summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/doc/rfc/rfc3725.txt
blob: 8ee02db2d8c3b374f519597fce1c7bc0b70325ef (plain) (blame)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671
1672
1673
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
1697
1698
1699
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
Network Working Group                                       J. Rosenberg
Request for Comments: 3725                                   dynamicsoft
BCP: 85                                                      J. Peterson
Category: Best Current Practice                                  Neustar
                                                          H. Schulzrinne
                                                     Columbia University
                                                            G. Camarillo
                                                                Ericsson
                                                              April 2004


       Best Current Practices for Third Party Call Control (3pcc)
                in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
   Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   Third party call control refers to the ability of one entity to
   create a call in which communication is actually between other
   parties.  Third party call control is possible using the mechanisms
   specified within the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).  However,
   there are several possible approaches, each with different benefits
   and drawbacks.  This document discusses best current practices for
   the usage of SIP for third party call control.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  3pcc Call Establishment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       4.1.  Flow I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       4.2.  Flow II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
       4.3.  Flow III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
       4.4.  Flow IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  Recommendations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Continued Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   8.  3pcc and Early Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 1]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   9.  Third Party Call Control and SDP Preconditions . . . . . . .  16
       9.1.  Controller Initiates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       9.2.  Party A Initiates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   10. Example Call Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       10.1. Click-to-Dial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       10.2. Mid-Call Announcement Capability . . . . . . . . . . .  23
   11. Implementation Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
   12. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
       12.1. Authorization and Authentication . . . . . . . . . . .  26
       12.2. End-to-End Encryption and Integrity. . . . . . . . . .  27
   13. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
   14. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
       14.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
       14.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
   15. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
   16. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31

1.  Introduction

   In the traditional telephony context, third party call control allows
   one entity (which we call the controller) to set up and manage a
   communications relationship between two or more other parties.  Third
   party call control (referred to as 3pcc) is often used for operator
   services (where an operator creates a call that connects two
   participants together) and conferencing.

   Similarly, many SIP services are possible through third party call
   control.  These include the traditional ones on the PSTN, but also
   new ones such as click-to-dial.  Click-to-dial allows a user to click
   on a web page when they wish to speak to a customer service
   representative.  The web server then creates a call between the user
   and a customer service representative.  The call can be between two
   phones, a phone and an IP host, or two IP hosts.

   Third party call control is possible using only the mechanisms
   specified within RFC 3261 [1].  Indeed, many different call flows are
   possible, each of which will work with SIP compliant user agents.
   However, there are benefits and drawbacks to each of these flows.
   The usage of third party call control also becomes more complex when
   aspects of the call utilize SIP extensions or optional features of
   SIP.  In particular, the usage of RFC 3312 [2] (used for coupling of
   signaling to resource reservation) with third party call control is
   non-trivial, and is discussed in Section 9.  Similarly, the usage of
   early media (where session data is exchanged before the call is
   accepted) with third party call control is not trivial; both of them
   specify the way in which user agents generate and respond to SDP, and
   it is not clear how to do both at the same time.  This is discussed
   further in Section 8.



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 2]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   This document serves as a best current practice for implementing
   third party call control without usage of any extensions specifically
   designed for that purpose.  Section 4 presents the known call flows
   that can be used to achieve third party call control, and provides
   guidelines on their usage.  Section 9 discusses the interactions of
   RFC 3312 [2] with third party call control.  Section 8 discusses the
   interactions of early media with third party call control.  Section
   10 provides example applications that make usage of the flows
   recommended here.

2.  Terminology

   In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
   "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
   and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [3] and
   indicate requirement levels for compliant implementations.

3. Definitions

   The following terms are used throughout this document:

   3pcc: Third Party Call Control, which refers to the general ability
         to manipulate calls between other parties.

   Controller: A controller is a SIP User Agent that wishes to create a
         session between two other user agents.

4. 3pcc Call Establishment

   The primary primitive operation of third party call control is the
   establishment of a session between participants A and B.
   Establishment of this session is orchestrated by a third party,
   referred to as the controller.

   This section documents three call flows that the controller can
   utilize in order to provide this primitive operation.















Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 3]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


4.1.  Flow I


             A              Controller               B
             |(1) INVITE no SDP  |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(2) 200 offer1     |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |                   |(3) INVITE offer1  |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |                   |(4) 200 OK answer1 |
             |                   |<------------------|
             |                   |(5) ACK            |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |(6) ACK answer1    |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(7) RTP            |                   |
             |.......................................|

                                Figure 1

   The call flow for Flow I is shown in Figure 1.  The controller first
   sends an INVITE A (1).  This INVITE has no session description.  A's
   phone rings, and A answers.  This results in a 200 OK (2) that
   contains an offer [4].  The controller needs to send its answer in
   the ACK, as mandated by [1].  To obtain the answer, it sends the
   offer it got from A (offer1) in an INVITE to B (3).  B's phone rings.
   When B answers, the 200 OK (4) contains the answer to this offer,
   answer1.  The controller sends an ACK to B (5), and then passes
   answer1 to A in an ACK sent to it (6).  Because the offer was
   generated by A, and the answer generated by B, the actual media
   session is between A and B.  Therefore, media flows between them (7).

   This flow is simple, requires no manipulation of the SDP by the
   controller, and works for any media types supported by both
   endpoints.  However, it has a serious timeout problem.  User B may
   not answer the call immediately.  The result is that the controller
   cannot send the ACK to A right away.  This causes A to retransmit the
   200 OK response periodically.  As specified in RFC 3261 Section
   13.3.1.4, the 200 OK will be retransmitted for 64*T1 seconds.  If an
   ACK does not arrive by then, the call is considered to have failed.
   This limits the applicability of this flow to scenarios where the
   controller knows that B will answer the INVITE immediately.








Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 4]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


4.2.  Flow II

             A              Controller               B
             |(1) INVITE bh sdp1 |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(2) 200 sdp2       |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |                   |(3) INVITE sdp2    |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |(4) ACK            |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |                   |(5) 200 OK sdp3    |
             |                   |<------------------|
             |                   |(6) ACK            |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |(7) INVITE sdp3    |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(8) 200 OK sdp2    |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |(9) ACK            |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(10) RTP           |                   |
             |.......................................|

                                Figure 2

   An alternative flow, Flow II, is shown in Figure 2.  The controller
   first sends an INVITE to user A (1).  This is a standard INVITE,
   containing an offer (sdp1) with a single audio media line, one codec,
   a random port number (but not zero), and a connection address of
   0.0.0.0. This creates an initial media stream that is "black holed",
   since no media (or RTCP packets [8]) will flow from A. The INVITE
   causes A's phone to ring.


      Note that the usage of 0.0.0.0, though recommended by RFC 3264,
      has numerous drawbacks.  It is anticipated that a future
      specification will recommend usage of a domain within the .invalid
      DNS top level domain instead of the 0.0.0.0 IP address.  As a
      result, implementors are encouraged to track such developments
      once they arise.

   When A answers (2), the 200 OK contains an answer, sdp2, with a valid
   address in the connection line.  The controller sends an ACK (4).  It
   then generates a second INVITE (3).  This INVITE is addressed to user
   B, and it contains sdp2 as the offer to B. Note that the role of sdp2
   has changed.  In the 200 OK (message 2), it was an answer, but in the
   INVITE, it is an offer.  Fortunately, all valid answers are valid



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 5]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   initial offers.  This INVITE causes B's phone to ring.  When it
   answers, it generates a 200 OK (5) with an answer, sdp3.  The
   controller then generates an ACK (6).  Next, it sends a re-INVITE to
   A (7) containing sdp3 as the offer.  Once again, there has been a
   reversal of roles. sdp3 was an answer, and now it is an offer.
   Fortunately, an answer to an answer recast as an offer is, in turn, a
   valid offer.  This re-INVITE generates a 200 OK (8) with sdp2,
   assuming that A doesn't decide to change any aspects of the session
   as a result of this re-INVITE.  This 200 OK is ACKed (9), and then
   media can flow from A to B. Media from B to A could already start
   flowing once message 5 was sent.

   This flow has the advantage that all final responses are immediately
   ACKed.  It therefore does not suffer from the timeout and message
   inefficiency problems of flow 1.  However, it too has troubles.
   First off, it requires that the controller know the media types to be
   used for the call (since it must generate a "blackhole" SDP, which
   requires media lines).  Secondly, the first INVITE to A (1) contains
   media with a 0.0.0.0 connection address.  The controller expects that
   the response contains a valid, non-zero connection address for A.
   However, experience has shown that many UAs respond to an offer of a
   0.0.0.0 connection address with an answer containing a 0.0.0.0
   connection address.  The offer-answer specification [4] explicitly
   tells implementors not to do this, but at the time of publication of
   this document, many implementations still did.  If A should respond
   with a 0.0.0.0 connection address in sdp2, the flow will not work.

   However, the most serious flaw in this flow is the assumption that
   the 200 OK to the re-INVITE (message 8) contains the same SDP as in
   message 2.  This may not be the case.  If it is not, the controller
   needs to re-INVITE B with that SDP (say, sdp4), which may result in
   getting a different SDP, sdp5, in the 200 OK from B.  Then, the
   controller needs to re-INVITE A again, and so on.  The result is an
   infinite loop of re-INVITEs.  It is possible to break this cycle by
   having very smart UAs which can return the same SDP whenever
   possible, or really smart controllers that can analyze the SDP to
   determine if a re-INVITE is really needed.  However, we wish to keep
   this mechanism simple, and avoid SDP awareness in the controller.  As
   a result, this flow is not really workable.  It is therefore NOT
   RECOMMENDED.











Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 6]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


4.3.  Flow III

             A                 Controller                  B
             |(1) INVITE no SDP     |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(2) 200 offer1        |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) ACK answer1 (bh)  |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |(4) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(5) 200 OK offer2     |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(6) INVITE offer2'    |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(7) 200 answer2'      |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(8) ACK answer2       |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |(9) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(10) RTP              |                      |
             |.............................................|

                                Figure 3

   A third flow, Flow III, is shown in Figure 3.

   First, the controller sends an INVITE (1) to user A without any SDP
   (which is good, since it means that the controller doesn't need to
   assume anything about the media composition of the session).  A's
   phone rings.  When A answers, a 200 OK is generated (2) containing
   its offer, offer1.  The controller generates an immediate ACK
   containing an answer (3).  This answer is a "black hole" SDP, with
   its connection address equal to 0.0.0.0.

   The controller then sends an INVITE to B without SDP (4).  This
   causes B's phone to ring.  When they answer, a 200 OK is sent,
   containing their offer, offer2 (5).  This SDP is used to create a
   re-INVITE back to A (6).  That re-INVITE is based on offer2, but may
   need to be reorganized to match up media lines, or to trim media
   lines.  For example, if offer1 contained an audio and a video line,
   in that order, but offer2 contained just an audio line, the
   controller would need to add a video line to the offer (setting its
   port to zero) to create offer2'.  Since this is a re-INVITE, it
   should complete quickly in the general case.  That's good, since user
   B is retransmitting their 200 OK, waiting for an ACK.  The SDP in the




Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 7]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   200 OK (7) from A, answer2', may also need to be reorganized or
   trimmed before sending it an the ACK to B (8) as answer2.  Finally,
   an ACK is sent to A (9), and then media can flow.

