Realtime Data Retrieval (RDR) protocol¶

Real-Time Data Retrieval in Named Data Networking published in HotICN'2018 introduces Real-time Data Retrieval (RDR) protocol for discovering latest version number of real-time streaming data.
This document defines a recommended packet format of RDR protocol.

RDR is an application-level protocol, and its usage could be application specific.
Therefore, it is RECOMMENDED that each application defines its own instance of RDR protocol based on this document, rather than directly referencing this specification.

Metadata Packet¶

In RDR protocol, the metadata packet is a Data packet that carries the latest version number of a data stream.

Name Suffix¶

The name of a metadata packet MUST end with these three name components:

1. The keyword component 32=metadata, indicating this Data packet is a metadata packet under this specification.
2. A version number component, whose format is defined in Naming Conventions.
3. A segment number component, whose format is defined in Naming Conventions. Normally the metadata is not segmented and thus the segment number is zero, but this component is included for future extension.

Name Prefix¶

The name prefix of a metadata packet before these three name components SHOULD same as the name prefix of versioned data before the version number component. For example, an application can have the following namespace:

# data stream
/net/example/www/frontpage/%FD%97%47%1E%6C/%00%00
/net/example/www/frontpage/%FD%97%47%1E%6C/%00%01
/net/example/www/frontpage/%FD%97%47%1E%6D/%00%00
/net/example/www/frontpage/%FD%97%47%1E%6D/%00%01

# metadata packet
/net/example/www/frontpage/32=metadata/%FD%7E%5F%45%08/%00%00

FreshnessPeriod¶

FreshnessPeriod of a metadata packet MUST NOT be zero.
See the RDR paper for guidelines on an appropriate value for this field.

Content Payload¶

The Content of a metadata packet MUST be a sequence of TLV elements. At least one of the TLV elements MUST a Name element. The first Name element indicates the versioned name of the latest version of the data; additional Name elements, if any, are ignored.

For example:

<Content>
  <ArbitraryElement>this is ignored</ArbitraryElement>
  <Name>/net/example/www/frontpage/%FD%97%47%1E%6D</Name>
  <Name>this is ignored</Name>
</Content>

RDR Discovery Interest¶

In RDR protocol, consumers express RDR Discovery Interests to retrieve metadata packets, in order to discover the latest version number in the stream.
An RDR Discovery Interest MUST:

• end its name with 32=metadata;
• set CanBePrefix;
• set MustBeFresh.