Virtualized Conversations                                    D. G PetrieInternet-Draft                                                 SIPez LLCIntended status: Standards Track                            J. RosenbergExpires: 19 April 2026                                             Five9                                                         16 October 2025                The JSON vCon - Contact Center Extension                    draft-ietf-vcon-cc-extension-01Abstract   A vCon is container for data and information relating to a human   conversation.  This document defines an extension for the JSON vCon   schema in support of call, support or contact center application of   the vCon conversational data exchange format.About This Document   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.   The latest revision of this draft can be found at https://ietf-wg-   vcon.github.io/draft-ietf-vcon-cc-extension/draft-ietf-vcon-cc-   extension.html.  Status information for this document may be found at   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-vcon-cc-extension/.   Discussion of this document takes place on the Virtualized   Conversations Working Group mailing list (mailto:vcon@ietf.org),   which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/vcon/.   Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/vcon/.   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at   https://github.com/ietf-wg-vcon/draft-ietf-vcon-cc-extension.Status of This Memo   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 1]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   This Internet-Draft will expire on 19 April 2026.Copyright Notice   Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the   document authors.  All rights reserved.   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.Table of Contents   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3     2.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3     2.2.  JSON Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3   3.  vCon JSON Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4     3.1.  Party Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4       3.1.1.  role  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4       3.1.2.  contact_list  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4     3.2.  Dialog Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5       3.2.1.  campaign  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5       3.2.2.  interaction_type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5       3.2.3.  interaction_id  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5       3.2.4.  skill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6     5.1.  vCon JSON Registry Additions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6       5.1.1.  vCon Extensions Names Registry  . . . . . . . . . . .   6       5.1.2.  Parties Object Parameter Names Registry . . . . . . .   6       5.1.3.  Dialog Object Parameter Names Registry  . . . . . . .   6   6.  Contact Center Use Cases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7     6.1.  Types of Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7       6.1.1.  Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7       6.1.2.  Quality Management (QM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7       6.1.3.  Speech Analytics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10     6.2.  PII and PCI Redaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10     6.3.  Omni Channel  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11     6.4.  Deployment Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12   7.  Example vCons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12   Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12   References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 2]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025     Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12     Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  141.  Introduction   This document adds a number of new parameters to the Party Object and   the Dialog Object defined as part of the JSON vCon schema in   [VCON-CORE].  The vCon parameters defined in this document have been   determined to be need and are specific to the contact center uses of   vCon.  The general framework and requirements for defining an   extension to the JSON vCon schema are defined in [VCON-CORE].2.  Conventions and Definitions   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all   capitals, as shown here.2.1.  Terminology   See section 2.1 of [VCON-CORE] for terminology used in this document.2.2.  JSON Notation   This document uses the same JSON notation that is used in   [VCON-CORE].  For the ease of documentation, the convention for JSON   notation used in this document is copied from section 2.2 of   [VCON-CORE].   *  "String" - a JSON string type   *  "A[]" and array of values of type A.   All parameters are assumed to be mandatory unless other wise noted.   Objects or arrays with no or null values MAY be excluded from the   vCon.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 3]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 20253.  vCon JSON Object   This vCon extension adds a new extensions parameter name value token.   The string token "CC" should be included in the extensions array of   the vCon Object.  It is not required that consumers of vCons with the   *CC* extension content support this extension.  It does not change   the semantics or remove any parameters form the core vCon schema.   