1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

base64 encoding: A binary-to-text encoding scheme whereby an arbitrary sequence of bytes is converted to a sequence of printable ASCII characters, as described in [RFC4648].

consume: To resolve a Peer Name and decrypt the associated payload.

consumer: The side of a Remote Assistance connection that resolves a Peer Name. It is the same as the expert role.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): A high-precision atomic time standard that approximately tracks Universal Time (UT). It is the basis for legal, civil time all over the Earth. Time zones around the world are expressed as positive and negative offsets from UTC. In this role, it is also referred to as Zulu time (Z) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). In these specifications, all references to UTC refer to the time at UTC-0 (or GMT).

expert: The side of a Remote Assistance connection that is able to view the remote screen of the other computer in order to provide help.

extended payload: An arbitrary BLOB of data associated with a Peer Name and published by an application.

Global PNRP cloud: A PNRP cloud as specified in [MS-PNRP] with a name "Global".

HexConvertedUnicodeString: A Unicode string created from a binary, byte-granular value. The string is created by converting each byte, starting with the most significant byte and ending with the least significant byte, into two Unicode characters. The characters are the hexadecimal representation of each nibble of the byte, starting with the high-order nibble.

novice: The side of a Remote Assistance connection that shares its screen with the other computer in order to receive help.

peer name: A string composed of an authority and a classifier. This is the string used by applications to resolve to a list of endpoints and/or an extended payload. A peer name is not required to be unique. For example, several nodes that provide the same service can register the same Peer Name.

Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP): The protocol that is specified in [MS-PNRP] and is used for registering and resolving a name to a set of information, such as IP addresses.

public key: One of a pair of keys used in public-key cryptography. The public key is distributed freely and published as part of a digital certificate. For an introduction to this concept, see [CRYPTO] section 1.8 and [IEEE1363] section 3.1.

publisher: The side of a Remote Assistance connection that registers a Peer Name. It is the same as the novice role.

RAIOP: The protocol documented in this specification, Remote Assistance Initiation over PNRP Protocol (RAIOP).

Remote Assistance connection: A communication framework that is established between two computers that facilitates Remote Assistance.

Remote Assistance contact: After a Remote Assistance session is established, the expert and novice may exchange contact information as specified in [MS-RA]. A Remote Assistance contact is then created on the expert and novice computers. This allows Secure Peer Names to be used in subsequent sessions.

Remote Assistance session: A Remote Assistance connection that has been accepted by the novice. The expert is able to view the novice's screen once the Remote Assistance session is started.

Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA): A system for public key cryptography. RSA is specified in [RFC8017].

secure peer name: A peer name that has a nonzero authority and is tied to a Peer Identity.

SHA-1 hash: A hashing algorithm as specified in [FIPS180-2] that was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA).

Unicode string: A Unicode 8-bit string is an ordered sequence of 8-bit units, a Unicode 16-bit string is an ordered sequence of 16-bit code units, and a Unicode 32-bit string is an ordered sequence of 32-bit code units. In some cases, it could be acceptable not to terminate with a terminating null character. Unless otherwise specified, all Unicode strings follow the UTF-16LE encoding scheme with no Byte Order Mark (BOM).

unsecured peer name: A Peer Name that has a "0" authority and is therefore not tied to a Peer Identity. Any node can claim ownership of any Unsecured Peer Name.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.