   This flow has many benefits.  First, it will usually operate without
   any spurious retransmissions or timeouts (although this may still
   happen if a re-INVITE is not responded to quickly).  Secondly, it
   does not require the controller to guess the media that will be used
   by the participants.

   There are some drawbacks.  The controller does need to perform SDP
   manipulations.  Specifically, it must take some SDP, and generate
   another SDP which has the same media composition, but has connection
   addresses equal to 0.0.0.0.  This is needed for message 3.  Secondly,
   it may need to reorder and trim SDP X, so that its media lines match
   up with those in some other SDP, Y.  Thirdly, the offer from B
   (offer2) may have no codecs or media streams in common with the offer
   from A (offer 1).  The controller will need to detect this condition,
   and terminate the call.  Finally, the flow is far more complicated
   than the simple and elegant Flow I (Figure 1).

4.4.  Flow IV

             A                 Controller                  B
             |(1) INVITE offer1     |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(2) 200 answer1       |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |(4) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(5) 200 OK offer2     |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(6) INVITE offer2'    |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(7) 200 answer2'      |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(8) ACK answer2       |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |(9) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(10) RTP              |                      |
             |.............................................|

                                Figure 4



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 8]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   Flow IV shows a variation on Flow III that reduces its complexity.
   The actual message flow is identical, but the SDP placement and
   construction differs.  The initial INVITE (1) contains SDP with no
   media at all, meaning that there are no m lines.  This is valid, and
   implies that the media makeup of the session will be established
   later through a re-INVITE [4].  Once the INVITE is received, user A
   is alerted.  When they answer the call, the 200 OK (2) has an answer
   with no media either.  This is acknowledged by the controller (3).
   The flow from this point onwards is identical to Flow III.  However,
   the manipulations required to convert offer2 to offer2', and answer2'
   to answer2, are much simpler.  Indeed, no media manipulations are
   needed at all.  The only change that is needed is to modify the
   origin lines, so that the origin line in offer2' is valid based on
   the value in offer1 (validity requires that the version increments by
   one, and that the other parameters remain unchanged).

   There are some limitations associated with this flow.  First, user A
   will be alerted without any media having been established yet.  This
   means that user A will not be able to reject or accept the call based
   on its media composition.  Secondly, both A and B will end up
   answering the call (i.e., generating a 200 OK) before it is known
   whether there is compatible media.  If there is no media in common,
   the call can be terminated later with a BYE.  However, the users will
   have already been alerted, resulting in user annoyance and possibly
   resulting in billing events.

5.  Recommendations

   Flow I (Figure 1) represents the simplest and the most efficient
   flow.  This flow SHOULD be used by a controller if it knows with
   certainty that user B is actually an automata that will answer the
   call immediately.  This is the case for devices such as media
   servers, conferencing servers, and messaging servers, for example.
   Since we expect a great deal of third party call control to be to
   automata, special casing in this scenario is reasonable.

   For calls to unknown entities, or to entities known to represent
   people, it is RECOMMENDED that Flow IV (Figure 4) be used for third
   party call control.  Flow III MAY be used instead, but it provides no
   additional benefits over Flow IV.  However, Flow II SHOULD NOT be
   used, because of the potential for infinite ping-ponging of re-
   INVITEs.

   Several of these flows use a "black hole" connection address of
   0.0.0.0. This is an IPv4 address with the property that packets sent
   to it will never leave the host which sent them; they are just





Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                  [Page 9]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   discarded.  Those flows are therefore specific to IPv4.  For other
   network or address types, an address with an equivalent property
   SHOULD be used.

   In most cases, including the recommended flows, user A will hear
   silence while the call to B completes.  This may not always be ideal.
   It can be remedied by connecting the caller to a music-on-hold source
   while the call to B occurs.

6.  Error Handling

   There are numerous error cases which merit discussion.

   With all of the call flows in Section 4, one call is established to
   A, and then the controller attempts to establish a call to B.
   However, this call attempt may fail, for any number of reasons.  User
   B might be busy (resulting in a 486 response to the INVITE), there
   may not be any media in common, the request may time out, and so on.
   If the call attempt to B should fail, it is RECOMMENDED that the
   controller send a BYE to A. This BYE SHOULD include a Reason header
   [5] which carries the status code from the error response.  This will
   inform A of the precise reason for the failure.  The information is
   important from a user interface perspective.  For example, if A was
   calling from a black phone, and B generated a 486, the BYE will
   contain a Reason code of 486, and this could be used to generate a
   local busy signal so that A knows that B is busy.

             A                 Controller                  B
             |(1) INVITE offer1     |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(2) 200 answer1       |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |(4) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(5) 180               |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(6) INVITE offer2     |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(7) 491               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(8) ACK               |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |

                                Figure 5



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 10]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   Another error condition worth discussion is shown in Figure 5.  After
   the controller establishes the dialog with A (messages 1-3) it
   attempts to contact B (message 4).  Contacting B may take some time.
   During that interval, A could possibly attempt a re-INVITE, providing
   an updated offer.  However, the controller cannot pass this offer on
   to B, since it has an INVITE transaction pending with it.  As a
   result, the controller needs to reject the request.  It is
   RECOMMENDED that a 491 response be used.  The situation here is
   similar to the glare condition described in [1], and thus the same
   error handling is sensible.  However, A is likely to retry its
   request (as a result of the 491), and this may occur before the
   exchange with B is completed.  In that case, the controller would
   respond with another 491.

7.  Continued Processing

   Once the calls are established, both participants believe they are in
   a single point-to-point call.  However, they are exchanging media
   directly with each other, rather than with the controller.  The
   controller is involved in two dialogs, yet sees no media.

