SIST-TS CEN/TS 15525:2007

Postal Services - Standard Interfaces - Interface between Machine Control and Bar Code Printers

This document specifies the electrical, data and timing interface between the control unit of a postal sorting system and an ink jet printer connected to that system. It further specifies an ancillary interface to the printer, which can be used for the support of remote diagnostics and other service functions.
NOTE 1   This specification can equally be applied to the interfacing of printers to sequencing systems and combined sorting and sequencing systems.  It was primarily developed for application to ink jet printers, but could be applied to printers with similar functionality that make use of other printing technologies.
At the physical level, the specification is based on the use of a combination of a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet connection for the transfer of data and patch cables for signalling. At a logical level, data is transferred using messages transmitted across the Ethernet connection using three TCP/IP sockets, with the execution of time-critical functions being controlled through the use of signals on a TIA/EIA-422 interface.
NOTE 2   Several printers can be connected to a single sorting system. In this case, the printers can optionally share access to a single Ethernet network, but each requires its own patch cables.  This standard does not support the connection of a single printer to multiple sorting system control units.
This document defines all messages that may be transferred via each of the TCP/IP sockets, specifies printer behaviour on receipt of these messages and defines how the timing of this behaviour is controlled by the TIA/EIA-422 signals......

Postalische Dienstleistungen - Standardschnittstellen - Schnittstelle zwischen Betriebssystem von Sortiermaschinen und Barcodedruckern

Services postaux - Interface entre machine de supervision et imprimantes de codes a barres

Postal Services - Standard Interfaces - Interface between

Poštne storitve - Standardni vmesniki - Vmesnik med krmilnikom in tiskalnikom črtne kode

General Information

• Status: Withdrawn
• Publication Date: 07-May-2007
• Withdrawal Date: 17-Oct-2019
• ICS: 03.240 - Postal services
• Technical Committee: I13 - Imaginarni 13
• Current Stage: 9900 - Withdrawal (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 17-Oct-2019
• Due Date: 09-Nov-2019
• Completion Date: 18-Oct-2019
• Ref Project: CEN/TS 15525:2006 - Postal Services - Standard Interfaces - Interface between Machine Control and Bar Code Printers

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TS CEN/TS 15525:2007
01-maj-2007
3RãWQHVWRULWYH6WDQGDUGQLYPHVQLNL9PHVQLNPHGNUPLOQLNRPLQWLVNDOQLNRP
þUWQHNRGH
Postal Services - Standard Interfaces - Interface between Machine Control and Bar Code
Printers
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Standardschnittstellen - Schnittstelle zwischen
Betriebssystem von Sortiermaschinen und Barcodedruckern
Services postaux - Interface entre machine de supervision et imprimantes de codes a
barres
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TS 15525:2006
ICS:
03.240
SIST-TS CEN/TS 15525:2007 en
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CEN/TS 15525
SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
November 2006
ICS 03.240

English Version
Postal Services - Standard Interfaces - Interface between
Machine Control and Bar Code Printers
Services postaux - Interfaces standard - Interface entre Postalische Dienstleistungen - Standardschnittstellen -
machine de supervision et imprimantes de codes à barres Schnittstelle zwischen Betriebssystem von
Sortiermaschinen und Barcodedruckern
This Technical Specification (CEN/TS) was approved by CEN on 23 October 2006 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, 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: rue de Stassart, 36  B-1050 Brussels
© 2006 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TS 15525:2006: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)
Contents Page
Foreword.4
Introduction .5
1 Scope .7
2 Normative references .8
3 Terms and definitions .9
4 Symbols and abbreviations .10
5 Overview of the interface .10
6 Data communications interface .11
7 Signalling interfaces.12
7.1 Physical connections .12
7.2 Print clock signal .13
7.3 PrintGo signal .14
8 Messages and their usage .15
9 Detailed message definitions .18
9.1 The message header .18
9.2 0x00: PrintData.18
9.3 0x01: ClearPrintData.25
9.4 0x10: SoftwareDownload .25
9.5 0x11: InitManufacturer .27
9.6 0x12: InitCustomer.28
9.7 0x13: LoadPattern.29
9.8 0x14 LoadBarCodeFormat.33
9.9 0x16: LoadFont .36
9.10 0x20: PrinterOffLine .38
9.11 0x21: PrinterOnLine.38
9.12 0x22: RequestTechnicalData.39
9.13 0x23: RequestSoftwareVersion.40
9.14 0x24: RequestStatus .40
9.15 0x25: ResetPrinterFaults.41
9.16 0x2F: TestInkJet.41
9.17 0x90: SoftwareUpload .42
9.18 0x91: UploadManufacturer.42
9.19 0x92: UploadCustomer.42
9.20 0x93: UploadPattern .42
9.21 0x94: UploadBarCodeFormat .43
9.22 0x95: UploadFont.43
9.23 0xA2: TechnicalData.44
9.24 0xA3: SoftwareVersion.44
9.25 0xA4: PrinterStatus.46
10 Message flow.52
10.1 Printer states and state changes .52
10.2 Printer initialisation .53
10.3 Printing .55
10.4 Requests and responses .57
10.5 Ink jet testing.58
11 Use of the service socket.58
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)

