MSC2747: VoIP call transfers

proposals/2747-voip-call-transfer.md

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+# MSC2747: Transferring VoIP Calls
+
+[MSC2746](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2746) extends the Matrix
+Voice over IP functionality with more reliability, hold/resume and DTMF. The ability
+to transfer a call to another destination is absent from the current Matrix VoIP spec
+and is not covered by MSC2746.
+
+Adding this will allow for scenarios such as:
+ * A customer service agent receiving a call using a Matrix client, then transferring
+   the customer to another department in the company.
+ * A personal assistant or switchboard operator calling another party on behalf of a
+   user, then connecting the user directly to their destination.
+
+This MSC builds on [MSC2746](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2746), making
+use of the `invitee` field on `m.call.invite` in particular.
+
+## Nomenclature
+
+Throughout this MSC, industry standard nomenclature is used to refer to parties involved
+in the call transfer:
+ * Transferee: The party who is being transferred
+ * Transferor: The party initiating the transfer.
+ * Transfer target: The party that the transferee is being transferred to.
+
+## Proposal
+This proposal introduces the `m.call.replaces` event which signals the intent of a
+participant in a call to replace the call with another, such that the other participant
+ends up in a call with a new user. This should appear as one, seamless call to the user
+being transferred, with the possible exception of a permission prompt and some UI to
+indicate that they are being transferred.
+
+An `m.call.replaces` event has fields:
+ * `call_id`: The ID of the call that the sender intends to replace
+ * `replacement_id`: An identifier for the call replacement itself, generated by the
+   transferor.
+ * `target_room`: Optional. If specified, the transferee client waits for an invite
+   to this room and joins it (possibly waiting for user confirmation) and then continues
+   the transfer in this room. If absent, the transferee contacts the Matrix User ID
+   given in the `target_user` field in a room of its choosing.
+ * `target_user`: An object giving information about the transfer target:
+   * `id`: The matrix user ID of the transfer target
+   * `display_name`: The display name of the transfer target.
+   * `avatar_url`: The avatar URL of the transfer target.
+ * `create_call`: If specified, gives the call ID for the transferee's client to use
+   when placing the replacement call. Mutually exclusive with `await_call`.
+ * `await_call`: If specified, gives the call ID that the transferee's client should wait
+   for. Mutually exclusive with `create_call`.
+ * `party_id`: The client's party ID for the call that it intends to replace.
+
+The display name and avatar URL of the transfer target in the `target_user` field
+are purely informational and given by the transferor, so should be treated as such for
+trust purposes. It is recommended that the transferor uses the transfer target's global
+display name and avatar URL, or potentially those from the target room if available,
+rather than details from a direct message with the transfer target: the display name and
+avatar URL in the direct message room should be treated as private.
+
+From the transferor's point of view, a call transfer starts when they are in active calls
+with both the transferee and the transfer target. One or both calls could be on hold and
+the call with the transfer target may have not yet been answered (a 'blind transfer').
+
+It also introduces an event to reject the transfer, `m.call.reject_replacement`, which has
+fields:
+ * `call_id`: The ID of the call that was intended to be replaced
+ * `party_id`: The party ID of the client rejecting the replacement
+ * `replacement_id`: The replacement ID of the replacement that is being rejected
+
+To initiate a call transfer, the transferor:
+ * Attempts to find a suitable room. This should be a room that contains at least all three
+   users (and generally no others unless there is a specfic reason to user a certain room).
+ * If a suitable room cannot be found, it should create one, but it should not yet invite
+   the users, otherwise the transferee will receive the room invite before they receive the
+   call replace event.
+ * Once it has created a new room or found an existing one, it then sends two `m.call.replace`
+   events. One to the room for its call with the transfer target and one to the room for its
+   call with the transferee, each giving user information for the other ands with the
+   `call_id` field set to the call ID of the respective call. The `target_room` field
+   is newly created or chosen room in both cases. The transferor generates a new call ID and
+   puts this call ID in the `create_call` field in one replace event and in the `await_call`
+   field of the other. These can be either way around although it is suggested that the
+   transferee is instructed to create the new call.
+ * Once each event has been sent to each user, it can invite the corresponding user to the
+   target room (or may choose to wait for both replace events to send and invite both users
+   with a single API call).
