Network Working Group R. Moulton
Request for Comments: 2503 United Kingdom
Category: Informational M. Needleman
Data Research Associates, Inc
February 1999
MIME Types for Use with the ISO ILL Protocol
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memorandum describes a set of MIME types for use with the ISO
Interlibrary Loan Protocol (ISO 10160/10161). Two MIME types are
specified below.
The first is a media type to carry objects which are BER [BER]
encoded ISO ILL Protocol Data Units (PDU's). BER are the basic
Encoding Rules used to encode PDU's which have been described using
ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation 1) [ASN.1] .
The second is for use with the associated document delivery
instrUCtions. Document Delivery Instructions (DDI) is an emerging
protocol which enables automatic electronic delivery of items. It
allows a request management system (which might have received a
request for an item via the ISO Interlibrary Loan Protocol (ISO
10160/10161)) to pass details of the request, item, and delivery, to
a delivery module, and to receive back reports on the delivery
process or arrival of an item. It is currently being submitted to the
ISO TC46/SC4/WG4 committee for approval as an ISO standard.
Registration Information
Media type name: application
Media suBType name: iso-10161-ill-1 - for BER encoded ISO ILL APDU's
Media type name: application
Media subtype name: ill-ddi - For associated Document Delivery
Instructions
Required Parameter: transfer-encoding
For BER-encoded PDU's or DDI's, the only current legal value of this
parameter is:
iso-8825-ber
The transfer-encoding parameter describes the way the PDU has been
encoded before being submitted to the transport service (in this case
MIME/RFC822). The two protocols described in this RFCspecify their
APDU's using ASN.1 (ISO 8824:1990) and the most common way of
encoding ASN.1 packets is to use the Basic Encoding Rules (BER ISO
8825)
The parameter is included to allow future use of these MIME types
with other encoding schemes. As an example, the ISO 10161 standard
also describes an encoding method using EDIFACT. In the future, other
schemes might also be employed. (Since the EDIFACT encoding is not
currently in use amongst the ISO 10161 and DDI communities, a value
for the transfer-encoding parameter to describe it is not being
registered in this RFC.)
Optional parameter: iso-10161-apdu-type
Valid values are:
ILL-Request
Forward-Notification
Shipped
ILL-Answer
Conditional-Reply
Cancel
Cancel-Reply
Received
Recall
Returned
Checked-In
Overdue
Renew
Renew-Answer
Lost
Damaged
Message
Status-Query
Status-Or-Error-Report
EXPired
This parameter is optional and can be provided for informational or
diagnostic purposes. The value of the PDU or DDI type can be
determined from the actual data sent. The use and format of the PDU's
and DDI's is defined in the relevant protocol documents which
describe them.
Examples
Content-Type: application/iso-10161-ill-1; transfer-encoding=iso-
8825-ber; iso-10161-apdu-type=Recall;
Content-Type: application/ill-ddi; transfer-encoding=iso-8825-ber;
Encoding
Since BER encoded material is binary in nature, some form of encoding
is needed when 7bit or 8bit transport mechanisms are employed.
The recommended encoding for BER encoded PDU's is Base64
PDU's per Message
When used to send BER encoded PDU's or DDI's. Each MIME body part
will carry at most one BER encoded PDU or DDI. However, a single MIME
message containing multiple body parts can be used to transport more
than one BER PDU and or DDI.
Security Considerations
There are no known security risks associated with transmitting BER
encoded PDU's in general. However, a particular BER encoded PDU or
DDI may have security considerations that make it inappropriate for
transmittal through public data networks unless appropriate
protection mechanisms, like encryption, are used. Such a situation
might occur, for example, when organizations are exchanging documents
that contain secure or classified information and it is necessary to
keep information about both the material being exchanged and the
exchanging partners confidential.
Interoperability Considerations
BER is an international standard for encoding data meant to be
transferred between two systems that may store data in different
local formats internally [BER].
References
[BER] ISO/IEC 8825:1990 Information Technology - Open Systems
Interconnection - Specification of Basic Encoding Rules for
Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)
[ASN.1] ISO/IEC 8824:1990 Information Technology - Open Systems
Interconnection - Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation
One (ASN.1)
ISO 10160:1997 Information and Documentation - Open Systems
Interconnection - Interlibrary Loan Application Service
Definition
ISO 10161-1:1997 Information and Documentation - Open Systems
Interconnection - Interlibrary Loan Application Protocol
Specification - Part 1: Protocol Specification
Additional Information:
The National Library of Canada has been designated the maintenance
agency for the ISO ILL protocol. For more information on this MIME
type contact:
Barbara Shuh
Library Network Specialist
Information Analysis and Standards
Information and Technology Services
National Library of Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario CANADA
K1A 0N4
Phone: (819) 994-6969
Fax: (819) 994-6835
EMail: barbara.shuh@nlc-bnc.ca
Authors' Addresses
Ruth Moulton
Consultant
65 Tetherdown
London N10 1NH
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (181) 883 5823
EMail: ruth@muswell.demon.co.uk
Mark H Needleman
Data Research Associates, Inc.
1276 North Warson Road
P.O. Box 8495
St Louis, MO 63132-1806
USA
Phone: (80)0 325-0888 (US/Canada)
(314) 432-1100 x318
Fax: (314) 993-8927
Email: mneedleman@dra.com
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