RFC 6447 PROPOSED STANDARD SIP · LOCATION · PRESENCE

SIP location filters: Filtering Location Notifications in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Lets a SIP subscriber say when it wants location updates, so it is told about meaningful moves instead of every small change.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
January 2012
AUTHORS
R. Mahy, B. Rosen, H. Tschofenig
STREAM
IETF
MOVEMENT UNIT
Meters
SPEED UNIT
Meters per second
REGION CONFIDENCE
At least 50%
DEFAULT LOCATION TYPE
any
XML NAMESPACE
urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter
DOI
10.17487/RFC6447

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           R. Mahy
Request for Comments: 6447                                    Individual
Category: Standards Track                                       B. Rosen
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                  NeuStar
                                                           H. Tschofenig
                                                  Nokia Siemens Networks
                                                            January 2012


                  Filtering Location Notifications in
                 the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Abstract

   This document describes filters that limit asynchronous location
   notifications to compelling events.  These filters are designed as an
   extension to RFC 4661, an XML-based format for event notification
   filtering, and based on RFC 3856, the SIP presence event package.
   The resulting location information is conveyed in existing location
   formats wrapped in the Presence Information Data Format Location
   Object (PIDF-LO).

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6447.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Filter Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.1.  Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.2.  Speed Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.3.  Element Value Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.4.  Entering or Exiting a Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     3.5.  Location Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     3.6.  Rate Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   4.  XML Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   5.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   6.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     6.1.  URN Sub-Namespace Registration for
           urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter . . . . . . . . . . 16
     6.2.  Schema Registration for location-filter  . . . . . . . . . 16
   7.  Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   8.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   9.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     9.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     9.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

1.  Introduction

   Conveying location information encapsulated with a Presence
   Information Data Format Location Object (PIDF-LO) [RFC4119] document
   within SIP is described in [SIP-LOC].  An alternative signaling
   approach to location conveyance, which uses asynchronous
   communication, is available with the SIP event notification
   mechanisms (see RFC 3265 [RFC3265]).  This approach conveys location
   information in PIDF-LO format using the presence event package
   [RFC3856].  This document focuses on the event notification paradigm.

   Determining when to send event notifications with location
   information is technically more challenging than deciding when to
   send other categories of notifications, since location may be
   measured as a continuous gradient.  Unlike notifications using
   discrete-valued quantities, it is difficult to know when a change in
   location is sufficiently large to warrant a notification.  Event
   notifications [RFC3265] can be used with filters (see RFC 4661
   [RFC4661]) that allow the number of notifications to be reduced.  The
   mechanism described in this document defines an extension to RFC 4661
   [RFC4661], which limits location notification to events that are of
   relevance to the subscriber.  These filters persist until they are
   replaced with a newer filter or until the subscription itself is
   terminated.

   The frequency of notifications necessary for various geographic
   location applications varies dramatically.  The subscriber should be
   able to get asynchronous notifications with appropriate frequency and
   granularity, without being flooded with a large number of
   notifications that are not important to the application.

   This document defines new event filters and describes others using
   existing mechanisms that may be relevant to a subscriber in the
   context of location filtering.  Based on the functionality defined in
   this document, notifications can be provided in the following cases:

   1.  the Target moves more than a specified distance since the last
       notification (see Section 3.1).

   2.  the Target exceeds a specified speed (see Section 3.2).

   3.  the Target enters or exits a 2-dimensional region, described by a
       circle or a polygon (see Section 3.4).

   4.  one or more of the values of the specified civic location have
       changed for the location of the Target (see Section 3.3).  For
       example, the value of the civic address '<A1>' element has
       changed from 'California' to 'Nevada'.

   5.  the type of location information requested (see Section 3.5)
       changes, for example, from civic to geodetic location or vice
       versa.

   6.  a certain amount of time passes (see Section 3.6).

2.  Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

   This document reuses terminology from [RFC6280].

