{ "model": { "rank": 4910, "code": "thing-q132364", "model_id": "vr.tr.communication-protocol", "name": "communication protocol", "purpose": "Let an agent handle communication protocols by layer, specification, versions, implementations and security.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q132364/", "tier": 2, "score": 71, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Web Map Service", "Web Feature Service", "XMPP Extension Protocol", "USB-C Alternate Mode", "open protocol", "cache coherence", "IEEE 802.11ac", "IEEE 802.11n", "Display Data Channel", "Bus-Interface-Logic", "Quick Share", "Berkeley sockets", "TALQ Protocol", "Hypercube", "USB and Firewire Host Controller Interface", "connection-oriented protocol", "VLAN Trunking Protocol", "computer network protocol", "text-based protocol", "internet of things protocol", "command and control", "Automated Certificate Management Environment", "stateful protocol", "stateless protocol", "cryptographic protocol of communication", "Time-Triggered Protocol", "connectionless protocol", "Common Gateway Interface", "automatic repeat request", "PSGI", "bit-oriented protocol", "priority ceiling protocol", "authentication protocol", "byte-oriented protocol", "USB data transfer mode", "Three-phase commit protocol", "Interaction protocol", "X.25", "PROFIsafe", "Specific Area Message Encoding" ], "aliasCount": 69, "merged": 69, "knownIn": 71, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q132364", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q132364", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T10:49:39Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q132364", "registryId": "vr.tr.communication-protocol", "name": "communication protocol", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q132364/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.communication-protocol", "name": "communication protocol", "purpose": "Let an agent handle communication protocols by layer, specification, versions, implementations and security.", "definition": "A set of rules and formats governing how data is exchanged between devices, programs or systems, such as TCP/IP, HTTP, USB, Bluetooth, XMPP and OGC web services; specified in technical standards.", "what_it_is_for": "Interoperable communication between systems.", "affordances": [ "identify the protocol and version", "find the authoritative specification", "check security properties", "debug interoperability issues" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Defines message formats and rules", "Layered", "Versioned and standardised", "Security varies" ], "appearance": "Not physical; defined in specifications and seen in network traffic.", "visual_identification": [ "Names such as HTTP, TCP, MQTT", "RFCs and standards documents", "Diplomatic protocol is a different sense" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "network protocols", "application protocols", "hardware interface protocols", "messaging protocols", "geospatial web service protocols" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "technical standard and interface standard", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is specified by", "target": "IETF, IEEE, W3C and OGC", "why": "bodies" }, { "relation": "is implemented in", "target": "software and hardware", "why": "implementation" }, { "relation": "is confused with", "target": "protocol (diplomatic)", "why": "another sense" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "RFC number", "value_or_pattern": "IETF document number", "note": "specifications" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "IETF RFCs", "IEEE 802 standards", "EU Cyber Resilience Act for products" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Using insecure or deprecated protocols", "Misreading the specification version" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity", "name": "Identity", "description": "Which protocol.", "rationale": "Specifications define protocols.", "layers": [ { "id": "name", "name": "Name", "description": "Protocol and version.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-finding", "name": "Name", "description": "Protocol identity.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which protocol and version is meant?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which layer does it operate at?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "spec", "name": "Specification", "description": "Authoritative document.", "findings": [ { "id": "spec-finding", "name": "Specification", "description": "Specification.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which document is the authoritative specification?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Has it been updated or obsoleted?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "security", "name": "Security", "description": "Safety.", "rationale": "Security must be checked.", "layers": [ { "id": "properties", "name": "Properties", "description": "Encryption.", "findings": [ { "id": "properties-finding", "name": "Properties", "description": "Security properties.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does the protocol provide encryption and authentication?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which versions are deprecated for security reasons?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "vulnerabilities", "name": "Vulnerabilities", "description": "Advisories.", "findings": [ { "id": "vulnerabilities-finding", "name": "Vulnerabilities", "description": "Vulnerabilities.", "questions": [ { "text": "Are there known vulnerabilities in this implementation?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which advisory lists them?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "implementation", "name": "Implementation", "description": "Using it.", "rationale": "Implementations vary.", "layers": [ { "id": "libraries", "name": "Libraries", "description": "Software.", "findings": [ { "id": "libraries-finding", "name": "Libraries", "description": "Implementations.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which maintained libraries implement it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Are they conformant?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "debug", "name": "Debug", "description": "Troubleshooting.", "findings": [ { "id": "debug-finding", "name": "Debug", "description": "Troubleshooting.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can interoperability problems be diagnosed?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which tools inspect the traffic?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "senses", "name": "Senses", "description": "Disambiguation.", "rationale": "Protocol has other senses.", "layers": [ { "id": "diplomatic", "name": "Diplomatic", "description": "Etiquette.", "findings": [ { "id": "diplomatic-finding", "name": "Diplomatic", "description": "Diplomatic sense.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is diplomatic protocol meant?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Which entry fits?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "medical", "name": "Medical", "description": "Clinical protocol.", "findings": [ { "id": "medical-finding", "name": "Medical", "description": "Medical sense.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is a clinical or research protocol meant?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Which entry fits?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each protocol be a separate entry?", "How should specifications be linked?", "How should security status be tracked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a communication protocol, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent handle communication protocols by layer, specification, versions, implementations and security.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Web Map Service, Web Feature Service, XMPP Extension Protocol, USB-C Alternate Mode, open protocol, cache coherence, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11n, Display Data Channel, Bus-Interface-Logic, Quick Share, Berkeley sockets.", "69 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 71 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a communication protocol, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Web Map Service", "Web Feature Service", "XMPP Extension Protocol", "USB-C Alternate Mode", "open protocol", "cache coherence", "IEEE 802.11ac", "IEEE 802.11n", "Display Data Channel", "Bus-Interface-Logic", "Quick Share", "Berkeley sockets" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 71 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 69 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one communication protocol from another, and a communication protocol from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a communication protocol sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a communication protocol from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a communication protocol passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a communication protocol between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a communication protocol, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a communication protocol is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a communication protocol says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a communication protocol contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a communication protocol and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What communication protocol studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does communication protocol take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does communication protocol establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where communication protocol is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark communication protocol as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place communication protocol, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a communication protocol came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a communication protocol and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a communication protocol is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a communication protocol, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a communication protocol, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a communication protocol is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }