Found it! I haven't tried it yet, so I have no idea what standards (vs. other
less interesting stuff) has been posted. Go to it...
/ Rich
----------( Forwarded letter 1 follows
)------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Monday, 8 March 1993 7:54am
Date: 07 Mar 1993 18:58:36 -0500 (EST)
From: gray(_at_)osi(_dot_)ncsl(_dot_)nist(_dot_)gov
Subject: CCITT (actually ITU)
To: ENH.NIST.GOV!oiw
Cc: ENH.NIST.GOV!gray
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
From landberg(_at_)mml(_dot_)ncsl(_dot_)nist(_dot_)gov Mon Feb 22 09:11:11 1993
X-Nupop-Charset: English
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 10:30:54 EDT
From: (Ted Landberg) <landberg(_at_)MML(_dot_)ncsl(_dot_)nist(_dot_)gov>
Sender: landberg(_at_)MML(_dot_)ncsl(_dot_)nist(_dot_)gov
To: gray(_at_)osi(_dot_)ncsl(_dot_)nist(_dot_)gov
Subject: CCITT document service!
Lets send this out to all SIG chairs and OIW particpants. I want to start
using the e-mail to make other announcements of interest to our members.
------------------------------
From: Jock Embry <0004319821(_at_)mcimail(_dot_)com>
Sat, 20 Feb 93 13:32 GMT
To: nmsig <nmsig(_at_)ics(_dot_)uci(_dot_)edu>
Subject: CCITT document service!
At last, CCITT (actually ITU) has come through, and opened an electronic
document service for distributing standards!
Try it, it you'll like it.
Jock Embry
+1 703 759 4647
TELEDOC AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX (TAM)
ITU DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL
USER'S GUIDE
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
TEL: +41 22 730 5554/5338
FAX: +41 22 730 5337
INTRODUCTION
Teledoc is an electronic document distribution
service of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU). The ITU is a United Nations agency
based in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU consists
organizationally of five permanent organs: the
General Secretariat, the International Frequency
Registration Board (IFRB), the International Radio
Consultative Committee (CCIR), the International
Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
(CCITT) and the Telecommunications Development
Bureau (BDT). Each permanent organ of the ITU
makes selected documents publicly available for
remote electronic retrieval with Teledoc.
WHICH ITU DOCUMENTS CAN I RETRIEVE?
There are many different kinds of ITU documents
that can be retrieved. Here are some examples:
-General ITU information such as the list of
ITU paper publications with prices and
ordering information;
-CCITT information such as Study Group
structure, activities, contact persons and
questions under study, Circular Letters,
lists of Normal and Delayed Contributions to
CCITT meetings, lists of CCITT Reports and
Recommendations, summaries of Recommendations,
and the full texts of CCITT Recommendations
(starting early 1993);
-CCIR information such as Administrative
Circulars and Circulars, CCIR questions per
Study Group, Study Group Circulars, lists of
contributions to CCIR meetings, CCIR Study
Group Meeting Reports, lists of CCIR
Recommendations, and the full texts of CCIR
Recommendations (starting 1993);
-IFRB information such as Circular Letters,
seminar documents, list of geostationary and
non-stationary satellite systems and earth
stations notified in coordination or
registered with the IFRB; information on
available IFRB software for engineering and
administrative purposes such as Plan
maintenance;
-BDT information such as training guides and
test software;
-Information in Special Interests Groups
(SIGS);
-Information about ITU's Telecom Information
Exchange Services (TIES).
Teledoc gives external access to a database of
public ITU documents. This database of documents
is known as the ITU Document Store.
THE ITU DOCUMENT STORE
The ITU Document Store organizes public ITU
documents into a tree structure of hierarchical
groups. Each group contains more groups and/or
documents. At the root level, the Document Store
is divided into main groups that represent the
organizational structure of the ITU and important
topics. For example, the main groups CCITT and
CCIR contain, respectively, CCITT and CCIR-related
groups and documents. Under each main group, there
are further divisions into additional groups. For
example, the group CCITT contains the group CIRC
(CCITT Circular Letters). The CIRC group contains
the actual electronic document versions of CCITT
Circular Letters.