   Since the controller is still a central point for signaling, it now
   has complete control over the call.  If it receives a BYE from one of
   the participants, it can create a new BYE and hang up with the other
   participant.  This is shown in Figure 6.

             A              Controller               B
             |(1) BYE            |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |(2) 200 OK         |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |                   |(3) BYE            |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |                   |(4) 200 OK         |
             |                   |<------------------|

                                Figure 6

   Similarly, if it receives a re-INVITE from one of the participants,
   it can forward it to the other participant.  Depending on which flow
   was used, this may require some manipulation on the SDP before
   passing it on.

   However, the controller need not "proxy" the SIP messages received
   from one of the parties.  Since it is a Back-to-Back User Agent
   (B2BUA), it can invoke any signaling mechanism on each dialog, as it
   sees fit.  For example, if the controller receives a BYE from A, it
   can generate a new INVITE to a third party, C, and connect B to that



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 11]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   participant instead.  A call flow for this is shown in Figure 7,
   assuming the case where C represents an end user, not an automata.
   Note that it is just Flow IV.

             A           Controller            B                C
             |(1) BYE         |                |                |
             |--------------->|                |                |
             |(2) 200 OK      |                |                |
             |<---------------|                |                |
             |                |(3) INV no media|                |
             |                |-------------------------------->|
             |                |(4) 200 no media|                |
             |                |<--------------------------------|
             |                |(5) ACK         |                |
             |                |-------------------------------->|
             |                |(6) INV no SDP  |                |
             |                |--------------->|                |
             |                |(7) 200 offer3  |                |
             |                |<---------------|                |
             |                |(8) INV offer3' |                |
             |                |-------------------------------->|
             |                |(9) 200 answer3'|                |
             |                |<--------------------------------|
             |                |(10) ACK        |                |
             |                |-------------------------------->|
             |                |(11) ACK answer3|                |
             |                |--------------->|                |
             |                |                |(12) RTP        |
             |                |                |................|

                                Figure 7

   From here, new parties can be added, removed, transferred, and so on,
   as the controller sees fit.  In many cases, the controller will be
   required to modify the SDP exchanged between the participants in
   order to affect these changes.  In particular, the version number in
   the SDP will need to be changed by the controller in certain cases.
   If the controller should issue an SDP offer on its own (for example,
   to place a call on hold), it will need to increment the version
   number in the SDP offer.  The other participant in the call will not
   know that the controller has done this, and any subsequent offer it
   generates will have the wrong version number as far as its peer is
   concerned.  As a result, the controller will be required to modify
   the version number in SDP messages to match what the recipient is
   expecting.






Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 12]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   It is important to point out that the call need not have been
   established by the controller in order for the processing of this
   section to be used.  Rather, the controller could have acted as a
   B2BUA during a call established by A towards B (or vice versa).


8.  3pcc and Early Media

   Early media represents the condition where the session is established
   (as a result of the completion of an offer/answer exchange), yet the
   call itself has not been accepted.  This is usually used to convey
   tones or announcements regarding progress of the call.  Handling of
   early media in a third party call is straightforward.






































Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 13]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


             A                 Controller                  B
             |                      |                      |
             |(1) INVITE offer1     |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |<ring>                |                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |<answer>              |                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |(2) 200 answer1       |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |(4) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |                      |<ring>
             |                      |(5) 183 offer2        |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(6) INVITE offer2'    |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(7) 200 answer2'      |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(8) ACK               |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |(9) PRACK answer2     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(10) 200 PRACK        |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(11) RTP              |                      |
             |.............................................|
             |                      |                      |<answer>
             |                      |(12) 200 OK           |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |                      |(13) ACK              |
             |                      |--------------------->|

                                Figure 8

   Figure 8 shows the case where user B generates early media before
   answering the call.  The flow is almost identical to Flow IV from
   Figure 4.  The only difference is that user B generates a reliable
   provisional response (5) [6] instead of a final response, and answer2
   is carried in a PRACK (9) instead of an ACK.  When party B finally
   does accept the call (12), there is no change in the session state,
   and therefore, no signaling needs to be done with user A.  The
   controller simply ACKs the 200 OK (13) to confirm the dialog.



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 14]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


             A                 Controller                  B
             |                      |                      |
             |(1) INVITE offer1     |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |ring                  |                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |(2) 183 answer1       |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) PRACK             |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(4) 200 PRACK         |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(5) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |                      |ring
             |                      |                      |
             |                      |                      |answer
             |                      |                      |
             |                      |(6) 200 OK offer2     |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(7) UPDATE offer2'    |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |(8) 200 answer2'      |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(9) ACK answer2       |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |(10) RTP              |                      |
             |.............................................|
             |                      |                      |
             |answer                |                      |
             |                      |                      |
             |(11) 200 OK           |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(12) ACK              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |

                                Figure 9

   The case where user A generates early media is more complicated, and
   is shown in Figure 9.  The flow is based on Flow IV.  The controller
   sends an INVITE to user A (1), with an offer containing no media
   streams.  User A generates a reliable provisional response (2)
   containing an answer with no media streams.  The controller PRACKs
   this provisional response (3).  Now, the controller sends an INVITE



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 15]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   without SDP to user B (5).  User B's phone rings, and they answer,
   resulting in a 200 OK (6) with an offer, offer2.  The controller now
   needs to update the session parameters with user A.  However, since
   the call has not been answered, it cannot use a re-INVITE.  Rather,
   it uses a SIP UPDATE request (7) [7], passing the offer (after
   modifying it to get the origin field correct).  User A generates its
   answer in the 200 OK to the UPDATE (8).  This answer is passed to
   user B in the ACK (9).  When user A finally answers (11), there is no
   change in session state, so the controller simply ACKs the 200 OK
   (12).

