SIST-TS CEN/TS 15844-4:2013

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TS CEN/TS 15844-4:2013
01-maj-2013
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6SHFLILNDFLMDVWDWXVQHJDNRGLUDQMD]DYHþMDSLVPD
Postal services - ID-tagging of letter mail items - Part 4: State encoding specification for
flats
Postalische Dienstleistungen - ID-Kennzeichnung von Briefsendungen - Teil 4:
Spezifikation der Zustandscodierung für Großbriefe
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TS 15844-4:2010
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
SIST-TS CEN/TS 15844-4:2013 en
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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SIST-TS CEN/TS 15844-4:2013

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SIST-TS CEN/TS 15844-4:2013


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CEN/TS 15844-4

SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE

TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
December 2010
ICS 03.240
English Version
Postal services - ID-tagging of letter mail items - Part 4: State
encoding specification for flats
Traitement automatisé des envois postaux - Postalische Dienstleistungen - ID-Kennzeichnung von
Chronomarquage des envois postaux - Partie 4: Briefsendungen - Teil 4: Spezifikation der
Spécification de codage en code 4 états pour les objets Zustandscodierung für Großbriefe
plats
This Technical Specification (CEN/TS) was approved by CEN on 1 December 2008 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
© 2010 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TS 15844-4:2010: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

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Contents Page
Foreword .3
Introduction .4
1 Scope .5
2 Normative references .5
3 Terms and definitions .5
4 Symbols and abbreviations .5
5 Usage limitations .5
6 Value range limitations .6
7 Encoding specification .6
8 Printing of the bar code .8
8.1 General .8
8.2 Optical characteristics of the ink .8
8.3 Bar code placement .9
9 Reading and interpretation of Postal-4i bar codes . 11
10 Conversion to the message and binary representations . 12
Annex A (informative) Postal-4i ID-tag generator . 14
Annex B (informative) Examples . 16
Bibliography . 18

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Foreword
This document (CEN/TS 15844-4:2010) 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.
NOTE This document has been prepared by experts coming from CEN/TC 331 and UPU, under the framework of the
Memorandum of Understanding between the UPU and CEN.
1)
This document, CEN/TS 15844-4, is the CEN equivalent of UPU standard S18d-10. It may be amended
only after prior consultation, between CEN/TC 331 and the UPU Standards Board, in accordance with the
Memorandum of Understanding between CEN and the UPU.
2)
The UPU’s contribution to the document was made, by the UPU Standards Board and its sub-groups, in
accordance with the rules given in Part V of the "General information on UPU standards".
This document forms Part 4 of a multi-part CEN/TS 15844, Postal services — ID-tagging of letter-mail items. It
should be read in conjunction with the main body of the specification, Part 1.
The present document provides a specification of the encoding of S18 ID-tags using a 4-state symbology that
may be applied to flats. CEN/TS 15844-5 provides a similar specification for application to the front side of
small letters.
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, 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 the United Kingdom.


1)
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the specialized institution of the United Nations that regulates the universal postal service. The
postal services of its 189 member countries form the largest physical distribution network in the world. Some 5 million postal employees
working in over 660 000 post offices all over the world handle an annual total of 425 billion letters-post items in the domestic service and
almost 6,7 billion in the international service. Some 4,5 billion parcels are sent by post annually. Keeping pace with the changing
communications market, posts are increasingly using new communication and information technologies to move beyond what is
traditionally regarded as their core postal business. They are meeting higher customer expectations with an expanded range of products

and value-added services.
2)
The UPU's Standards Board develops and maintains a growing number of standards to improve the exchange of postal-related
information between posts, and promotes the compatibility of UPU and international postal initiatives. It works closely with posts,
customers, suppliers and other partners, including various international organizations. The Standards Board ensures that coherent
standards are developed in areas such as electronic data interchange (EDI), mail encoding, postal forms and meters. UPU standards are
published in accordance with the rules given in Part VII of the General information on UPU standards, which may be freely downloaded

