#20: notes on terminology

IHE · Oct 5, 2022 · bcb1e6f · bcb1e6f
1 parent 7d6ea31
commit bcb1e6f
Showing 1 changed file with 15 additions and 4 deletions.
diff --git a/SeR.md b/SeR.md
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ this profile relies on the XACML-SAML framework for messages and transactions be
 the actors.
 
 This profile describes how a Service Provider (e.g., Document Repository) can request
-Authorization Decisions for clinical data granted to an Requester Entity
+Authorization Decisions for clinical data granted to a Requester Entity
 (e.g., a user retrieving clinical documents).
 
 # Open Issues and Questions
@@ -344,6 +344,13 @@ exposure):
   clinical data items) and the Authorization Decisions Manager (or PDP) is created. The SeR Profile
   delegates decisions to the Authorization Decisions Manager and the enforcement to the Authorization Decisions Verifier.
 
+This profile makes use of various third-party specifications like SAML and XACML, and, correspondingly, 
+of the terminology defined there.  In that way, different terms may exist for the same concept.
+For example, the user which tries to perform a particular action on a protected resource
+(e.g. to read a document in a patient's EHR) can be referred to as a Subject
+or a Requester Entity, depending on the context.
+
+
 ## 39.1 SeR Actors, Transactions, and Content Modules
 
 This section defines the actors, transactions, and/or content modules in this profile.
@@ -859,17 +866,21 @@ the XACML Category and @AttributeId are identified:
 
 | [ITI-40] Attribute                 | XACML Category                                               | AttributeId                                         | DataType                                |
 |------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
-| Subject ID                         | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject:subject-id     | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string |
+| Subject ID (Note 1)                | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject:subject-id     | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string |
 | Subject Organization               | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xspa:1.0:subject:organization    | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string |
 | Subject Organization ID            | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xspa:1.0:subject:organization-id | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
-| Home Community ID (Note 1)         | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:ihe:iti:xca:2010:homeCommunityId                | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
+| Home Community ID (Note 2)         | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:ihe:iti:xca:2010:homeCommunityId                | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
 | National Provider Identifier (NPI) | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xspa:1.0:subject:npi             | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string |
 | Subject Role                       | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:role           | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
 | Authz-Consent                      | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:ihe:iti:bppc:2007:docid                         | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
 | Patient Identifier                 | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:resource                        | urn:ihe:iti:ser:2016:patient-id                     | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string |
 | PurposeOfUse                       | urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject-category:access-subject | urn:oasis:names:tc:xspa:1.0:subject:purposeofuse    | http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI |
 
-_Note 1: To enable Authorization Decisions for this [ITI-79] transaction, Home Community Id
+_Note 1: The term "Subject" denotes in this context the Requester Entity, i.e. the user which tries to access the patient's data.
+It can be, for example, a healthcare professional, a patient's representative, or the patient by themself. 
+In the latter case, the attributes "Subject ID" and "Patient ID" may contain the same value._
+
+_Note 2: To enable Authorization Decisions for this [ITI-79] transaction, Home Community Id
 identifies the requesting user's community identity as identified in the SAML header
 in [ITI-40]. In other words, it is not the homeCommunityId of the community where the requested document
 resides._