3.  Filter Definitions

   This specification builds on a number of other specifications, as
   noted in Section 1.  In order to reduce the number of options (and
   thereby decrease the chance of interoperability problems), the
   functionality described in the following sub-sections of [RFC4661]
   MUST be implemented: the <ns-bindings> element (see Section 3.3 of
   [RFC4661]); the <filter> element (Section 3.4 of [RFC4661]); and the
   <trigger> element (Section 3.6 of [RFC4661]), except for the <added>
   and <removed> sub-elements.

3.1.  Movement

   The <moved> element MUST contain a value in meters indicating the
   minimum distance that the resource must have moved from the location
   of the resource since the last notification was sent in order to
   trigger this event.  The distance MUST be measured in meters
   absolutely from the point of the last notification, and must include
   vertical movement.  The <moved> element MUST NOT appear more than
   once as a child element of the <filter> element.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set
       xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter"
       xmlns:lf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter">
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <lf:moved>300</lf:moved>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

                     Figure 1: Movement Filter Example

3.2.  Speed Changes

   Speed changes can be filtered by combining functionality from RFC
   4661 with the PIDF-LO extensions for spatial orientation, speed,
   heading, and acceleration defined in [RFC5962].  The value of the
   <speed> element from [RFC5962] MUST be defined in meters per second.
   Note that the condition could be met by a change in any axis,
   including altitude.

   Figure 2 shows an example for a trigger that fires when the speed of
   the Target changes by 3 meters per second.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter">
       <ns-bindings>
           <ns-binding prefix="dyn"
               urn="urn:ietf:params:xml:schema:pidf:dynamic"/>
       </ns-bindings>
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <changed by="3">
                 //dyn:speed
               </changed>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

                      Figure 2: Speed Change Example

   An implementation MUST support <ns-bindings> to replace the namespace
   prefix.  The XPath expression MUST start with a '//' followed by a
   single element.  No other form of XPath expression is supported.  The
   <changed> element comes with a few attributes but only the 'by'
   attribute MUST be implemented by this specification.

3.3.  Element Value Changes

   Changes in values, for example related to civic location information,
   is provided by the base functionality offered with RFC 4661 utilizing
   the <changed> element.

   The following example illustrates a filter that triggers when the
   Target's location changes from 'FR' (France) to some other country.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter">
       <ns-bindings>
           <ns-binding prefix="ca"
               urn="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:pidf:geopriv10:civicAddr"/>
       </ns-bindings>
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <changed from="FR">//ca:country</changed>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

          Figure 3: Element Value Change Example (Country Change)

   At times when it is desirable to know if any one element of a list of
   CAtypes changes, then they have to be put into separate <changes>
   filters to ensure the subscriber is notified when any of the element
   values change.  Figure 4 shows such an example that illustrates the
   difference.

   (A change in value of ANY of the five tokens triggers an event.)

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter">
       <ns-bindings>
           <ns-binding prefix="ca"
               urn="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:pidf:geopriv10:civicAddr"/>
       </ns-bindings>
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
              <trigger>
                  <changed>//ca:country</changed>
              </trigger>
              <trigger>
                  <changed>//ca:A1</changed>
              </trigger>
              <trigger>
                  <changed>//ca:A2</changed>
              </trigger>
              <trigger>
                  <changed>//ca:A3</changed>
              </trigger>
              <trigger>
                  <changed>//ca:PC</changed>
              </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

                  Figure 4: Element Value Change Example

   Finally, Figure 5 shows an example where a notification is sent when
   the civic address tokens A3 and PC change (BOTH elements must change
   in order to let the <trigger> element evaluate to TRUE).

   (Only a change in BOTH tokens triggers an event.)

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter">
       <ns-bindings>
           <ns-binding prefix="ca"
               urn="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:pidf:geopriv10:civicAddr"/>
       </ns-bindings>
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <changed>//ca:A3</changed>
               <changed>//ca:PC</changed>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

                  Figure 5: Element Value Change Example

   Note: The civic address tokens country, A1, A2, ..., A6 are
   hierarchical.  It is likely that a change in one civic address token
   therefore leads to changes of tokens lower in the hierarchy, e.g., a
   change in A3 ('city or town') may cause a change in A4, A5, and A6.

