<pre>Network Working Group                                        A. Johnston
Request for Comments: 4579                                         Avaya
BCP: 119                                                        O. Levin
Category: Best Current Practice                    Microsoft Corporation
                                                             August 2006


                   <span class="h1">Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)</span>
              <span class="h1">Call Control - Conferencing for User Agents</span>

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 (2006).

Abstract

   This specification defines conferencing call control features for the
   Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).  This document builds on the
   Conferencing Requirements and Framework documents to define how a
   tightly coupled SIP conference works.  The approach is explored from
   the perspective of different user agent (UA) types:  conference-
   unaware, conference-aware, and focus UAs.  The use of Uniform
   Resource Identifiers (URIs) in conferencing, OPTIONS for capabilities
   discovery, and call control using REFER are covered in detail with
   example call flow diagrams.  The usage of the isfocus feature tag is
   defined.

Table of Contents

   <a href="#section-1">1</a>. Introduction ....................................................<a href="#page-2">2</a>
   <a href="#section-2">2</a>. Terminology .....................................................<a href="#page-3">3</a>
   <a href="#section-3">3</a>. SIP User Agent Conferencing Capability Types ....................<a href="#page-3">3</a>
      <a href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>. Focus UA ...................................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
      <a href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>. Conference Factory URI .....................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
      <a href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>. Conference-Unaware UA ......................................<a href="#page-5">5</a>
      <a href="#section-3.4">3.4</a>. Conference-Aware UA ........................................<a href="#page-5">5</a>
   <a href="#section-4">4</a>. Usage of the 'isfocus' Feature Parameter ........................<a href="#page-6">6</a>
      <a href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>. General ....................................................<a href="#page-6">6</a>
      <a href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>. Session Establishment ......................................<a href="#page-6">6</a>
      <a href="#section-4.3">4.3</a>. Discovery ..................................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
   <a href="#section-5">5</a>. SIP Conferencing Primitives .....................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
      5.1. INVITE: Joining a Conference Using the Conference



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           URI - Dial-In ..............................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
      <a href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>. INVITE: Adding a Participant by the Focus - Dial-Out ......<a href="#page-11">11</a>
      5.3. INVITE: Manually Creating a Conference by Dialing
           In to a Conferencing Application ..........................<a href="#page-15">15</a>
      <a href="#section-5.4">5.4</a>. INVITE: Creating a Conference Using Ad-Hoc SIP Methods ....<a href="#page-16">16</a>
      5.5. REFER: Requesting a Focus to Add a New Resource to
           a Conference (Dial Out to a New Participant) ..............<a href="#page-18">18</a>
      5.6. REFER: Requesting a User to Dial in to a Conference
           Using a Conference URI ....................................<a href="#page-21">21</a>
      5.7. REFER with REFER: Requesting a Focus to Refer a
           Participant to Dial in to the Conference ..................<a href="#page-23">23</a>
      5.8. Join Header Field: Dialing in to a Conference
           Using a (3rd Party) Dialog Identifier .....................<a href="#page-26">26</a>
      5.9. Replaces Header Field: Switching User Agents
           within a Conference .......................................<a href="#page-28">28</a>
      5.10. Replaces Header Field: Transferring a Point-to-Point
            Session in to a Conference ...............................<a href="#page-29">29</a>
      5.11. REFER with BYE: Requesting That the Focus Remove a
            Participant from a Conference ............................<a href="#page-31">31</a>
      <a href="#section-5.12">5.12</a>. Deleting a Conference ....................................<a href="#page-33">33</a>
      <a href="#section-5.13">5.13</a>. Discovery of URI Properties Using OPTIONS ................<a href="#page-34">34</a>
   <a href="#section-6">6</a>. Security Considerations ........................................<a href="#page-36">36</a>
   <a href="#section-7">7</a>. Contributors ...................................................<a href="#page-37">37</a>
   <a href="#section-8">8</a>. References .....................................................<a href="#page-38">38</a>
      <a href="#section-8.1">8.1</a>. Normative References ......................................<a href="#page-38">38</a>
      <a href="#section-8.2">8.2</a>. Informative References ....................................<a href="#page-38">38</a>
   <a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a>: Creating a Conference by a Conference-Unaware UA.......<a href="#page-40">40</a>

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   This specification uses the concepts and definitions from the high
   level requirements [<a href="#ref-14" title="&quot;High Level Requirements for Tightly Coupled SIP Conferencing&quot;">14</a>] and the SIP conferencing framework [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;A Framework for Conferencing with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">8</a>]
   documents.  This approach is applicable to tightly coupled SIP
   conferences.  In this architecture, a user agent (UA), known as a
   participant, establishes a SIP dialog with another UA, known as a
   focus.  The focus is the central point of control, authentication,
   and authorization.  This specification defines the operation of a
   focus and participant UAs.  Note that only the signalling (SIP) needs
   to be centralized in this model; the media can be centrally mixed,
   distributed, or even multicast.  For a full discussion of this
   architecture, see the SIP conferencing framework document [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;A Framework for Conferencing with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">8</a>].

   The approach described in this document implements key functions in
   the conferencing framework using SIP primitives only.  This allows
   for conducting simple conferences with defined functionalities using
   SIP mechanisms and conventions.  Many other advanced functions can be
   implemented using additional means, but they are not in the scope of
   this document.



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   This document presents the basic call control (dial-in and dial-out)
   conferencing building blocks from the UA perspective.  Possible
   applications include ad-hoc conferences and scheduled conferences.

   Note that a single conference can bridge participants that have
   different capabilities and who potentially have joined the conference
   by different means (i.e., dial-in, dial-out, scheduled, or ad-hoc).

   The call control and dialog manipulation approach is based on the
   multiparty framework document [<a href="#ref-15" title="&quot;A Call Control and Multi-party usage framework for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">15</a>].  That document defines the basic
   approach of service design adopted for SIP, which includes the
   following:

    - Definition of primitives, not services
    - Signaling model independent
    - Invoker oriented
    - Primitives make full use of URIs
    - Include policies for authentication, authorization, logging, etc.
    - Define graceful fallback to baseline SIP

   The use of opaque URIs and the ability to communicate call control
   context information within a URI (as opposed to using service-related
   header fields), as discussed in <a href="./rfc3087">RFC 3087</a> [<a href="#ref-11" title="&quot;Control of Service Context using SIP Request-URI&quot;">11</a>], is fundamental to this
   approach.

   Capabilities discovery is an important feature of SIP systems, and
   conferencing systems can make use of such features.  For a UA acting
   as a focus in a conference, this specification defines the usage of
   the 'isfocus' feature parameter.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>.  Terminology</span>

   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 <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a> and
   indicate requirement levels for compliant implementations [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels&quot;">1</a>].

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>.  SIP User Agent Conferencing Capability Types</span>

   From a conferencing perspective, the framework document outlines a
   number of possible different SIP components such as conference-
   unaware participant, conference-aware participant, and focus.

   This document applies the concepts above to the SIP call control part
   of the conferencing components.  It defines normative behavior of the
   SIP UAs in various conferencing situations (referred to later as
   "scenarios").




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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.1" href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>.  Focus UA</span>

   A focus, as defined in the framework, hosts a SIP conference and
   maintains a SIP signaling relationship with each participant in the
   conference.  A focus contains a conference-aware user agent that
   supports the conferencing call control conventions as defined in this
   document.

   A focus SHOULD support the conference package <a href="./rfc4575">RFC 4575</a> [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State&quot;">9</a>], behave as
   a notifier for that package, and indicate its support in the Allow-
   Events header fields in requests and responses.  A focus MAY include
   information about the conference in Session Description Protocol
   (SDP) bodies sent as part of normal SIP signaling by populating the
   Session Information, URI, Email Address, and Phone Number SDP fields.

