Revision Record

Course Code Product Product Version Course Version ISSUE

OZC995713 IMS 9.2 6.20

Developer/Modifier Time Approver New/Update

Linyongning 2013-10 lizhong New

SDP Protocol Introduction

HUAWEI Learning Service

OZC995713 【IMS9.2】SDP Protocol Introduction ISSUE6.20 CONTENTS

CONTENTS
1 SDP Protocol................................................................................................................................1-1
1.1 SDP.................................................................................................................................................................1-1
1.1.1 Implementation in IMS.........................................................................................................................1-1
1.1.2 SDP Messages.......................................................................................................................................1-1

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OZC995713 【IMS9.2】SDP Protocol Introduction ISSUE6.20 1 SDP Protocol

1 SDP Protocol

1.1 SDP
The Session Description Protocol (SDP) is an application layer protocol that describes
multimedia sessions in text. SDP (defined in RFC2327) is developed by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF). In session description, through the SDP, the caller and callee
represent their receiving capability, format of media, and receiving address/port.

1.1.1 Implementation in IMS

In the IMS, SDP is mainly used to describe connection parameters in SIP (defined in
RFC3261) and H.248 (defined in RFC3015).
1.1.2 SDP Messages
SDP messages are classified as follows: session description, time description, and media
description. The three descriptions are presented in order. SDP messages are the aggregation
of SDP lines.

1.1.1 Implementation in IMS

In the IMS, SDP is mainly used to describe connection parameters in SIP (defined in
RFC3261) and H.248 (defined in RFC3015).

1.1.2 SDP Messages

SDP messages are classified as follows: session description, time description, and media
description. The three descriptions are presented in order. SDP messages are the aggregation
of SDP lines.

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Session Description
Session description consists of the session identifier and session parameters, such as the IP
address, theme, and contact of session and/or creator.

Table lists all session description.

o: fields are optional. m: fields are mandatory.

Table 1-1 Session description

Field Description o/m

v Protocol version. The SDP protocol version is 0. m

Therefore, in SDP messages, v always takes the
value of 0. v=0
o Owner/Creator and session identifier. m
o=<username> <session id> <version> <network
type> <address type> <address>
 username is the name of the originating host if
the originating host does not support the concept
of user ids.
 session id: sequence number of a session.
 version is the session version. It increases with
the update of session data.
 network type: Currently, only IN is defined to
represent Internet.
 address type: IPv4 and IPv6 are defined, and
represented as IP4 and IP6 respectively.
 address: address of IPv4 or IPv6.
session ID, network type, address type, and
address form the globally unique identifier of a
session.
s Session name m
s=<session name>
i Session information o
i=<session description>
u URI of description o
u=<URI>
e Email address o
e=<email address>
It is the email address of the person responsible for
the conference.

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Field Description o/m

p Phone number o
p=<phone number>
It is the phone number of the person responsible
for the conference.
c Connection information c=<network type> m
<address type> <connection address>
 network type: Currently, only IN is defined to
represent Internet.
 Address type: IPv4 and IPv6 are defined, and
represented as IP4 and IP6 respectively.
 Connection address: address of IPv4 or IPv6.
b Bandwidth information m
b=<modifier>:<bandwidth-value>
If the modifier is set to AS(Application Specific),
the bandwidth refers to the application's concept of
maximum bandwidth.
Modifiers RS and RR are defined in RFC3556,
representing the RTCP bandwidth assigned to the
sender and receiver of an RTP session
respectively.
z Time zone adjustments o
z=<adjustment time> <offset> <adjustment time>
<offset>….
k Encryption key o
k=<method>[:<encryption key>]
a Session attribute o
a=<attribute>[:<value>]

In Table , field a defines media attribute to expend SDP. Table shows the commonly-used SDP
attributes.

Table 1-2 Commonly-used SDP attributes

Attribute Syntax Description Session or media
level

Packet time a=ptime:<packet This gives the Media

time> duration in
milliseconds
represented by the
media in a packet.