   An implementation MUST support <ns-bindings> to replace the namespace
   prefix.  The XPath expression MUST start with a '//' followed by a
   single element.  No other form of XPath expression is supported.  No
   other variant is supported.  The <changed> element comes with a few
   attributes and the 'by', 'to', and 'from' attribute MUST be
   implemented to support this specification.

3.4.  Entering or Exiting a Region

   The <enterOrExit> condition is satisfied when the Target enters or
   exits a 2-dimensional region described by a polygon (as defined in
   Section 5.2.2 of [RFC5491]) or a circle (as defined in Section 5.2.3
   of [RFC5491]).  The <enterOrExit> element MUST contain either a
   polygon or a circle as a child element.  The <enterOrExit> element
   MUST NOT have more than one polygon and/or circle.

   If the Target was previously outside the region, the notifier sends a
   notification when the Target's location is within the region with at
   least 50% confidence.  Similarly, when a Target starts within the
   region, a notification is sent when the Target's location moves
   outside the region with at least 50% confidence.

   Note that having 50% confidence that the Target is inside the area
   does not correspond to 50% outside.  The confidence that the location
   is within the region, plus the confidence that the location is
   outside the region is limited to the confidence of the location.  The
   total confidence depends on the confidence in the location, which is
   always less than 100% (95% is recommended in [RFC5491]).  The benefit
   of this is that notifications are naturally limited: small movements
   (relative to the uncertainty of the location) at the borders of the
   region do not trigger notifications.

   Figure 6 shows filter examples whereby a notification is sent when
   the Target enters or exits an area described by a circle, and
   Figure 7 describes an area using a polygon.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set
       xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter"
       xmlns:lf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter"
       xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
       xmlns:gs="http://www.opengis.net/pidflo/1.0">

       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <lf:enterOrExit>
                   <gs:Circle
                       srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326">
                       <gml:pos>42.5463 -73.2512</gml:pos>
                       <gs:radius
                           uom="urn:ogc:def:uom:EPSG::9001">
                           850.24
                       </gs:radius>
                   </gs:Circle>
               </lf:enterOrExit>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

               Figure 6: <enterOrExit> Circle Filter Example

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set
       xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter"
       xmlns:lf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter"
       xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml">

       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <trigger>
               <lf:enterOrExit>
                   <gml:Polygon srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326">
                       <gml:exterior>
                           <gml:LinearRing>
                               <gml:pos>43.311 -73.422</gml:pos>
                               <!--A-->
                               <gml:pos>43.111 -73.322</gml:pos>
                               <!--F-->
                               <gml:pos>43.111 -73.222</gml:pos>
                               <!--E-->
                               <gml:pos>43.311 -73.122</gml:pos>
                               <!--D-->
                               <gml:pos>43.411 -73.222</gml:pos>
                               <!--C-->
                               <gml:pos>43.411 -73.322</gml:pos>
                               <!--B-->
                               <gml:pos>43.311 -73.422</gml:pos>
                               <!--A-->
                           </gml:LinearRing>
                       </gml:exterior>
                   </gml:Polygon>
               </lf:enterOrExit>
           </trigger>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

              Figure 7: <enterOrExit> Polygon Filter Example

3.5.  Location Type

   The <locationType> element MAY be included as a child element of the
   <what> element.  It contains a list of location information types
   that are requested by the subscriber.  The following list describes
   the possible values:

   any:  The Notifier SHOULD attempt to provide location information in
      all forms available to it.

   geodetic:  The Notifier SHOULD return a location by value in the form
      of a geodetic location.

   civic:  The Notifier SHOULD return a location by value in the form of
      a civic address.

