SIST-TS CEN/TS 16238:2011

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TS CEN/TS 16238:2011
01-november-2011
Poštne storitve - Odprti vmesnik med strojnim procesorjem in bralnim kodirnim
sistemom - Vmesnik MC/RC
Postal services - Open Interface between Machine Control and Reading Coding System
- MC/RC-Interface
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Offene Schnittstelle zwischen Maschinensteuerung und
Lese- und Codier-System - MC/RC-Schnittstelle
Services postaux - Norme ouverte pour l'interface entre le processeur d'image, la
commande numérique et le contrôleur d'image
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TS 16238:2011
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
35.200 Vmesniška in povezovalna Interface and interconnection
oprema equipment
SIST-TS CEN/TS 16238:2011 en,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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SIST-TS CEN/TS 16238:2011

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SIST-TS CEN/TS 16238:2011


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CEN/TS 16238

SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE

TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
September 2011
ICS 03.240; 35.240.60
English Version
Postal services - Open Interface between Machine Control and
Reading Coding System - MC/RC-Interface
Services postaux - Interface ouverte entre le système de Postalische Dienstleistungen - Offene Schnittstelle
Contrôle de la Machine et le système de Reconnaissance zwischen Maschinensteuerung und Lese- und Codier-
et de Codage - Interface MC/RC System - MC/RC-Schnittstelle
This Technical Specification (CEN/TS) was approved by CEN on 4 June 2011 for provisional application.

The period of validity of this CEN/TS is limited initially to three years. After two years the members of CEN will be requested to submit their
comments, particularly on the question whether the CEN/TS can be converted into a European Standard.

CEN members are required to announce the existence of this CEN/TS in the same way as for an EN and to make the CEN/TS available
promptly at national level in an appropriate form. It is permissible to keep conflicting national standards in force (in parallel to the CEN/TS)
until the final decision about the possible conversion of the CEN/TS into an EN is reached.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.





EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels
© 2011 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TS 16238:2011: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

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Contents Page
Introduction .5
1 Scope .6
2 Normative References .8
3 Terms and definitions .8
4 Symbols and abbreviations . 10
5 Use Case Model (UCM) . 11
5.1 Conventions . 11
5.2 Use Case Overview . 11
5.3 Detailed Use Case Descriptions . 13
5.3.1 UC01 – Publish and Select Server . 14
5.3.2 UC02 – Connect . 16
5.3.3 UC03 – Disconnect . 19
5.3.4 UC04 – Submit Mailpiece . 21
5.3.5 UC05 – Request Mailpiece Attributes . 24
5.3.6 UC06 – Transmit Mailpiece Attributes . 26
5.3.7 UC07 – Update Mailpiece Attributes . 29
5.3.8 UC08 – Request Image . 31
5.3.9 UC09 – Transmit Image . 33
5.3.10 UC10 – Get RC System Status . 35
5.3.11 UC11 – Put RC System Status . 36
5.3.12 UC12 – Get Machine Status . 38
5.3.13 UC13 – Put Machine Status . 40
5.4 General error handling . 42
6 Interface Design Description (IDD) . 43
6.1 TIFF Definition . 43
6.1.1 Tiff Usage . 43
6.2 Mailpiece Data Definition . 43
6.2.1 Requirements . 43
6.2.2 Model Commitments . 45
6.2.3 Domain Data Model & Types . 47
7 System Design Description (SDD) . 90
7.1 Overview . 90
7.2 Architectural Goals and Constraints . 91
7.2.1 Client-Server Model . 91
7.2.2 Client-Server Relationships . 92
7.2.3 Server Selection . 93
7.3 Service Model . 94
7.3.1 Overview . 94
7.3.2 Exception Handling . 96
7.3.3 Interface: IReadingCoding . 97
7.3.4 Interface: IMachineController . 101
7.3.5 Data definition . 104
7.4 Behavioural Model . 104
8 Middleware dependent parts of the SDD . 105
8.1 SDD TCP/IP Implementation . 105
8.1.1 Communication layer . 105
8.1.2 Server selection . 105
8.1.3 Message definition. 105
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8.2 SDD CORBA Implementation . 107
8.2.1 Server Selection . 108
8.2.2 ORB Implementation . 108
8.2.3 Interface Definition . 108
8.3 SDD SOAP Implementation . 111
8.3.1 Server Selection . 111
8.3.2 Interface Definition . 114
8.3.3 Used Types . 118
8.3.4 Exceptions Handling . 120
Annex A (informative) XML data structure . 121
A.1 Introduction to XML . 121
A.1.1 XML Document Structure . 121
A.2 Introduction to XML Schema . 122
A.2.1 XML schema components . 122
A.3 Listing of XML Schema . 124