   In order to support advanced features, where a session established
   between two endpoints can migrate to a centralized conference, a
   focus SHOULD support the Replaces header field [<a href="#ref-6" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) &quot;">6</a>].

   A user agent with focus capabilities could be implemented in end user
   equipment and would be used for the creation of ad-hoc conferences.

   A dedicated conferencing server, whose primary task is to
   simultaneously host conferences of arbitrary type and size, may
   allocate and publish a conference factory URI (as defined in the next
   section) for creating an arbitrary number of ad-hoc conferences (and
   subsequently their focuses) using SIP call control means.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.2" href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>.  Conference Factory URI</span>

   According to the framework, there are many ways in which a conference
   can be created.  A conferencing server implementation is free to
   choose from these methods, which include non-automated means (such as
   an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system), SIP, or any conference
   control protocol.

   In order to automatically create an arbitrary number of ad-hoc
   conferences (and subsequently their focuses) using SIP call control
   means, a globally routable Conference Factory URI can be allocated
   and published.

   A successful attempt to establish a call to this URI would result in
   the automatic creation of a new conference and its focus.  As a
   result, note that the Conference Factory URI and the newly created
   focus URI MAY resolve to different physical devices.

   A scenario showing the use of the conference factory URI is shown in
   <a href="#section-5.4">Section 5.4</a>.



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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.3" href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>.  Conference-Unaware UA</span>

   The simplest user agent can participate in a conference ignoring all
   SIP conferencing-related information.  The simplest user agent is
   able to dial in to a conference and to be invited to a conference.
   Any conferencing information is optionally conveyed to/from it using
   non-SIP means.  Such a user agent would not usually host a conference
   (at least, not using SIP explicitly).  A conference-unaware UA need
   only support <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>].  Call flows for conference-unaware UAs are
   not shown in general in this document as they would be identical to
   those in the SIP call flows document [<a href="#ref-13" title="&quot;Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Basic Call Flow Examples&quot;">13</a>].

   Note that the presence of an 'isfocus' feature tag in a Contact
   header field will not cause interoperability issues between a focus
   and a conference-unaware UA since it will be treated as an unknown
   header parameter and ignored, as per standard SIP behavior.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.4" href="#section-3.4">3.4</a>.  Conference-Aware UA</span>

   A conference-aware user agent supports SIP conferencing call control
   conventions defined in this document as a conference participant, in
   addition to support of <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>].  A conference-aware UA should be
   able to process SIP redirections such as described in <a href="./rfc3261#section-8.1.3.4">Section&nbsp;8.1.3.4
   of RFC 3261</a>.

   A conference-aware UA MUST recognize the 'isfocus' feature parameter.
   A conference-aware UA SHOULD support REFER [<a href="#ref-4" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer Method&quot;">4</a>], SIP events [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific Event Notification&quot;">3</a>], and
   the conferencing package [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State&quot;">9</a>].

   A conference-aware UA SHOULD subscribe to the conference package if
   the 'isfocus' parameter is in the remote target URI of a dialog and
   if the conference package is listed by a focus in an Allow-Events
   header field.  The SUBSCRIBE to the conference package SHOULD be sent
   outside any INVITE-initiated dialog.  A termination of the INVITE
   dialog with a BYE does not necessarily terminate the SUBSCRIBE
   dialog.

   A conference-aware UA MAY render to the user any information about
   the conference obtained from the SIP header fields and SDP fields
   from the focus.

   A conference-aware UA SHOULD render to the user any information about
   the conference obtained from the SIP conference package.








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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>.  Usage of the 'isfocus' Feature Parameter</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1" href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>.  General</span>

   The main design guidelines for the development of SIP extensions and
   conventions for conferencing are to define the minimum number of
   extensions and to have seamless backward compatibility with
   conference-unaware SIP UAs.  The minimal requirement for SIP is being
   able to express that a dialog is a part of a certain conference
   referenced to by a URI.  As a result of these extensions, it is
   possible to do the following using SIP:

    - Create a conference
    - Join a conference
    - Invite a user to a conference
    - Expel a user by third party
    - Discover if a URI is a conference URI
    - Delete a conference

   The approach taken is to use the feature parameter 'isfocus' to
   express that a SIP dialog belongs to a conference.  The use of
   feature parameters in Contact header fields to describe the
   characteristics and capabilities of a UA is described in the User
   Agent Capabilities document [<a href="#ref-5" title="&quot;Indicating User Agent Capabilities in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">5</a>], which includes the definition of the
   'isfocus' feature parameter.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.2" href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>.  Session Establishment</span>

   In session establishment, a focus MUST include the 'isfocus' feature
   parameter in the Contact header field unless the focus wishes to hide
   the fact that it is a focus.  To a participant, the feature parameter
   will be associated with the remote target URI of the dialog.  It is
   an indication to a conference-aware UA that the resulting dialog
   belongs to a conference, identified by the URI in the Contact header
   field, and that the call control conventions defined in this document
   can be applied.

   By their nature, the conferences supported by this specification are
   centralized.  Therefore, typically a conferencing system needs to
   allocate a SIP conference URI such that SIP requests to this URI are
   not forked and are routed to a dedicated conference focus.  For
   example, a globally accessible SIP conference could be well
   constructed with a conference URI using a Globally Routable User
   Agent URI (GRUU) (defined in [<a href="#ref-16" title="&quot;Obtaining and Using Globally Routable User Agent (UA) URIs (GRUU) in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">16</a>]), because of its ability to support
   the non-forking and global routability requirements.






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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.3" href="#section-4.3">4.3</a>.  Discovery</span>

   Using the mechanism described in this section, it is possible, given
   an opaque URI, to determine if it belongs to a certain conference
   (i.e., meaning that it is a conference URI) or not.  This discovery
   function can be implemented in SIP using an OPTIONS request, and can
   be done either inside an active dialog or outside a dialog.  A focus
   MUST include the 'isfocus' feature parameter in a 200 OK response to
   an OPTIONS unless the focus wishes to hide the fact that it is a
   focus.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>.  SIP Conferencing Primitives</span>

   The SIP conferencing call control flows presented in this section are
   the call control building blocks for various SIP conferencing
   applications as described in the conferencing requirements [<a href="#ref-14" title="&quot;High Level Requirements for Tightly Coupled SIP Conferencing&quot;">14</a>] and
   framework [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;A Framework for Conferencing with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">8</a>] documents.  The major design goal is that the same SIP
   conferencing primitives would be used by user agents having different
   conferencing capabilities and implementing different applications.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.1" href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>.  INVITE: Joining a Conference Using the Conference URI - Dial-In</span>

   In this section, a user knows the conference URI and "dials in" to
   join this conference.  The focus will authenticate the participant
   and apply authorization policy before allowing the participant to
   join the conference.

   If the UA is the first participant of the conference to dial-in, it
   is likely that this INVITE will activate the focus and hence the
   conference.  However, the conference URI must have been reserved
   prior to its use.

   If the conference is up and running already, the dialing-in
   participant is joined to the conference by its focus.

   To join an existing specific conference, a UA will send an INVITE
   with the Request-URI set to the conference URI.  The focus MUST
   include the 'isfocus' feature parameter in the Contact header field
   of the 200 OK response to the INVITE.












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   An example call flow for joining a conference is shown in Figure 1.

   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                                         |
     |                    |       Carol joins the conference        |
     |                    |                                         |
     |                    |              INVITE sip:Conf-ID F1      |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |               180 Ringing F2            |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |    200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F3    |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                   ACK F4                |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |                    RTP                  |
     |                    |&lt;=======================================&gt;|
     |                    |           SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F5      |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |                  200 OK F6              |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                NOTIFY F7                |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                  200 OK F8              |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|

   Figure 1. A Participant Joins a Conference Using the Conference URI.