   The Notifier SHOULD return the requested location type or types.  The
   location types the Notifier returns also depends on the setting of
   the optional 'exact' attribute.  If the 'exact' attribute is set to
   "true", then the Notifier MUST return either the requested location
   type or no location information.  The 'exact' attribute does not
   apply (is ignored) for a request for a location type of "any".

   In the case of a request for specific locationType(s) and the 'exact'
   attribute is "false", the Notifier MAY provide additional location
   types, or it MAY provide alternative types if the request cannot be
   satisfied for a requested location type.

   If the <locationType> element is absent, a value of "any" MUST be
   assumed as the default.

   The Notifier SHOULD provide civic and geodetic location information
   in the response in the same order in which they were included in the
   "locationType" element in the request, if both were explicitly
   requested.  Indeed, the primary advantage of including specific
   location types in a request when the 'exact' attribute is set to
   "false" is to ensure that one receives the available locations in a
   specific order.  For example, a subscription for "civic" (with the
   'exact' attribute set to "false") could yield any of the following
   location types in the response:

   o  civic

   o  civic, geodetic

   o  geodetic (only if civic is not available)

   The default value of "false" for the 'exact' attribute allows the
   Notifier the option of returning something beyond what is specified,
   such as a set of location URIs when only a civic location was
   requested.

   An example is shown in Figure 8 that utilizes the <locationType>
   element with the 'exact' attribute.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <filter-set
       xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:simple-filter"
       xmlns:lf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter">
       <filter id="123" uri="sip:presentity@example.com">
           <what>
               <lf:locationType exact="true">
                 geodetic
               </lf:locationType>
           </what>
       </filter>
   </filter-set>

                  Figure 8: <locationType> Filter Example

3.6.  Rate Control

   [RFC6446] extends the SIP events framework by defining three Event
   header field parameters that allow a subscriber to set a minimum, a
   maximum, and an adaptive minimum of event notifications generated by
   the notifier.  This allows a subscriber to have overall control over
   the stream of notifications, for example to avoid being flooded.  Two
   of the parameters, namely "min-rate" (which specifies a minimum
   notification rate per second) and "max-rate" (which specifies a
   maximum notification rate per second) are used by this document.
   Only the implementation of these two attributes is required from the
   attributes defined in [RFC6446].  Whenever the time since the most
   recent notification exceeds the interval corresponding to 1 / "min-
   rate", the current state would be sent in its entirety, just like
   after a subscription refresh.

   A notifier is required to send a NOTIFY request immediately after
   creation of a subscription.  If state is not available at that time,
   then the NOTIFY request may be sent with no content.  A separate
   NOTIFY containing location is subsequently generated so that the rate
   of notification since the last NOTIFY falls between "min-rate" and
   "max-rate".  An important use case for location-based applications
   focuses on the behavior of the initial NOTIFY message(s) and the
   information it returns, for example in case of emergency call
   routing.  When an initial NOTIFY is transmitted, it might not include
   complete state.

      Subscriber          Notifier
          |---SUBSCRIBE(1)--->|  Create subscription (w/large value
          |<-------200--------|    for min-rate and max-rate)
          |<-----NOTIFY(2)----|  Return initial notify with no state
          |--------200------->|
          |        ...        |
          |<-----NOTIFY(3)----|  Return full state (between min-rate
          |--------200------->|    and max-rate)
          |---SUBSCRIBE(4)--->|  Update subscription (to update
          |<-------200--------|    min-rate and max-rate)

               Figure 9: SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY with Rate Control

   Figure 9 shows a SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY exchange.  The initial SUBSCRIBE
   message (1) has filters attached and contains a "min-rate" rate
   control parameter.  In certain situations, it is important to obtain
   some amount of location information within a relatively short and
   pre-defined period of time, even if the obtained location information
   contains a high amount of uncertainty and location information with
   less uncertainty could be available at a later point in time.  An
   example is emergency call routing where an emergency services routing
   proxy may need to obtain location information suitable for routing
   rather quickly and subsequently a Public Safety Answering Point
   requests location information for dispatch.