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Foreword
This document (CEN/TS 16238:2011) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
Services”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. CEN [and/or CENELEC] shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following
countries are bound to announce this Technical Specification: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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Introduction
There is a growing demand for postal operators to combine parts of their sorting automation equipment from
different suppliers in order to optimise performance. In the past, this has led to project-specific interfaces
being negotiated between one postal operator and one or multiple suppliers. These project-specific interfaces
were developed by the suppliers and maintained for an agreed period. This approach has several
disadvantages:
 The interface is derived from an interface that was not intended to be open.
 The interface is developed for a single project and works only in the context of that project (extra costs).
 Each participating supplier has to implement the interface (multiple effort).
 Experience shows that integration of components with project-specific interfaces is complex and
expensive.
 Project-specific interfaces are not integrated into the product line and once the initially agreed
maintenance period is over it may be difficult and expensive to maintain and/or may hinder the adoption
of equipment upgrades.
This has led to “open interfaces” defined by one supplier. These still have the disadvantage of being in
product use only by one supplier. Within a group of postal operators and suppliers it was decided to develop a
set of “open standard interfaces” which will be developed by the suppliers and referred to by the postal
operators. The benefits of these interfaces are expected to be that they:
 are fixed in an international standard (with change control);
 are agreed and implemented by major suppliers;
 are agreed by customers and therefore used in calls for tenders;
 will result in net savings with the high initial development effort and consequent higher basic equipment
prices being more than offset by reduced project development, integration and maintenance costs;
 will minimize the need for project integration effort by reducing implementation timescales;
 will increase competition between suppliers by stimulating product improvements;
This Technical Specification covers the interface between an image controller (IC), the scanner subsystem
including the scanner related image processing (IP) devices and the machine control (MC) subsystem of
postal automation equipment. One related standard is CEN/TS 15448, Postal Services – Open Standard
Interface between image controller and enrichment devices (OCRs, video coding systems, voting systems).
Other work items (subject to agreement of CEN/TC 331 and the UPU Standards Board) will be defined to
cover other areas as and when the need is identified and the resources for development become available. A
separate project group for each interface will undertake the work.
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1 Scope
This Technical Specification describes the “Open Standard Interface between Image Processor, Machine
Control and Image Controller” (IP/MC/IC Interface) in the context of postal automation equipment.
The following architectural overview is the basis for this interface standardization:

Figure 1 — System overview
It was agreed to unify the interfaces between
a) Image Processor and Image Controller,
b) Image Processor and Machine Control and
c) Machine Control and Image Controller
and to produce one common specification for this so-called IP/MC/IC Interface.
The communication partners of this interface will be called Machine or Machine Control (MC) on the one side
and Reading/Coding (RC) System on the other side.
There may be several instances of this interface, depending on the implementation of the MC and the
connected RC.
NOTE interfaces for synchronizing the lifted images with their mailpiece_IDs provided by the machine are not shown
in the figure above and are not subject of standardization within the first release of this interface.
From the customer point of view, the following two scenarios are relevant. The systems MACHINE and RC
SYSTEM are to be considered as “black boxes” thus not detailing internal system structure and interfaces.
1) The Machine already includes Camera and Image Processor and will be connected to a 3rd-party
RC System including Image Controller and Enrichment Devices.
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Figure 2 — System interfacing scenario 1
2) The Machine will be connected to a 3rd-party RC System including Camera, Image Processor,
Image Controller and Enrichment Devices. The Camera and (possibly) the Image Processor will
have to be mechanically integrated into the machine.
NOTE The camera can be provided by any 3rd-party. This should not impede on the IP/MC/IC interfaces !