   Note that it is likely that there will be clipping of media in this
   call flow.  User A is likely a PSTN gateway, and has generated a
   provisional response because of early media from the PSTN side.  The
   PSTN will deliver this media even though the gateway does not have
   anywhere to send it, since the initial offer from the controller had
   no media streams.  When user B answers, media can begin to flow.
   However, any media sent to the gateway from the PSTN up to that point
   will be lost.

9.  Third Party Call Control and SDP Preconditions

   A SIP extension has been specified that allows for the coupling of
   signaling and resource reservation [2].  This specification relies on
   exchanges of session descriptions before completion of the call
   setup.  These flows are initiated when certain SDP parameters are
   passed in the initial INVITE.  As a result, the interaction of this
   mechanism with third party call control is not obvious, and worth
   detailing.

9.1.  Controller Initiates

   In one usage scenario, the controller wishes to make use of
   preconditions in order to avoid the call failure scenarios documented
   in Section 4.4. Specifically, the controller can use preconditions in
   order to guarantee that neither party is alerted unless there is a
   common set of media and codecs.  It can also provide both parties
   with information on the media composition of the call before they
   decide to accept it.












Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 16]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


           User A           Controller       Customer Service
                                                  (User B)
             |                   |                   |
             |(1) INVITE no SDP  |                   |
             |require precon     |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |(2) 183 offer1     |                   |
             |optional precon    |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |                   |                   |
             |                   |(3) INVITE offer1  |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |                   |                   |
             |                   |                   |
             |                   |                   |<answer>
             |                   |(4) 200 OK answer1 |
             |                   |no precon          |
             |                   |<------------------|
             |                   |(5) ACK            |
             |                   |------------------>|
             |(6) PRACK answer1  |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |
             |<ring>             |                   |
             |                   |                   |
             |(7) 200 PRACK      |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |<answer>           |                   |
             |                   |                   |
             |(8) 200 INVITE     |                   |
             |------------------>|                   |
             |(9) ACK            |                   |
             |<------------------|                   |


                               Figure 10

   The flow for this scenario is shown in Figure 10.  In this example,
   we assume that user B is an automata or agent of some sort which will
   answer the call immediately.  Therefore, the flow is based on Flow I.
   The controller sends an INVITE to user A containing no SDP, but with
   a Require header indicating that preconditions are required.  This
   specific scenario (an INVITE without an offer, but with a Require
   header indicating preconditions) is not described in [2].  It is
   RECOMMENDED that the UAS respond with an offer in a 1xx including the
   media streams it wishes to use for the call, and for each, list all
   preconditions it supports as optional.  Of course, the user is not
   alerted at this time.  The controller takes this offer and passes it
   to user B (3).  User B does not support preconditions, or does, but



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 17]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   is not interested in them.  Therefore, when it answers the call, the
   200 OK contains an answer without any preconditions listed (4).  This
   answer is passed to user A in the PRACK (6).  At this point, user A
   knows that there are no preconditions actually in use for the call,
   and therefore, it can alert the user.  When the call is answered,
   user A sends a 200 OK to the controller (8) and the call is complete.

   In the event that the offer generated by user A was not acceptable to
   user B (because of non-overlapping codecs or media, for example),
   user B would immediately reject the INVITE (message 3).  The
   controller would then CANCEL the request to user A. In this
   situation, neither user A nor user B would have been alerted,
   achieving the desired effect.  It is interesting to note that this
   property is achieved using preconditions even though it doesn't
   matter what specific types of preconditions are supported by user A.

   It is also entirely possible that user B does actually desire
   preconditions.  In that case, it might generate a 1xx of its own with
   an answer containing preconditions.  That answer would still be
   passed to user A, and both parties would proceed with whatever
   measures are necessary to meet the preconditions.  Neither user would
   be alerted until the preconditions were met.

9.2.  Party A Initiates

   In Section 9.1, the controller requested the use of preconditions to
   achieve a specific goal.  It is also possible that the controller
   doesn't care (or perhaps doesn't even know) about preconditions, but
   one of the participants in the call does care.  A call flow for this
   case is shown in Figure 11.

             A                 Controller                  B
             |(1) INVITE offer1     |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(2) 183 answer1       |                      |
             |no media              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(3) PRACK             |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(4) 200 OK            |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(5) INVITE no SDP     |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(6) 183 offer2        |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |
             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=none              |



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 18]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(7) UPDATE offer2'    |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=none              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |(8) 200 UPDATE        |                      |
             |answer2'              |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=none              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(9) PRACK answer2     |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |
             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=none              |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(10) 200 PRACK        |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(11) reservation      |                      |
             |-------------------------------------------->|
             |(12) reservation      |                      |
             |<--------------------------------------------|
             |(13) UPDATE offer3    |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=recv              |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(14) UPDATE offer3'   |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |
             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=recv              |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |                      |(15) 200 UPDATE       |
             |                      |answer3'              |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |
             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=send              |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(16) 200 UPDATE       |                      |
             |answer3               |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=send              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |                      |<ring>
             |                      |(17) UPDATE offer4    |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 19]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=sendrecv          |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |(18) UPDATE offer4'   |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=sendrecv          |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |<ring>                |                      |
             |(19) 200 UPDATE       |                      |
             |answer4'              |                      |
             |des=sendrecv          |                      |
             |conf=recv             |                      |
             |cur=sendrecv          |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(20) 200 UPDATE       |
             |                      |answer4               |
             |                      |des=sendrecv          |
             |                      |conf=recv             |
             |                      |cur=sendrecv          |
             |                      |--------------------->|
             |(21) 180 INVITE       |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |                      |(22) 180 INVITE       |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |<answer>              |                      |
             |(23) 200 INVITE       |                      |
             |--------------------->|                      |
             |(24) ACK              |                      |
             |<---------------------|                      |
             |                      |                      |<answer>
             |                      |(25) 200 INVITE       |
             |                      |<---------------------|
             |                      |(26) ACK              |
             |                      |--------------------->|

