diff --git a/src/proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp b/src/proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp
index bd79683ee..2b43ee6d1 100644
--- a/src/proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 
 #include "lib/error.hpp"
-#include "proc/engine/buffhandle.hpp"
+#include "proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/procnode.hpp"
 
 #include <boost/noncopyable.hpp>
diff --git a/src/proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp b/src/proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1631690dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,242 @@
+/*
+  CHANNEL-DESCRIPTOR.hpp  -  Channel / Buffer type representation for the engine
+
+  Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
+    2008,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
+
+  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
+  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+*/
+
+/** @file buffhandle.hpp
+ ** Various bits needed to support the buffer management within the render nodes.
+ ** When pulling data from predecessor nodes and calculating new data, each render node
+ ** needs several input and output buffers. These may be allocated and provided by several
+ ** different "buffer providers" (for example the frame cache). Typically, the real buffers
+ ** will be passed as parameters to the actual job instance when scheduled, drawing on the
+ ** results of prerequisite jobs. Yet the actual job implementation remains agnostic with
+ ** respect to the way actual buffers are provided; the invocation just pushes BuffHandle
+ ** objects around. The actual render function gets an array of C-pointers to the actual
+ ** buffers, and for accessing those buffers, the node needs to keep a table of buffer
+ ** pointers, and for releasing the buffers later on, we utilise the buffer handles.
+ ** The usage pattern of those buffer pointer tables is stack-like, thus the actual
+ ** implementation utilises a single large buffer pointer array per pull() call
+ ** sequence and dynamically claims small chunks for each node.
+ ** 
+ ** @see nodewiring-def.hpp
+ ** @see nodeoperation.hpp
+ ** @see bufftable.hpp       storage for the buffer table
+ ** @see engine::RenderInvocation
+ */
+
+#ifndef ENGINE_CHANNEL_DESCRIPTOR_H
+#define ENGINE_CHANNEL_DESCRIPTOR_H
+
+
+#include "lib/error.hpp"
+#include "lib/streamtype.hpp"
+#include "lib/bool-checkable.hpp"
+
+
+namespace engine {
+  
+  namespace error = lumiera::error;
+  using error::LUMIERA_ERROR_LIFECYCLE;
+  
+  typedef size_t HashVal;           ////////////TICKET #722
+  
+  class BuffHandle;
+  class BufferProvider;
+  
+  
+  
+  /**
+   * An opaque descriptor to identify the type and further properties of a data buffer.
+   * For each kind of buffer, there is somewhere a BufferProvider responsible for the
+   * actual storage management. This provider may "lock" a buffer for actual use,
+   * returning a BuffHandle.
+   * @note this descriptor and especially the #subClassification_ is really owned
+   *       by the BufferProvider, which may use (and even change) the opaque contents
+   *       to organise the internal buffer management.
+   * 
+   * @todo try to move that definition into buffer-provider.hpp   ////////////////////////////////////TICKET #249
+   */
+  class BufferDescriptor
+    {
+      BufferProvider* provider_;
+      HashVal subClassification_;
+      
+      BufferDescriptor(BufferProvider& manager, HashVal detail)
+        : provider_(&manager)
+        , subClassification_(detail)
+      { }
+      
+      friend class BufferProvider;
+      
+    public:
+      // using standard copy operations
+      
+      bool verifyValidity()  const;
+      size_t determineBufferSize() const;
+      
+      void emit   (BuffHandle const&)  const;
+      void release (BuffHandle const&)  const;
+      
+      operator HashVal()  const { return subClassification_; }
+    };
+  
+  
+  
+  class ProcNode;
+  typedef ProcNode* PNode;
+  
+  
+  struct ChannelDescriptor  ///////TODO really need to define that here? it is needed for node wiring only
+    {
+      const lumiera::StreamType * bufferType;                /////////////////////////////////////////TICKET #828
+    };
+  
+  struct InChanDescriptor : ChannelDescriptor
+    {
+      PNode dataSrc;    ///< the ProcNode to pull this input from
+      uint srcChannel; ///<  output channel to use on the predecessor node
+    };
+  
+  
+  
+  
+  
+  /**
+   * Handle for a buffer for processing data, abstracting away the actual implementation.
+   * The real buffer pointer can be retrieved by dereferencing this smart-handle class.
+   * 
+   * @todo as of 6/2011 it isn't clear how buffer handles are actually created
+   *       and how the lifecycle (and memory) management works                  //////////////////////TICKET #249 rework BuffHandle creation and usage
