3. Examples
This section gives a number of short examples with message flows for a block-wise GET, and for a PUT or POST. These examples demonstrate the basic operation, the operation in the presence of retransmissions, and examples for the operation of the block size negotiation.
In all these examples, a Block option is shown in a decomposed way indicating the kind of Block option (1 or 2) followed by a colon, and then the block number (NUM), more bit (M), and block size exponent (2**(SZX+4)) separated by slashes. For example, a Block2 Option value of 33 would be shown as 2:2/0/32) and a Block1 Option value of 59 would be shown as 1:3/1/128.
As in [RFC7252], "MID" is used as an abbreviation for "Message ID".
3.1. Block2 Examples
The first example (Figure 2) shows a GET request that is split into three blocks. The server proposes a block size of 128, and the client agrees. The first two ACKs contain a payload of 128 bytes each, and the third ACK contains a payload between 1 and 128 bytes.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], GET, /status ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.05 Content, 2:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:1/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.05 Content, 2:1/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], GET, /status, 2:2/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.05 Content, 2:2/0/128 |
Figure 2: Simple Block-Wise GET
In the second example (Figure 3), the client anticipates the block-wise transfer (e.g., because of a size indication in the link-format description [RFC6690]) and sends a block size proposal. All ACK messages except for the last carry 64 bytes of payload; the last one carries between 1 and 64 bytes.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], GET, /status, 2:0/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.05 Content, 2:0/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:1/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.05 Content, 2:1/1/64 |
: :
: ... :
: :
| CON [MID=1238], GET, /status, 2:4/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.05 Content, 2:4/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1239], GET, /status, 2:5/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1239], 2.05 Content, 2:5/0/64 |
Figure 3: Block-Wise GET with Early Negotiation
In the third example (Figure 4), the client is surprised by the need for a block-wise transfer, and unhappy with the size chosen unilaterally by the server. As it did not send a size proposal initially, the negotiation only influences the size from the second message exchange onward. Since the client already obtained both the first and second 64-byte block in the first 128-byte exchange, it goes on requesting the third 64-byte block ("2/0/64"). None of this is (or needs to be) understood by the server, which simply responds to the requests as it best can.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], GET, /status ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.05 Content, 2:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:2/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.05 Content, 2:2/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], GET, /status, 2:3/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.05 Content, 2:3/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1237], GET, /status, 2:4/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1237], 2.05 Content, 2:4/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1238], GET, /status, 2:5/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.05 Content, 2:5/0/64 |
Figure 4: Block-Wise GET with Late Negotiation
In all these (and the following) cases, retransmissions are handled by the CoAP message exchange layer, so they don't influence the block operations (Figures 5 and 6).
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], GET, /status ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.05 Content, 2:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GE///////////////////////// |
| |
| (timeout) |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:2/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.05 Content, 2:2/1/64 |
: :
: ... :
: :
| CON [MID=1238], GET, /status, 2:5/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.05 Content, 2:5/0/64 |
Figure 5: Block-Wise GET with Late Negotiation and Lost CON
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], GET, /status ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.05 Content, 2:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:2/0/64 ------> |
| |
| //////////////////////////////////tent, 2:2/1/64 |
| |
| (timeout) |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], GET, /status, 2:2/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.05 Content, 2:2/1/64 |
: :
: ... :
: :
| CON [MID=1238], GET, /status, 2:5/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.05 Content, 2:5/0/64 |
Figure 6: Block-Wise GET with Late Negotiation and Lost ACK
3.2. Block1 Examples
The following examples demonstrate a PUT exchange; a POST exchange looks the same, with different requirements on atomicity/idempotence. Note that, similar to GET, the responses to the requests that have a more bit in the request Block1 Option are provisional and carry the response code 2.31 (Continue); only the final response tells the client that the PUT succeeded.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], PUT, /options, 1:0/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.31 Continue, 1:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], PUT, /options, 1:1/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.31 Continue, 1:1/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], PUT, /options, 1:2/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.04 Changed, 1:2/0/128 |
Figure 7: Simple Atomic Block-Wise PUT
A stateless server that simply builds/updates the resource in place (statelessly) may indicate this by not setting the more bit in the response (Figure 8); in this case, the response codes are valid separately for each block being updated. This is of course only an acceptable behavior of the server if the potential inconsistency present during the run of the message exchange sequence does not lead to problems, e.g., because the resource being created or changed is not yet or not currently in use.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], PUT, /options, 1:0/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.04 Changed, 1:0/0/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], PUT, /options, 1:1/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.04 Changed, 1:1/0/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], PUT, /options, 1:2/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.04 Changed, 1:2/0/128 |
Figure 8: Simple Stateless Block-Wise PUT