   F1    INVITE sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.chicago.example.com
          ;branch=z9hG4bKhjhs8ass83
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         From: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=32331
         Call-ID: d432fa84b4c76e66710
         CSeq: 45 INVITE
         Contact: &lt;sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com&gt;
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Allow-Events: dialog
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Supported: replaces
         Content-Type: application/sdp
         Content-Length: ...

         (SDP not shown)





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   F3    SIP/2.0 200 OK
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.chicago.example.com
          ;branch=z9hG4bKhjhs8ass83;received=192.0.2.4
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=733413
         From: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=32331
         Call-ID: d432fa84b4c76e66710
         CSeq: 45 INVITE
         Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Allow-Events: dialog, conference
         Accept: application/sdp, application/conference-info+xml,
          message/sipfrag
         Supported: replaces, join, gruu
         Content-Type: application/sdp
         Content-Length: ...

         v=0
         o=focus431 2890844526 2890842807 IN IP4 ms5.conf.example.com
         s=-
         i=Example Conference Hosted by Example.com
         u=http://conf.example.com/3402934234
         e=3402934234@conf-help.example.com
         p=+1-888-2934234
         c=IN IP4 ms5.conf.example.com
         t=0 0
         m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
         m=video 51372 RTP/AVP 31


   F5    SUBSCRIBE sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.chicago.example.com
          ;branch=z9hG4bKdf334
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         From: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=43524545
         Call-ID: k3l43id034ksereree
         CSeq: 22 SUBSCRIBE
         Contact: &lt;sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com&gt;
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Event: conference
         Accept: application/conference-info+xml
         Supported: replaces
         Content-Length: 0






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   F7    NOTIFY sip:carol@chicago.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ms5.conf.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK3343d1
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=43524545
         From: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=a3343df32
         Call-ID: k3l43id034ksereree
         CSeq: 34321 NOTIFY
         Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Event: conference
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Subscription-State: active;expires=3600
         Supported: replaces, join, gruu
         Content-Type: application/conference-info+xml

         Content-Length: ...

         &lt;conference-info version="0" state="full"
          entity="sip:3402934234@conf.example.com"&gt;
          &lt;conference-description&gt;
           &lt;conf-uris&gt;
            &lt;entry&gt;
             &lt;uri&gt;tel:+18882934234&lt;/uri&gt;
            &lt;/entry&gt;
           &lt;/conf-uris&gt;
          &lt;/conference-description&gt;
          &lt;users&gt;
           &lt;user entity="sip:carol@chicago.example.com" state="full"&gt;
            &lt;display-text&gt;Carol&lt;/display-text&gt;
            &lt;endpoint entity="sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com"&gt;
             &lt;status&gt;connected&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;joining-method&gt;dialed-in&lt;/joining-method&gt;
             &lt;media id="1"&gt;
              &lt;display-text&gt;Main Audio&lt;/display-text&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;audio&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;583398&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
             &lt;media id="2"&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;video&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;345212&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
            &lt;/endpoint&gt;
           &lt;/user&gt;
          &lt;/users&gt;
         &lt;/conference-info&gt;



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 10]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-11" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.2" href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>.  INVITE: Adding a Participant by the Focus - Dial-Out</span>

   To directly add a participant to a conference, a focus SHOULD send an
   INVITE to the participant containing a Contact header field with the
   conference URI and the 'isfocus' feature parameter.

   Note that a conference-unaware UA would simply ignore the
   conferencing information and treat the session (from a SIP
   perspective) as a point-to-point session.  This is because standard
   <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>] behavior is to ignore unknown header parameters such as
   'isfocus'.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 2.  It is assumed that Alice
   is already a participant of the conference.  The focus invites Carol
   to the conference by sending an INVITE.  After the session is
   established, Carol subscribes to the conference URI.  It is important
   to note that there is no dependency on Carol's SUBSCRIBE (F5) and the
   NOTIFY to Alice (F9) -- they occur asynchronously and independently.

































<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 11]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-12" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                 Focus                 Bob                Carol
      |                    |                    |                    |
      |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
      |                    |                                         |
      |           Focus "dials out" to add Carol to the conference   |
      |                    |                                         |
      |                    |    INVITE Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F1    |
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |               180 Ringing F2            |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
      |                    |                  200 OK F3              |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
      |                    |                   ACK F4                |
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |                    RTP                  |
      |                    |&lt;=======================================&gt;|
      |                    |           SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F5      |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
      |                    |                  200 OK F6              |
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |                NOTIFY F7                |
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |                  200 OK F8              |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
      |     NOTIFY F9      |                                         |
      |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
      |     200 OK F10     |                                         |
      |-------------------&gt;|                                         |

   Figure 2. A Focus "Dials Out" to Add a Participant to the Conference.


   F7    NOTIFY sip:carol@chicago.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ms5.conf.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK3343d1
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=43524545
         From: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=a3343df32
         Call-ID: k3l43id034ksereree
         CSeq: 34321 NOTIFY
         Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Event: conference
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Subscription-State: active;expires=3600
         Supported: replaces, gruu
         Content-Type: application/conference-info+xml
         Content-Length: ...



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 12]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-13" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


         &lt;conference-info version="0" state="full"
          entity="sip:3402934234@conf.example.com"&gt;
          &lt;conference-description&gt;
           &lt;conf-uris&gt;
            &lt;entry&gt;
             &lt;uri&gt;tel:+18882934234&lt;/uri&gt;
            &lt;/entry&gt;
           &lt;/conf-uris&gt;
          &lt;/conference-description&gt;
          &lt;users&gt;
           &lt;user entity="sip:alice@atlanta.example.com" state="full"&gt;
            &lt;display-text&gt;Alice&lt;/display-text&gt;
            &lt;endpoint entity="sip:alice@client.atlanta.example.com"&gt;
             &lt;status&gt;connected&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;joining-method&gt;dialed-in&lt;/joining-method&gt;
             &lt;media id="3"&gt;
              &lt;display-text&gt;Main Audio&lt;/display-text&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;audio&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;647231&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
             &lt;media id="4"&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;video&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;21345&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
            &lt;/endpoint&gt;
           &lt;/user&gt;
           &lt;user entity="sip:carol@chicago.example.com" state="full"&gt;
            &lt;display-text&gt;Carol&lt;/display-text&gt;
            &lt;endpoint entity="sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com"&gt;
             &lt;status&gt;connected&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;joining-method&gt;dialed-out&lt;/joining-method&gt;
             &lt;media id="1"&gt;
              &lt;display-text&gt;Main Audio&lt;/display-text&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;audio&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;583398&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
             &lt;media id="2"&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;video&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;345212&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
            &lt;/endpoint&gt;
           &lt;/user&gt;
          &lt;/users&gt;
         &lt;/conference-info&gt;



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 13]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-14" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   F9    NOTIFY sip:alice@atlanta.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ms5.conf.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK3432
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: Alice &lt;sip:alice@atlanta.example.com&gt;;tag=43524545
         From: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=a3343df32
         Call-ID: 8820450524545
         CSeq: 998 NOTIFY
         Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Event: conference
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Subscription-State: active;expires=2450
         Supported: replaces, gruu
         Content-Type: application/conference-info+xml
         Content-Length: ...

