Universal Plug and Play Forum

This document catalogues the organizational issues of the UPnP Forum as they get discussed, proposed, and refined. The intent of this document is to clarify the objectives of the Forum, help focus its efforts behind these objectives, and define its processes.

The issues covered either include or will include the following: mission and objectives, the Steering Committee Commitment Form, process for Steering Committee administration and elections, Working Committees, and standardizing UPnP DCPs.

Most of the material covered in this document is based on the UPnP Membership Agreement. There should be no inconsistencies between the two, but in case there are, such discrepancies are an error in this document. The Membership Agreement is a legal document and is always the final authority on these maters.

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Section 1. Vision

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology is the premiere method for easily connecting intelligent devices and services anytime, anywhere.

1.1 Mission Statement

Our mission is to improve the quality of life by improving the connectivity of intelligent devices and services of all kinds and their convergence with information technology.

We will build on and extend existing technologies and develop open standards to enable cross-vendor, comprehensive, low-cost and easy-to-use solutions for areas such as security, control, entertainment, and productivity, targeting environments such as homes, businesses, public venues, and automobiles.

1.2 Objectives

Promote and drive the growth of an industry for ubiquitous device connectivity with a global market perspective based on open specifications.
Bring value to customers through simple and low cost connectivity of all device types, everywhere.
Provide the needed building blocks for cross vendor interoperability both for the configuration and operation of devices.
Form the most natural extension of the Internet to every day consumer devices by maximizing usage of Internet protocol components and methodologies.

1.3 Goals

Organize an industry cooperative effort to:

Develop UPnP device control protocols (DCPs) effectively and efficiently by developing sample implementations and producing test suites.
Undertake evangelism and marketing activities to promote UPnP brand recognition worldwide.
Define UPnP for a broad range of devices to drive fast market penetration and adoption.
Where appropriate, model UPnP DCPs after existing device control standards to apply existing work and simplify bridging to these standards.
Provide for test qualification to ensure compatibility of UPnP devices.
Persuade major industry groups such as Home Control and Entertainment, and Information Technology to adopt UPnP.
Reach out to other standards organizations to drive consolidation and ensure compatibility.

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Section 2. The Steering Committee

The Steering Committee provides the UPnP Forum with leadership and business decisions. It works closely with the Marketing, Technical and Legal Committees to achieve its objectives.

2.1 Charter

The Steering Committee owns the following responsibilities:

· Identify device priorities for the Forum’s focus, based on market readiness and practical considerations such as bringing value to customers in a timely fashion.

· Form Working Committees and appoint Chairpersons to these Committees to lead the technical design work of DCPs.

· Monitor and encourage the progress of the Working Committees to ensure that proposed DCPs are obtained in a timely fashion.

· Oversee the review process of DCPs and their confirmation as standards.

· Design and oversee the test qualification and logo programs for device certification.

2.2 Meetings

The Steering Committee will meet roughly every eight weeks. The location will be chosen in proximity to member concentration. Microsoft agrees to host the meetings unless an alternate host volunteers.

2.3 Steering Committee Member Election Process

The Steering Committee was formed on October 18, 1999.

The Steering Committee will have at least seven (7) members and at most twenty (20) members.

Microsoft Corporation is a permanent member of the Steering Committee.

Approximately one half of the initial members will have terms that will expire on the first anniversary of the Founding Date, and the remaining members, with the exception of Microsoft, will have terms that expire on the Founding Date’s second anniversary. Therefore, there will be Steering Committee member elections every year for roughly half the seats on the Committee. For a full twenty (20)-member Committee, in even-numbered years nine (9) member seats will become open for general member company nomination and election while in odd-numbered years ten (10) member seats will become open for nomination and election. This approach guarantees that new members serve with senior members to ensure both a smooth hand-off process and continued progress on ongoing issues.

A nominee to the Steering Committee must execute a Steering Committee Commitment Form (see Appendix C).

The Steering Committee recommendation for members-elect will be based on the following principles:

· Maintaining good breadth of device coverage across the areas of the industry that are important to UPnP (see Appendix A).