+   */
+  class BuffHandle
+    : public lib::BoolCheckable<BuffHandle>
+    {
+      typedef lumiera::StreamType::ImplFacade::DataBuffer Buff;
+      
+      BufferDescriptor descriptor_;
+      Buff* pBuffer_; 
+      
+      
+    public:
+      typedef Buff* PBuff;
+      
+      /** @internal a buffer handle may be obtained by "locking"
+       *  a buffer from the corresponding BufferProvider */
+      BuffHandle(BufferDescriptor const& typeInfo, void* storage = 0)
+        : descriptor_(typeInfo)
+        , pBuffer_(static_cast<PBuff>(storage))
+        { }
+      
+      // using standard copy operations
+      
+      
+      
+      void
+      emit()
+        {
+          REQUIRE (pBuffer_);
+          descriptor_.emit (*this);
+        }
+      
+      void release()
+        {
+          if (pBuffer_)
+            {
+              REQUIRE (isValid());
+              descriptor_.release (*this);
+              pBuffer_ = 0;
+            }
+          ENSURE (!isValid());
+        }
+      
+      
+      template<typename BU>
+      BU& create();
+      
+      template<typename BU>
+      BU& accessAs();
+      
+      
+      //////////////////////////////////////////TICKET #249 this operator looks obsolete. The Buff type is a placeholder type,
+      //////////////////////////////////////////TODO         it should never be accessed directly from within Lumiera engine code
+      Buff&
+      operator* ()  const
+        {
+          ENSURE (pBuffer_);
+          return *pBuffer_;
+        }
+      
+      bool
+      isValid()  const
+        {
+          return bool(pBuffer_)
+              && descriptor_.verifyValidity();
+        }
+      
+      HashVal
+      entryID()  const
+        {
+          return descriptor_;
+        }
+      
+      size_t
+      size()  const
+        {
+          return descriptor_.determineBufferSize();
+        }
+      
+    };
+  
+  
+  /* === Implementation details === */
+  
+  /** convenience shortcut: place and maintain an object within the buffer.
+   *  This operation performs the necessary steps to attach an object;
+   *  if the buffer isn't locked yet, it will do so. Moreover, the created
+   *  object will be owned by the buffer management facilities, i.e. the
+   *  destructor is registered as cleanup function.   
+   */
+  template<typename BU>
+  BU&
+  BuffHandle::create()
+  {
+    UNIMPLEMENTED ("convenience shortcut to attach/place an object in one sway");
+  }
+  
+  
+  /** convenience shortcut: access the buffer contents casted to a specific type.
+   * @warning this is a \em blind cast, there is no type safety.
+   * @note clients can utilise the metadata::LocalKey to keep track of some
+   *       specific property of the buffer, like e.g. the type of object.
+   */
+  template<typename BU>
+  BU&
+  BuffHandle::accessAs()
+  {
+    if (!pBuffer_)
+      throw error::Logic ("buffer not (yet) locked for access by clients"
+                         , LUMIERA_ERROR_LIFECYCLE);
+    return *reinterpret_cast<BU*> (pBuffer_);
+  }
+  
+  
+  
+} // namespace engine
+#endif
diff --git a/src/proc/engine/nodeinvocation.hpp b/src/proc/engine/nodeinvocation.hpp
index a67696850..7bb92f1e2 100644
--- a/src/proc/engine/nodeinvocation.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/engine/nodeinvocation.hpp
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 
 #include "proc/state.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/procnode.hpp"
-#include "proc/engine/buffhandle.hpp"
+#include "proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp"
 
 
diff --git a/src/proc/engine/nodeoperation.hpp b/src/proc/engine/nodeoperation.hpp
index 947fa645f..34e8b684f 100644
--- a/src/proc/engine/nodeoperation.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/engine/nodeoperation.hpp
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 
 #include "proc/state.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/procnode.hpp"
-#include "proc/engine/buffhandle.hpp"
+#include "proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/bufftable-obsolete.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/nodeinvocation.hpp"
 
diff --git a/tests/components/proc/engine/node-basic-test.cpp b/tests/components/proc/engine/node-basic-test.cpp
index 8e973cc1a..810edf8a7 100644
--- a/tests/components/proc/engine/node-basic-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/components/proc/engine/node-basic-test.cpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #include "proc/engine/nodefactory.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/nodewiring.hpp"
 #include "proc/engine/stateproxy.hpp"
-#include "proc/engine/buffhandle.hpp"
+#include "proc/engine/channel-descriptor.hpp"
 #include "proc/mobject/session/effect.hpp"
 #include "lib/allocation-cluster.hpp"