         &lt;conference-info version="1" state="partial"
          entity="sip:3402934234@conf.example.com"&gt;
          &lt;users&gt;
           &lt;user entity="sip:carol@chicago.example.com" state="full"&gt;
            &lt;display-text&gt;Carol&lt;/display-text&gt;
            &lt;endpoint entity="sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com"&gt;
             &lt;status&gt;connected&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;joining-method&gt;dialed-out&lt;/joining-method&gt;
             &lt;media id="1"&gt;
              &lt;display-text&gt;Main Audio&lt;/display-text&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;audio&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;583398&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
             &lt;media id="2"&gt;
              &lt;type&gt;video&lt;/type&gt;
              &lt;src-id&gt;345212&lt;/src-id&gt;
              &lt;status&gt;sendrecv&lt;/status&gt;
             &lt;/media&gt;
            &lt;/endpoint&gt;
           &lt;/user&gt;
          &lt;/users&gt;
         &lt;/conference-info&gt;











<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 14]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-15" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.3" href="#section-5.3">5.3</a>.  INVITE: Manually Creating a Conference by Dialing in to a</span>
<span class="h3">      Conferencing Application</span>

   In this section, a user sends an INVITE to a conference server
   application.  The application (such as an IVR system or a web page)
   is implemented because the system requires additional input from the
   user before it is able to create a conference.  After a normal dialog
   is established, additional information is received and the conference
   together with its focus are created.  Since the UA is now in a dialog
   with a focus, the focus will re-INVITE the user with the conference
   URI in Contact with the 'isfocus' feature parameter.

   Alternatively, the additional information can be provided by the user
   during an early dialog (see <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>] for a discussion of early
   dialogs in SIP).  This could be accomplished by a 183 Session
   Progress response sent by the conferencing application.  After the
   conference is created, the conference URI would then be returned in a
   Contact in the 200 OK.

   Note that since this flow is all about human interaction with a
   conferencing application, any errors and failures will be returned to
   the human (recorded announcements, error tones, etc.).

   As discussed in the conferencing framework, the conference URI must
   be unique across all distinct conferences within the same domain.  In
   general, the user part of a conference URI will contain a pseudo
   random string.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 3.  In this example, Alice
   uses a conference application that is triggered when Alice sends an
   INVITE to the conference application.  In this example, Conf-App is
   used to represent the conference application URI.  Alice's
   conference-aware UA learns of the existence of the conference from
   the 'isfocus' feature parameter and subscribes to the conference
   package to receive notifications of the conference state.
















<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 15]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-16" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | Alice establishes session with conference application.       |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | INVITE sip:Conf-App F1                  |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |   180 Ringing F2   |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |     200 OK F3      |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |        ACK F4      |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |        RTP         |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | Alice uses the application to create the conference.         |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | INVITE Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F5       |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |    200 OK F6       |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |        ACK F7      |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |        RTP         |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F8                |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |     200 OK F9      |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |     NOTIFY F10     |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |     200 OK F11     |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |

   Figure 3. A Participant Creates a Conference Using an Application.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.4" href="#section-5.4">5.4</a>.  INVITE: Creating a Conference Using Ad-Hoc SIP Methods</span>

   This section addresses creating a conference by using ad-hoc SIP
   means.  The conference factory URI (as defined in <a href="#section-3.2">Section 3.2</a>) is
   used to automatically create the conference in this example.  This is
   different from the previous scenario in that no human intervention is
   required -- an automaton can create the conference and add
   participants.  Since the conference does not need to be scheduled or
   reserved, but is created "on the fly", it is an "ad-hoc" conference
   creation.




<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 16]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-17" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   The benefit of this approach is that the conference URI need not be
   known to the user; instead it is created by a focus and used by the
   participants' UAs.  The main difference between this scenario and
   <a href="#section-5.3">Section 5.3</a> is that no user intervention (IVR, web page form, etc.)
   is required to create the conference.

   The SIP URI of the conference factory can be provisioned in the UA
   (as in a "create new conference" button on a SIP phone) or can be
   discovered using other means.

   A SIP entity (such as conferencing server) can distinguish this
   INVITE request as a request to create a new ad-hoc conference from a
   request to join an existing conference by the Request-URI.  That is,
   although both requests may route to the same application, the
   differing services requested can be identified by the differing URIs
   in the request itself.

   Assuming that all security and policy requirements have been met, a
   new conference will be created with the Contact URI returned in the
   200 OK being the conference URI.  The Contact header field MUST
   contain the 'isfocus' feature parameter to indicate that this URI is
   for a conference.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 4.  Note that Conf-Factory is
   shorthand for the conference factory URI and Conf-ID Is short for the
   conference URI.  In this flow, Alice has a conference-aware UA and
   creates a conference by sending an INVITE to the conference factory
   URI.  The conference factory application creates the conference and
   redirects Alice to the focus using a 302 Moved Temporarily response.
   Note that with proxy recursion as part of normal <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>]
   behavior, Alice may never see the redirect but may just receive the
   responses from the focus starting with message F5.  Once the media
   session is established, Alice subscribes to the conference URI
   obtained through the Contact in the 200 OK response from the focus.

















<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 17]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-18" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice         Conf-Factory App            Focus                 Bob
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | Alice creates the conference.           |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | INVITE sip:Conf-Factory F1              |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |  302 Moved Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F2   |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |        ACK F3      |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     | INVITE sip:Conf-ID F4                   |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |   180 Ringing F5                        |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |   200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F6     |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |        ACK F7                           |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |        RTP                              |                    |
     |&lt;=======================================&gt;|                    |
     |                                         |                    |
     | Alice subscribes to the conference URI. |                    |
     |                                         |                    |
     | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F8                |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |     200 OK F9                           |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |     NOTIFY F10                          |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |     200 OK F11                          |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |

   Figure 4. Creation of a Conference Using SIP Ad-Hoc Methods.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.5" href="#section-5.5">5.5</a>.  REFER: Requesting a Focus to Add a New Resource to a Conference</span>
      (Dial Out to a New Participant)

   A SIP conference URI can be used to inject different kinds of
   information into the conference.  Examples include new participants,
   new real-time media sources, new IM messages, and pointers to passive
   information references (such as HTTP URIs).

   To request that the focus add a new information resource to the
   specified conference, any SIP UA can send a REFER to the conference
   URI with a Refer-To containing the URI of the new resource.  Since
   this REFER is sent to the conference URI and not the conference
   factory URI, the semantics to the focus are to bring the resource
   into the conference and make it visible to the conference



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 18]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-19" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   participants.  The resultant focus procedures are dependent both on
   the nature of the new resource (as expressed by its URI) and the
   policy of the focus regarding IM, central vs. distributed real-time
   media processing, and so on.

   The scenario for adding a new UA participant is important to support
   because it works even if the new participant does not support REFER
   and transfer call control -- only the requesting participant and the
   focus need to support the REFER and transfer call control.

   Upon receipt of the REFER containing a Refer-To header with a SIP
   URI, the focus SHOULD send an INVITE to the new participant
   identified by the Refer-To SIP URI containing a Contact header field
   with the conference URI and the 'isfocus' feature parameter.

   A conference-unaware UA would simply ignore the conferencing
   information and treat the session (from a SIP perspective) as a
   point-to-point session.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 5.  While this flow shows the
   use of REFER to add a new participant to the conference, the
   mechanism can generally add a resource as identified by a URI to the
   conference.  It is assumed that Alice is already a participant of the
   conference.  Alice sends a REFER to the conference URI.  The focus
   invites Carol to the conference by sending an INVITE.  After the
   session is established, Carol subscribes to the conference URI.  It
   is important to note that there is no dependency on Carol's SUBSCRIBE
   (F11) and the NOTIFY to Alice (F15) -- they occur asynchronously and
   independently.






