· Involving industry leaders in these important areas.

· Retaining members who are active participants in moving Steering Committee causes forward.

We will use these same principles for the selection of initial members, whose terms will end on the first year versus the second year (see Appendix B for the sequence of member seat re-elections).

The election process kicks off three months before the Anniversary Date (that is, three months prior to October 18). There will be a four-week nomination period followed by two weeks of consideration before voting occurs. Hence, voting ends about six weeks prior to the Anniversary Date (end of August, early September) so that results are known and ratified at a “final” Steering Committee meeting. And, new members will have about six weeks to prepare for the next Steering Committee meeting (mid-October), which will be their first.

Nominations are open to all active members of the UPnP Forum and active members are eligible to vote in an election. An active member needs to execute a Commitment Form (see Appendix E). It is legitimate for existing Steering Committee members whose terms are expiring to be nominated for re-election.

Prior to the nomination of new members, the Steering Committee will review the list of target device areas (see Appendix A) to determine if it needs to be updated. The remaining members of the Steering Committee will actively identify and, if needed, recruit a set of nominees to recommend for the slots that are open for re-election. This list will be shared with voting members prior to the election.

At election time all eligible members can vote for N nominees, where “N” (usually either 9 or 10)) is the number of open positions. The N nominees with the highest votes win.

A member company is only allowed one vote per open seat.

A member company is eligible for voting by signing a “Voting Rights” Commitment Form (see Appendix E), which requires a member to be an active participant of the Forum including membership on at least one Working Committee, in order to earn the right to vote in the Steering Committee election.

2.4 Election of Steering Committee Chairperson

The Steering Committee Chairperson holds a two-year term with re-election in odd-numbered years (for example 2001, 2003, etc). Nominations are taken from Steering Committee members. The Steering Committee Chairperson must demonstrate proven leadership abilities, preferably in organizational and prior chairing experience with such groups.

The Chair comes up for re-election only after a newly elected Steering Committee is on board. Voting is done by secret ballot. Each Steering Committee member company has one vote. If there is no clear majority, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates. Transition will occur after the mid-October (Anniversary) meeting.

If the Chair becomes vacant prior to the end of the normal term, there will be a call for nominations and elections for an Interim Chair to fulfill the remainder of the term.

At the discretion of the Chairperson, a Vice Chair will be nominated to run meetings in the Chair’s absence. The Chairperson submits the Vice Chair nomination for Steering Committee approval.

Appointment of the Chair is held by an individual, not by a company.

2.5 Voting Issues Within the Steering Committee

The objective is to strive for consensus, using the voting process only when consensus is not achieved.

A quorum is fifty percent (50%) of Steering Committee member companies. Each member company is allowed one vote. Simple majority, defined by the number of yes” votes versus the number of ”no” votes, decides the vote. Abstentions are not counted; that is, if there are two “yes” votes, one “no” vote and seven abstentions, then the motion carries. Ties are broken by the Chairperson. The preference is to have voting occur during meetings. If this is not possible (votes required between meetings), then the Committee will be notified and the vote will occur by conference call or e-mail.

2.6 Voting Procedure and Timeframe

In the event a Steering Committee vote is needed outside the context of an in-person meeting:

The issue’s sponsor must send background material and the frame for the vote to the Steering Committee reflector so that the group has no fewer than ten (10) business days to review the material and vote on the issue.

The Forum Secretary will immediately follow up with an e-mail addressed to the primary, secondary and third alternate voters as identified per SC member company to request acknowledgement of receipt of the vote issue mail. The designated voter has twenty-four (24) hours to acknowledge receipt of the initial vote issue mail and must confirm that he or she will cast the vote on this issue. All parties are cc:d on the acknowledgement.

If no acknowledgement occurs and twenty-four hours elapse, the Forum Secretary contacts the secondary and third alternate voters. One of them must acknowledge receipt of the initial vote mail and confirm s/he will cast the vote on behalf of her/his company.