Annex A (Normative) Timing diagrams.59
A.1 Normal timings .59
A.2 Double PrintData message.60
A.3 PrintGo errors .60
A.4 Print error .61
Annex B (Informative) PrintData examples.63
B.1 Example of a mixed bar code and text message .63
B.2 Example of a mixed image and text message .68
Annex C (Informative) Load Font definition .72
C.1 General .72
C.2 Message structure.72
Bibliography.75

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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)
Foreword
This document (CEN/TS 15525:2006) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
Services”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN, in collaboration with UPU.
NOTE This document has been prepared by experts coming from CEN/TC 331 and UPU, under the frame of the
Memorandum of Understanding between UPU and CEN.
1)
The UPU’s contribution to the specification was made, by the UPU Standards Board and its subgroups, in
accordance with the rules given in Part V of the "General information on UPU standards".
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following
countries are bound to announce this CEN Technical Specification: Austria, Belgium, 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.


1)
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 can be freely downloaded

from the UPU world-wide web site (www.upu.int).
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)

Introduction
Automated postal sorting systems frequently use printers to print bar codes, cancellation and other marks and
human readable data on the items processed through them. Bar codes are used to control further processing
steps and to support item tracking and performance monitoring; cancellation marks to prevent the re-use of
postage stamps, record data and the location of processing and to convey advertising or other messages and
human readable text is used to support a provision of instructions, such as forwarding addresses to delivery
agents and manual sorting staff and providing back-up in the event of unreadability of bar codes.
In order to print bar codes, images or text on items, an interface between sorter and printer is needed for
transferring information, providing sorter speed information and to control the start of printing. This interface
has traditionally been different for each printer supplier and even for different models of printer. This has
resulted in the need for sorting equipment suppliers to develop printer- or even project-specific interface
solutions to fulfil the requirements of individual postal operators for the printer brand they want to use. This
has several disadvantages. Such specific interface solutions are typically not integrated into the sorting
system supplier’s product line and often result in:
 substantial duplication, with each participating supplier being required to undertake separate
development;
 system integration being complex and time consuming (and therefore expensive);
 long-term dependence on the original supplier(s), due to the impossibility of contracting modification of
the interface to third parties;
 high maintenance costs, at least once the initially agreed maintenance period is over;
 early obsolescence, due to lack of support for long-term maintenance;
 inability to upgrade equipment and/or to replace worn out or obsolete equipment;
 poor transferability between projects.
The above issues are not limited to the sorting systems interface with printers, but apply also to interfaces with
other system components, including bar code readers, image capture devices, OCR sub-systems, etc. Their
impact is also growing because, to optimise performance, postal operators increasingly require sorting
systems which integrate equipment from different suppliers. 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 of time.
Some suppliers have sought to address these problems by defining supplier-specific “open interfaces” that
apply across a range of products, but these still have the disadvantage of being in product use by only one
supplier. This led to an initiative, on the part of a group of suppliers and postal operators, to develop a range
of “open standard interfaces” which, following their implementation by suppliers, could support the
construction of systems using components from different suppliers.
This standard, which covers the interface between the control unit of a postal sorting system and a printer
connected to that system, is the first of these open standard interfaces. Like the similar specifications that are
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)
2)
expected to be developed in the future , it is expected – subject to its adoption as a tendering requirement by
postal operators – to lead to improved economics and performance of postal automation systems through:
 long term reductions in costs, with higher initial product development and system acquisition costs being
more than offset by reductions in project-specific developments, integration and maintenance costs;
 simpler, faster, system integration, particularly in cases in which equipment from different suppliers is
involved;
 longer term, lower cost, maintainability and increased longevity of systems;
 increased competition between suppliers, resulting in both enhanced products and lower costs;
 reduced dependence on individual supplier(s).