                               Figure 11

   The controller follows Flow IV; it has no specific requirements for
   support of the preconditions specification [2].  Therefore, it sends
   an INVITE (1) with SDP that contains no media lines.  User A is
   interested in supporting preconditions, and does not want to ring its
   phone until resources are reserved.  Since there are no media streams
   in the INVITE, it can't reserve resources for media streams, and
   therefore it can't ring the phone until they are conveyed in a
   subsequent offer and then reserved.  Therefore, it generates a 183
   with the answer, and doesn't alert the user (2).  The controller
   PRACKs this (3) and A responds to the PRACK (4).



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 20]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   At this point, the controller attempts to bring B into the call.  It
   sends B an INVITE without SDP (5).  B is interested in having
   preconditions for this call.  Therefore, it generates its offer in a
   183 that contains the appropriate SDP attributes (6).  The controller
   passes this offer to A in an UPDATE request (7).  The controller uses
   UPDATE because the call has not been answered yet, and therefore, it
   cannot use a re-INVITE.  User A sees that its peer is capable of
   supporting preconditions.  Since it desires preconditions for the
   call, it generates an answer in the 200 OK (8) to the UPDATE.  This
   answer, in turn, is passed to B in the PRACK for the provisional
   response (9).  Now, both sides perform resource reservation.  User A
   succeeds first, and passes an updated session description in an
   UPDATE request (13).  The controller simply passes this to A (after
   the manipulation of the origin field, as required in Flow IV) in an
   UPDATE (14), and the answer (15) is passed back to A (16).  The same
   flow happens, but from B to A, when B's reservation succeeds (17-20).
   Since the preconditions have been met, both sides ring (21 and 22),
   and then both answer (23 and 25), completing the call.

   What is important about this flow is that the controller doesn't know
   anything about preconditions.  It merely passes the SDP back and
   forth as needed.  The trick is the usage of UPDATE and PRACK to pass
   the SDP when needed.  That determination is made entirely based on
   the offer/answer rules described in [6] and [7], and is independent
   of preconditions.

10.  Example Call Flows

10.1.  Click-to-Dial

   The first application of this capability we discuss is click-to-dial.
   In this service, a user is browsing the web page of an e-commerce
   site, and would like to speak to a customer service representative.
   The user clicks on a link, and a call is placed to a customer service
   representative.  When the representative picks up, the phone on the
   user's desk rings.  When the user pick up, the customer service
   representative is there, ready to talk to the user.














Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 21]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


Customer Service    Controller         User's Phone      User's Browser
     |                   |(1) HTTP POST      |                   |
     |                   |<--------------------------------------|
     |                   |(2) HTTP 200 OK    |                   |
     |                   |-------------------------------------->|
     |(3) INVITE offer1  |                   |                   |
     |no media           |                   |                   |
     |<------------------|                   |                   |
     |(4) 200 answer1    |                   |                   |
     |no media           |                   |                   |
     |------------------>|                   |                   |
     |(5) ACK            |                   |                   |
     |<------------------|                   |                   |
     |                   |(6) INVITE no SDP  |                   |
     |                   |------------------>|                   |
     |                   |(7) 200 OK offer2  |                   |
     |                   |<------------------|                   |
     |(8) INVITE offer2' |                   |                   |
     |<------------------|                   |                   |
     |(9) 200 answer2'   |                   |                   |
     |------------------>|                   |                   |
     |                   |(10) ACK answer2   |                   |
     |                   |------------------>|                   |
     |(11) ACK           |                   |                   |
     |<------------------|                   |                   |
     |(12) RTP           |                   |                   |
     |.......................................|                   |

                       Figure 12

   The call flow for this service is given in Figure 12.  It is
   identical to that of Figure 4, with the exception that the service is
   triggered through an HTTP POST request when the user clicks on the
   link.  Normally, this POST request would contain neither the number
   of the user or of the customer service representative.  The user's
   number would typically be obtained by the web application from back-
   end databases, since the user would have presumably logged into the
   site, giving the server the needed context.  The customer service
   number would typically be obtained through provisioning.  Thus, the
   HTTP POST is actually providing the server nothing more than an
   indication that a call is desired.

   We note that this service can be provided through other mechanisms,
   namely PINT [9].  However, there are numerous differences between the
   way in which the service is provided by PINT, and the way in which it
   is provided here:





Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 22]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   o  The PINT solution enables calls only between two PSTN endpoints.
      The solution described here allows calls between PSTN phones
      (through SIP enabled gateways) and native IP phones.

   o  When used for calls between two PSTN phones, the solution here may
      result in a portion of the call being routed over the Internet.
      In PINT, the call is always routed only over the PSTN.  This may
      result in better quality calls with the PINT solution, depending
      on the codec in use and QoS capabilities of the network routing
      the Internet portion of the call.

   o  The PINT solution requires extensions to SIP (PINT is an extension
      to SIP), whereas the solution described here is done with baseline
      SIP.

   o  The PINT solution allows the controller (acting as a PINT client)
      to "step out" once the call is established.  The solution
      described here requires the controller to maintain call state for
      the entire duration of the call.

10.2.  Mid-Call Announcement Capability

   The third party call control mechanism described here can also be
   used to enable mid-call announcements.  Consider a service for pre-
   paid calling cards.  Once the pre-paid call is established, the
   system needs to set a timer to fire when they run out of minutes.
   When this timer fires, we would like the user to hear an announcement
   which tells them to enter a credit card to continue.  Once they enter
   the credit card info, more money is added to the pre-paid card, and
   the user is reconnected to the destination party.

