[ogpx] OGPX Draft Charter, 2009 08 25 edition

[Infinity Linden <[e-mail]>]

Working Group Name:

  Open Grid Protocol (OGPX)

Chairs:

  TBD

Area and Area Directors:

  Applications Area

  Lisa Dusseault <[e-mail]>
  Alexey Melnikov <[e-mail]>

Responsible Area Director:

  TBD

Mailing List:

  [e-mail]
  http://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ogpx

Description of Working Group:

The  working  group will  define  the  Open  Grid Protocol  (OGP)  for
collaborative 3-dimensional virtual worlds. The protocol permits users
to interact with each other while represented as "avatars," or digital
representations of  the user. Within  a single virtual  world, avatars
exist in  at most one location  in a shared  virtual space. Conforming
client applications use the protocol to manipulate and move the user's
avatar, create objects  in a virtual world, interact  with other users
and their  surroundings and consume  and create media  and information
from sources inside and outside their virtual world.

Adjacent locations  in virtual worlds accessible by  this protocol may
be   explicitly   partitioned  into   "regions"   to  facilitate   the
computational  and communication load  balancing required  to simulate
the virtual  environment. Such virtual  worlds may consist  of regions
administered  by distinct organizations.  Though these  virtual worlds
may  be partitioned,  they  remain "un-sharded;"  all inhabitants  and
objects  in a  particular location  in  a virtual  world may  initiate
interaction with  all other inhabitants and objects  in that location;
and, service  endpoint addresses  refer to at  most one  location. The
state of  a virtual  world is independent  of the  client applications
that access it and may persist between user sessions.

Regions and  Services implemented according to  the specifications may
be deployed by separate  organizations with varying policies and trust
domains.  The OGPX  protocols will  provide the  mechanisms  for these
virtual world  services to interoperate, when permitted  by policy and
shared trust domains.

The protocol  should describe interaction semantics  for these virtual
worlds, independent of  transport, leveraging existing standards where
practical. It  should define interoperability  expectations for server
to server  interactions as well as  client-server interactions. Though
the  protocol  is  independent  of transport,  early  interoperability
trials used HTTP(S) for non-real-time messages. The working group will
define specific  features that must be replicated  in other transports
and  will  define  the use  of  HTTP(S)  as  a transport  of  protocol
messages.

Foundational components of the protocol include the publication of:

  * an abstract  type system, suitable for  describing the application
    protocol in an implementation neutral manner,

  * a   security   model   describing  trust   relationships   between
    participating entities,

  * guidelines   for   the   use   of  existing   authentication   and
    confidentiality mechanisms,

  * an application-layer  protocol for establishing  the user's avatar
    in a virtual world,

  * an application-layer  protocol for moving a  user's avatar between
    adjacent and remote locations in a virtual world,

  * format descriptions  for objects and  avatars in a  virtual world,
    and

  * an   application-layer  protocol   for  identifying   agents,  and
    requesting information about them.

The protocol  defined by this  group will carry information  about the
virtual  environment,  its contents  and  its  inhabitants.  It is  an
application layer protocol,  independent of transport, based partially
on these previously published internet drafts:

  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-hamrick-ogp-intro
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-hamrick-llsd
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-hamrick-ogp-auth
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-hamrick-ogp-launch
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-lentczner-ogp-base
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-levine-ogp-clientcap
  * http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-levine-ogp-layering

Goals and Milestones:

  * October  2009   "Introduction  and  Goals"  to  the   IESG  as  an
    Informational RFC

  * October 2009 "Abstract Type System for the Transmission of Dynamic
    Structured Data" to the IESG as Proposed Standard

  * October 2010 "Foundational Concepts and Transport Expectations" to
    the IESG as Proposed Standard

  * February 2010 "Guidelines for  Host Authentication" to the IESG as
    an Informational RFC

  * February  2010 "Service  Establishment"  to the  IESG as  Proposed
    Standard

  * February 2010  "Client Application Launch Message" to  the IESG as
    an Informational RFC

  * February 2010  "Simulation Presence Establishment" to  the IESG as
    Proposed Standard

  * June  2010  "Primitive Object  Format"  to  the  IESG as  Proposed
    Standard

  * June 2010 "Digital Asset Access" to the IESG as Proposed Standard

  * June 2010 "Entity Identifiers" to the IESG as Proposed standard