Figure 3 — System interfacing scenario 2
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This standard is arranged under four main clauses as described in Figure 4.
 UCM (Use Case Model) describes the use cases for the IP/MC/IC Interface using sequence diagrams
with messages.
 IDD (Interface Design Description) defines the data model for the IP/MC/IC interface.
 SDD (System Design Description) defines the mandatory specification of the IP/MC/IC interface in terms
of architecture, services and behavioural models. In the Common Part of this clause no middleware or
transport layer is specified. The common part of this clause is intended to be middleware-independent.
 SDD-TCP/IP, SDD-CORBA, SDD-SOAP in these specialized clauses. The specifications for three
compatible transport solutions TCP/IP, CORBA and SOAP are provided. Further middleware solutions
can be added when available, provided that they are fully compatible with the Common Part.

Figure 4 — IP/MC/IC Interface Document Structure
2 Normative References
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, or references to a version number, only the edition cited applies. For undated references and
where there is no reference to a version number, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
 CEN/TS 15448, Postal Services – Open standard interface between image controller and enrichment
devices (OCRs, video coding systems, voting systems)
3 Terms and definitions
3.1
actor
coherent set of roles which users of uses cases play when interacting with these use cases. An actor has one
role for each use case with which it communicates. See [1]
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3.2
attributes
all non-image information related to a mailpiece
3.3
coding Desk
computer or terminal equipped with software to display images of mailpieces, and designed for a human
operator (video coder) to enter information about the mailpiece
3.4
component
software Unit with a defined interface; might contain other components
3.5
data element
simple data type
3.6
data object
assembly of elements [1.*] and/or other data objects; recursive type
3.7
enrichment
process of generating new information about a mailpiece
NOTE Any information about the mailpiece may be used in this process, such as the image, image information or
result data. The use of an image however, is not compulsory
3.8
enrichment device
system designed to enrich information about mailpieces
3.9
image
data acquired by the Image Processor (including scanner device) and stored as part of the mailpiece
3.10
image controller (IC)
the device that handles all the image data and results exchange between the transport and the enrichment
devices – it is part of the RC system
3.11
image processor (IP)
the device that manages and processes images from the camera device – it may be in the Transport or in the
RC system, depending on implementations
3.12
infrastructure data
the basic information, such as identification references which an Image Controller and Enrichment Device
require in order to communicate effectively
EXAMPLE Letter ID, Submission ID.
3.13
machine control
the device - including software - that manages all transport functions inside postal automation equipment
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3.14
mailpiece data
the information which describes attributes of the physical mailpiece which is used to aid and is a product of
enrichment
EXAMPLE mailpiece width & height, indicia information, address location, city name, sort code etc.
3.15
offline
operational mode of a sorting machine, in which some processing of mail is done after the mail has been
conveyed in the machine; there is a need for identification of individual mailpieces, to re-identify the mailpiece
for which an additional sorting pass is required
NOTE Identification of mailpieces can be done by printing an ID-tag on individual mailpieces or by using print less
identification means.
3.16
online
operational mode of a sorting machine, implying all the processing of mail is done while the mail is conveyed
in the machine
NOTE Processing of mail may include sorting to output bins, printing of information on the mailpiece and other.
3.17
permanent error
fatal error as indicated by the middleware or application layer.
NOTE A non-fatal error may be considered to be a permanent error after repeated remedial handling
3.18
reading Coding System (RC System)
the system that provides image handling (the IC function) and retrieval of mailpiece data (ED function) from
the images, depending on implementations
3.19
result
outcome of enrichment
3.20
street
street keying (street name and/or house number in street)
3.21
system
consists of components and the relationships between them (interfaces, communication)
4 Symbols and abbreviations
ED: Enrichment Device (OCR, Video Coding, Voter system)
IC: Image Controller
ID: Identifier
IP: Image Processor
IDD: Interface Design Description
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MC: Machine Control
mpID: Mailpiece Identification information
OCR: Optical Character Recognition
PC: Post Code
RC: Reading (OCR) and Coding
ROI: Region Of Interest
SDD: System Design Description
UCM: Use Case Model
UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
VCS: Video Coding System
W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