<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 19]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-20" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     | REFER sip:Conf-ID Refer-To:Carol F1     |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |  202 Accepted F2   |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     NOTIFY (Trying) F3                                       |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F4      |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |                    |                                         |
     |           Focus "dials out" to join Carol to the conference  |
     |                    |                                         |
     |                    |    INVITE Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F5    |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |               180 Ringing F6            |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |                  200 OK F7              |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |                   ACK F8                |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                    RTP                  |
     |                    |&lt;=======================================&gt;|
     |     NOTIFY (OK) F9 |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F10     |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |                    |           SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F11     |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    |                  200 OK F12             |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                NOTIFY F13               |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                  200 OK F14             |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |     NOTIFY F15     |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F16     |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |

   Figure 5. Participant Requests That the Focus Add a Participant to
             the Conference.








<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 20]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-21" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   F1   REFER sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
        Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.atlanta.example.com;branch=z9hG4bKg4534
        Max-Forwards: 70
        To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
        From: Alice &lt;sip:alice@atlanta.example.com&gt;;tag=5534562
        Call-ID: 849392fklgl43
        CSeq: 476 REFER
        Contact: &lt;sip:alice@alice.example.com&gt;
        Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
         SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
        Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
        Refer-To: &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;
        Supported: replaces
        Content-Length: 0

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.6" href="#section-5.6">5.6</a>.  REFER: Requesting a User to Dial in to a Conference Using a</span>
<span class="h3">      Conference URI</span>

   A participant wishing to add a new participant will request this
   participant to send an INVITE to the conference URI.  This can be
   done using a non-SIP means (such as passing or publishing the
   conference URI in an email, IM, or web page).  If a non-SIP means is
   used, then the flow and requirements are identical to <a href="#section-5.1">Section 5.1</a>.

   The SIP mechanism to do this utilizes the REFER method.

   A UA wishing to add a new participant SHOULD send a REFER request to
   the participant with a Refer-To header containing the conference URI.

   The requirements are then identical to the dial-in case of <a href="#section-5.1">Section</a>
   <a href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>.  The inviting participant MAY receive notification through the
   REFER action that the new participant has been added in addition to
   the notification received through the conference package.

   An example is shown in Figure 6.  In this call flow, it is assumed
   that Alice is already a participant of the conference.  Alice sends
   Bob an "out of band" REFER - that is, a REFER outside of an
   established dialog.  Should Bob reject the REFER, Alice might try
   sending an INVITE to Bob to establish a session first, then send a
   REFER within the dialog, effectively transferring Bob into the
   conference [<a href="#ref-17" title="&quot;Session Initiation Protocol Call Control - Transfer&quot;">17</a>].










<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 21]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-22" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |  Alice adds Bob into conference         |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | REFER Refer-To:Conf-ID F1               |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |  202 Accepted F2   |                    |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |  NOTIFY (Trying) F3|                    |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |     200 OK F4      |                    |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | INVITE sip:Conf-ID F5                   |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |   180 Ringing F6   |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | 200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F7       |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |       ACK F8       |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |        RTP         |                    |
     |                    |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
     |    NOTIFY (OK) F9  |                    |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |     200 OK F10     |                    |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |      NOTIFY F11    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |      200 OK F12    |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F13               |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F14     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     NOTIFY F15     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F16     |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |

   Figure 6. Adding a Participant to an Existing Conference.









<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 22]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-23" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.7" href="#section-5.7">5.7</a>.  REFER with REFER: Requesting a Focus to Refer a Participant to</span>
<span class="h3">      Dial in to the Conference</span>

   A participant may request that the focus refer a participant into the
   conference by sending a REFER method.  The Refer-To header field will
   have the method set to REFER and an escaped Refer-To header field
   containing the conference URI.

   Note that in Message F1 below, the Refer-To header field is shown as
   continuing across two lines -- this would not be the case in an
   actual message; the URI would have continued beyond the formatting
   limitations of this document.

   This scenario is shown in Figure 7.





































<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 23]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-24" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |  Alice asks focus to REFER Bob into conference               |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |REFER sip:Conf-ID Refer-To:Bob;method=REFER?Refer-To=Conf-ID F1
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |  202 Accepted F2   |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |  NOTIFY (Trying) F3|                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |     200 OK F4      |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |           Focus REFERs Bob to the conference                 |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |                    | REFER Refer-To:Conf-ID F5               |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |  202 Accepted F6   |                    |
     |    NOTIFY (202) F7 |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |&lt;-------------------| NOTIFY (Trying) F8 |                    |
     |      200 OK F9     |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|      200 OK F10    |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | INVITE sip:Conf-ID F11                  |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |   180 Ringing F12  |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | 200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F13      |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |       ACK F14      |                    |
     |      NOTIFY F15    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|        RTP         |                    |
     |      200 OK F16    |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|  NOTIFY (200) F17  |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |      200 OK F18    |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F17               |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F19     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     NOTIFY F20     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F21     |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |

   Figure 7. Requesting That the Focus Refer a Participant to a
             Conference.



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 24]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-25" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   F1    REFER sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.atlanta.example.com;branch=z9hG4bKg4534
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         From: Alice &lt;sip:alice@atlanta.example.com&gt;;tag=5534562
         Call-ID: 849392fklgl43
         CSeq: 476 REFER
         Contact: &lt;sip:alice@alice.example.com&gt;
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Refer-To: &lt;sip:bob@biloxi.example.com;method=REFER
                              ?Refer-To=sip:3402934234%40example.com&gt;
         Supported: replaces
         Content-Length: 0


   F5    REFER sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ms5.conf.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK33445243
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:bob@biloxi.example.com&gt;
         From: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=345621412
         Call-ID: 5494204
         CSeq: 4524323 REFER
         Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Refer-To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         Supported: join, gruu, replaces
         Content-Length: 0


   F11   INVITE sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.biloxi.com;branch=z9hG4bKh3887
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         From: Bob &lt;sip:bob@biloxi.example.com&gt;;tag=32411
         Call-ID: 5d4324fa84b4c76e66710
         CSeq: 764 INVITE
         Contact: &lt;sip:bob@client.biloxi.example.com&gt;
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Allow-Events: dialog
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Supported: replaces, join
         Content-Type: application/sdp
         Content-Length: ...



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 25]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-26" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


         (SDP not shown)

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.8" href="#section-5.8">5.8</a>.  Join Header Field: Dialing in to a Conference Using a (3rd Party)</span>
<span class="h3">      Dialog Identifier</span>

   Under some circumstances, a participant wanting to join a conference
   may only know a dialog identifier of one of the legs of the
   conference.  The information may have been learned using the dialog
   package [<a href="#ref-18" title="&quot;An INVITE- Initiated Dialog Event Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">18</a>] or some non-SIP means to retrieve this information from
   another conference participant.

   A UA can request to be added to a conference by sending a request to
   the focus containing a Join [<a href="#ref-7" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) &quot;">7</a>] header field containing a dialog ID
   of one leg of the conference (a dialog between another participant
   and the focus).

   There are other scenarios in which a UA can use the Join header for
   certain conferencing call control scenarios.  See [<a href="#ref-7" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) &quot;">7</a>] for further
   examples and details.

   An example is shown in Figure 8.  It is assumed that Alice is a
   participant of the conference.  The dialog identifier between Alice
   and the focus is abbreviated as A-F and is known by Bob.  Bob
   requests to be added to the conference by sending an INVITE message
   F1 to the focus containing a Join header that contains the dialog
   identifier A-F.  Bob is added into the conference by the focus.

























<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 26]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-27" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |  Bob requests to be added to the conference.                 |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |                    | INVITE Join:A-F  F1|                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |   180 Ringing F2   |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    | 200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F3       |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |       ACK F4       |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |        RTP         |                    |
     |      NOTIFY F5     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
     |&lt;-------------------| SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F6                |
     |      200 OK F7     |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|     200 OK F8      |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     NOTIFY F9      |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F10     |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |

   Figure 8. Adding a Participant to an Existing Conference using Join.