2) A second specification, covering the interface between the control unit of the image processing subsystem of a sorter
and an image enhancement subsystem, such as an address interpretation system, is already under development; others
are expected to follow as and when the need is identified and the resources for development become available. Each will
be developed by a separate ad-hoc project group working under the auspices of CEN/TC 331 Postal services and/or the
UPU Standards Board.
6

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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)


1 Scope
This document specifies the electrical, data and timing interface between the control unit of a postal sorting
system and an ink jet printer connected to that system. It further specifies an ancillary interface to the printer,
which can be used for the support of remote diagnostics and other service functions.
NOTE 1 This specification can equally be applied to the interfacing of printers to sequencing systems and combined
sorting and sequencing systems. It was primarily developed for application to ink jet printers, but could be applied to
printers with similar functionality that make use of other printing technologies.
At the physical level, the specification is based on the use of a combination of a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet
connection for the transfer of data and patch cables for signalling. At a logical level, data is transferred using
messages transmitted across the Ethernet connection using three TCP/IP sockets, with the execution of time-
critical functions being controlled through the use of signals on a TIA/EIA-422 interface.
NOTE 2 Several printers can be connected to a single sorting system. In this case, the printers can optionally share
access to a single Ethernet network, but each requires its own patch cables. This standard does not support the
connection of a single printer to multiple sorting system control units.
This document defines all messages that may be transferred via each of the TCP/IP sockets, specifies printer
behaviour on receipt of these messages and defines how the timing of this behaviour is controlled by the
TIA/EIA-422 signals.
The specification supports the use of the printer to print bar codes, human readable text and/or images on
3
mail items whilst these are being transported past the print head . It provides explicit support for Bar/No Bar
(BNB), Bar/Half Bar (BHB) and four state bar codes, but allows full user control over the specification of bar
patterns to support more complex bar coding formats.
NOTE 3 Printers that comply with the specification are required to support printing of the three above mentioned bar
coding formats, character printing and two images; support for additional formats and a greater number of images is
optional and, in particular, can depend on the available printer memory
The different TCP/IP sockets have different functions that may be fulfilled by different subsystems referred to
as sorter control, print control and remote service. Where these are implemented as distinct subsystems, they
will need to intercommunicate. The interfaces between them nevertheless fall outside the scope of this
specification and are not covered herein.
EXAMPLE Before initialisation, during printer OFF mode and if a fatal error is reported by the printer, print control
should desist from sending print instructions to the printer. It therefore needs to be kept aware of printer status. Similarly,
print control might need to forward print error information to sorter control. Use of the control and service sockets also
needs to be coordinated, since new initialisation messages or new software downloaded from remote service will overwrite
initialisation settings and software from sorter control, and vice versa.
This specification does not address the physical construction of printers or their mechanical integration into
sorting systems, neither does it specify electrical power connections to the printer.

3
 No explicit limit is placed on the transport speed. However, the specification was drawn up in the context of existing
equipment with transport speeds that are typically in the range 2,0 m/s to 4,0 m/s. Its applicability outside of this range
requires further study, in particular to determine, for higher speeds, whether the 500 KHz timing signal referred to in 7.2
remains adequate.
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)
This document includes three annexes and a bibliography. Annex A is normative; Annexes B and C are
informative.

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.
ISO standards
NOTE 1 ISO standards are available from national standards institutes or from the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO):
1, rue de Varembé, Case postale 56, 1211 Genève 20, SWITZERLAND
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; www.iso.ch
ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology - Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS)
NOTE 2 ISO/IEC 10646 is technically equivalent to UNICODE 4.0.0 [5]
UPU standards
NOTE 3 UPU standards are available on subscription from the UPU International Bureau:
Weltpoststrasse 4, Case postale 13, 3000 Berne 15, SWITZERLAND
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; www.upu.int
UPU Standards glossary
IEEE specifications
NOTE 4 IEEE specifications are available on-line from IEEE:
IEEE Corporate Office, 3 Park Avenue - 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997, U.S.A.
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; shop.ieee.org/ieeestore
IEEE 802.3:2002, Information Technology - Telecommunication & Information Exchange Between Systems -
LAN/MAN - Specific Requirements - Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
(CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications
NOTE 5 Commonly referred to as the Ethernet standard.
TIA/EIA specifications
NOTE 6 TIA/EIA specifications can be ordered online from Global Engineering Documents: http://global.ihs.com
TIA/EIA-422-B-94 (R2000), Electrical Characteristics of Balanced Voltage Digital Interface Circuits
NOTE 7 Commonly referred to as RS-422.
TIA/EIA-568-B-1, Commercial building telecommunications cabling standards - Part 1: General requirements
TIA/EIA-568-B-2, Commercial building telecommunications cabling standards – Part 2: Balanced twisted-pair
cabling components
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)