The Forum Secretary will actively track the passage of ten (10) business days and send frequent updates, following up with e-mails and telephone calls to ensure all voting members cast their votes within the voting timeframe.

The Forum Secretary will announce the tally and outcome of the vote at the close of the voting period. If the vote requires simple majority, the Forum Secretary will announce the results when a quorum of company representatives have cast their vote and a simple majority vote is reached.

2.7 Voting Issuance of a Press Release

Any press release or other public statement made on behalf of the UPnP Forum requires unanimous vote of the Steering Committee.

Companies mentioned in the press release will receive notification prior to the vote. They will be contacted to review and approve the draft release before the draft release is circulated for Steering Committee review. The draft release is attached to the vote issue mail. The vote issue mail triggers the ten (10) business day SC review and voting cycle.

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Section 3. Working Committees

Working Committees are formed by the Steering Committee to define standard control protocols for specific devices.

3.1 Charter

Working Committees are lead by Chairpersons and undertake the technical design and specification work of Device Control Protocols (DCPs) according to the UPnP Device Architecture that is provided by Microsoft. Microsoft agrees to evolve the Architecture to address the needs of the different devices and to do so in a timely fashion.

Working Committees are chartered with the following:

· Performing the technical design and specification work of DCPs.

· Producing at least three sample implementations of the DCP. A Chairperson can request of the Steering Committee a variance on this requirement assuming a strong reason is at hand (see the Section 5 below on Device Control Protocols).

· Producing a test suite for the DCP of which Microsoft has the first right of refusal.

3.2 Working Committee Membership

The goal is to staff a Working Committee with experts who represent key vendors in their respective device areas. Specifically, the Chairperson’s position needs to be staffed by an individual with a proven record of leadership in product development or design and standards. This is necessary because he or she will play a key role in the development of the DCPs.

A Co-Chair may be nominated at the discretion of the Chairperson to run meetings in the Chair’s absence. The Chairperson may elect to sub-divide the work within the Working Committee into appropriate sub-categories and nominate Chairs for these Sub-Committees. Co-chair and Sub-Committee Chair nominations are subject to Steering Committee approval.

A nominee to the Chairperson, Co-Chair or Sub-Committee Chair position will issue a Nomination Statement that states her/his credentials and makes the case as to why s/he would be effective in this role, as well as what driving commitment s/he has to developing DCPs and promoting the success of UPnP in general. In addition, a Chairperson, Co-Chair or Sub-Committee Chair needs to sign a Commitment Form as part of her/his nomination for the position (see Appendix D).

Chairpersons have the final say in how they will staff their Committees, including the ultimate size of the Committees they will chair. As a guideline, and for the sake of efficiency, it is recommended that Working Committees remain small.

Chairpersons constitute the point of contact between their respective Working Committees and the Steering Committee. They negotiate the Working Committees’ charters and timelines with the Steering Committee and periodically report the Working Committees’ progress. In the event a Working Committee does not sufficiently meet the proposed schedule, the Steering Committee has the responsibility to intervene and take whatever action it deems necessary to ensure progress.

Only UPnP Forum member companies are able to participate in Working Committees and participate in their deliberations. It is the role of the UPnP Secretary to validate and ensure membership, and the role of the Chairperson to police abidance with this rule in all forms of Working Committee communication including but not limited to meetings.

When the Steering Committee votes to confirm a DCP as a standard (as specified in Section 7, “Process for DCP Standardization”), the Steering Committee will then also vote on whether or not the Working Committee has completed the work provided for in its charter. If the Steering Committee vote is that the work is completed, then the Working Committee is disbanded. If not, then the Working Committee will continue on those work items not yet completed. Note that addition of new work items or other expansion of the original charter requires the approval of the Steering Committee.

When a Working Committee is disbanded, any UPnP Forum resources, such as e-mail reflectors and document archives established for the Working Committee may remain available for historical and pedagogical purposes. These resources may be used by Forum Members engaged in discussing requirements for related work, in preparation of a new charter for Steering Committee consideration. Any materials or messages sent to the e-mail reflector or stored on Forum archive servers of a disbanded Working Committee will be considered input to the Steering Committee.