There is no need to list the CC extension name in the *must_support*   parameter.3.1.  Party Object   This vCon extension adds the following new parameters to the Party   Object in support of Contact Center use cases.3.1.1.  role   The role that the participant played in the conversation.  In a call   center there are roles: such as: agents, customer, supervisor and   specialist.  In conferences there are roles: host, cohost, speaker,   panelist, participant and other roles.  The role parameter provides   the ability to label the role that the part played in the   conversation.   *  role: "String" (optional)   The following values for the role parameter MAY be used:   *  "agent"   *  "customer"   *  "supervisor"   *  "sme" (for subject mater expert)   *  "thirdparty"   Other values for the role parameter MAY also be used.3.1.2.  contact_list   In a contact center scenario, the conversation with this party may be   part of a larger effort of contacting a group of parties,   individually or perhaps in groups.  It is sometimes useful to   reference the list from which this party was included.  The   contact_list may be used as a label for foreign key reference to the   contact list that this party was on.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 4]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   *  contact_list "String" (optional)3.2.  Dialog Object   This vCon extension adds the following new parameters to the Dialog   Object in support of Contact Center use cases.3.2.1.  campaign   In a contact center scenario, a dialog may be initiated as part of a   campaign or set of dialogs initiated with a common goal or focus or   to be handled or treated in a specific way.  The campaign parameter   is string that may be used as a label or foreign key in reference to   an external specification for how the communication is to be   initiated, handled or treated.  In some case it may be appropriate to   attached the campaign data as an Attachment Object.   *  campaign: "String" (optional)3.2.2.  interaction_type   *  interaction_type "String" (optional)   TODO: add enumerated values from JDR3.2.3.  interaction_id   TODO: Is this different from RFC7989 session ID (session_id in core)?   In a contact center scenario, interactions with a party are often   labeled with an identifier.  In some case the interaction is   contained in a single dialog.  In others there may be multiple   dialogs (e.g. messages or calls) that are all part of a single   interaction.  There may also be many interactions for a single   conversation or vCon.  The interaction parameter is used as a label   or foreign key in reference to the interaction ID.   *  interaction_id "String" (optional)3.2.4.  skill   A contact center may service multiple purposes or customers.  In this   scenario it is important to label the conversation segment or dialog.   The agent or automata which services the dialog are required to have   a specific skill.  To facilitate this in a vCon dialog, the skill   parameter is provided.  The string values of the skill parameter are   contact center specific.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 5]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   *  skill "String" (optional)4.  Security Considerations   Security considerations are covered in the [VCON-CORE] document.   This extension to vCon adds no additional security concerns.5.  IANA Considerations5.1.  vCon JSON Registry Additions5.1.1.  vCon Extensions Names Registry   The following extension name is added to the vCon Extensions Names   Registry.       +================+=============+============+===============+       | Extension Name | Extension   | Change     | Specification |       |                | Description | Controller | Document(s):  |       +================+=============+============+===============+       | CC             | Contact     | IESG       | Section 3 RFC |       |                | Center      |            | XXXX          |       +----------------+-------------+------------+---------------+                                  Table 15.1.2.  Parties Object Parameter Names Registry   The following defines additional values for the vCon Parties Object   Parameter Names Registry.   +==============+======================+============+===============+   | Parameter    | Parameter            | Change     | Specification |   | Name         | Description          | Controller | Document(s)   |   +==============+======================+============+===============+   | role         | agent party role     | IESG       | Section 3.1.1 |   |              |                      |            | RFC XXXX      |   +--------------+----------------------+------------+---------------+   | contact_list | contact_list         | IESG       | Section 3.1.2 |   |              | including this party |            | RFC XXXX      |   +--------------+----------------------+------------+---------------+                                 Table 25.1.3.  Dialog Object Parameter Names Registry   The following defines the initial values for the vCon Dialog Object   Parameter Names Registry.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 6]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   +==================+===================+============+===============+   | Parameter Name   | Parameter         | Change     | Specification |   |                  | Description       | Controller | Document(s)   |   +==================+===================+============+===============+   | campaign         | campaign to       | IESG       | Section 3.2.1 |   |                  | which dialog      |            | RFC XXXX      |   |                  | is part of        |            |               |   +------------------+-------------------+------------+---------------+   | interaction_type | dialog            | IESG       | Section 3.2.2 |   |                  | interaction       |            | RFC XXXX      |   |                  | type              |            |               |   +------------------+-------------------+------------+---------------+   | interaction_id   | dialog            | IESG       | Section 3.2.3 |   |                  | interaction       |            | RFC XXXX      |   |                  | id                |            |               |   +------------------+-------------------+------------+---------------+   | skill            | required          | IESG       | Section 3.2.4 |   |                  | skill             |            | RFC XXXX      |   +------------------+-------------------+------------+---------------+                                  Table 36.  Contact Center Use Cases6.1.  Types of Applications   In the contact center, there are several different types of   applications which require consumption of recordings.  These   typically go under the moniker of Workforce Optimization (WFO).  This   section describes the main ones.6.1.1.  Recording   Call Recording applications receive call recordings from the core,   and then provide long term storage, playback, and search   functionality.  Recording storage is needed for archival purposes,   and is often a requirement to meet compliance regulations in certain   industries.6.1.2.  Quality Management (QM)   Quality Management (QM) applications are used by contact center   managers to make sure agents are following guidelines on proper   handling of calls.  Many consumers are familiar with the greeting   played in voice response systems which say, "This call may be   monitored for quality and training purposes".  That greeting refers   specifically to QM applications.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 7]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   QM applications allow a user - an employee in the quality management   group typically - to playback recordings for a particular agent, and   then based on that recording, rate them on how they performed.  These   ratings are made against a questionnaire that defines the rubric   against which agents are scored.  This rubric will often include   questions like, "Did the agent thank the customer for calling and ask   them how they can help"?  Or, "Did the agent upsell the customer on   the newest product?".  These scorecards are then shared with the   agents and their managers (the supervisors), along with coaching and   training materials to handle cases where the agent didn't do well.   Originally, scoring was done entirely by humans, and as a   consequence, only a handful of calls for each agent could possibly be   scored.  These were often done by sampling calls at random.   It is also common for QM applications to use speech recognition   technology to transcribe calls into text.  This allows a call to be   scored more quickly, and enables search functions for selection of   specific calls that would be good candidates for scoring.   A part of the agent role involves usage of corporate applications,   such as ordering, billing, shipping, to handle the customer inquiry.   To determine whether agents are using these tools correctly, it is   common in the contact center for agents to have desktop recording   applications installed.  These record the screen content as a video   file.  Typically, the vendor of the QM software provides the desktop   screen recording and backend applications which receive and store the   recording.  These are then combined with the audio, email, or chat   recordings that come from the core.  The following shows the flow of   recordings in this use case:   +--------+   |Customer|   +--------+       ^ Real Time       | Voice       |       V    Recording                    +--------+     +----+ Transfer   +----+  Access    |Quality |     |Core+----------->| QM +----------->|Manager |     +----+            +----+            +--------+       ^ Real Time       ^       | Voice           |       |                 | Desktop       V                 | Recording   +-------+             |   | Agent |-------------+   +-------+Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 8]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025                      Figure 1: QM Recording Exchanges   In this flow, the customer calls into the contact center, and is   connected to the core.  Typically this is done through the Session   Initial Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261] and the Real-Time Transport Protocol   (RTP) [RFC3550].  The call is delivered to the agent, also typically   using SIP and RTP.  The core will record the call, and then at the   end of the call, the recording is transferred to the QM system.   During the call, the agent desktop is recorded, and this recording is   transferred to the QM system.  At a later time, the Quality Manager   can log into the QM application, and access the recording, inclusive   of the audio, the transcript and the desktop recording.   In practice, there are many variations on this basic exchange.   Sometimes, the ACD sends the audio portion of the call to the QM   system using real-time streaming, sometimes using SIPREC [RFC7866].   