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Attribute Syntax Description Session or media

level

Maximum packet A=maxptime:<maxi This gives the Media

time mum packet time> maximum duration
in milliseconds
represented by the
media in a packet.
RTP map a=rtpmap:<payload  Payload type: both
type> <encoding Index of the type
name>/<clock of payload. 0
rate>[/<encoding stands for PCMU,
parameters>] 3 for GSM, 4 for
G.723, 31 for
H.261, and 34 for
H.263. 0-95 stand
for static payload,
whose payload
type, encoding
name, and clock
rate are in a one-
to-one pair. 96–
127 stand for
dynamic payload.
Therefore these
indexes can be
allocated
dynamically.
 Encoding name:
Name of the
coding scheme.
 Clock rate:
Generally, the
clock rate is 8000
bit/s for video, and
90000 bit/s for
audio.
 Encoding
parameters: related
to specific
parameters,
including the
number of
channels.
Receive only a=recvonly This specifies that both
the sender of the
session description
receives only a
media stream (or
multiple media
streams, if on the
session level).

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Attribute Syntax Description Session or media

level

Send only a=sendonly This specifies that both

the sender of the
session description
sends only a media
stream (or multiple
media streams, if on
the session level).
Send and receive a=sendrecv This specifies that both
the sender of the
session description
sends and receives a
media stream (or
multiple media
streams, if on the
session level).
Inactive a=inactive This specifies that both
the media stream is
not sent or received.
This can be used to
keep media streams.
Frame rate a=framerate:<frame This specifies the Media
rate> maximum rate to
transmit video
frames, expressed in
number of
frames/second.
Format a=fmtp:<format> This attribute allows Media
<format specific conveying
parameters> parameters that are
in the format
specified in rtpmap.

Time Description
Time description consists of the start time and stop time of a session, repeat times, and one or
more media-level description.

Table lists all time description.

o: fields are optional. m: fields are mandatory.

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Table 1-1 Time description

Field Description o/m

t Time during which the m

session is active t=<start
time> <stop time>
r Repeat times. r=<repeat o
interval> <active duration>
<list of offsets from start-
time>

Media Description
Media description consists of field m, i, and c. Field m stand for media information, including
transport information.

Table lists all media description.

o: fields are optional. m: fields are mandatory.

Table 1-1 Media description

Field Description o/m

m Media name and transport address. o

m=<media> <port> <transport> <fmt list>
 Media name: The commonly used media names are
audio, video, application, data and control.
 Port: It is the transport port to which the media
stream will be sent. ? Transport protocol: It is
normally RTP/Audio Video Profile (AVP) or udp.
 Format list: It is a list of media formats. For
example, 0 represents μ-law PCM encoding.
i Media title. o
c Connection information. See "Connection o
information"
b Bandwidth information. See "Bandwidth o
information"
k Encryption key. See "Encryption key". o
a Media attribute. o

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Example
This section gives an example to describe SDP description.

The example of the SDP description is as follows:

v=0
o=mhandley 2890844526 2890842807 IN IP4 126.16.64.4
s=SDP Seminar
i=A Seminar on the session description protocol
u=http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/M.Handley/sdp.03.ps
e=mjh@isi.edu (Mark Handley)
c=IN IP4 224.2.17.12/127
t=2873397496 2873404696
a=recvonly
m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
m=video 51372 RTP/AVP 31

In this example,
 The 1st line: The SDP protocol version is 0.
 The 2nd line: The originator of the session is mhandley. The session ID is 2890844526.
The session version number is 2890842807. The network type is Internet. The IP address
type is IPv4. The IP address is 126.16.64.4.
 The 3rd line: The SDP session name is SDP Seminar.
 The 4th line: The session description is "A Seminar on the session description protocol."
 The 5th line: URI of the session is http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/M.Handley/sdp.03.ps.
 The 6th line: Email address of the person responsible for the conference is mjh@isi.edu
(Mark Handley).
 The 7th line: The network type is Internet. The address type is IPv4. The address is
224.2.17.12/127.
 The 8th line: The session turns to the Active status from the time 2873397496. The
session comes out of the Active status at the time 2873404696.
 The 9th line: The media attribute is receive only.
 The 10th line: The media name is audio. The port number is 49170. The transport
protocol is RTP/AVP. The media format list is 0, representing u-law PCM encoding.
 The 11th line: The media name is video. The port number is 51372. The transport
protocol is RTP/AVP. The media format list is 31, representing H.261 encoding.

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