3.3 Meetings of Working Committees

Working Committees will meet at the discretion of their Chairpersons. Microsoft agrees to host Working Committee meetings unless an alternative host is identified.

3.4 Alignment of Working Committees

Working Committees in the same device category need to maintain a close relationship to maximize consistency and reuse of like services. Examples of such categories include home automation and audio/video.

The following guidelines are proposed in order to achieve these objectives:

First, the Working Committees in the given device category will coordinate meetings to facilitate member participation in more than one Working Committee meeting in that category.

Second, there will be a Device Category Coordinator appointed by the Steering Committee to oversee the Working Committees in the given area. The Coordinator will typically be one of the Chairpersons. The Coordinator’s responsibilities include the following:

· Maximizing consistency and reuse across the different devices.

· Scheduling and managing cross-Working Committee meetings including producing an agenda in conjunction with the Working Committee Chairpersons and keeping the different Working Committees on schedule during these meetings.

· Reporting progress and cross-device issues to the Steering Committee.

Figure A. Alignment of Working Committees

3.5 Voting Issues Within the Working Committee

A Working Committee will use the same voting procedure as the one articulated for the Steering Committee (as stated in Section 2.5) unless otherwise specifically defined by the Working Committee.

3.6 Guidelines for Formation of a New Working Committee

Selecting devices for market introduction is a business decision, while the Forum is not a business entity. Members must first identify customer scenarios for networked intelligent appliances that contribute to their business, then come to the Forum with specific target device types for standardization.

To maximize the likelihood of success for a new device type or a new device category, the Steering Committee will review and approve proposals. The following are required elements of a proposal:

· At least one customer-level scenario involving the device type(s) that is both practical and brings clear value to customers, thus showing clear business motivation for the effort.

· A brief description of the targeted device type(s), explaining how the device relates to the scenario.

· At least one nominated chairperson, with a nomination statement, to lead the design work and finalize the standard. At least three committed member companies, with qualified individuals identified, to participate in the design work and then to provide the required sample implementations. These individuals might include the chairperson.

· A proposed schedule and timeline for the key milestones and finalization of the standard.

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Section 4. Technical Committee

4.1 Rationale

There will be a Technical Committee (TC) to address UPnP Forum-related technical issues. Having a TC will aid the UPnP Forum in achieving its objectives of defining device control protocols (DCPs) that cover a broad space of device categories as follows:

· Help Working Committees be better coordinated and be more efficient.

· Help steer the design of the architecture and of the DCPs in a technically sound direction.

· Develop and understand the different needs of the device vendors and represent these needs at the right priority.

4.2 Membership

Technical contributors from UPnP Steering Committee member companies will staff the Technical Committee. Working Committee Chairs may also elect to participate in the TC. Microsoft, similar to the Marketing Committee, will chair the TC. At the discretion of the TC Chair, a Vice-Chair may be appointed. The Chair may, at his or her discretion, nominate an “Invited Expert” to participate in the Steering Committee. Duration of participation will be stated in the nomination. Nomination is of an individual, not a company. The Chair shall present the nomination to the Steering Committee which shall vote to approve the nomination by simple majority. Nomination and confirmation may take place over e-mail. At the end of the term, the Steering Committee may vote to extend or terminate the appointment. Invited Experts, being neither from Steering Committee member companies nor Chairs of Working Committees, are individuals whose active participation in the TC would be perceived as helping to advance the charter of the group.

4.3 Voting

Each company represented in the TC may exercise a single vote.

4.4 Charter

The charter of the Technical Committee is as follows:

· Oversee and guide the review, comments, and refinement processes of proposed standard DCPs, including sample implementations and test suites, to standardized DCPs, including making recommendations to Working Committees and the Steering Committee.

· Ensure that all technical issues raised by Working Committees or any Forum member are well understood, documented, streamlined, and addressed by Microsoft in a timely fashion.

· Ensure the completeness of the Device Architecture Document, as provided by Microsoft, and its sufficiency for use in the definition of DCPs.