   To obtain location information in a timely fashion using the
   SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY mechanism, it is RECOMMENDED that the initial
   SUBSCRIBE contain a "min-rate" rate control parameter (with a large
   value, corresponding to a very short delay before the next
   notification) that is updated in a later message to a more sensible
   value.  This provides equivalent functionality to the 'responseTime'
   attribute in Section 6.1 of [RFC5985].  The "min-rate" for this first
   request is therefore much larger (much more rapid) than the updated
   "min-rate" value.  Depending on the value in the "min-rate"
   parameter, the Notifier may immediately send the initial NOTIFY
   message (see message 2) without a body if no location information is
   available at this point in time.  The desired location information
   may then arrive in the subsequent NOTIFY message (see message 3).
   Updating the "min-rate" for the subscription can be performed in the
   200 response (see message 3) to the NOTIFY that contains location
   state, or in a subsequent SUBSCRIBE request (as in message 4).

4.  XML Schema

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <xs:schema
      targetNamespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter"
      xmlns:filter="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter"
      xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
      xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml">

      <xs:element name="enterOrExit" type="gml:GeometryPropertyType"/>

      <xs:element name="moved" type="filter:movedType"/>

      <xs:complexType name="movedType">
         <xs:simpleContent>
            <xs:extension base="xs:double">
              <xs:anyAttribute namespace="##any" processContents="lax"/>
            </xs:extension>
         </xs:simpleContent>
      </xs:complexType>

      <xs:element name="locationType" type="filter:locationTypeType"/>

      <xs:simpleType name="locationTypeBase">
          <xs:union>
              <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="xs:token">
                      <xs:enumeration value="any"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
              </xs:simpleType>
              <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="filter:locationTypeList">
                      <xs:minLength value="1"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
              </xs:simpleType>
          </xs:union>
      </xs:simpleType>

      <xs:simpleType name="locationTypeList">
          <xs:list>
              <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="xs:token">
                      <xs:enumeration value="civic"/>
                      <xs:enumeration value="geodetic"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
              </xs:simpleType>
          </xs:list>
      </xs:simpleType>
      <xs:complexType name="locationTypeType">
            <xs:simpleContent>
                <xs:extension base="filter:locationTypeBase">
                    <xs:attribute name="exact" type="xs:boolean"
                        use="optional" default="false"/>
                </xs:extension>
            </xs:simpleContent>
        </xs:complexType>
  </xs:schema>

                           Figure 10: XML Schema

5.  Security Considerations

   This document specifies one element, namely filters, utilized in
   larger systems.  As such, this document builds on a number of
   specifications for the security of the complete solution, namely

   o  the SIP event notification mechanism, described in RFC 3265
      [RFC3265], defining the SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY messages.

   o  the presence event package, described in RFC 3856 [RFC3856], which
      is a concrete instantiation of the general event notification
      framework.

   o  the filter framework, described in RFC 4661 [RFC4661], to offer
      the ability to reduce the amount of notifications being sent.

   Finally, this document indirectly (via the SIP presence event
   package) relies on PIDF-LO, described in RFC 4119 [RFC4119], as the
   XML container that carries location information.

   Each of the documents listed above comes with a Security
   Considerations section but the security and privacy aspects are best
   covered by the SIP presence event package; see Section 9 of
   [RFC3856], and with the GEOPRIV architectural description found in
   [RFC6280].

   The functionality offered by authorization policies to limit access
   to location information is provided by other protocols, such as
   Common Policy [RFC4745], Geolocation Policy [GEO-POLICY], or more
   recent work around HTTP-Enabled Location Delivery (HELD) context
   [HELD].  Although [GEO-POLICY] defines a standardized format for
   geolocation authorization policies, it does not define specific
   policies for controlling filters.

