Network Working Group T. Edwards
Request for Comments: 5119 FOX
Category: Informational February 2008
A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for
the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace for
the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for
naming persistent resources that SMPTE produces or manages. A
subnamespace for Universal Labels is specifically described.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. URN Namespace Definition Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Namespace Considerations and Community Considerations . . . . 6
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7. SMPTE Registration Authority (Informative) . . . . . . . . . . 7
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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1. Introduction
SMPTE (the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) is an
internationally-recognized standards-developing organization.
Headquartered and incorporated in the United States of America, SMPTE
has members in over 80 countries on six continents. SMPTE's
Engineering Documents, including Standards, Recommended Practices,
and Engineering Guidelines, are prepared by SMPTE's Technology
Committees. Participation in these Committees is open to all with a
bona fide interest in a committee's work. SMPTE cooperates closely
with other standards-developing organizations, including ISO, the
IEC, and the ITU. Also, the SMPTE Registration Authority maintains a
registry of Universal Labels (ULs) used in identifying the type and
encoding of data within data streams associated with audio-visual
material.
SMPTE would like to assign unique, permanent, and location-
independent names using URNs for resources that SMPTE produces or
manages.
This namespace specification is for a formal namespace.
2. URN Namespace Definition Template
The following template is provided in accordance with [RFC3406].
Namespace ID:
smpte
Registration Information:
Version: 2
Date: 2007-07-08
Declared registrant of the namespace:
Registering Organization: Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers
Address: 3 Barker Avenue - 5th Floor
White Plains, NY 10601 USA
Designated Contact Person: Director of Engineering
Phone: +1 (914) 761-1100
Email: standards@smpte.org
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Declaration of structure:
The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the
"smpte" NID shall be conformant to the URN syntax requirements
defined in [RFC2141].
URNs for the "urn:smpte" namespace shall follow the structure
defined in [SMPTE2029].
SMPTE (or it successor) may add additional subnamespaces
in the future. Any system that deals with URNs for the
"urn:smpte" namespace should be written with the awareness
that this could occur at any time.
For informative purposes, the identifier structure described
using ABNF (according to [RFC4234]) is as follows:
;start ABNF notation
URN = "urn:" NID NSS
NID = "smpte:"
NSS = UL-NSS / other-NSS
UL-NSS = "ul:" UL
UL = QUADBYTE *(DOT QUADBYTE)
DOT = %x2E ; period
QUADBYTE = 4BYTE
BYTE = 2HEXDIG
other-NSS = 1*(DIGIT / ALPHA / "-"/":")
; other-NSS that conforms with [RFC2141] for future
expansion
;end ABNF notation
Relevant ancillary documentation:
The structure for URNs in the "urn:smpte" namespace are defined
in [SMPTE2029].
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The values of ULs in the "urn:smpte:ul" subnamespace shall be
constrained as defined in [SMPTE298M]. Details regarding the
use of ULs as keys in key-length-value (KLV) coding, including
how to determine in which SMPTE registry a SMPTE-administered
UL may be found, are described in [SMPTE336M].
Identifier uniqueness considerations:
[SMPTE2029] states that "All URNs in the SMPTE namespace shall
conform to IETF RFC 3406. In particular, URNs in the SMPTE
namespace shall not be re-assigned, and URNs shall continue to
be valid, even if the owners or registrants of the SMPTE
resources identified by the URNs are no longer members or
customers of SMPTE. There need not be resolution of such URNs,
but they shall not resolve to false or stale information."
Additionally, the rules for assignment of SMPTE-administered
ULs requires that each UL be unique to the UL space and that it
cannot be reassigned or reused.
It should be noted that [SMPTE298M] states that "A universal
label shall be an 'object identifier' as specified by ISO/IEC
8824-1," ([ISO8824-1]) although the SMPTE Universal Label
representation is a specialized one that carries additional
semantics over the OID representation of a URN OID ([RFC3061]).
SMPTE will work to ensure that all current and future
"urn:smpte" subnamespaces contain unique identifiers.
Identifier persistence considerations:
SMPTE-administered ULs may occasionally be deleted through
SMPTE procedures. Regardless, even after a UL has been
deleted, it will not be reused. Revisions to ULs will result
in the creation of a new UL and the deletion of the old one.
The persistence of URNs in future "urn:smpte" subnamespaces
will be defined by SMPTE Standards.
Process of identifier assignment:
Assignment of URNs in the SMPTE NID is limited to SMPTE and
those authorities that are specifically designated by SMPTE.
SMPTE may designate portions of its namespace for assignment by
other parties.
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Due process is followed by committees in the development of
SMPTE documents. Some types of Universal Label registrations
and other registrations may require a fee to be paid to SMPTE.
All classes of SMPTE-administered ULs require for registration
the name and address of the applicant. Some classes of labels
also require the submission of supporting technical
documentation for the label and may require a due process
evaluation through the SMPTE Engineering Committee process.
