Electronic Commerce Modeling Language (ECML) Version 2 Specification
RFC 4112

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Network Working Group                                    D. Eastlake 3rd
Request for Comments: 4112                         Motorola Laboratories
Updates: 3106                                                  June 2005
Category: Standards Track

             Electronic Commerce Modeling Language (ECML)
                        Version 2 Specification

Status of This Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   Electronic commerce frequently requires a substantial exchange of
   information in order to complete a purchase or other transaction,
   especially the first time the parties communicate.  A standard set of
   hierarchically-organized payment-related information field names in
   an XML syntax is defined so that this task can be more easily
   automated.  This is the second version of an Electronic Commerce
   Modeling Language (ECML) and is intended to meet the requirements of
   RFC 3505.

Eastlake 3rd                Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 4112                 ECML v2 Specification                 June 2005

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Field Definitions, DTD, and Schema ..............................3
      2.1. Field List and Descriptions ................................3
           2.1.1. The Field List ......................................4
           2.1.2. Field Footnotes .....................................7
      2.2. Exemplar XML Syntax .......................................12
           2.2.1. ECML v2 XML DTD ....................................13
           2.2.2. ECML v2 XML Schema .................................18
   3. Usage Notes for ECML v2 ........................................26
      3.1. Presentation of the Fields ................................26
      3.2. Methods and Flow of Setting the Fields ....................27
   4. Security and Privacy Considerations ............................28
   5. IANA Considerations ............................................29
      5.1. ECML v2 Schema Template ...................................29
      5.2. ECML v2 URN Template ......................................29
           5.2.1. Sub-registration of v2.0 ...........................30
      5.3. IANA Registries ...........................................30
   6. Acknowledgements ...............................................30
   A. Appendix: Changes from v1.1 to v2 ..............................31
   Normative References ..............................................31
   Informative References ............................................32

1.  Introduction

   Numerous parties are conducting business on the Internet using ad hoc
   fields and forms.  The data formats and structure can vary
   considerably from one party to another.  Where forms are filled out
   manually, some users find the diversity confusing, and the process of
   manually filling in these forms can be tedious and error prone.

   Software tools, including electronic wallets, can help this
   situation.  Such tools can assist in conducting online transactions
   by storing billing, shipping, payment, preference, and similar
   information and using this information to complete the data sets
   required by interactions automatically.  For example, software that
   fills out forms has been successfully built into browsers, as proxy
   servers, as helper applications to browsers, as stand-alone
   applications, as browser plug-ins, and as server-based applications.
   But the proliferation of more automated transaction software has been
   hampered by the lack of standards.

   ECML (Electronic Commerce Modeling Language) provides a set of
   hierarchical payment-oriented data structures that will enable
   automated software, including electronic wallets from multiple
   vendors, to supply and query for needed data in a more uniform
   manner.

Eastlake 3rd                Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 4112                 ECML v2 Specification                 June 2005

   Version 2.0 extends ECML Versions 1.0 [RFC2706] and 1.1 [RFC3106] as
   described in the appendix to this document.  These enhancements
   include support for additional payment mechanisms and transaction
   information and use of XML as the exemplar syntax.

   ECML is designed to provide a simple baseline useful in a variety of
   contexts.  Likely uses for ECML v2 are consumer payment information
   input and business-to-business transactions.  At this time, the first
   is still likely to occur through HTML forms.  The second is more