The following page shows a partial graphical view
of the current hierarchy of the ITU Document
Store. For the sake of illustration, the main
group CCITT is partially expanded into subgroups.
THE ITU DOCUMENT STORE (GRAPHICAL EXAMPLE)
/+
|/BDT
|
|/CCIR
|
|/CCITT ---+
| |/CIRC (CIRCULAR LETTERS)
|/IFRB |
| |/COMI (STUDY GROUP I)-----+
|/SIGS | |/COLL
| |/COMII (STUDY GROUP II) |
|/TIES | |/CONTR
|/COMIII (STUDY GROUP III) |
| |/REPORTS
|/COMIV (STUDY GROUP IV)
:
:
|/COMXVIII (STUDY GROUP XVIII)
|
|/REC(RECOMMENDATIONS)-+
|/D (D SERIES)
|
|/E (E SERIES)
:
:
|
|/V (V SERIES)
|
|/X (X SERIES)
You can refer to any group of the ITU Document
Store by specifying the path to it from the root.
Group names are separated with the "/" character.
For example,
CCITT
is the path to the CCITT group (CCITT),
CCITT/CIRC
is the path to the CCITT Circular Letters (CIRC)
group,
CCITT/COMII/COLL
is the path to the CCITT Study Group II (COMII)
Collective Letters (COLL) group,
CCITT/REC
is the path to the CCITT Recommendations (REC)
group and
CCITT/REC/X
is the path to the CCITT X Series Recommendations
(X) group.
The same conventions apply for any group of the
ITU Document Store.
You can find out the naming of groups and their
hierarchical structure from the Teledoc service
interface you use (discussed below). For example,
with the electronic mail interface, index files
are available in the root group of the ITU
Document Store. These index files describe the
hierarchical structure of each group and subgroups
and list the documents available.
TELEDOC SERVICE INTERFACES
Several Teledoc service interfaces are planned,
including:
-Electronic mail
-Internet FTP (planned for early 1993)
-Interactive terminal interface under ITU's
Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)
(planned for 1993)
This guide explains the electronic mail interface,
the Teledoc Auto-Answering Mailbox (TAM).
TELEDOC AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX (TAM)
The Teledoc Auto-Answering Mailbox (TAM) is a
"robot" electronic mailbox at ITU headquarters
with access to the ITU Document Store. You can
send electronic mail to the TAM as you would send
electronic mail to a person outside your
organization or company. However, your message
should only contain simple commands (see TELEDOC
AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX COMMANDS below). When the
TAM receives a message, it scans it for commands
which it interprets and processes. It then
constructs and mails a reply back to you.
TELEDOC AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX EMAIL ADDRESS
The TAM is based on the CCITT X.400 electronic
messaging standard. Therefore, X.400 addressing
conventions should be used. The TAM X.400 address
is:
S=teledoc; P=itu; A=arcom; C=ch
The TAM can also be addressed using Internet
RFC-822 conventions. This address is:
teledoc(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch
If you do not have direct access to either X.400
or Internet RFC-822 compliant mail, most major
eMail service providers (e.g., MCI, Compuserve)
provide gateway facilities and can access the TAM.
See Annex A for further information. Also see
Annex C for comments on access from UUCP sites.
GETTING STARTED
-Find out how the electronic mail system you
use in your organization or company can access
the TAM via either X.400 or Internet RFC-822
compliant mail. Alternatively, Annex A
explains how to access the TAM via some major
eMail service providers.
-Send a test message (TEST or HELP) to the
TAM. If you receive a reply then you have
established that your message has reached the
TAM and that it can also reach you.
-In the same mail message, send the command to
list the root group of the ITU Document Store
(LIST). The TAM will send back a list of main
groups and corresponding index files available
for retrieval.