   F1   INVITE sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
        Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.biloxi.com;branch=z9hG4bKh3832
        Max-Forwards: 70
        To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
        From: Bob &lt;sip:bob@biloxi.example.com&gt;;tag=32411
        Call-ID: d432fa84b4c76e66710
        CSeq: 8 INVITE
        Contact: &lt;sip:bob@client.biloxi.example.com&gt;
        Join: 3434034-293553453;to-tag=fdj3l34;from-tag=12f331
        Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
         SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
        Allow-Events: dialog
        Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
        Supported: replaces, join
        Content-Type: application/sdp
        Content-Length: ...

        (SDP not shown)





<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 27]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-28" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.9" href="#section-5.9">5.9</a>.  Replaces Header Field: Switching User Agents within a Conference</span>

   Participants in a conference may want to change the user agent (i.e.,
   the endpoint or the device) with which they participate in the
   conference.  This could be done by simply sending a BYE from one user
   agent to leave the conference and an INVITE from the other user agent
   to rejoin.  However, the SIP Replaces [<a href="#ref-6" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) &quot;">6</a>] primitive is perfectly
   suited to this operation.

   An example is shown in Figure 9.  It is assumed that Alice is a
   participant of the conference using user agent #1.  The dialog
   identifier between Alice's user agent #1 and the focus is abbreviated
   as A-F.  Alice switches to user agent #2 and sends an INVITE message
   F1 to the focus containing a Replaces header that contains the dialog
   identifier A-F.  Note that this dialog identifier could be learned
   through some non-SIP mechanism, or by use of SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY and the
   dialog event package [<a href="#ref-18" title="&quot;An INVITE- Initiated Dialog Event Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">18</a>].  Alice's user agent #2 is added into the
   conference by the focus.  The focus sends a BYE to user agent #1.
   User agent #1 then automatically terminates the subscription by
   sending a SUBSCRIBE with Expires:0 to terminate the subscription.
   Note that the participant list (roster) has not necessarily changed
   during this scenario, unless detailed information about Alice user
   agents (i.e. endpoints) is included in the conference state
   notifications.  For a full discussion of conference package
   notifications, refer to [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State&quot;">9</a>].


























<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 28]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-29" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice UA#1            Focus             Alice UA#2             Carol
      |                    |                    |                    |
      |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
      |                    |                    |                    |
      |  Alice switches user agents during the conference.           |
      |                    |                    |                    |
      |                    | INVITE sip:Conf-ID Replaces:A-F  F1     |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
      |                    | 200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F2       |
      |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
      |                    |       ACK F3       |                    |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
      |                    |        RTP         |                    |
      |                    |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
      |      BYE F4        |                    |                    |
      |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
      |      200 OK F5     |                    |                    |
      |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
      | SUBSCRIBE Expires:0 F6                  |                    |
      |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
      |     200 OK F7      |                    |                    |
      |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
      | NOTIFY Subscription-State:terminated F8 |                    |
      |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
      |      200 OK F9     |                    |                    |
      |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
      |                    | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F10               |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
      |                    |     200 OK F11     |                    |
      |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
      |                    |     NOTIFY F12     |                    |
      |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
      |                    |     200 OK F13     |                    |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |

   Figure 9. Switching a User Agent within a Conference.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.10" href="#section-5.10">5.10</a>.  Replaces Header Field: Transferring a Point-to-Point Session into</span>
<span class="h3">       a Conference</span>

   This call flow shows how a point-to-point call can be transferred to
   a conference call involving an external focus.

   Alice and Bob have an established session with a dialog identifier
   A-B.  Alice joins the conference with the focus by sending an INVITE
   to the Conference URI.  Alice then sends a REFER request to the focus
   to send an INVITE request to the other participant.  Alice includes
   an escaped Replaces header field in the URI included in the Refer-To



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 29]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-30" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   header field.  Bob receives the INVITE from the focus and matches the
   dialog in the Replaces header field with the dialog with Alice.  As a
   result, Bob accepts the INVITE, joins the conference, and sends a BYE
   to Alice to tear down their point-to-point dialog.

   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |   Alice is in a session with Bob        |                    |
     |&lt;=======================================&gt;|                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |  Alice joins the conference             |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | INVITE sip:Conf-ID F1                   |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     | 200 OK Contact:sip:Conf-ID;isfocus F2   |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |        ACK F3      |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |    SUBSCRIBE F4    |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |      200 OK F5     |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |      NOTIFY F6     |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |      200 OK F7     |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |  Alice asks focus to REFER Bob into conference               |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | REFER sip:Conf-ID Refer-To:Bob?Replaces=A-B F8               |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |  202 Accepted F9   |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     | NOTIFY (Trying) F10|                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |     200 OK F11     |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |           Focus invites Bob to the conference                |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |                    | INVITE sip:Conf-ID Replaces:A-B F12     |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F13     |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |       ACK F14      |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |        RTP         |                    |



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 30]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-31" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


     |                    |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
     |                 BYE F15                 |                    |
     |&lt;----------------------------------------|                    |
     |                200 OK F16               |                    |
     |----------------------------------------&gt;|                    |
     |   NOTIFY (200) F17 |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |      200 OK F18    |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |      NOTIFY F19    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |      200 OK F20    |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |                    | SUBSCRIBE sip:Conf-ID F21               |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F22     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     NOTIFY F23     |                    |
     |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
     |                    |     200 OK F24     |                    |
     |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
     |                    |                    |                    |

   Figure 10. Transitioning a Point to Point Session into a Conference.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.11" href="#section-5.11">5.11</a>.  REFER with BYE: Requesting That the Focus Remove a Participant</span>
<span class="h3">       from a Conference</span>

   To request that the focus remove a participant from the specified
   conference, a properly authorized SIP UA (typically the conference
   owner) can send a REFER to the conference URI with a Refer-To
   containing the URI of the participant and with the method set to BYE.
   The requestor does not need to know the dialog information about the
   dialog between the focus and the participant who will be removed --
   the focus knows this information and fills it when it generates the
   BYE request.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 11.  It is assumed that Alice
   and Carol are already participants of the conference and that Alice
   is authorized to remove members from the conference.  Alice sends a
   REFER to the conference URI with a Refer-To header containing a URI
   of the form sip:carol@chicago.example.com;method=BYE.









<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 31]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-32" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                                         |
     | REFER sip:Conf-ID Refer-To:Carol;method=BYE F1               |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |  202 Accepted F2   |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     NOTIFY (Trying) F3                                       |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F4      |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |                    |                                         |
     |           Focus removes Carol from the conference            |
     |                    |                                         |
     |                    |            BYE sip:Carol F5             |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                200 OK F6                |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |                    | NOTIFY Subscription-State:terminated F7 |
     |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
     |                    |                200 OK F8                |
     |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
     |   NOTIFY (200) F9  |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F10     |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |
     |     NOTIFY  F11    |                                         |
     |&lt;-------------------|                                         |
     |     200 OK F12     |                                         |
     |-------------------&gt;|                                         |

   Figure 11. Participant Requests That the Focus Remove a Participant
              from the Conference.

