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"Internetworked binary master protocol"
TCP/IP ports: 86, 686, 8686, 18686, 28686, 38686, 48686
UDP/IP ports: 87, 687, 8687, 18687, 28687, 38687, 48687
There are many thousands of different layer 7 protocols built atop both TCP and UDP. Due to the incidence of contrast between the IETF's four-layer IP suite and the now-ubiquitous seven-layer OSI model, port assignment tends to correspond to a specific application, even though this is not the most effective way to do port allocation. While this presents less generic abstraction at the outset to application protocol designers, it is prone to inefficiencies as protcols are developed from scratch on top of general purpose layer 4 protocols which are only distinguished by their transport reliability constraints.
The Internetworked binary master protocol, shortened and stylised to ib, proposes six (6) general-purpose layer 7 protocols, each providing a category of communication architecture to specific applications. Simplifying this state of affairs presents two advantages: (1) application protocol developers can choose whichever of these six protocols according to their needs, being provided a robust communication model, and (2) it greatly reduces the multiplicity of engineering currently present in the grandfathered four-layer IP Suite based allocation of IP ports.
ib structures its transmission into 508-octet packets for both TCP and UDP. ib packets are structured like so:
Offset Size Explanation $0000 8 Session ID $0008 4 Metadata bitfield (see below) $000C 496 Payload
The subprotocol bitfield is structured like so:
Bit Explanation 0-2 Version number. Must be zero (0) 3-5 Subprotocol number (0=HELO, 1=PTP, 2=TTP, 3=PRP, 4=PSP, 5=AP, 6=IAP, 7=prohibited) 6-31 Packet sequence ID
While the specifics of this still need to be hashed out, suffice to say that the HELO protocol will, in a nutshell:
More concretely, ib provides these six communication protocols to achieve the communication styles of various existing protocols such as IMAP and HTTP, but in a generalised way that stamps out duplication of the communication architecture.
Main page: ib-PTP - Persistent Transmission Protocol
The Persistent Transmission Protocol, or ib-PTP, provides sustained bidirectional transmission of data for highly interactive or high-volume protocols like video streaming and SSH. It fosters the familiar client-server architecture so ubiquitous already on the Web.
Main page: ib-TTP - Transactional Transmission Protocol
The Transactional Transmission Protocol, or ib-TTP, provides one-and-done style bidirectional transmission of data for protocols like HTTP and FTP. It fosters the familiar client-server architecture like ib-PTP.
Main page: ib-PRP - Polling Retrieval Protocol
The Polling Retrieval Protocol, or ib-PRP, provides polling-oriented data retrieval and synchronisation mechanisms similar to POP3 or IMAP. It is also suitable to provide for the fetching of subscription material as in RSS or Atom.
Main page: ib-PSP - Polling Syndication Protocol
The Polling Syndication Protocol, or ib-PSP, provides for publishing and bidirectional syndication of data in a polling-oriented fashion alongside ib-PRP, similar to SMTP or ActivityPub's inter-server provisions.
Main page: ib-AP - Aggregation Protocol
The Aggregation Protocol, or ib-AP, provides mechanisms for comprehensively aggregating data of a similar structure from various sources across the Web. This protocol is functionally analogous to a distributed ledger protocol, since it amasses a computational consensus in a decentralised way from countless sources in a low-trust fashion.
Main page: ib-IAP - Ident-Auth Protocol
The Ident-Auth Protocol, or ib-IAP, provides for identifying the author of some data or the authenticity of a network location for the purposes of establishing a limited basis of trust. It is functionally similar to OpenPGP in that it provides a Web of Trust model, but also like SSL/TLS in that it promotes hierarchy to help foster usability for people who have not already accrued trust within the system.