RFC 3391 (rfc3391) - Page 2 of 25

The MIME Application/Vnd

RFC 3391                Application/Multiplexed            December 2002


   references to images and the producer does not know of the need for
   each image until it generates the reference, then
   Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed allows the consumer to process the
   reference to the image and the image before it consumes the entire
   long message.  This ability is important in printing and scanning
   applications.  This document defines the Application/Vnd.pwg-
   multiplexed content-type. It also provides examples of its use.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction....................................................2
   2. Terminology.....................................................7
   3. Details.........................................................9
   3.1  Syntax of Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed Contents...........10
   3.2  Parameters for Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed...............12
   3.2.1  The "type" Parameter.......................................12
   3.2.2  Syntax.....................................................12
   4. Handling Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed Entities..............12
   5. Examples.......................................................13
   5.1  Example With Multipart/Related...............................14
   5.2  Examples with Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed................15
   5.2.1  Example Where Each Chunk Has a Complete Message............15
   5.2.2  Example of Chunking the Root Message.......................17
   5.2.3  Example of Chunking the Several Messages...................18
   5.2.4  Example of Chunks with Empty Payloads......................20
   6. Security Considerations........................................22
   7. Registration Information for Application/Vnd.pwg-multiplexed...22
   8. Acknowledgments................................................23
   9. References.....................................................23
   10. Author's Address..............................................24
   11. Full Copyright Statement......................................25

1. Introduction

   The simple MIME content-types, such as "text/plain" provide a
   mechanism for representing a simple object, such as a text document.
   The Multipart/Related [RFC 2387] content-type provides a mechanism for
   representing a compound object, such as a text document with two gif
   images.

   A compound object consists of multiple components.  One such
   component is the root component, which contains references to other
   components of the compound object.  These components may, in turn,
   contain references to other components of the compound object.  For
   example, a compound object could consist of a root html text
   component and two gif image components -- each referenced by the root
   component.




Herriot                      Informational