    F1   REFER sip:3402934234@conf.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP client.atlanta.example.com;branch=z9hG4bKg4534
         Max-Forwards: 70
         To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;
         From: Alice &lt;sip:alice@atlanta.example.com&gt;;tag=5534562
         Call-ID: 849392fklgl43
         CSeq: 476 REFER
         Contact: &lt;sip:alice@alice.example.com&gt;
         Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
          SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
         Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
         Refer-To: &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com;method=BYE&gt;
         Supported: replaces
         Content-Length: 0



<span class="grey">Johnston &amp; Levin         Best Current Practice                 [Page 32]</span></pre>
<hr class='noprint'/><!--NewPage--><pre class='newpage'><span id="page-33" ></span>
<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc4579">RFC 4579</a>              SIP CC Conferencing for UAs            August 2006</span>


   F5    BYE sip:carol@client.chicago.example.com SIP/2.0
         Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ms5.conf.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK343gf4
         Max-Forwards: 70
         From: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=5393k2312
         To: Carol &lt;sip:carol@chicago.example.com&gt;;tag=32331
         Call-ID: d432fa84b4c76e66710
         CSeq: 78654 BYE
         Content-Length: 0

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.12" href="#section-5.12">5.12</a>.  Deleting a Conference</span>

   The default conference policy for conferences created using the
   Conference Factory URI is that the conference is deleted when the
   creator departs.

   Figure 12 shows this call flow in which the creator Alice departs
   causing the conference to be deleted.  Note that the order of sending
   BYEs and final NOTIFYs is not important.

































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    Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
      |                    |                    |                    |
      |&lt;==================&gt;|&lt;==================&gt;|                    |
      |        BYE F1      |&lt;=======================================&gt;|
      |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
      |      200 OK F2     |                    |                    |
      |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
      |                    |       BYE F3       |                    |
      |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
      |                    |    200 OK F4       |                    |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
      |                    |                 BYE F5                  |
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |                200 OK F6                |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|
      |      NOTIFY Subscription-State:terminated F7                 |
      |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
      |      200 OK F8     |                    |                    |
      |-------------------&gt;| NOTIFY Subscription-State:terminated F9 |
      |                    |-------------------&gt;|                    |
      |                    |     200 OK F10     |                    |
      |                    |&lt;-------------------|                    |
      |                    | NOTIFY Subscription-State:terminated F11|
      |                    |----------------------------------------&gt;|
      |                    |                  200 OK F12             |
      |                    |&lt;----------------------------------------|

   Figure 12. Deleting a Conference.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.13" href="#section-5.13">5.13</a>.  Discovery of URI Properties Using OPTIONS</span>

   A UA MAY send an OPTIONS request to discover if an opaque URI is a
   conference URI (resolves to a focus).  In addition, the reply to the
   OPTIONS request can also indicate support for various SIP call
   control extensions used in this document.

   Note that the Allow, Accept, Allow-Events, and Supported header
   fields should be present in an INVITE from a focus or a 200 OK answer
   from the focus to an INVITE as a part of a normal dialog
   establishment process.

   An example is shown in Figure 13 where Alice sends an OPTIONS to a
   URI that resolves to a focus.








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   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | OPTIONS sip:Conf-ID F1                  |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     | 200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F2       |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |

   Figure 13. Participant Queries Capabilities of URI of a Focus.

   Following is an example of message detail of message F2 in Figure 13.
   Based on the response, Alice's UA learns that the URI is a conference
   URI and that the responding UA is focus that supports a number of SIP
   call control extensions.

   The response details are as follows:

   F2   SIP/2.0 200 OK
        Via: SIP/2.0/UDP pc33.atlanta.example.com;branch=z9hG4bKhjsas87
         ;received=192.0.2.4
        To: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;tag=93810874
        From: Alice &lt;sip:alice@atlanta.example.com&gt;;tag=1928301774
        Call-ID: a84b4c76e66710
        CSeq: 63104 OPTIONS
        Contact: &lt;sip:3402934234@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus
        Allow: INVITE, ACK, CANCEL, OPTIONS, BYE, REFER,
         SUBSCRIBE, NOTIFY
        Allow-Events: refer, conference
        Accept: application/sdp, message/sipfrag
        Accept-Language: en
        Supported: replaces, join, gruu
        Content-Type: application/sdp
        Content-Length: ...

        v=0
        o=focus431 2890844563 2890842835 IN IP4 ms5.conf.example.com
        s=-
        i=Example Conference Hosted by Example.com
        u=http://conf.example.com/3402934234
        e=3402934234@conf-help.example.com
        p=+18882934234
        c=IN IP4 ms5.conf.example.com
        t=0 0
        m=audio 0 RTP/AVP 0 3 5 7
        m=video 0 RTP/AVP 31 32

   Useful information from each of these headers is detailed in the next
   sections.




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   Allow.  The support of methods such as REFER, SUBSCRIBE, and NOTIFY
   indicates that the user agent supports call control and SIP events.

   Accept. The support of bodies such as message/sipfrag [<a href="#ref-12" title="&quot;Internet Media Type message/sipfrag&quot;">12</a>] indicates
   support of call control.

   Allow-Events.  Indicates support of event packages such as refer [<a href="#ref-4" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer Method&quot;">4</a>]
   and conference [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State&quot;">9</a>].

   Supported.  Indicates support of extensions such as replaces, join,
   and gruu.

   Contact.  The presence of the 'isfocus' feature parameter in the
   Contact header indicates that the URI is a conference URI and that
   the UA is a focus.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>.  Security Considerations</span>

   This specification defines the interaction between a focus UA and a
   participant UA in a conferencing application.  As a result, the
   security considerations and mechanisms defined in <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>] apply.
   However, there are some aspects unique to conferencing that will be
   discussed here.

   A conference often involves the use of substantial network bandwidth
   and computing resources.  As a result, authentication is even more
   important than in a simple peer-to-peer session.  As discussed in the
   conferencing framework [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;A Framework for Conferencing with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">8</a>], conferences often have policy related to
   conferencing resources.  A focus SHOULD authenticate participants
   before joining them to a conference and allowing utilization of
   conferencing resources.  Different policies can be applied by a focus
   to different participants based on the result of authentication.

   A participant will be interacting with a number of other participants
   through the focus.  As a result, a participant should authenticate
   the focus and be sure that the focus used for the conference is
   trusted.  Normal SIP authentication mechanisms are suitable for
   participant and focus authentication, such as SIP Digest utilizing a
   shared secret, or certificates, or a secured SIP identity mechanism.
   In addition, a focus SHOULD support Secure SIP connections so that
   hop-by-hop mutual authentication and confidentiality provided by TLS
   can be achieved.

   In the SIP dialog between them, a focus utilizes the 'isfocus'
   feature tag to indicate that the UA is acting as a focus.  As such,
   the SIP header fields such as Contact SHOULD have end to end
   integrity.  A participant and focus SHOULD support an end-to-end
   integrity mechanism such as S/MIME.



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   Once a participant has learned that the other UA is a focus, SIP call
   control operations (such as REFER) can be implemented, or a
   subscription to the conference package of the focus might be
   attempted.  The security considerations described in <a href="./rfc3515">RFC 3515</a> [<a href="#ref-4" title="&quot;The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer Method&quot;">4</a>]
   apply to any REFER call control operations.  A focus and participant
   will apply policy to determine which call control operations are
   allowed.

   A focus accepting subscriptions to the conference package must follow
   the security considerations in <a href="./rfc4575">RFC 4575</a> [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State&quot;">9</a>].  Since notifications can
   carry sensitive information, the subscriptions should be
   authenticated and the notifications delivered with confidentiality
   and integrity protection.  Since a participant is not able to
   authenticate other participants directly, a participant must rely on
   the focus to perform this authentication.