Finally, a server receiving a block-wise PUT or POST may want to indicate a smaller block size preference (Figure 9). In this case, the client SHOULD continue with a smaller block size; if it does, it MUST adjust the block number to properly count in that smaller size.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], PUT, /options, 1:0/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.31 Continue, 1:0/1/32 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], PUT, /options, 1:4/1/32 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.31 Continue, 1:4/1/32 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], PUT, /options, 1:5/1/32 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.31 Continue, 1:5/1/32 |
| |
| CON [MID=1237], PUT, /options, 1:6/0/32 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.04 Changed, 1:6/0/32 |
Figure 9: Simple Atomic Block-Wise PUT with Negotiation
3.3. Combining Block1 and Block2
Block options may be used in both directions of a single exchange. The following example demonstrates a block-wise POST request, resulting in a separate block-wise response.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], POST, /soap, 1:0/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.31 Continue, 1:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], POST, /soap, 1:1/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.31 Continue, 1:1/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], POST, /soap, 1:2/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.04 Changed, 2:0/1/128, 1:2/0/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1237], POST, /soap, 2:1/0/128 ------> |
| (no payload for requests with Block2 with NUM != 0) |
| (could also do late negotiation by requesting, |
| e.g., 2:2/0/64) |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1237], 2.04 Changed, 2:1/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1238], POST, /soap, 2:2/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.04 Changed, 2:2/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1239], POST, /soap, 2:3/0/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1239], 2.04 Changed, 2:3/0/128 |
Figure 10: Atomic Block-Wise POST with Block-Wise Response
This model does provide for early negotiation input to the Block2 block-wise transfer, as shown below.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
| CON [MID=1234], POST, /soap, 1:0/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1234], 2.31 Continue, 1:0/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1235], POST, /soap, 1:1/1/128 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1235], 2.31 Continue, 1:1/1/128 |
| |
| CON [MID=1236], POST, /soap, 1:2/0/128, 2:0/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1236], 2.04 Changed, 1:2/0/128, 2:0/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1237], POST, /soap, 2:1/0/64 ------> |
| (no payload for requests with Block2 with NUM != 0) |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1237], 2.04 Changed, 2:1/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1238], POST, /soap, 2:2/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1238], 2.04 Changed, 2:2/1/64 |
| |
| CON [MID=1239], POST, /soap, 2:3/0/64 ------> |
| |
| <------ ACK [MID=1239], 2.04 Changed, 2:3/0/64 |
Figure 11: Atomic Block-Wise POST with Block-Wise Response,
Early Negotiation
3.4. Combining Observe and Block2
In the following example, the server first sends a direct response (Observe sequence number 62350) to the initial GET request (the resulting block-wise transfer is as in Figure 4 and has therefore been left out). The second transfer is started by a 2.05 notification that contains just the first block (Observe sequence number 62354); the client then goes on to obtain the rest of the blocks.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011636
| GET | Token: 0xfb
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Observe: (empty)
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451636
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfb
| | Block2: 0/1/128
| | Observe: 62350
| | ETag: 6f00f38e
| | Payload: [128 bytes]
| |
| | (Usual GET transfer left out)
...
| | (Notification of first block)
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x4145af9c
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfb
| | Block2: 0/1/128
| | Observe: 62354
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [128 bytes]
| |
+- - ->| Header: 0x6000af9c
| |
| | (Retrieval of remaining blocks)
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011637
| GET | Token: 0xfc
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Block2: 1/0/128
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451637
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfc
| | Block2: 1/1/128
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [128 bytes]
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011638
| GET | Token: 0xfc
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Block2: 2/0/128
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451638
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfc
| | Block2: 2/0/128
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [53 bytes]
Figure 12: Observe Sequence with Block-Wise Response
(Note that the choice of token 0xfc in this example is arbitrary; tokens are just shown in this example to illustrate that the requests for additional blocks cannot make use of the token of the Observation relationship. As a general comment on tokens, there is no other mention of tokens in this document, as block-wise transfers handle tokens like any other CoAP exchange. As usual, the client is free to choose tokens for each exchange as it likes.)
In the following example, the client also uses early negotiation to limit the block size to 64 bytes.
CLIENT SERVER
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011636
| GET | Token: 0xfb
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Observe: (empty)
| | Block2: 0/0/64
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451636
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfb
| | Block2: 0/1/64
| | Observe: 62350
| | ETag: 6f00f38e
| | Max-Age: 60
| | Payload: [64 bytes]
| |
| | (Usual GET transfer left out)
...
| | (Notification of first block)
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x4145af9c
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfb
| | Block2: 0/1/64
| | Observe: 62354
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [64 bytes]
| |
+- - ->| Header: 0x6000af9c
| |
| | (Retrieval of remaining blocks)
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011637
| GET | Token: 0xfc
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Block2: 1/0/64
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451637
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfc
| | Block2: 1/1/64
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [64 bytes]
....
| |
+----->| Header: GET 0x41011638
| GET | Token: 0xfc
| | Uri-Path: status-icon
| | Block2: 4/0/64
| |
|<-----+ Header: 2.05 0x61451638
| 2.05 | Token: 0xfc
| | Block2: 4/0/64
| | ETag: 6f00f392
| | Payload: [53 bytes]
Figure 13: Observe Sequence with Early Negotiation