Negotiating Human Language in Real-Time Communications
RFC 8373
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) R. Gellens
Request for Comments: 8373 Core Technology Consulting
Category: Standards Track May 2018
ISSN: 2070-1721
Negotiating Human Language in Real-Time Communications
Abstract
Users have various human (i.e., natural) language needs, abilities,
and preferences regarding spoken, written, and signed languages.
This document defines new Session Description Protocol (SDP) media-
level attributes so that when establishing interactive communication
sessions ("calls"), it is possible to negotiate (i.e., communicate
and match) the caller's language and media needs with the
capabilities of the called party. This is especially important for
emergency calls, because it allows for a call to be handled by a call
taker capable of communicating with the user or for a translator or
relay operator to be bridged into the call during setup. However,
this also applies to non-emergency calls (for example, calls to a
company call center).
This document describes the need as well as a solution that uses new
SDP media attributes.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8373.
Gellens Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 8373 Negotiating Human Language May 2018
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. Desired Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. The Existing 'lang' Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1. The 'hlang-send' and 'hlang-recv' Attributes . . . . . . 5
5.2. No Language in Common . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.3. Usage Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.4. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.1. att-field Subregistry of SDP Parameters . . . . . . . . . 10
6.2. Warning Codes Subregistry of SIP Parameters . . . . . . . 11
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
8. Privacy Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Gellens Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 8373 Negotiating Human Language May 2018
1. Introduction
A mutually comprehensible language is helpful for human
communication. This document addresses the negotiation of human
language and media modality (spoken, signed, or written) in real-time
communications. A companion document [RFC8255] addresses language
selection in email.
Unless the caller and callee know each other or there is contextual
or out-of-band information from which the language(s) and media
modalities can be determined, there is a need for spoken, signed, or
written languages to be negotiated based on the caller's needs and
the callee's capabilities. This need applies to both emergency and
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