Remote UI/Widget Description Exchange Service BOF (rui)

xxxxxxxx, November x at xxxx-xxxx
=================================

CHAIR: Dean Willis <dean.willis@softarmor.com>
       Vlad Stirbu <Vlad.Stirbu@nokia.com>   

 
DESCRIPTION:

With the Internet reaching out to more and more devices, people are 
increasingly expecting to have access to services at anytime, from 
anywhere and using any device. Such services are being developed 
using Web technologies such as XML and distributed across the network 
rather than resident on any one device.

An example is a service to access flight arrival times, where the 
user interface expressed in XHTML is rendered on a client device, 
the application logic runs on a remote server and a technique as 
user interface remoting is used to keep the user interface synchronized 
with the application logic. What is currently lacking is a convenient 
means for continous fine grained synchronization rather than the one 
provided by a request/response protocol (e.g. HTTP) for Web pages, 
which occurs in between page loads. This would allow the user interface 
to reflect changes in application state and offer greater flexibility 
for applications to respond to user input events.

The WiDeX (Widget Description Exchange Service) Working Group seeks 
to define a light weight mechanism used in an IP-based network for 
remoting user interfaces where the user interface is represented in 
XML, and synchronization involves XML DOM events and XML DOM 
mutation/update operations.

The WG will strive to preserve an extensible architecture so that the 
work possibly be useful in the future with other types of descriptive 
user interfaces beyond those specifically considered by the group.

Specific topics that are NOT goals of this WG are:

- XML representation of user interface objects.
- Means to establish sessions and support for device coordination.

The WiDeX service definition will define:

- A mechanism for synchronizing distributed XML DOM objects by 
  propagating DOM mutations/updates and DOM events.
- A set of parameters that need to be negotiated by a service discovery 
  and session setup mechanism in order to start the UI remoting session.
- A framework that enables a mechanism for remoting user interfaces 
  represented in XML format by using distributed XML DOM synchronization, 
  and a service discovery and session setup mechanism as building blocks.

AGENDA:

- Agenda Bashing (5 min)
- Introduction & Background information (15 min)
- Charter Proposal Discussions (30 min)
- Charter Bashing (20 min)


Deliverables:
------------

- Requirements document.
- Document specifying the framework for remoting user interfaces 
  represented in XML format.
- Document specifying the message formats for XML DOM events and 
  updates using XML in a way that is independent of the transport 
  protocol.
- Document(s) specifying normative binding(s) to at least one transport 
  protocol.

It is possible that work undertaken in other working groups and even 
other bodies (e.g. W3C) will be referenced by this working group. It 
is even possible that entire deliverables could be satisfied by the 
work of other working groups (e.g. discovery protocols). This working 
group will seek to maximize the use of existing specifications where 
applicable.


Goals and Milestones:
--------------------

Nov. 2005   IETF 64, Charter Working Group
Feb. 2006   Working Group Last Call on Requirements draft
March 2006  IETF 65, Discuss Last Call comments on Requirements draft
April 2006  Submit Requirements draft to IESG for publication as 
            Informational RFC
June 2006   Working Group Last Call on Framework, Message Formats and 
            Transport Bindings drafts
Aug. 2006   IETF 66, Discuss Last Call comments on Framework, Message 
            Formats and Transport Bindings drafts
Nov. 2006   IETF 67, Submit Framework, Message Formats and Transport 
            Bindings drafts for publication as Proposed Standard


Mailinglist:
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remoteui@ietf.org


Website:
-------

http://www.softarmor.com/rui


Internet-Drafts:
---------------

LRDP: The Lightweight Remote Display Protocol, http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-stirbu-lrdp-00.txt