RE: [emergency] ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation) and XML

[Allen Wyke <awyke@blue292.com>]

Question: as I read through this it seems that ASN.1 is more of a method
to describe various types of data, in a standard way, across
communication protocols. In other words, it would allow things like
audio, video, etc. capture devices to describe the actual data it was
transmitting, which would then allow many other applications the
capabilities to read, understand, and/or transform the data. Is this
correct?

Assuming it is, I certainly see a role it would play when creating
applications, devices, etc. that support XML-based standards - it gives
them a common way to transform what they are sending into an XML-based
standard, which then allows you to transform that standard into pretty
much any other XML standard through XSLT. Look something like:

Device -> ASN.1 -> Some XML Standard -> Apply XSLT - > Any other XML
Standard

If this is correct, what role do you see it playing in the EM TC other
than a point of reference for device implementers who may wish to
implement one of our future standards and currently have (or need to) go
through an ASN.1 process first? Or, is that exactly what you are
thinking?

Allen

> For the sake of interoperability, applications exchanging 
> data must agree on a common data syntax. Abstract Syntax 
> Notation (ASN.1) is a mature and comprehensive standard for 
> expressing data syntax. ASN.1 has long been seen as a very 
> robust way to achieve interoperability.