Process for identifier resolution:
SMPTE-administered ULs are resolved through publications of the
SMPTE Registration Authority. Currently, publication of
SMPTE-administered ULs are made through a Metadata Dictionary
as specified in [RP210] and through the SMPTE Labels Registry
as specified in [RP224], both of which are currently available
online at http://www.smpte-ra.org/mdd/.
SMPTE expects to develop and maintain "URN catalogs" that map
all future assigned URNs in the "urn:smpte" namespace to
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to enable Web-based resolution
of named resources.
Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
Lexical equivalence of URNs in the "urn:smpte:ul" subnamespace
is defined by case-insensitive string match.
Lexical equivalence of URNs in additional subnamespaces of
"urn:smpte:" will be specified by SMPTE in the defining
document; in the absence of such specification, lexical
equivalence of URNs in the "urn:smpte:" namespace outside of
the "urn:smpte:ul" subnamespace is defined by exact string
match, according to [RFC2141].
Conformance with URN Syntax:
No special considerations beyond the syntax herein described.
Validation mechanism:
None.
Scope:
Global.
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3. Examples
Currently, only a "urn:smpte:ul" subnamespace is defined. This is
the subnamespace for SMPTE Universal Labels [SMPTE298M]. SMPTE may
add additional subnamespaces in the future.
The following examples are not guaranteed to be real and are provided
for illustrative purposes only.
urn:smpte:ul:060E2B34.04010103.04010202.01011100
urn:smpte:newnss:future-urn-2105
4. Security Considerations
The SMPTE URN Namespace ID shares the security considerations
outlined in [RFC3406], but has no other known security
considerations.
5. Namespace Considerations and Community Considerations
SMPTE is an internationally-recognized standards-developing
organization. As part of this effort, SMPTE also registers items
such as Universal Labels through the SMPTE Registration Authority.
The SMPTE namespace provides a uniform, unique, and effective way to
communicate resource names for these items, which can be used by the
motion imaging industry community. This namespace is also intended
to be a useful mechanism to provide both human and automated access
to these resources through online systems.
The individual URNs in the namespace shall be assigned through the
process of development of documents by SMPTE, through definition by
SMPTE standards, or through the registration of Universal Labels or
other items by the SMPTE Registration Authority.
RFC 3406 states that a URN registration RFC must include a 'Namespace
Considerations' section, which outlines the perceived need for a new
namespace. There are four areas where existing URN namespaces fall
short of the requirements for a SMPTE URN namespace.
URN assignment procedures: URNs for resources defined by SMPTE
standards must be assigned exclusively by SMPTE or its delegates
to ensure the integrity of the standards process. No other
existing URN namespace has URNs assigned and managed by SMPTE.
URN resolution: URNs assigned by SMPTE standards must be resolved
by SMPTE mechanisms such as the SMPTE Registration Authority to
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ensure the integrity of the standards process. This resolution
may require the reference of databases only maintained by SMPTE.
Types of resources to be identified: Many resources defined by
SMPTE standards (such as Universal Labels) have no adequate
existing URN representation.
Types of services to be supported: SMPTE expects to establish Web
services for the automated resolution of resources defined by
SMPTE standards utilizing the SMPTE URN namespace.
6. IANA Considerations
This document defines a URN NID registration that has been entered
into the IANA registry of URN NIDs. IANA has registered the NID
"smpte".
7. SMPTE Registration Authority (Informative)
The URL of the SMPTE Registration Authority is
http://www.smpte-ra.org.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC2141] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.
[RFC3406] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P.
Faltstrom, "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace
Definition Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002.
[SMPTE2029] Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers,
"Uniform Resource Names for SMPTE Resources", SMPTE
2029-2007, <http://www.smpte.org>.
8.2. Informative References
[ISO8824-1] International Organization for Standardization,
"Information Processing - Open System Interconnection -
Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)",
ISO Standard 8824-1:1995, 1995.
[RFC3061] Mealling, M., "A URN Namespace of Object Identifiers",
RFC 3061, February 2001.
[RFC4234] Crocker, D., Ed., and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 4234, October 2005.
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[RP210] Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers,
"Metadata Dictionary Registry of Metadata Element
Descriptions", SMPTE RP210, <http://www.smpte.org>.
[RP224] Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers,
"Registry of SMPTE Universal Labels", SMPTE RP224,
<http://www.smpte.org>.
[SMPTE298M] Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers,
"Universal Labels for Unique Identification of Digital
Data", ANSI / SMPTE 298M-1997, <http://www.smpte.org>.
[SMPTE336M] Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, "Data
Encoding Protocol using Key-Length-Value", SMPTE 336M-
2001, <http://www.smpte.org>.
Author's Address
Thomas G. Edwards
FOX
10201 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Phone: +1 310 369 7093
Email: thomas.edwards@fox.com
URI: http://www.fox.com
Edwards Informational [Page 8]RFC 5119 SMPTE URN Definition February 2008
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