-After you receive a list of available groups
and documents, review it and send a mail
message to list (LIST) other groups or get
(GET) the document you want (for example, an
index file explaining the hierarchy/contents
of the group). The TAM will send to you the
list or document requested.
TELEDOC AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX COMMANDS
The commands that you can send to the TAM consist
of a command word followed, in some cases, by an
argument. Commands and arguments can be specified
in upper, lower or mixed case.
Every line of your mail message to the TAM should
contain a valid command. Only commands contained
in the mail message are interpreted. All other
lines and the mail subject field are ignored (you
can use the subject field to document queries for
your own use). Up to 50 lines per message are
processed by the TAM. Each valid command
generates a separate reply.
START
This optional command tells the TAM to begin
processing commands after this line. If
this command is present, any text in the
mail message before this command is ignored.
TEST
This command is used to test that the TAM
can receive mail from your electronic mail
system and can also respond back to your
mail system. The TAM will acknowledge your
message and send a help file. Typically,
if you have not received a reply within 48
hours, there is a connectivity problem
between your electronic mail system and the
TAM.
HELP
This command sends the latest help file
listing and explaining the commands
understood by the TAM (which may differ from
this manual due to enhancements).
LIST <PATH>
This command returns a list of groups and/or
documents in the specified group. The path
to a group is defined by its location
relative from the top of the ITU Document
Store. For example:
LIST
LIST CCITT
LIST CCITT/CIRC
LIST CCITT/REC
LIST CCITT/REC/X
LIST CCIR
LIST IFRB
The first example of the LIST command above
returns a list of groups and/or documents at
the root level of the ITU Document Store.
Index files for the ITU Document Store are
available at the root level and describe the
hierarchy and contents of the main ITU
groups.
GET <UPI>
When the TAM sends a list of documents
and/or groups, it provides a Unique
Permanent Identifier (UPI) code for every
document in each available format. The UPI
is the code used to retrieve the document
that you want. For example:
GET 1449
GET 1453
You should only retrieve documents in
formats that can be handled by your
electronic mail system (see ENCODE below).
ENCODE
Most mail systems can handle ASCII documents
attached to mail messages but may have
difficulties with non-ASCII (i.e., "binary")
formats such as word processing and graphics
files. With the ENCODE command, you can
request the TAM to encode non-ASCII files
into the UUENCODE format which is ASCII. To
decode the UUENCODED file back into its
original binary format, you need a utility
program called UUDECODE. This program is
widely available in different computing envi
ronments. Enter this command in your mail
message before any GET commands retrieving
binary formats if your mail system can only
support ASCII formats. For example:
ENCODE
GET 2314
GET 2315
Internet mail does not typically support
binary attachments to mail messages.
Therefore, if the TAM is replying to
Internet mail, the ENCODE command is
automatically applied.
HUMAN
Since the TAM is a "robot", it may not
understand exactly what you are trying to
say to it. If you type the command HUMAN
followed by any message, the TAM will STOP
processing commands and automatically
forward your mail message to an ITU help
desk at the ITU. For example:
HUMAN
I am having a problem locating a document
concerning XXXX. Could you please tell me
where it is available?
Thank you,
Bill Pagoda
11181 ISP Street, Suite FOD26
Sacramento, California
Tel: 916-555-8613
Fax: 916-555-8859
If your problem is related to a connectivity
issue (e.g., you are not receiving responses
from the TAM), please include other contact
information such as your address, telephone
and/or fax number.
END
This optional command tells the TAM to
ignore the rest of the mail message. This
command is required if your mail message
contains text after your commands that you
want the TAM to ignore (e.g., your signature).
Here is an example message to the TAM using some
of the commands listed above.
