DEFINITION: Target, Address, Name, Retarget, Reroute

Hi,

Hans Erik sent this text already earlier, but I would like to re-send it as a separate thread. It is related to the definitions which I think we should agree on.

Regards,

Christer




Current target

The current target of an initial request for a dialog or standalone
request is the name or address to which the request is targeted, i.e.
either the initial target inserted in the Request-URI by the UAC that
originates the request, or when a retarget occurred, the target
provided in that retarget operation. Reroute and translation
operations never change the current target.


This defintion only makes sense when the following definitions are used:

Name:

A name is a moniker for an entity which refers to it in a way which reveals nothing about where it is in a network. In SIP, tel URI which doesn't represent the location of the entity is a name. 

Address:

An address is an identifier for an entity which describes it by its location on the network. In SIP, the SIP URI itself is a form of address because the host part of the URI, the only mandatory part of the URI besides the scheme itself, indicates the location of a SIP server that can be used to handle the request.

Route:

Finally, a route is a sequence of SIP entities (including the UA itself!) which are traversed in order to forward a request to an address or name.

Retarget (other term might be needed, as this is highly confusing):

A Request-URI rewrite operation that changes the target identity of the request.

Reroute (other term might be needed):

A Request-URI rewrite operation that does not change the current target of the request, but determines the route/next hop taken to reach the target-identity.

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