2026-08-19: First-look — a new individual I-D lets a relay switch media filters on its own in response to real-time network conditions, rather than waiting for the subscriber to re-signal.
draft-yuyou-conditional-filtering-00“Conditional Range Filters for Media over QUIC Transport” was submitted to the datatracker 2026-08-17 and announced on moq@ietf.org Aug-18 07:40 UTC (permalink) by Yu You (Nokia), with co-authors Serhan Gül (Nokia), Ali C. Begen (Networked Media) and ANM Zaheduzzaman Sarker (Nokia, MOQ WG co-chair). Individual draft, not adopted. It is Nokia’s first individual MoQ I-D and grows directly out of their relay-side filter-implementation work — the Aug-17 implementer-feedback comment on Mo Zanaty’s open Top Tracks Filter PR #1830 and the Aug-3 DATAGRAM-fragmentation design thread. See discussions-2026-08.
draft-yuyou-conditional-filtering-00 | individual submission | submitted 2026-08-17, rev -00 | announced to moq@ietf.org 2026-08-18
Authors
- Yu You (Nokia) — corresponding author; raised the mechanism from Nokia’s relay filter work
- Serhan Gül (Nokia)
- Ali Cengiz Begen (Networked Media) — long-standing IETF/MMUSIC-and-streaming researcher
- ANM Zaheduzzaman Sarker (Nokia) — MOQ WG co-chair, also co-author of moq-overview
Note: this is a four-author Nokia-led draft, not a single-author submission. The presence of a sitting WG co-chair (Sarker) among the authors is notable, though co-chairs routinely author individual drafts in their personal capacity and this carries no procedural weight for adoption.
Abstract (summary)
Proposes making MOQT’s range filters conditional so a relay can activate or deactivate a filter set autonomously based on real-time metrics, instead of the subscriber having to send an explicit REQUEST_UPDATE each time conditions change. The draft argues today’s filters are static — changing them requires subscriber signaling, which is slow to react precisely when it matters most (during congestion). It adds a new RANGE_FILTER_CONDITION parameter that binds a filter set to a trigger (e.g. a throughput threshold), and a PRIOR_SUBGROUP_ID_GAP signal so a subscriber can tell an intentional filter-induced gap from genuine network loss. The mechanism is designed to stay compatible with the existing SetID-based filters.
Key Ideas
RANGE_FILTER_CONDITIONparameter. Attaches a real-time condition (such as a measured-throughput threshold) to a filter set. When the condition is met, the relay activates or deactivates that filter without a further subscriber round-trip — cutting reaction latency under congestion.- Relay-autonomous filtering. Moves the “when to shed which tracks/ranges” decision closer to where the congestion is observed (the relay), rather than round-tripping every change back through the subscriber via
REQUEST_UPDATE. PRIOR_SUBGROUP_ID_GAP. A companion signal that lets subscribers distinguish an intentional gap in delivered subgroups (because a conditional filter deactivated a set) from network loss — so the receiver does not misread deliberate shedding as an error.- Compatible with existing SetID filters. Layered on top of the current filter design rather than replacing it, so it can coexist with static SetID-based filtering.
Why it matters
- A congestion-reactive complement to the WG’s filter work. The WG has been building out static filters — Location filters, Mo Zanaty’s Top Tracks Filter #1830, the split-filters-out-of-core-transport direction from IETF-126. This draft argues the dynamics of switching filters under load need their own mechanism, and proposes one.
- Implementer-driven. It comes straight from Nokia’s relay implementation experience: Yu You raised the Aug-17 clarification request while implementing the Top Tracks Filter “in our Relay,” and had earlier driven the Aug-3 DATAGRAM object-fragmentation thread. This is feedback from building a relay turning into a spec proposal.
- Nokia’s first individual MoQ draft, and a heavyweight author list. Nokia has been an active WG-thread and interop participant (the Vienna Hackathon draft-18 conformance relay, the DATAGRAM-fragmentation discussion), but this is their first authored individual I-D in the MoQ space. Three of the four authors are Nokia — including MOQ WG co-chair Zaheduzzaman Sarker — with Ali C. Begen (Networked Media) adding an established streaming-research voice.
Status & Caveats
- Individual draft at -00 (submitted 2026-08-17, announced 2026-08-18) — not adopted, no WG call for adoption.
- The wiki tracks individual drafts that are actively discussed or tied to WG work; this is logged as a first-look because it proposes a concrete new filter-signaling mechanism directly adjacent to the WG’s live filter discussions. Watch for WG-list reaction, referencing implementations, or a relationship to the Top Tracks / Location filter PRs.
Related
- moq-transport — the transport whose range filters this draft makes conditional
- yu-you — corresponding author (Nokia); see also the Aug-3 DATAGRAM-fragmentation and Aug-17 Top-Tracks-Filter threads
- zaheduzzaman-sarker — co-author and MOQ WG co-chair; also co-authors moq-overview
- discussions-2026-08 — the August discussion digest where the announcement and the related filter-PR feedback are recorded