--------------------------------------------------
TO: S=teledoc; P=itu; A=arcom; C=ch (X.400)
or
teledoc(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch (Internet RFC-822)
FROM: (NAME)
SUBJECT: (IGNORED)
--------------------------------------------------
START
HELP
LIST
LIST CCITT/REC
GET 1449
GET 1453
END
--------------------------------------------------
This message above asks the TAM to:
1. send a help file listing and explaining TAM
commands;
2. send a list of groups and/or documents in the
root of the ITU Document Store;
3. send a list of groups and/or documents in the
CCITT Recommendations group;
4. send two documents that have Unique Permanent
Identifiers (UPIs) of 1449 and 1453.
IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS
There are problems sometimes with international
mail connections just as there are problems
sometimes with long distance telephone calls. The
electronic mail circuits between the TAM and your
mail system can fail or be temporarily out of
order. In this case, eMail can be delayed or not
delivered. So, the first advice if you have a
problem is to try again.
The TAM will only reply to valid commands. If the
argument to a LIST command or GET command cannot
be interpreted then you should receive an error
message explaining why. If the TAM cannot process
any commands in your mail message, it will return
a message saying so and send back the help file.
If you have no problem retrieving ASCII documents
but difficulties with non-ASCII formats, your mail
system or the mail gateways to your system may not
support binary file attachments. In this case,
try using the ENCODE command (see TELEDOC AUTO-
ANSWERING MAILBOX COMMANDS). If you have problems
retrieving large documents, your mail system or
the mail gateways to your system may not support
large file attachments.
The large number of mail messages to the TAM does
not permit monitoring the processing of each
message. If you have problems that you can't
resolve, use the HUMAN command and enter your
written description of the problem in the mail
message. Make sure to include your address,
telephone and fax number (especially if your query
is related to an electronic mail problem). The
TAM forwards messages containing the HUMAN command
to an ITU help desk. For other support or if you
wish to make a suggestion on how the service can
be improved, please contact:
Mr. Robert Shaw
TELEDOC Project Coordinator
Information Services Department
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
TEL: +41 22 730 5338/5554
FAX: +41 22 730 5337
X.400: G=robert;S=shaw;A=arcom;P=itu;C=ch
Internet: shaw(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch
or (for CCITT-related questions),
Miss Antoinette Bautista
EDH - CCITT
CCITT Secretariat
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
TEL: +41 22 730 5857
FAX: +41 22 730 5853
X.400: G=antoinette;S=bautista;A=arcom;P=itu;C=ch
Internet: bautista(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch
or (for CCIR-related questions),
Ms. Grace Petin
TELEDOC Support
CCIR Secretariat
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
TEL: +41 22 730 5810
FAX: +41 22 730 5806
X.400: G=grace;S=petrin;A=arcom;P=itu;C=ch
Internet: petrin(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch
*******************************************
ANNEX A
Access to TAM from Major eMail Service Providers
The Teledoc Auto-Answering Mailbox (TAM) is
accessible from several major eMail service
providers.
ACCESS FROM MCI
MCI users can access the TAM through MCI's
facilities for access to other mail systems (EMS).
TAM can be accessed through either MCI's X.400 or
Internet gateways. X.400 responses appear
slightly faster and support binary file retrieval
into MCI mailboxes. You can then download
documents from your MCI mailbox using a file
transfer program in your communications package
(e.g. Kermit or Zmodem). If you have problems
with one gateway, please try the other.
