Rec. ITU-T H.245 (12/2009) 9
The total capability of a terminal to receive and decode various signals is made known to the other
terminal by transmission of its capability set.
Receive capabilities describe the terminal's ability to receive and process incoming information
streams. Transmitters shall limit the content of their transmitted information to that which the
receiver has indicated it is capable of receiving. The absence of a receive capability indicates that
the terminal cannot receive (is a transmitter only).
Transmit capabilities describe the terminal's ability to transmit information streams. Transmit
capabilities serve to offer receivers a choice of possible modes of operation, so that the receiver
may request the mode which it prefers to receive. The absence of a transmit capability indicates that
the terminal is not offering a choice of preferred modes to the receiver (but it may still transmit
anything within the capability of the receiver).
These capability sets provide for more than one stream of a given medium type to be sent
simultaneously. For example, a terminal may declare its ability to receive (or send) two independent
H.262 video streams and two independent G.722 audio streams at the same time. Capability
messages have been defined to allow a terminal to indicate that it does not have fixed capabilities,
but that they depend on which other modes are being used simultaneously. For example, it is
possible to indicate that higher resolution video can be decoded when a simpler audio algorithm is
used; or that either two low resolution video sequences can be decoded or a single high resolution
one. It is also possible to indicate trade-offs between the capability to transmit and the capability to
receive.
Non-standard capabilities and control messages may be issued using the NonStandardParameter
structure. Note that while the meaning of non-standard messages is defined by individual
organizations, equipment built by any manufacturer may signal any non-standard message, if the
meaning is known.
Terminals may reissue capability sets at any time.
5.3 Logical channel signalling procedures
An acknowledged protocol is defined for the opening and closing of logical channels which carry
the audiovisual and data information. The aim of these procedures is to ensure that a terminal is
capable of receiving and decoding the data that will be transmitted on a logical channel at the time
the logical channel is opened rather than at the time the first data is transmitted on it; and to ensure
that the receive terminal is ready to receive and decode the data that will be transmitted on the
logical channel before that transmission starts. The OpenLogicalChannel message includes a
description of the data to be transported, for example, H.262 MP@ML at 6 Mbit/s. Logical channels
should only be opened when there is sufficient capability to receive data on all open logical
channels simultaneously.
A part of this protocol is concerned with the opening of bidirectional channels. To avoid conflicts
which may arise when two terminals initiate similar events simultaneously, one terminal is defined
as the master terminal, and the other as the slave terminal. A protocol is defined to establish which
terminal is the master and which is the slave. However, systems that use this Recommendation may
specify the procedure specified in this Recommendation or another means of determining which
terminal is the master and which is the slave.
5.4 Receive terminal close logical channel request
A logical channel is opened and closed from the transmitter side. A mechanism is defined which
allows a receive terminal to request the closure of an incoming logical channel. The transmit
terminal may accept or reject the logical channel closure request. A terminal may, for example, use
these procedures to request the closure of an incoming logical channel which, for whatever reason,