+ * Additionally, once each replace event has been sent, it may choose to end the respective
+   call, although it would generally wait for the other parties to end them unless it is
+   explicitly intending to perform a blind transfer.
+ * The client may monitor the target room to observe the progress of the replacement call
+   being established.
+
+Upon receving an `m.call.replaces` event, a client behaves as follows:
+ * Checks that it is currently active in a call with call ID given in the `call_id`
+   field, that the other party in the call matches the sender of the replaces event and
+   that signalling for the call is being exchanged in the same room as the replaces event.
+   If any of these are not the case, the client ignores the event.
+ * Makes a decision on whether to act on the call transfer. How the client makes this decision
+   is not defined in this MSC. A client may, for example, wish to trust any user on specific
+   homeservers or in specific rooms or communities to transfer the user, or it may wish to
+   prompt the user, bearing in mind the display name and avatar of the transfer target supplied
+   by the transferor could be falsified.
+ * Once it has decided to act on the call transfer, it should continue to show the original call as
+   active (or represented in a 'transferring state') in the UI, even if the original call is hung up.
+   It continues to do so until the original call has either been replaced by the new call or the
+   replacement has failed.
+ * If the replace event has a `target_room` specified and the user is not already in the specified
+   room, it waits for an invite to that room to arrive, then accepts the invite. Once in the room,
+   if the `m.call.replaces` event had `create_call`, it sends an `m.call.invite` in the target room,
+   setting the `call_id` to the value of the `create_call` field and the `invitee` field to the
+   `id` field of `target_user`. If the replaces event contained `await_call`, the client waits
+   for a call with ID equal to that in the `await_call` field.
+ * If this call is sucessfully answred by the invitee, the client sends a hangup event in the
+   room for the origial call, ending the call.
+
+The `m.call.reject_replacement` is sent if the client does not accept the call transfer (eg.
+it decides that the transferor is not sufficiently trustworthy, or it prompted the user and the
+user chose to reject the transfer). The event has `replacement_id` equal to the `replacement_id`
+of the `m.call.replaces` event that initiated the transfer.
+
+On receiving this, the transferor aborts the transfer process and informs the user that the call
+transfer was rejected, and by which party. There is no explicit event to accept the transfer.
+
+## Potential issues
+A call transfer is fairly complex and involves a lot of round-trips and state on clients, and
+is fairly complex for clients to implement, in comparison to the rest of the VoIP spec which
+is reasonably lightweight. If there were a PBX or soft switch on the path, this may potentially
+handle the logic of doing the actual transfer meaning that the transferor would just need to
+send a n `m.call.replaces` event to initiate the transfer, and clients would not have to
+implement the rest of the protocol for being transferred if their leg of the call remained with
+the PBX / soft switch.
+
+## Alternatives
+No provision is made for a transferor to prompt a transferee to place a call to a
+transfer target without there being an existing active call between the transferor
+and the transferee. SIP does have this capability using the REFER method. This would
+require a mechanism for the transferor to identify the transferee's individual devices,
+akin to a GRUU in SIP, and be able to direct a specfic one of them to place the call.
+
+Equvialently, this could be achieved in a different way, for example, all the transferee's
+devices could ring, and when they 'answer' on one of them, it places the call to the transfer
+target. Similar behaviour can be achieved with the mechanisms described by this MSC, apart
+from the fact that the initial incoming call to the transferee would be, and would appear as,
+a normal incoming call from the transferor rather than being presented as a call to the
+transfer target.
+
+Consideration was given to using a more generic event to refer conversations in general
+between rooms as well as calls given the overlap in functionality. With threading support,
+this could also transparently move threads between rooms. However, there are a number of
+specific semantics associated with transferring calls specifically, and `m.call.replace`
+better captures the behaviour of replacing the current call with a new one, so this MSC
+opts to use a specific event for transferring calls.
+
+## Security considerations
+The `target_user` field of the `m.call.replaces` event could be fabricated by the transferor,
+as mentioned above. The transferee's client would have to present it to the user in this context.
+
+It would be up to clients to decide when to honour an incoming transfer request. If they accepted
+any instruction to transfer the call, it would be possible to cause a user to place a VoIP call
+to any Matrix user just by establishing a call to them and sending an `m.call.replaces` event.