   The functionality described in this document extends the filter
   framework with location-specific filters.  Local policies might be
   associated with the usage of certain filter constructs and with the
   amount of notifications that specific filter settings might cause.
   Uploading filters have a significant effect on the ways in which the
   request is handled at a server.  As a result, it is especially
   important that messages containing this extension be authenticated
   and authorized.  RFC 4661 [RFC4661] discusses this security threat
   and proposes authentication and authorization solutions applicable to
   this specification.

6.  IANA Considerations

6.1.  URN Sub-Namespace Registration for
      urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter

   This section registers a new XML namespace, as per the guidelines in
   [RFC3688].

   URI:  urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter

   Registrant Contact:  IETF, GEOPRIV working group, <geopriv@ietf.org>,
      as delegated by the IESG <iesg@ietf.org>.

   XML:

   BEGIN
   <?xml version="1.0"?>
   <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.0//EN"
             "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic10.dtd">
   <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
   <head>
     <meta http-equiv="content-type"
        content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"/>
     <title>Location Filter Namespace</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <h1>Namespace for PIDF-LO Location Filters</h1>
     <h2>urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter</h2>
     <p>See <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6447.txt">
            RFC 6447</a>.</p>
   </body>
   </html>
   END

6.2.  Schema Registration for location-filter

   This specification registers a schema, as per the guidelines in
   [RFC3688].

      URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:schema:location-filter

      Registrant Contact: IETF, GEOPRIV Working Group
      (geopriv@ietf.org), as delegated by the IESG (iesg@ietf.org).

      XML: The XML can be found as the sole content of Section 4.

7.  Contributors

   We would like to thank Martin Thomson and James Polk for their
   contributions to this document.

8.  Acknowledgments

   Thanks to Richard Barnes, Alissa Cooper, Randall Gellens, Carl Reed,
   Ben Campbell, Adam Roach, Allan Thomson, and James Winterbottom for
   their comments.

   Furthermore, we would like to thank Alexey Melnikov for his IESG
   review comments.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [GML]         OpenGIS, "Open Geography Markup Language (GML)
                 Implementation Specification", OpenGIS OGC 02-023r4,
                 January 2003,
                 <http://www.opengis.org/techno/implementation.htm>.

   [RFC2119]     Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3265]     Roach, A., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific
                 Event Notification", RFC 3265, June 2002.

   [RFC3856]     Rosenberg, J., "A Presence Event Package for the
                 Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3856,
                 August 2004.

   [RFC4119]     Peterson, J., "A Presence-based GEOPRIV Location Object
                 Format", RFC 4119, December 2005.

   [RFC4661]     Khartabil, H., Leppanen, E., Lonnfors, M., and J.
                 Costa-Requena, "An Extensible Markup Language (XML)-
                 Based Format for Event Notification Filtering",
                 RFC 4661, September 2006.

   [RFC5491]     Winterbottom, J., Thomson, M., and H. Tschofenig,
                 "GEOPRIV Presence Information Data Format Location
                 Object (PIDF-LO) Usage Clarification, Considerations,
                 and Recommendations", RFC 5491, March 2009.

   [RFC5962]     Schulzrinne, H., Singh, V., Tschofenig, H., and M.
                 Thomson, "Dynamic Extensions to the Presence
                 Information Data Format Location Object (PIDF-LO)",
                 RFC 5962, September 2010.

   [RFC6280]     Barnes, R., Lepinski, M., Cooper, A., Morris, J.,
                 Tschofenig, H., and H. Schulzrinne, "An Architecture
                 for Location and Location Privacy in Internet
                 Applications", BCP 160, RFC 6280, July 2011.

   [RFC6446]     Niemi, A., Kiss, K., and S. Loreto, "Session Initiation
                 Protocol (SIP) Event Notification Extension for
                 Notification Rate Control", RFC 6446, January 2012.

9.2.  Informative References

   [GEO-POLICY]  Schulzrinne, H., Tschofenig, H., Cuellar, J., Polk, J.,
                 Morris, J., and M. Thomson, "Geolocation Policy: A
                 Document Format for Expressing Privacy Preferences for
                 Location Information", Work in Progress, October 2011.