   We consider here the usage of third party call control just for
   playing the mid-call dialog to collect the credit card information.


















Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 23]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   Pre-Paid User     Controller         Called Party        Media Server
      |                   |(1) INV SDP c=bh   |                   |
      |                   |------------------>|                   |
      |                   |(2) 200 answer1    |                   |
      |                   |<------------------|                   |
      |                   |(3) ACK            |                   |
      |                   |------------------>|                   |
      |(4) INV no SDP     |                   |                   |
      |<------------------|                   |                   |
      |(5) 200 offer2     |                   |                   |
      |------------------>|                   |                   |
      |                   |(6) INV offer2     |                   |
      |                   |-------------------------------------->|
      |                   |(7) 200 answer2    |                   |
      |                   |<--------------------------------------|
      |(8) ACK answer2    |                   |                   |
      |<------------------|                   |                   |
      |                   |(9) ACK            |                   |
      |                   |-------------------------------------->|
      |(10) RTP           |                   |                   |
      |...........................................................|
      |                   |(11) BYE           |                   |
      |                   |-------------------------------------->|
      |                   |(12) 200 OK        |                   |
      |                   |<--------------------------------------|
      |                   |(13) INV no SDP    |                   |
      |                   |------------------>|                   |
      |                   |(14) 200 offer3    |                   |
      |                   |<------------------|                   |
      |(15) INV offer3'   |                   |                   |
      |<------------------|                   |                   |
      |(16) 200 answer3'  |                   |                   |
      |------------------>|                   |                   |
      |                   |(17) ACK answer3'  |                   |
      |                   |------------------>|                   |
      |(18) ACK           |                   |                   |
      |<------------------|                   |                   |
      |(19) RTP           |                   |                   |
      |.......................................|                   |

                        Figure 13

   We assume the call is set up so that the controller is in the call as
   a B2BUA.  When the timer fires, we wish to connect the caller to a
   media server.  The flow for this is shown in Figure 13.  When the
   timer expires, the controller places the called party with a
   connection address of 0.0.0.0 (1).  This effectively "disconnects"
   the called party.  The controller then sends an INVITE without SDP to



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 24]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   the pre-paid caller (4).  The offer returned from the caller (5) is
   used in an INVITE to the media server which will be collecting digits
   (6).  This is an instantiation of Flow I.  This flow can only be used
   here because the media server is an automata, and will answer the
   INVITE immediately.  If the controller was connecting the pre-paid
   user with another end user, Flow III would need to be used.  The
   media server returns an immediate 200 OK (7) with an answer, which is
   passed to the caller in an ACK (8).  The result is that the media
   server and the pre-paid caller have their media streams connected.

   The media server plays an announcement, and prompts the user to enter
   a credit card number.  After collecting the number, the card number
   is validated.  The media server then passes the card number to the
   controller (using some means outside the scope of this
   specification), and then hangs up the call (11).

   After hanging up with the media server, the controller reconnects the
   user to the original called party.  To do this, the controller sends
   an INVITE without SDP to the called party (13).  The 200 OK (14)
   contains an offer, offer3.  The controller modifies the SDP (as is
   done in Flow III), and passes the offer in an INVITE to the pre-paid
   user (15).  The pre-paid user generates an answer in a 200 OK (16)
   which the controller passes to user B in the ACK (17).  At this
   point, the caller and called party are reconnected.

11.  Implementation Recommendations

   Most of the work involved in supporting third party call control is
   within the controller.  A standard SIP UA should be controllable
   using the mechanisms described here.  However, third party call
   control relies on a few features that might not be implemented.  As
   such, we RECOMMEND that implementors of user agent servers support
   the following:

   o  Offers and answers that contain a connection line with an address
      of 0.0.0.0.

   o  Re-INVITE requests that change the port to which media should be
      sent

   o  Re-INVITEs that change the connection address

   o  Re-INVITEs that add a media stream

   o  Re-INVITEs that remove a media stream (setting its port to zero)

   o  Re-INVITEs that add a codec amongst the set in a media stream




Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 25]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   o  SDP Connection address of zero

   o  Initial INVITE requests with a connection address of zero

   o  Initial INVITE requests with no SDP

   o  Initial INVITE requests with SDP but no media lines

   o  Re-INVITEs with no SDP

   o  The UPDATE method [7]

   o  Reliability of provisional responses [6]

   o  Integration of resource management and SIP [2].

12.  Security Considerations

12.1.  Authorization and Authentication

   In most uses of SIP INVITE, whether or not a call is accepted is
   based on a decision made by a human when presented information about
   the call, such as the identity of the caller.  In other cases,
   automata answer the calls, and whether or not they do so may depend
   on the particular application to which SIP is applied.  For example,
   if a caller makes a SIP call to a voice portal service, the call may
   be rejected unless the caller has previously signed up (perhaps via a
   web site).  In other cases, call handling policies are made based on
   automated scripts, such as those described by the Call Processing
   Language [11].  Frequently, those decisions are also made based on
   the identity of the caller.

   These authorization mechanisms would be applied to normal first party
   calls and third party calls, as these two are indistinguishable.  As
   a result, it is important for these authorization policies to
   continue to operate correctly for third party calls.  Of course,
   third party calls introduce a new party - the one initiating the
   third party call.  Do the authorization policies apply based on the
   identity of that third party, or do they apply based on the
   participants in the call? Ideally, the participants would be able to
   know the identities of both other parties, and have authorization
   policies be based on those, as appropriate.  However, this is not
   possible using existing mechanisms.  As a result, the next best thing
   is for the INVITE requests to contain the identity of the third
   party.  Ultimately, this is the user who is requesting communication,
   and it makes sense for call authorization policies to be based on
   that identity.




Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 26]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   This requires, in turn, that the controller authenticate itself as
   that third party.  This can be challenging, and the appropriate
   mechanism depends on the specific application scenario.

   In one common scenario, the controller is acting on behalf of one of
   the participants in the call.  A typical example is click-to-dial,
   where the controller and the customer service representative are run
   by the same administrative domain.  Indeed, for the purposes of
   identification, the controller can legitimately claim to be the
   customer service representative.  In this scenario, it would be
   appropriate for the INVITE to the end user to contain a From field
   identifying the customer service rep, and authenticate the request
   using S/MIME (see RFC 3261 [1], Section 23) signed by the key of the
   customer service rep (which is held by the controller).

   This requires the controller to actually have credentials with which
   it can authenticate itself as the customer support representative.
   In many other cases, the controller is representing one of the
   participants, but does not possess their credentials.  Unfortunately,
   there are currently no standardized mechanisms that allow a user to
   delegate credentials to the controller in a way that limits their
   usage to specific third party call control operations.  In the
   absence of such a mechanisms, the best that can be done is to use the
   display name in the From field to indicate the identity of the user
   on whose behalf the call is being made.  It is RECOMMENDED that the
   display name be set to "[controller] on behalf of [user]", where user
   and controller are textual identities of the user and controller,
   respectively.  In this case, the URI in the From field would identify
   the controller.

   In other situations, there is no real relationship between the
   controller and the participants in the call.  In these situations,
   ideally the controller would have a means to assert that the call is
   from a particular identity (which could be one of the participants,
   or even a third party, depending on the application), and to validate
   that assertion with a signature using the key of the controller.

12.2.  End-to-End Encryption and Integrity

   With third party call control, the controller is actually one of the
   participants as far as the SIP dialog is concerned.  Therefore,
   encryption and integrity of the SIP messages, as provided by S/MIME,
   will occur between participants and the controller, rather than
   directly between participants.

   However, integrity, authenticity and confidentiality of the media
   sessions can be provided through a controller.  End-to-end media
   security is based on the exchange of keying material within SDP [10].



Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 27]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


   The proper operation of these mechanisms with third party call
   control depends on the controller behaving properly.  So long as it
   is not attempting to explicitly disable these mechanisms, the
   protocols will properly operate between the participants, resulting
   in a secure media session that even the controller cannot eavesdrop
   or modify.  Since third party call control is based on a model of
   trust between the users and the controller, it is reasonable to
   assume it is operating in a well-behaved manner.  However, there is
   no cryptographic means that can prevent the controller from
   interfering with the initial exchanges of keying materials.  As a
   result, it is trivially possibly for the controller to insert itself
   as an intermediary on the media exchange, if it should so desire.

13.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Paul Kyzivat, Rohan Mahy, Eric
   Rescorla, Allison Mankin and Sriram Parameswar for their comments.

14.  References

14.1.  Normative References

   [1]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
        Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP:
        Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, June 2002.

   [2]  Camarillo, G., Ed., Marshall, W., Ed. and J. Rosenberg,
        "Integration of Resource Management and Session Initiation
        Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3312, October 2002.

   [3]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
        Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [4]  Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "An Offer/Answer Model with
        Session Description Protocol (SDP)", RFC 3264, June 2002.

   [5]  Schulzrinne, H., Oran, D. and G. Camarillo, "The Reason Header
        Field for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3326,
        December 2002.

   [6]  Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "Reliability of Provisional
        Responses in Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3262, June
        2002.

   [7]  Rosenberg, J., "The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) UPDATE
        Method", RFC 3311, October 2002.





Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 28]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


14.2.  Informative References

   [8]  Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R. and V. Jacobson,
        "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", RFC
        3550, July 2003.

   [9] Petrack, S. and L. Conroy, "The PINT Service Protocol:
        Extensions to SIP and SDP for IP Access to Telephone Call
        Services", RFC 2848, June 2000.

   [10] Andreasen, F., Baugher, M. and D. Wing, "SDP Security
        Descriptions for Media Streams", Work in Progress, October 2003.

   [11] Lennox, J., Wu, X. and H. Schulzrinne, "CPL: A Language for User
        Control of Internet Telephony Services", Work in Progress,
        August 2003.



































Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 29]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


15.  Authors' Addresses

   Jonathan Rosenberg
   dynamicsoft
   600 Lanidex Plaza
   Parsippany, NJ  07054
   US

   Phone: +1 973 952-5000
   EMail: jdrosen@dynamicsoft.com
   URI:   http://www.jdrosen.net


   Jon Peterson
   Neustar
   1800 Sutter Street
   Suite 570
   Concord, CA  94520
   US

   Phone: +1 925 363-8720
   EMail: jon.peterson@neustar.biz
   URI:   http://www.neustar.biz


   Henning Schulzrinne
   Columbia University
   M/S 0401
   1214 Amsterdam Ave.
   New York, NY  10027
   US

   EMail: schulzrinne@cs.columbia.edu
   URI:   http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs


   Gonzalo Camarillo
   Ericsson
   Hirsalantie 11
   Jorvas 02420
   Finland

   EMail: Gonzalo.Camarillo@ericsson.com








Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 30]
^L
RFC 3725                        SIP 3pcc                      April 2004


16.  Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78 and
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE
   REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE
   INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
   IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF
   THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed
   to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology
   described in this document or the extent to which any license
   under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it
   represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any
   such rights.  Information on the procedures with respect to
   rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use
   of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository
   at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention
   any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other
   proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required
   to implement this standard.  Please address the information to the
   IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.









Rosenberg, et al.        Best Current Practice                 [Page 31]
^L