Subject: Minutes of IPVBI meeting in Orlando

From: Dan Zigmond <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 15:11:57 -0800

Here are the minutes of the meeting in Orlando.  Please email me if you have
any corrections before I send them on to the IETF for the proceedings.

Thanks, Jim, for taking these for us.

	Dan

MEETING MINUTES IP OVER VBI GROUP
43 IETF - ORLANDO, FLORIDA 
10 DECEMBER 1998
Reported by Jim Carruthers, Norpak Corporation ([email-masked])

Chairman Dan Zigmond of WEB TV called the meeting to order and reviewed the
agenda, pointing out two presentations would be made, one by WavePhore and
the other by EACEM.  

The Chairman reviewed progress to date and pointed that the draft IP over
NABTS document had been circulated for last call.  Shortly after last call a
proposal was received from WavePhore suggesting a major revision of many
aspects of the document. The Chairman pointed out that completion of the
document is already behind schedule and that time is of the essence.

Marcel  McNicoll of WavePhore then made a presentation on the proposal by
WavePhore to modify the NABTS specification.  Marcel pointed out that
although the WavePhore suggestion encompasses four major items involving
changes to the FEC, the addition of bundle interleaving, use of data
scrambling and flexible framing that WavePhore wished to concentrate
discussion on the concept of bundle interleaving. He suggested such
interleaving is important when there are interruptions to the broadcast, or
when receiving PCs cannot keep up with the data.  Considerable discussion
followed.  The chairman asked WavePhore to break apart their proposal and
specifically point out which areas of the specification they would propose
be modified. 

David Putzolu of Intel noted that the group should not consider tweaking the
standard at this point but rather should concentrate on publishing the
standard.  The Chairman pointed out that it was not the intent to make any
decisions at the meeting but rather that the suggested changes needed to be
put to the email group and a decision taken quickly.  The Chairman also
pointed out that, in his opinion, the sense of the room was that there was
no strong support for modification of the specification but that he
nevertheless encouraged WavePhore to present their case as soon as possible.

The Chairman then introduced the subject of the WST specification by
pointing out that the work on the NABTS specification had been
straightforward since there was essentially only one proposal but in the
area of the WST there had been several proposals.  David Tarrant of Philips,
representing EACEM, then made a presentation of the proposed WST IDL format
B.  David explained that EACEM speaks for the consumer electronic industry
in Europe and also consults with other standards organizations such ETSI and
that typically proposed standards are passed to ETSI.  After describing the
proposed standard and its relationship to existing specifications David
pointed out  the specification has been drawn up in a way that there will be
no conflict with IDL format A transmissions. This was a slight modification
from the original Philips proposal to the IETF.

The Chairman queried David as regard to the standardization process to which
he replied that the draft document would go to the ETSI joint technical
committee in March of next year.  Ruston Panabaker of Microsoft raised the
question of the lack of packet addressing which would be needed to support
multilevel insertion.  It was discussed that this aspect of the standard is
less important in Europe which, unlike North America, does not have
multilevel broadcast structures.  David Tarrant agreed that the question of
packet addressing for multilevel insertion should be examined.  

The chairman queried the choice of FEC given that the proposed FEC was
almost identical to the Norpak FEC which forms part of the current IP over
NABTS draft.  It would seem that if the same FEC could be used in both
standards there would be significant economies for developers and simplified
applications for consumers particularly where switching between standards
might be appropriate.

At the close of the meeting the following action items were agreed:

*	WavePhore is to provide a document pointing out areas that they
would suggest to be changed in the current IP over NABTS specification.  The
list will then review the proposal the objective of coming to a decision
next week on whether to undertake modification of the draft.

*	The Chairman will immediately draft a letter to EACEM on the subject
of a common FEC for both NABTS and WST versions of the specification.

*	The group will undertake discussion of the proposed EACEM standard
for IDL format B.  

The chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and directed their
attention to the list and the importance of arriving at a decision with
regard to IP over NABTS next week. 

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Dan Zigmond
Senior Manager, Interactive Television Technology
WebTV Networks, Inc.
[email-masked]
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