RFC 1437 (rfc1437) - Page 3 of 6
The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993
The following is a message that gives a somewhat simplified rendition
of a well-known American politician, starting from the top:
From: "Nathaniel S. Borenstein" [email protected]>
To: Mark Linimon [email protected]>
Subject: Think hard before reconstructing
Content-description: Dan Quayle, low-res version
Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form
height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000
Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
Obviously, a real politician's skull is more complex than pure iron,
as is its interior, but this simplified example should give the
general flavor of the protocol.
(A caveat, however, in the reconstitution of Vice-Presidents of the
United States: allegedly, some of the matter-reconstitution schemes
currently under development are reputed to perform less than
optimally while trying to reconstitute areas of relatively high
vacuum; for instance, their skulls. A recommended acceptance test
might be to experiment with subjects whose skulls are only at partial
vacuum, such as Vice-Presidents of Marketing.)
MHS (X.400) Gateway Considerations
The proper behavior of a MIME/MHS gateway with regard to the
transmission of complex multimedia messages is a topic of ongoing
investigation under the auspices of the IETF. The addition of matter
transport should not significantly complicate that effort, as it is
already necessary to specify gateway behavior for MIME types that
have no X.400 equivalents, and matter transport is simply another
Borenstein & Linimon