   [HELD]        Winterbottom, J., Tschofenig, H., and M. Thomson,
                 "Location URI Contexts in HTTP-Enabled Location
                 Delivery (HELD)", Work in Progress, October 2009.

   [RFC3688]     Mealling, M., "The IETF XML Registry", BCP 81,
                 RFC 3688, January 2004.

   [RFC4745]     Schulzrinne, H., Tschofenig, H., Morris, J., Cuellar,
                 J., Polk, J., and J. Rosenberg, "Common Policy: A
                 Document Format for Expressing Privacy Preferences",
                 RFC 4745, February 2007.

   [RFC5985]     Barnes, M., "HTTP-Enabled Location Delivery (HELD)",
                 RFC 5985, September 2010.

   [SIP-LOC]     Polk, J., Rosen, B., and J. Peterson, "Location
                 Conveyance for the Session Initiation Protocol", Work
                 in Progress, September 2011.

Authors' Addresses

   Rohan Mahy
   Individual

   EMail: rohan@ekabal.com


   Brian Rosen
   NeuStar
   470 Conrad Dr.
   Mars, PA  16046
   US

   Phone: +1 724 382 1051
   EMail: br@brianrosen.net


   Hannes Tschofenig
   Nokia Siemens Networks
   Linnoitustie 6
   Espoo  02600
   Finland

   Phone: +358 (50) 4871445
   EMail: Hannes.Tschofenig@gmx.net
   URI:   http://www.tschofenig.priv.at

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMLocation changes continuously, so it is hard to know when a change is big enough to warrant a SIP notification, and subscribers risk being flooded with unimportant ones.
MECHANISMThe RFC extends the XML event notification filter format of RFC 4661 with location-specific filters: distance moved, speed, civic value changes, entering or exiting a region, requested location type, and rate control.
WHY IT MATTERSA subscriber receives location notifications only when something it cares about happens, with the location carried in PIDF-LO over the SIP presence event package.

§1Why Location Needs Filters

SIP event notification (RFC 3265) lets a subscriber ask a notifier to send asynchronous updates, and the presence event package (RFC 3856) can carry location in the PIDF-LO format (RFC 4119). The hard part is deciding when to send a notification. Location can change along a continuous gradient, so it is difficult to know when a change is large enough to matter.

The subscriber should get notifications with appropriate frequency and granularity, without being flooded with ones that are not important to its application. RFC 6447 therefore extends the filter format of RFC 4661. A filter persists until it is replaced by a newer filter or until the subscription ends.

If a friend's phone told you about every single step they took, you would stop paying attention. Filters let you say which news is worth hearing.

§2What the Filters Can Trigger On

The RFC describes six cases in which a notification can be provided: the Target moves more than a specified distance since the last notification; the Target exceeds a specified speed; the Target enters or exits a 2-dimensional region, a circle or a polygon; civic location values change; the requested type of location information changes, for example from civic to geodetic; and a certain amount of time passes.

To keep the number of options down and reduce interoperability problems, implementations MUST support the <ns-bindings>, <filter> and <trigger> elements of RFC 4661, except for the <added> and <removed> sub-elements of <trigger>.

You get a menu of reasons to be told: they moved far, they went fast, they crossed a fence, or enough time went by.

§3Movement, Speed and Value Changes

The <moved> element holds a distance in meters. It is the minimum distance the resource must have moved since the last notification was sent, measured absolutely from the point of the last notification and including vertical movement. It MUST NOT appear more than once under a <filter>. The RFC's example uses 300.

Speed uses the <changed> element from RFC 4661 together with the <speed> element from RFC 5962, defined in meters per second. The condition can be met by a change on any axis, including altitude. The example fires when speed changes by 3 meters per second.

Changes in element values, such as civic address parts, also use <changed>. For example, a filter can fire when the country changes from FR to something else. Separate <trigger> elements fire when any one of several values changes, while several <changed> elements inside one trigger fire only when all of them change. Civic tokens such as country and A1 to A6 are hierarchical, so a change in A3 may also change A4, A5 and A6.