Internet RFCs
NOTE 8 Internet RFCs (Requests for Comment) are available from the Internet Engineering Task Force:
c/o Corporation for National Research Initiatives,
1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100, Reston, VA 20191-5434, U.S.A.
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; www.ietf.org
RFC 791, Internet Protocol – DARPA Internet programme – Protocol specification
NOTE 9 Commonly referred to as IP or, in combination with TCP, as TCP/IP.
RFC 793, Transmission Control Protocol – DARPA Internet programme – Protocol specification
NOTE 10 Commonly referred to as TCP or, in combination with IP, as TCP/IP.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in the UPU Standards glossary and the
following apply.
3.1
big endian
method of storing byte oriented data in which the most significant byte of the data is stored in the memory location with the
lowest memory address
3.2
mail entity
mail item or collection of mail items which is constrained to form a physical unit
NOTE In this standard mail entity is used in the sense of a single item on which is printed.
EXAMPLE 1 a single letter, a single parcel, a collection of letters in a tray, a roller cage containing a collection of trays,
several pallets containing trays that are loaded onto a vehicle or an airplane.
3.3
UNICODE
universal character encoding, maintained by the Unicode Consortium (http://www.unicode.org/), that provides the basis
for processing, storage and interchange of text data in any language
NOTE This standard uses UNICODE version 4.0.0 [5] subset UTF-8 and stores strings as big endian (see 3.1).
3.4
sequencing
process in which one or more input streams of mail entities are merged into a single output stream in which the sequence
of individual entities has operational significance for further processing
EXAMPLE 2 The organisation of a group of mail entities that are to be delivered by a delivery agent during a single
delivery round into the sequence in which the agent will pass their delivery points.
NOTE Sorting and sequencing can be combined into a single process. In this case, each output stream resulting from
sorting is sequenced.
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CEN/TS 15525:2006 (E)
3.5
sorter
sorting machine
sorting system
equipment capable of sorting mail entities
3.6
sorting
process in which an input stream of mail entities is separated into multiple output streams, the entities in each of which
share one or more features in common with other entities in the same output stream, but which differ from those in other
streams
NOTE Postal sorting systems are used to group mail entities which require common processing or transportation. For
example, the first sortation process primarily segregates mail based on the location of the processing facility which serves
the geographic area in which its delivery address is situated, with exception streams being created for mail which is
underpaid, has an unreadable delivery address, etc.
4 Symbols and abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the symbols and abbreviations given in the UPU Standards glossary and
the following apply.
0x hexadecimal value – the 0x indicates that the following characters represent hexadecimal digits
EXAMPLE 0x2C represents the 8-bit (single byte) value 2C = 00101100 = 44 .
16 2 10
ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a method of representing character data in
8 bit binary form that is defined in ISO/IEC 646 [1].
EIA: Electronics Industries Alliance
IP: Internet Protocol as defined in RFC 791
TCP: Transmission Control Protocol as defined in RFC 793
TIA: Telecommunications Industry Association
UTF-8: acronym given to a UNICODE representation in which common characters are represented as a
single byte, with less common ones being represented by a string of up to 6 bytes
5 Overview of the interface
The main function of a printer in a sorting system is to print information on mail entities that are handled by the
sorting system. The printer requires instructions on what to print, on which entities and at what position on
them. Since the movement of entities past the print head is controlled by the sorting system, this translates
into the need to control the timing of execution of the print instructions. The sorter control unit needs feedback
in order to monitor the functioning of the printer, enabling it to take exception action when necessary, for
example when the printer runs out of ink. If printer maintenance is performed by a third party, there will also be
a need for communication between the printer and a separate diagnostic or service system.
The instructions on what to print and the feedback from the printer are conveyed in the form of messages to
and from the printer; the timing of printing is controlled through electrical signals. These messages and signals
require a transport mechanism. Message transport is achieved through a data communications interface (see
Clause 6); signalling through two TIA/EIA-422 interfaces (see Clause 7), one of which provides a clock signal
(see 7.2); the other a print initiation trigger referred to as PrintGo (see 7.3).
The initiation of printing by means of the PrintGo signal is subject to timing constraints which are described in
7.3 an
...