Re: [RFCv3] Add message agent API

[Aki Niemi <aki@protocolpolice.com>]

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Hi Marcel,

2010/9/8 Marcel Holtmann <marcel@holtmann.org>:
>> +             void RegisterAgent(object path, string type)
>> +
>> +                     Registers an agent to handle received messages.
>> +
>> +                     The object path defines the path of the agent that
>> +                     will be called when a message is ready to be
>> +                     dispatched.  The type parameters accepts a MIME
>> +                     type of the messages this agent is willing to
>> +                     accept.  Some common types include:
>> +
>> +                             "text/plain" - Regular text messages
>> +                             "text/x-vcard" - vCard objects
>> +                             "text/calendar" - vCalendar objects
>> +                             "application/vnd.oma.push" - WAP push
>> +                             "application/x-sms-agent" - Any datagram
>> +
>> +                     Wildcards are not allowed as the MIME subtype, but
>> +                     registering an agent on a generic port is supported.
>> +                     For instance, to listen on port 5678, the agent
>> +                     would need to register using type:
>> +
>> +                             "application/x-sms-agent;port=5678"
>
> so my obvious question here is, what kind of x-sms-agent type
> applications do you expect? The need for text, vcard, vcalendar and push
> messages is pretty clear. I still haven't figured out what other
> applications are out there that we want do support with this. Can you
> please give us some concert examples.

Example: a voice and video over IP client that doesn't drain the
battery in half a day. My server sends a wakeup over SMS on an
incoming call.

Example: a device lock service. I send a binary SMS to my stolen phone
on a well-known port containing a cryptographic token, causing my
phone to lock and/or wipe itself clean.

Fact is, SMS is still the most widely available and power-efficient
rendezvous service on a mobile phone. It would be silly not to support
it to its full potential.

> I think that everybody else has abandoned any other SMS message types.

Quite the contrary. Every other mobile telephony API out there that I
know of has the ability to send and receive binary messages on an
arbitrary port.

Cheers,
Aki