   A focus MUST support a participant's request for privacy, either
   through conference policy or as expressed through the signaling.  For
   example, a participant joining a conference and including a Privacy
   header field [<a href="#ref-10" title="&quot;A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)&quot;">10</a>] must not have identity information revealed to
   other participants by the focus.  If other signaling protocols are
   used, privacy signaled through them also must be respected.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-7" href="#section-7">7</a>.  Contributors</span>

   We would like to thank Rohan Mahy, Jonathan Rosenberg, Roni Even,
   Petri Koskelainen, Brian Rosen, Paul Kyzivat, Eric Burger, and others
   in list discussions.

   Thanks to Miguel Garcia for his detailed last-call review and
   suggestions.




















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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-8" href="#section-8">8</a>.  References</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.1" href="#section-8.1">8.1</a>.  Normative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-1">1</a>]   Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
         Levels", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a>, <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a>, March 1997.

   [<a id="ref-2">2</a>]   Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
         Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. Schooler, "SIP:
         Session Initiation Protocol", <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a>, June 2002.

   [<a id="ref-3">3</a>]   Roach, A., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific Event
         Notification", <a href="./rfc3265">RFC 3265</a>, June 2002.

   [<a id="ref-4">4</a>]   Sparks, R., "The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer
         Method", <a href="./rfc3515">RFC 3515</a>, April 2003.

   [<a id="ref-5">5</a>]   Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., and P. Kyzivat, "Indicating
         User Agent Capabilities in the Session Initiation Protocol
         (SIP)", <a href="./rfc3840">RFC 3840</a>, August 2004.

   [<a id="ref-6">6</a>]   Mahy, R., Biggs, B., and R. Dean, "The Session Initiation
         Protocol (SIP) "Replaces" Header", <a href="./rfc3891">RFC 3891</a>, September 2004.

   [<a id="ref-7">7</a>]   Mahy, R. and D. Petrie, "The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
         "Join" Header", <a href="./rfc3911">RFC 3911</a>, October 2004.

   [<a id="ref-8">8</a>]   Rosenberg, J., "A Framework for Conferencing with the Session
         Initiation Protocol (SIP)", <a href="./rfc4353">RFC 4353</a>, February 2006.

   [<a id="ref-9">9</a>]   Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., and O. Levin, "A Session
         Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Conference State",
         <a href="./rfc4575">RFC 4575</a>, August 2006.

   [<a id="ref-10">10</a>]  Peterson, J., "A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation
         Protocol (SIP)", <a href="./rfc3323">RFC 3323</a>, November 2002.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.2" href="#section-8.2">8.2</a>.  Informative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-11">11</a>]  Campbell, B. and R. Sparks, "Control of Service Context using
         SIP Request-URI", <a href="./rfc3087">RFC 3087</a>, April 2001.

   [<a id="ref-12">12</a>]  Sparks, R., "Internet Media Type message/sipfrag", <a href="./rfc3420">RFC 3420</a>,
         November 2002.

   [<a id="ref-13">13</a>]  Johnston, A., Donovan, S., Sparks, R., Cunningham, C., and K.
         Summers, "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Basic Call Flow
         Examples", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp75">BCP 75</a>, <a href="./rfc3665">RFC 3665</a>, December 2003.



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   [<a id="ref-14">14</a>]  Levin, O. and R. Even, "High Level Requirements for Tightly
         Coupled SIP Conferencing", <a href="./rfc4245">RFC 4245</a>, November 2005.

   [<a id="ref-15">15</a>]  Mahy, R., "A Call Control and Multi-party usage framework for
         the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", Work in Progress,
         February 2005.

   [<a id="ref-16">16</a>]  Rosenberg, J., "Obtaining and Using Globally Routable User
         Agent (UA) URIs (GRUU) in the Session Initiation Protocol
         (SIP)", Work in Progress, February 2005.

   [<a id="ref-17">17</a>]  Sparks, R., Johnston, A., and D. Petrie, "Session Initiation
         Protocol Call Control - Transfer", Work in Progress, April
         2005.

   [<a id="ref-18">18</a>]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., and R. Mahy, "An INVITE-
         Initiated Dialog Event Package for the Session Initiation
         Protocol (SIP)", <a href="./rfc4235">RFC 4235</a>, November 2005.

































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Appendix A: Creating a Conference by a Conference-Unaware UA

   This section discusses how a human user operating a conference-
   unaware UA can create and add participants to a conference.  This
   method is described as an appendix since it is NOT RECOMMENDED.  The
   scenarios involving creating a conference using ad-hoc or manual
   means are recommended over this scenario.  This scenario is included,
   however, for completeness.

   A user (human) would choose a conference URI according to system
   rules and insert it into the Request-URI of the INVITE.  This same
   URI is echoed by a focus adhering to certain addressing conventions
   (discussed below) in the Contact header by the focus.  Additional
   participants could be added by non-SIP means (publication of the
   chosen conference URI using web pages, email, IM, etc.).
   Alternatively, the conference-unaware UA could then add other
   participants to the conference using SIP call control by establishing
   a session with them, then transferring [<a href="#ref-17" title="&quot;Session Initiation Protocol Call Control - Transfer&quot;">17</a>] them to the conference
   URI.  Note that in this scenario only the user (human) is aware of
   the conferencing application, and the conference-unaware UA only need
   support <a href="./rfc3261">RFC 3261</a> [<a href="#ref-2" title="&quot;SIP: Session Initiation Protocol&quot;">2</a>] and optionally call transfer.

   Making this work does impose certain addressing conventions on a
   system.  As a service/implementation choice, a system could allow the
   creator of the conference to choose the user portion of the
   conference URI.  However, this requires the URI format to be agreed
   upon between a user and the system.

   For example, a service provider might reserve the domain
   conf.example.com for all conference URIs.  Any URI in the domain of
   conf.example.com would resolve to the focus.  The focus could be
   configured to interpret an unknown user part in the conf.example.com
   domain as a request for a conference to be created with the
   conference URI as the Request-URI.  For example, an INVITE sent with
   a Request-URI of sip:k32934208ds72@conf.example.com could be routed
   to the focus that would then create the conference.  This conference
   URI should be registered by the newly created focus to become
   routable as a conference URI within the conf.example.com domain.  The
   returned Contact would look as follows:

        Contact: &lt;sip:k32934208ds72@conf.example.com&gt;;isfocus










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   Note, however, that this approach relies on conventions adopted
   between the user (human) and the focus.  Also, the approach is not
   robust against collisions in the conference names.  If a second user
   wishing to create a new conference happened to choose the same user
   part as an existing conference, the result would be that the second
   user would be added into the existing conference instead of creating
   a new one.

   As a result, methods of conference creation in which the conference
   URI is an opaque URI generated by the focus are preferred.

   An example call flow is shown in Figure 14.  The participant Alice
   creates the conference URI (using some convention agreed to with the
   focus domain) and sends an INVITE to that URI which creates the
   focus.  The focus creates the conference and returns the same
   conference URI in the 200 OK answer to the INVITE (which is ignored
   by the conference-unaware UA).

   Alice                Focus                 Bob                Carol
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | Alice creates the conference and chooses the conference URI. |
     |                    |                    |                    |
     | INVITE sip:Conf-ID F1                   |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |   180 Ringing F2   |                    |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |   200 OK Contact:Conf-ID;isfocus F3     |                    |
     |&lt;-------------------|                    |                    |
     |        ACK F4      |                    |                    |
     |-------------------&gt;|                    |                    |
     |        RTP         |                    |                    |
     |&lt;==================&gt;|                    |                    |

   Figure 14. Not Recommended: Conferencing Unaware Participant
              Creates a Conference
















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Authors' Addresses

   Alan Johnston
   Avaya
   St. Louis, MO 63102

   EMail: alan@sipstation.com


   Orit Levin
   Microsoft Corporation
   One Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA  98052

   EMail: oritl@microsoft.com




































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Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a>, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
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   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
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Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).







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