from the UPU world-wide web site (www.upu.int).
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Introduction
A general introduction to all parts of the Technical Specification is provided in CEN/TS 15844-1. This part
deals only with the encoding of ID-tags in the form of a 4-state bar code printed on the front side of flats. It is
arranged under six main headings:
Clause No. Description of content
5 Usage limitations: defines limitations on the use of the Postal-4i encoding of ID-tags specified in
this document.
6 Value range limitations: defines limitations on the values of data elements used in ID-tags which
are to be represented on flats in the form of a Postal-4i bar code.
7 Encoding specification: specifies the construction of a Postal-4i bar code from ID-tag data
elements.
8 Printing of the bar code: to allow the association of computer data with a physical item, the ID-
tag is printed on the item itself. This clause defines required ink and printing parameters.
9 Reading and interpretation of Postal-4i bar codes: specifies the validation and error correction
requirements associated with the reading of ID-tags represented using Postal-4i bar codes.
10 Conversion to the message and binary representations: describes the correspondence between
Postal-4i bar coded representation and the binary and message interchange representations
defined in CEN/TS 15844-1.
These are complemented by two informative annexes, the first providing references to an example
implementation of the Postal-4i ID-tag generation algorithm and the second providing a number of example
ID-tags, generated using this implementation.
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1 Scope
This part of the Technical Specification defines the representation of ID-tags as a Postal-4i symbology 4-state
bar code printed on the front side of flats. Many of the provisions are applicable also to small letters and are
therefore referenced by Part 5 of the specification (CEN/TS 15844-5), which covers these.
Postal-4i symbology 4-state encoding is the only encoding specification supported by this Technical
3)
Specification for the printing of ID-tags on the front of items.
NOTE Representation in the form of fluorescent BNB bar codes printed on the reverse side of small letters (not flats)
is covered in CEN/TS 15844-2 and CEN/TS 15844-3.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
CEN/TS 15844-1:2010, Postal services — ID-tagging of letter mail items — Part 1: ID-tag structure, message
and binary
UPU S48, Postal-4i: 4-state symbology and its use for the encoding of data on postal items
3 Terms and definitions
A number of common terms used in this document are defined in the UPU Standards glossary, in documents
referred to in normative references and in the bibliography. Definition of frequently used or particularly
important terms as well as other terms introduced in this document are given below.
See CEN/TS 15844-1:2010.
4 Symbols and abbreviations
See CEN/TS 15844-1:2010.
5 Usage limitations
The 4-state bar coded representation of ID-tags defined in this part of the specification is intended for use only
in area F4 or F4X on the front side of flats; it shall not be used in area R1 on the reverse side.
NOTE Usage in other areas on the front could result in interference with, or by, codes placed by other systems.
Usage on the reverse side, and particularly usage in area R1, could seriously disturb the operation of older systems which
are designed to work only with BNB encodings of ID-tags.

3)
References to "this Technical Specification" should be interpreted as references to CEN/TS 15844 as a whole, not
only to Part 4.
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6 Value range limitations
In addition to the component value limitations defined in CEN/TS 15844-1, the following limitations apply to ID-
tags which are to be represented in the form of Postal-4i symbology bar codes:
 the format identifier is limited to the values 18C and 18D, the choice between these being dependent on
the data content of the ID-tag value (see CEN/TS 15844-1), in turn dependent on the method of ID-tag
allocation: format 18C shall not be used on pre-printed labels;
NOTE 1 Format 18C explicitly includes a date/time of ID-tag value generation and is intended for use only in
situations in which the ID-tag value is dynamically assigned at the time of its application to an item. Pre-printed labels
might be produced long before their application to items and may therefore use only format 18D.
 the use of domain codes is recommended, but not required.
NOTE 2 That is, it is recommended, though not required, that users allocate equipment identifiers in such a way that
the first character indicates the allocation domain, normally corresponding to the geographic region or group of postal
processing facilities in which the equipment which issued the ID-tag is situated. If this is done, and the domain table
published, other organisations which read the ID-tags can determine the geographic origin of the item and apply
appropriate procedures to determine whether the item has suffered any exceptional delay.
7 Encoding specification
The bar code shall be generated in compliance with UPU standard S48, using the following parameters:
1) format code (f) value: equal to bits 0-3 of the binary ID-tag value, as defined in CEN/TS 15844-1;
NOTE 1 This assists in distinguishing Postal-4i ID-tags from other bar codes which use Postal-4i symbology. See
S48 for a definition of the symbology parameters f, l, r, c and n.
2) left synchronisation code (l) value : 010110 (22 decimal);
3) right synchronisation code (r) value : 100110 (38 decimal);
NOTE 2 The synchronisation codes are inserted to provide known patterns, separated by a fixed number of bar
positions in the final bar code, which can be used for checking synchronisation of captured bar codes. The particular
binary patterns and their position have been chosen: (a) to support detection of bar code orientation and (b) to
minimise the probability of read errors occurring in the synchronisation codewords themselves. Thus, they are not
situated at the ends of the final bar code and use only 4-state ascenders and descenders, which are less prone to
read errors than full bars or timing signals. The chosen values also assist in distinguishing Postal-4i ID-tags from
other bar codes which use Postal-4i symbology.
4) number of variable data codewords (c) value: 13;
5) bar code length (n): 75 if the resulting ID-tag is to be printed directly on the item; 57 or 75 if the ID-tag is
to be printed on a label;
NOTE 3 Use of a 57 bar ID-tag on labels is an option, not a requirement: it is permitted to use the 75-position bar
code on labels. However, use of the shorter form reduces the length of the overall bar code by 21,6 mm, allowing
smaller labels to be used, without significant reduction in read rates or increase in error rates.
NOTE 4 Though the 75 bar format provides more error protection, the 57 bar format normally results in an adequate
read rate on labels (where other printing is unlikely). The 57 bar format is not recommended for use directly on items
because its error correction capability is not considered sufficient to support an adequate read rate in positions which
could include printing or writing in other inks.
NOTE 5 Note that the data string, format code, left and right synchronisation codes and error correction data
together add up to 150 bits or 25 6-bit codewords, but that, in the 57 bar version, only 19 codewords are actually
printed. If the bar code is a Postal-4i bar code constructed in accordance with this specification, the left
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synchronisation code, which is printed in the third codeword position, will be 010110 (22 decimal) and the right
synchronisation code, printed in the third codeword position from the end, will be 100110 (38 decimal). The values of
six codewords are recovered, during the reading process, using the error recovery capabilities of the Reed-Solomon
decoding algorithm.
6) nominal height of a full bar (h): between 4,0 mm and 5,8 mm;
7) nominal pitch (p): 1,2 mm;
8) a 62-bit input data string consisting of bits 4-53 of the binary ID-tag value, as defined in CEN/TS 15844-1,
followed by the tracking indicator value, represented as two bits using the convention: T = 00; F = 01;
D = 10; N = 11, in turn followed by the last ten bits (bits 54-63) of the binary ID-tag value.
NOTE 6 Because of limitations on bar code length and pitch, it is not possible to encode the ID-tag information in
the same format as is used in the message representation of the ID-tag (as defined in CEN/TS 15844-1). The binary
representation is used as a basis, but is manipulated as described above for bar coding purposes, in order to
incorporate the tracking indicator.
NOTE 7 The UPU identifier is not explicitly encoded in the Postal-4i symbology representations of S18 ID-tags:
rather, it is presumed that any 4-state bar code, found in the encoding area defined in this Technical Specification,
which correctly decodes in accordance with this specification, is an S18 ID-tag.
th
EXAMPLE 1 The ID-tag with message representation J18CUSA8E6N062315014880T is the 14 880 one issued by
USPS (issuer USA) machine number 8E6 (2 278 decimal) with normal priority (N) on 23 June (0623) between 15:00 and
15:10 (150). Tracking is requested (T). This ID-tag has binary representation (separation points introduced every four bits
to improve legibility): 0010.0010.0000.0111.0001.1000.1110.0110.0001.1100.1010.1110.1011.1010.0010.0000. The 62-bit value
used in bar code generation is derived by dropping the first four bits and inserting the tracking code value 00 ten bits from
the end:
0010.0000.0111.0001.1000.1110.0110.0001.1100.1010.1110.1011.100010.0010.0000
Conversion to 75 bar 4-state form results in:

Figure 1
or, expressed in character notation with F representing a full bar, A an ascender, D a descender and T a timing bar:

FDF.DFF.AAD.ATF.ADF.TDA.DFA.TFD.DTD.DTD.DFT.FTA.FDF.FAT.ATT.FAD.TFA.ATA.TAF.ATT.DDT.AFF.DAD.FDF.DFF


EXAMPLE 2 The ID-tag with message representation J18DUSA8E6N001000000003N is one without explicit date/time
rd
indicator (e.g. because it is applied to a pre-printed label) and is the 1 000 000 003 one issued by USPS (issuer USA)
machine number 8E6 (2 278 decimal) with normal priority (N). Tracking is not requested in this case (N). The binary
representation of this ID-tag is: 0011.0010.0000.0111.0001.1000.1110.0110.0011.1011.1001.1010.1100.1010.0000.0011. The
corresponding 62-bit value is therefore:
0010.0000.0111.0001.1000.1110.0110.0011.1011.1001.1010.1100.101110.0000.0011
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Conversion to 57 bar 4-state form for use on a label results in:

Figure 2
or, expressed in character notation with F representing a full bar, A an ascender, D a descender and T a timing bar:
FTF.DFF.AAD.ATF.ADF.TDA.DFT.DTD.ADD.TFD.FAF.TDD.FFD.TTD.DAD.TTF.DAD.TDF.FFT
8 Printing of the bar code
8.1 General
The resulting bar code shall be encoded on the item or label (as appropriate), in accordance with the
specifications in UPU standard S48, except that horizontal skew shall be limited to ± 5°.
The specifications relate to the finished characteristics of production mail, 99 % of which is required to be
within specification. To the extent possible and consistent with acceptable mis-read rates, reading systems
should be designed to accommodate items on which the ID-tag does not meet all requirements and should not
reject captured ID-tags merely because their specification is not in full compliance with printing specifications.
For example, variations in transport speed might cause the pitch of a printed ID-tag to exceed the limit
permitted by S48. This should not result in rejection of the ID-tag if the reader is reliably capable of capturing
ID-tags with a greater variation in pitch.
8.2 Optical characteristics of the ink
The Postal-4i encoding of ID-tags may be printed using either fluorescent, black or heat sensitive ink.
However, it is recommended that black ink be used on flats.
NOTE 1 Heat sensitive ink is ink which is translucent at normal ambient temperatures, but which becomes opaque and
appears either white or black when heated, e.g. by an infra-red source. Using these properties it is theoretically possible to
apply black heat sensitive printing to a
...