For both speed and value changes, an implementation MUST support <ns-bindings> to replace the namespace prefix, and the XPath expression MUST start with // followed by a single element. No other form of XPath is supported.

You can say 'tell me when they have moved a football field away' or 'tell me when the street name changes', and you hear nothing until then.

LOCATION FILTER BUILDING BLOCKS
  • movedDistance moved — Meters since the last notification, including vertical movement.
  • changedValue or speed change — RFC 4661 element, used with //speed or civic address tokens.
  • enterOrExitRegion crossing — A circle or polygon, at least 50% confidence.
  • locationTypeLocation type — any, geodetic or civic, with an optional exact attribute.

§4Entering or Exiting a Region

The <enterOrExit> condition is satisfied when the Target enters or exits a 2-dimensional region. The region is a polygon or a circle as defined in RFC 5491, and the element MUST contain one of them and MUST NOT contain more than one.

If the Target was outside, the notifier sends a notification when the Target is within the region with at least 50% confidence. If it started inside, the notifier notifies when the Target is outside with at least 50% confidence. Confidence inside plus confidence outside is limited by the confidence of the location itself, which is always less than 100%. The benefit is that small movements near the border, relative to the uncertainty of the location, do not trigger notifications.

Imagine a fence drawn around a park. You hear about it only when your friend is pretty clearly in or out, not when they wobble along the fence line.

§5Location Type and Rate Control

The optional <locationType> element, a child of <what>, lists the kinds of location the subscriber wants: any, geodetic or civic. If it is absent, any is assumed. With the exact attribute set to true, the notifier MUST return the requested type or no location at all. With false, the default, it MAY add other types or substitute one if the request cannot be met, and it SHOULD list civic and geodetic in the order requested.

For timing, the RFC uses two Event header field parameters from RFC 6446: min-rate and max-rate, which set a minimum and maximum notification rate per second. Only these two are required. When the time since the last notification exceeds the interval corresponding to 1 / min-rate, the current state is sent in its entirety, as after a subscription refresh.

A notifier must send a NOTIFY immediately after a subscription is created, and it may carry no content if state is not available yet. A later NOTIFY with location follows so the rate falls between the two limits. This matters, for example, in emergency call routing, where some location is needed within a short, pre-defined time even if it is uncertain.

You can ask for the address as a street name or as map coordinates, and you can set a timer so you hear something at least every so often, but not too often.

SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY WITH RATE CONTROL (FIGURE 9)
SubscriberNotifier
  1. SUBSCRIBE (1)Creates the subscription with filters and large min-rate and max-rate values.
  2. 200
  3. NOTIFY (2)Initial notify with no state.
  4. 200
  5. NOTIFY (3)Full state, between min-rate and max-rate.
  6. 200
  7. SUBSCRIBE (4)Updates min-rate and max-rate.
  8. 200

§6Security and Privacy

The RFC defines only filters and relies on other documents for security: SIP event notification (RFC 3265), the presence event package (RFC 3856), the filter framework (RFC 4661) and PIDF-LO (RFC 4119). It says security and privacy aspects are best covered by Section 9 of RFC 3856 and the GEOPRIV architecture in RFC 6280.

Authorization policies that limit access to location are provided by other protocols, such as Common Policy (RFC 4745). The geolocation policy format does not define specific policies for controlling filters. Because uploading filters strongly affects how a server handles a request, messages containing this extension must be authenticated and authorized, as RFC 4661 discusses.

Telling the system what to watch for is powerful, so it must check who is asking and whether they are allowed to know.

§7IANA Registrations

The RFC registers an XML namespace, urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:location-filter, and an XML schema, urn:ietf:params:xml:schema:location-filter. The schema itself appears as the sole content of Section 4 of the RFC. The registrant contact is the IETF GEOPRIV Working Group, as delegated by the IESG.

The new filter names are written in an official list so nobody else uses the same ones.

§8References