[Fax] Internet Fax Working Group - Request for IESG Consideration

[James Rafferty <jrafferty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Internet Fax Working Group requests IESG approval for publication of 
the following documents, with the specified status. 

(One of the documents (fax-feature-schema) has just been submitted to the
Internet Drafts list in its latest version -05; the other documents have
been on the drafts list for some time without changes).   

The working group has been developing the content of the documents about 8
months and has reached a strong consensus on this set of extended
specifications for Internet fax.   These documents build upon the
foundation laid in RFC 2305 (A Simple Mode of Facsimile Using Internet
Mail) and the related standards track RFCs 2301-2304.    The new documents
provide important extensions desired by the marketplace which define an
extended or full mode of Internet fax.  The new extensions include support
for confirmation of receipt(positive and negative), transmission of various
standard TIFF profiles (for black/white and color images) and a method for
identifying the media features supported by Internet fax recipients.   

The work of the group has accelerated in the past several months, since the
ITU-T Study Group 8 has requested that IETF standards documents which
define the "full mode" be made available for reference in an amended
version of the ITU-T T.37 recommendation.  This follows the earlier
successful experience with the "simple mode", where the ITU referenced the
IETF standards track RFCs, thus producing a single unfied definition for
this Internet fax mode.   The success of this cooperative effort has
encouraged the two groups to work together again on the extensions which
make up the "full mode".   


 In November, 1998, ITU-T Study Group 8 provisionally agreed on a draft
amendment to T.37 which references the three standards track documents
noted below.   This draft amendment is scheduled for final review and
potential approval at a March 1999 meeting.   In line with this, the ITU
will need RFC numbers for the references, and access to the final
documents, once approved, in advance of that meeting in order for this
agreement to be finalized.   

(To meet the ITU deadlines, it would be ideal if the IETF approval and
publication process could be completed in the January 1999 timeframe.)  

Consequently, these documents have been reviewed in both the IETF Internet
fax working group and within the ITU, and we believe meet the technical and
quality requirements of both groups.   

These documents also make extensive use of the content negotiations
framework that has been developed by the IETF CONNEG working group.   


DOCUMENT:

Extended Facsimile Using Internet Mail

<draft-ietf-fax-eifax-11.txt>

Status: Proposed Standard

Technical Summary:

This document defines an extended mode of Internet Fax via email.  The
additional features supported in this mode include transmission of enhanced
document characteristics (higher resolution,color) and confirmation of
delivery and processing.  These additional features are designed to provide
the highest level
of interoperability with the existing and future standards-compliant
email infrastructure and mail user agents, while providing a level of
service that approximates the level currently enjoyed by fax users.

DOCUMENT:

Indicating Supported Media Features Using Extensions to DSN and MDN

<draft-ietf-fax-reporting-extensions-04.txt>

Status: Proposed Standard

Technical Summary:

   A device, unlike a workstation, is not generally extensible by
   installing a new reader, plugin, or other software.  There is a need
   in Internet mail for a recipient to indicate the media features it
   supports so that messages can be generated by senders without
   exceeding the recipient's abilities.

   This memo describes a format for generating Message Disposition
   Notifications [RFC2298] and Delivery Status Notifications [RFC1894]
   which contain such information. 

DOCUMENT:

Content feature schema for Internet fax

<draft-ietf-fax-feature-schema-05.txt>

Status: Proposed Standard

Technical Summary:

This document defines a content feature schema that is a profile of
the media feature registration mechanisms developed by the content 
negotiations working group, for use in performing capability 
identification between extended Internet fax systems.


James Rafferty
Chair, IETF Internet Fax working group

 

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