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+{{bip}}
+
+<pre>
+  BIP: 73
+  Title: Use "Accept" header for response type negotiation with Payment Request URLs 
+  Author: Stephen Pair <stephen@bitpay.com>
+  Status: Draft
+  Type: Standards Track
+  Created: 27-08-2013
+</pre>
+
+==Abstract==
+
+This BIP describes an enhancement to the payment protocol ([[BIP 0070|BIP 70]])
+that addresses the need for short URLs when scanning from QR codes.  It
+generalizes the specification for the behavior of a payment request URL in a 
+way that allows the client and server to negotiate the content of the 
+response using the HTTP Accept: header field.  Specifically, the client
+can indicate to the server whether it prefers to receive a bitcoin URI or
+a payment request.
+
+Implementation of this BIP does not require full payment request ([[BIP 0070|BIP 70]]) support.
+
+==Motivation==
+
+The payment protocol augments the bitcoin: uri scheme with an additional
+"payment" parameter that specifies a URL where a payment request can be
+downloaded.  This creates long URIs that, when rendered as a QR code, have
+a high information density.  Dense QR codes can be difficult to scan resulting
+in a more frustrating user experience.  The goal is to create a standard that
+would allow QR scanning wallets to use less dense QR codes.  It also makes
+general purpose QR code scanners more usable with bitcoin accepting 
+websites.
+
+==Specification==
+
+QR scanning wallets will consider a non bitcoin URI scanned from a QR code to
+be an end point where either a bitcoin URI or a payment request can be obtained.
+
+A wallet client uses the Accept: HTTP header to specify whether it can accept 
+a payment request, a URI, or both.  A media type of text/uri-list specifies that
+the client accepts a bitcoin URI. A media type of application/bitcoin-paymentrequest
+specifies that the client can process a payment request.  In the absence of an 
+Accept: header, the server is expected to respond with text/html suitable for 
+rendering in a browser.  An HTML response will ensure that QR codes scanned
+by non Bitcoin wallet QR scanners are useful (they could render an HTML page
+with a payment link that when clicked would open a wallet on the device).
+
+It is not required that the client and server support the full semantics of an 
+HTTP Accept header.  If application/bitcoin-paymentrequest is specified in the
+header, the server should send a payment request regardless of anything else
+specified in the Accept header.  If text/uri-list is specified (but not 
+application/bitcoin-paymentrequest), a valid Bitcoin URI should be returned.  If 
+neither is specified, the server can return an HTML page.  When a uri-list is returned
+only the first item in the list is used (and expected to be a bitcoin URI), any additional
+URIs should be ignored.
+
+==Compatibility==
+
+Only QR scanning wallets that implement this BIP will be able to process QR 
+codes containing payment request URLs.  There are two possible workarounds for QR
+scanning wallets that do not implement this BIP: 1) the server gives the user an 
+option to change the QR code to a bitcoin: URI or 2) the user scans the code with 
+a generic QR code scanner.
+
+In the second scenario, if the server responds with a webpage containing a link 
+to a bitcoin URI, the user can complete the payment by clicking that link provided
+the user has a wallet installed on their device and it supports bitcoin URIs.  If the 
+wallet/device does not have support for bitcoin URIs, the user can fall back on
+address copy/paste.
+
+This BIP should be fully compatible with BIP 70 assuming it is required that wallets
+implementing BIP 70 make use of the Accept: HTTP header when retrieving a
+payment request.
+
+==Examples==
+The first image below is of a bitcoin URI with an amount and payment request 
+specified (note, this is a fairly minimal URI as it does not contain a 
+label and the request URL is of moderate size).  The second image is a QR
+code with only the payment request url specified.
+
+[[File:BIP_0073a.png]]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[[File:BIP_0073b.png]]
+[[Category:BIP]]