· Maximize synergy across the family of standard DCPs:

o Ensure that like concepts in different device categories are addressed with common solutions across Working Committees.

o Identify common services across different device categories, like the clock or the power subunit, and provide well-designed control protocols for these components as a resource for Working Committees.

o Define common conventions to be adopted in DCPs, such as naming, measurement units, etc.

· Provide requirement documents and prioritized feature requests backed with scenarios and device vendor considerations for the evolution of the UPnP Device Architecture.

· Help shape and execute a plan in regards to the IETF specifications.

· Conduct its business in the same manner as other UPnP Forum WCs (reflector e-mail, teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, perhaps held in conjunction with SC meetings).

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Section 5. Compliance Task Force

There will be a Compliance Task Force to formulate a device certification process. This task force will be staffed by individuals from Steering Committee member companies and will be lead by Microsoft. The work of the task force will be complete and the group will disband at the formation of a non-profit corporation, which will administer the certification process and own the UPnP logo. The non-profit corporation is a separate entity and will have its own charter outside the scope of this document.

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Section 6. Device Control Protocols

In addition to the specification work, the finalization of a standard DCP requires at least three sample implementations and a test suite. The intent is to ensure that an effective specification is tested before confirming the standard. Exceptions to this requirement may be made with regard to optional components only. The exception will be decided by majority vote of the Steering Committee.

Figure B. DCP Development Work Flow (*.ppt)

Nominally, Working Committees are concerned with DCPs because DCPs correspond to actual devices, and to stand-alone commercial products. Therefore, in most cases, DCPs are the best-standardized building blocks to enable interoperability between devices from different vendors. However, there are cases where standardizing at the service (device-component) level is the right approach. For example in the audio/video device category the common practice is to standardize at the component level since several devices share the same component. This practice prevents duplication of effort and divergence of like concepts. Furthermore, standardizing at the service level opens the door for device vendors to mix and match services, thereby allowing them to form all kinds of devices. This flexibility has proven to be practical in the audio/video space (for example, the combination TV/VCR device).

Working Committees will have the option to publish their specifications at the device level or at the service level (i.e., component) level. In case of the latter, any product that implements a standard device specification will have the option, in addition, to implement any standard service specification. At certification testing time, such a product will be tested according to conformance with the standard device specification and with all the standard service specifications that are implemented and advertised by the product. For example, the Security Working Committee might define security services that are applicable to any of the UPnP standard device types. A product that chooses to be secure by implementing the security services will be tested on these services in addition to being tested to the product’s original device type.

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Section 7. Process for DCP Standardization

Upon completion of the specification, test suite, and three sample implementations, the Working Committee submits this package to the Steering Committee for review. The three sample implementations must pass the test suite. The sample implementations can be actual physical devices or logical simulations of such devices.

The proposed DCP is then posted for a public review process of no fewer than 45 days. Depending on the review results, the DCP is either confirmed as a standard or is sent back to the Working Committee with specific work items and issues to be addressed.

Upon publishing the specification of the standard DCP, the document author, usually the Chair, is advised to include in the published documentation all the material that the Working Committee produced while developing the specification that will help in the interpretation and the correct implementation of the specification. Such material includes and is not limited to introductory, complimentary and addendum items.

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Section 8. Member Contributions to the Forum

Given the scope of the Membership Agreement, submissions to the Forum need to pertain to the design of Device/Service Control Protocols (DCPs or SCPs). The purpose of these contributions must be to aid in the development of DCPs. Contributions must be submitted under the IPR terms of the Membership Agreement. Such contributions are to be posted on the UPnP web site and may potentially be utilized in the UPnP DCPs.

8.1 Information Restricted to Members

All member submissions, information exchange, and discussions about standard DCPs should be limited to members only. The Membership Agreement and its associated IPR policy must guide these exchanges. General “informational” documents such as the Microsoft Device Architecture Document and sample DCPs, shared for pedagogical reasons, can be shared more broadly, even to non-members (for example posted on the public area of the UPnP web site).