This is then augmented with meta-data using proprietary REST APIs.   In other cases, the audio is sent post-call, and similarly, meta-data   is obtained using proprietary REST APIs.  When transcription takes   place, it is most often done by the QM system but not always.  In   some cases, a transcript is sent from the core to the QM system   instead of, or in addition to, the audio recording.   In a similar way, the transfer of the desktop recording from the   agent's computer to the QM system can happen in real-time or post-   call.  Post-call systems will often upload the recording in chunks,   sometimes doing so after hours or when the agent is not on a call.   A key considering for this use case is the concept of recording   stitching.   In a typical call in the contact center, there are multiple segments,   each of which represents a phase of the call.  There will be a   segment that contains the customer's interaction with the voice   response system, where no agents were present.  When the customer is   connected to an agent, there will be a segment representing the   portion of the call where the customer talks to the agent.  As the   call is conferenced, transferred or held, each corresponds to an   additional segment.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                 [Page 9]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   The process of assembling together these segments into a complete   recording is referred to as stitching.  Different stitches are needed   depending on the use case.  In a QM use case, the quality manager is   rating the agent, and thus what matters is the call as seen by that   agent.  In the case where a call was handled by multiple agents (a   common use case in the contact center), a single call would result in   two separate stitched recordings - one representing the customer's   time with the first agent, and the second with the second agent.   This is different than recording use cases as described above, where   what matters is the entire call as seen by the customer.6.1.3.  Speech Analytics   Speech analytics applications provide graphs and dashboards on the   content of conversations.  For voice calls, this includes metrics   like cross-talk, silence durations, and anger, which are computed   directly from the voice.  Voice calls are often transcribed to text,   and further analysis is provided on the text.  This might include   customer sentiment, frequency of common reasons for call, and so on.   These tools will also often provide discovery features, such as word   clouds and clustering.   Speech analytics tools are often used to help companies decide which   calls should be reviewed for quality management.  This is an   improvement over pure random based sampling.  They are also used to   help companies improve their processes in the contact center,   identifying areas where agents are inefficient.  For example, speech   analytics can be used to determine that there has been a spike in   customer refund requests, and the agents are taking too long to   handle these types of calls.   Architecturally, speech analytics look a lot like recording.  At the   end of the call, a transcript is sent from the core platform to the   speech analytics platform for processing.  Meta-data is then fetched.6.2.  PII and PCI Redaction   A common requirement in contact center use cases is the redaction of   payment card information (PCI) and personally identifiable   information (PII) from recordings and transcripts.  This happens in   several ways.   For payment cards, it is common for the agent to transfer the call to   dedicated voice response systems whose job is to collect the credit   card numbers and process them.  This way, the agent never hears this   information.  Furthermore, the system can be configured to pause the   recording so that this particular segment is not recorded.  For cases   where the agent does collect the credit card information, it isPetrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                [Page 10]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   common for systems to have a "pause recording" button that can be   triggered manually by the agent to ensure that this content is not   recorded.  Another common solution is to instrument the website where   credit card information is entered, so that when the agent places   their mouse into this form, the recording is paused.  It would be   useful in the vCon to indicate that this particular section of the   recording was absent for PCI reasons.   It is also a common request to remove PII information, such as first   and last name, street address, email address, and phone numbers, from   recordings and from transcripts.  In such cases, it is desirable to   clearly indicate in the transferred recording that this has happened,   so that downstream analytics applications function properly.  Just   replacing a first name with "XXX" is likely to confuse a word cloud   tool in a speech analytics application, and make it think that "XXX"   is a common word in the transcript.  At the same time, just removing   the PII entirely results in transcripts that are improperly formed   language, making it harder to process by natural language   understanding (NLU) tools.6.3.  Omni Channel   In contact center, the term "omni channel" is used to refer to the   usage of non-voice communications with a customer.  Sometimes, this   means an email exchange or web chat from a widget on a web page.  In   other cases, it can involve a combination of voice with these other   technologies.  