XML: eXtendable Markup Language
5 Use Case Model (UCM)
This clause describes the use cases for the “Open Standard Interface between Image Processor, Machine
Control and Image Controller” (IP/MC/IC Interface) using sequence diagrams with messages.
5.1 Conventions
Agreed syntax for use case names:
 Capital letter at the beginning of each word
 No underlines to connect the single words
EXAMPLE Submit Mailpiece
Agreed syntax for message names:
 No capital letter at the beginning of each word
 Underlines to connect the single words
EXAMPLE establish_connection
5.2 Use Case Overview
As already indicated in the system interfacing scenarios in Clause 1, there may be several instances of this
interface between a Machine and the RC System. Each interface instance handles a point-to-point
connection.
The use cases as listed in the table below and detailed in 5.3 describe the behaviour of an individual instance
of this interface and do not need to consider any other instances.
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Table 1
ID Name Description
UC01 Publish and Select The RC System publishes its presence to a Server Selection service.
Server The Machine uses the service to identify the RC System.
UC02 Connect The Machine connects to the RC System.
As part of connection protocol, the RC System indicates its
capabilities.
RC System capabilities (related to scenarios 1+2, see Clause 1) are,
for example:
ƒ Coding requests (with images)
ƒ Result Storage
ƒ Solicited result transmission to the Machine
ƒ Unsolicited result transmission to the Machine
ƒ Result requests based on ID-tag
RC System capabilities (related to scenario 2, see Clause 1) are, for
example:
ƒ Coding requests (without images)
ƒ Solicited result transmission to the Machine
ƒ Barcode recognition requests
ƒ Result requests based on ID-tag
The capabilities of the RC System are checked against the
expectations of the Machine. For example, in case the capabilities are
not the expected ones, the Machine may disconnect and raise an
alarm.
The Machine indicates whether unsolicited results are expected or not
for this connection.
UC03 Disconnect The Machine or the RC System disconnects.
UC04 Submit Mailpiece The Machine submits coding requests, with or without an image. The
coding request identifies which attributes are expected and capabilities
of the RC System to be used.
There may be multiple submit_mailpiece messages for a single
mailpiece (e.g. one request for id-tag reading, a later request for
address reading).
UC05 Request Mailpiece Request mail piece attributes from the tag database within the RC
Attributes System.
UC06 Transmit Mailpiece The RC System returns mailpiece attributes to the Machine, either in
Attributes response to a Submit Mailpiece or a Request Mailpiece Attributes. The
Transmit Mailpiece Attributes may also be returned on a different
instance of the interface than the Submit Mailpiece was issued (e.g.
on-line VCS results depending on machine architecture).
There may be multiple responses of Transmit Mailpiece Attributes for a
single “Submit Mailpiece” message, e.g. partial OCR results followed
with final VCS result.
UC07 Update Mailpiece The Machine reports new or changed attributes in order to update the
Attributes mailpiece attribute database on the RC System (e.g. indicating the sort
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ID Name Description
bin).
This use case is also used to indicate the events “Item Out Of Delay
Line” and “Cancel Submit Mailpiece” to the RC System.
Item Out Of Delay Line:
The Machine indicates it has no further use for online OCR/VCS
results for the specified mailpiece (e.g., mailpiece has reached the end
of delay line). The RC System should avoid further online OCR/VCS
processing.
Cancel Submit Mailpiece:
The Machine indicates it has no further use for the requested coding
results for the specified mailpiece. The RC System shall avoid further
OCR/VCS processing.
UC08 Request Image The Machine requests an image from the RC System (incl. the IP).
The image is used for batch ROI coordinates or for sample images for
display.
UC09 Transmit Image The RC System (incl. the IP) sends an image to the Machine, in
response to Request Image.
Get RC System
UC10
The Machine requests status of the RC System.
Status
Put RC System
UC11
The RC System indicates the status of its different capabilities to the
Status
Machine. In case of status change, this can also be unsolicited.
Get Machine Status
UC12
The RC System may request the status of the Machine (for example
periodically).
Put Machine Status
UC13
The Machine indicates its status to the RC System, in response to a
Get Machine Status (includes for example machine running, operation
mode…). In case of status change, this can also be unsolicited.

5.3 Detailed Use Case Descriptions
General remarks for all use cases:
 The data structures shall be as close as possible to the ones of CEN/TS 15448.
 “mpID” means “unique mailpiece identifier” which may be an “online” mailpiece ID or an “offline” ID-tag.
 Messages drawn with dotted lines do not belong to the described use case but are included for better
understanding.
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Figure 5 — Use case model
5.3.1 UC01 – Publish and Select Server
5.3.1.1 Brief Description
When the RC System is switched on and
...