several approaches can be used:

The remainder of this section gives an example of the third approach.

    urn:alert:caller@example:alice@example.com
    urn:alert:caller@example:bob@example.com
    etc.
    
    urn:alert:caller@example:IDENTITY
    

For the example, we will use a set of ringtones that express the identify of the caller. To signal this information, a private extension "alert" URN category is used, "caller@example":

      Caller@example
      Caller@example:IDENTITY
      Caller@example:Other
    

The alphabet is then:

    State: Caller@example (initial state)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        Caller@example:IDENTITY -> Caller@example:IDENTITY
        Caller@example:Other -> Caller@example:(Other)

    State: Caller@example:IDENTITY
    Signal: signal for caller IDENTITY
    Transitions:
        any -> Caller@example:IDENTITY

    State: Caller@example:(Other)
    Signal: default
    Transitions:
        any -> Caller@example:(Other)
    

The states and transitions of the FSM are:

12. Acknowledgments

Thanks to Paul Kyzivat, whose relentless identification of the weaknesses of earlier versions made the final document much, much better than it would have been by changing it from the exposition of a concept into a practical tool.

13. Revision History

[Note to RFC Editor: Please remove this entire section upon publication as an RFC.]

13.1. Changes from draft-worley-alert-info-fsm-01 to draft-worley-alert-info-fsm-02

Recast exposition to feature the implementation of the construction algorithm.

13.2. Changes from draft-worley-alert-info-fsm-00 to draft-worley-alert-info-fsm-01

Reorganized the text, including describing how the FSM states are constructed.

14. References

14.1. Normative References

[RFC3261] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, DOI 10.17487/RFC3261, June 2002.
[RFC7462] Liess, L., Jesske, R., Johnston, A., Worley, D. and P. Kyzivat, "URNs for the Alert-Info Header Field of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 7462, DOI 10.17487/RFC7462, March 2015.

14.2. Informative References

[code] Worley, D., "draft-worley-alert-info-fsm.aux", June 2019.

Author's Address

Dale R. Worley Ariadne Internet Services 738 Main St. Waltham, MA 02451 US EMail: worley@ariadne.com