For example, a customer might call into the contact   center, and then the agent uses SMS to send the customer links to   information, or collect information from the customer.  In that case,   the overall interaction is composed of a voice segment and an SMS   segment combined together.   In some cases, video is used in contact center applications.  Mostly,   this is in support of the "see what I see" case, where the customer   uses the front camera on their mobile phone to show something to the   contact center agent.  For example, a customer might show the agent a   part that is broken and needs to be replaced, to help the agent   identify which part to send.  In other use cases, traditional person-   to-person video is used, in high touch support or sales use cases.   Co-browsing is also used in contact center applications.  This is   sometimes used in support situations, where a customer is having   trouble navigating the website.  The agent can take control over the   browsing experience and get the customer where they need to be.  This   is different than screen sharing use cases common in meetings.   As it relates to recording, all of these additional channels need to   be included in the vCon.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                [Page 11]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 20256.4.  Deployment Topologies   As one might imagine, there are a variety of deployment topologies   for these applications, mixing and matching on-premise vs cloud   delivery.  The core platform can be delivered on-premise, or via   cloud.  The supporting applications can also be delivered on-premise   or via cloud.  In the cloud delivery model, they can be co-resident   with the core application (meaning, the vendor of the core service   also deploys and operates the supporting application), or be   delivered via different cloud services.7.  Example vCons   TODOAcknowledgments   *  Thank you to Thomas McCarthy-Howe for inventing the concept of a      vCon and the many discussions that we had while this concept was      developed into reality.   *  Thank you to Jonathan Rosenberg and Andrew Siciliano for their      input to the vCon container requirements in the form of I-D:      draft-rosenberg-vcon-cc-usecases.   *  Thank you to Rohan Mahy for his help in exploring the CDDL schema      and CBOR format for vCon.   *  The examples in this document were generated using the command      line interface (CLI) from the py-vcon [PY-VCON] python open source      project.   *  Thank you to Steve Lasker for formatting and spelling edits.ReferencesNormative References   [JSON]     Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data              Interchange Format", STD 90, RFC 8259,              DOI 10.17487/RFC8259, December 2017,              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8259>.   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                [Page 12]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.   [UUID]     Peabody, B. and K. R. Davis, "New UUID Formats", Work in              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-peabody-dispatch-new-uuid-              format-04, 23 June 2022,              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-peabody-              dispatch-new-uuid-format-04>.   [VCON-CORE]              Petrie, D., "The JSON format for vCon - Conversation Data              Container", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-              vcon-vcon-core-01, 15 October 2025,              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-vcon-              vcon-core-01>.Informative References   [CDR]      ITU, "Recommendation Q.825: Specification of TMN              applications at the Q3 interface: Call detail recording",              n.d., <https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.825>.   [PY-VCON]  "Python open source vCon command line interface, library              and workflow server", n.d.,              <https://github.com/py-vcon/py-vcon>.   [RFC3261]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston,              A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E.              Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261,              DOI 10.17487/RFC3261, June 2002,              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3261>.   [RFC3550]  Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V.              Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time              Applications", STD 64, RFC 3550, DOI 10.17487/RFC3550,              July 2003, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3550>.   [RFC7866]  Portman, L., Lum, H., Ed., Eckel, C., Johnston, A., and A.              Hutton, "Session Recording Protocol", RFC 7866,              DOI 10.17487/RFC7866, May 2016,              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7866>.   [vCon-white-paper]              Howe, T., Petrie, D., Lieberman, M., and A. Quayle, "vCon:              an Open Standard for Conversation Data", n.d.,              <https://github.com/vcon-dev/vcon/blob/main/docs/vCons_%20              an%20Open%20Standard%20for%20Conversation%20Data.pdf>.Petrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                [Page 13]Internet-Draft              vCon CC Extension               October 2025Authors' Addresses   Daniel G Petrie   SIPez LLC   Email: dan.ietf@sipez.com   Jonathan Rosenberg   Five9   Email: jdrosen@jdrosen.netPetrie & Rosenberg        Expires 19 April 2026                [Page 14]