Specification: CID protocol

The main purpose of the Content Interactive Delivery (CID) protocol is to delimit a common frame to define and execute documents transactions through the internet. It furnishes a XML schema for the definition of the server processes in a manifest and the implementation requirements for the client and the server.

The main difficulty in the exchange of documents comes from the heterogeneity of systems which prevent any universal automation for the exchanges of documents. CID offers to circumvent these difficulties by proposing the definition of interactions between three kind of actors:

• Interaction between the client software and the server software
• Interaction between the user and the server software (through a web frame neutrally displayed by the client software)
• Interaction between the client software and the user (like any client software do it).

The CID protocol is open and extensible. "Open" because it is released under an open source license. "Extensible" because it defines the terms of its future extensions.

The design is thought to:

• Allow the description of server processes already implemented by a specific server
• Allow the quick development of clients dedicated to one specific case
• Allow the use of a generic client