ACCESS FROM MCI MAIL VIA X.400:
1. At COMMAND, type CREATE
2. At TO, type TELEDOC followed by EMS in
parentheses. For example,
TO: TELEDOC (EMS)
3. At the prompt EMS: type ARCOM. For example,
EMS: ARCOM
4. At MBX: type PR=ITU. For example,
MBX: PR=ITU
5. At the next MBX: type return to end
addressing
6. Complete as usual
ACCESS FROM MCI MAIL VIA INTERNET:
1. At COMMAND, type CREATE
2. At TO, type TELEDOC followed by EMS in
parentheses. For example,
TO: TELEDOC (EMS)
3. At the prompt EMS: type INTERNET. For
example,
EMS: INTERNET
4. At MBX: type TELEDOC(_at_)ITU(_dot_)ARCOM(_dot_)CH(_dot_) For
example,
MBX: TELEDOC(_at_)ITU(_dot_)ARCOM(_dot_)CH
5. At the next MBX: type return to end
addressing
6. Complete as usual
HOW TO DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS FROM MCI MAIL:
File transfer protocols supported by MCI include
- Zmodem
- Kermit
- Text (MCI account default for downloading ASCII
data only)
If the document you retrieve from your MCI mailbox
is a binary format, you must use either Zmodem or
Kermit transfer protocols.
1. Note the number of the message you want to
download.
2. At COMMAND, type DOWNLOAD followed by the
number of the message you want to DOWNLOAD and
the name of the protocol you want to use. For
example,
COMMAND: DOWNLOAD 3 KERMIT
3. MCI will provide a message that explains how
many files are contained in the transfer. You
will receive an itemized list of the text and
binary message segments contained in each
download request. When prompted, enter a
filename for each file you wish to download or
press return if you wish to skip that segment.
Specify a file extension that corresponds to
the document type. The TAM always returns two
message segments in reply to a GET command.
The first message segment part is always in
ASCII format and contains information
(attributes) of the document (e.g., title, file
size and type). The second message segment
part is the actual document. You may choose
only to download the second message segment
which is the actual document.
4. When you have completed assignment of
filenames for the messages you wish to
download, press return to begin. You may then
need to give the command for your
communications software to begin the download
process.
For more complete information, use MCI's HELP
DOWNLOAD command.
ACCESS FROM COMPUSERVE
Compuserve mail users can access the TAM through
Compuserve's Internet mail gateway facility.
ACCESS FROM COMPUSERVE MAIL VIA INTERNET:
1. Choose COMPOSE a new message, edit the
message with TAM commands, then choose SEND
2. At SEND TO (NAME OR USER ID), type
>internet:teledoc(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch For example,
Send to (Name or User ID): >internet:teledoc(_at_)itu(_dot_)arcom(_dot_)ch
3. At SUBJECT, type any text (TAM ignores
subject fields)
4. Complete as usual
*******************************************
ANNEX B
Teledoc Document Retrieval Formats
Below is given an explanation of several document
formats that Teledoc offers for retrieval:
ASCII
Often the only format that different word
processors have in common is a line-oriented
format using ASCII characters. If the
master or original format of a document in
the ITU Document Store is different from
ASCII then conversion to ASCII may have
resulted in loss of information content
and/or formatting. Future versions of the
Teledoc service will warn when this is the
case. ASCII files have the file extension
.txt
Microsoft RTF
Microsoft Rich Text Format (RTF) is a
standard form of encoding for text and
graphics interchange that can be used with
different microcomputers and operating
systems.
RTF can represent all objects contained in
ITU documents (e.g. multilingual text,
footnotes, headers, footers, symbol sets,
tables, mathematical formulas, geometric and
raster graphics, font information, layout,
structure elements). A standard RTF file
consists of only 7-bit ASCII characters so
it can be transported more easily between
various mail systems. If your word
processing tool can read RTF then this is a
useful format. RTF files have the file
extension .rtf
Word for Windows
Word for Windows is the ITU standard
document processing tool and is therefore
the ITU native document format. Word for
Windows files have the extension .doc
Postscript
Postscript is a final form document - in
other words, it typically cannot be edited
or revised. It can only be printed.
However, the Postscript form of a document
is typically identical to the ITU printed
page form. Postscript files are 7-bit ASCII
and so can be transported between various
electronic mail systems (however, they are
typically very large files). After you
receive a Postscript file, you can copy it
to your Postscript laser printer for a
printed version of the document. Postscript
files have the file extension .ps
ODA/ODIF
The ODA/ODIF format will be increasingly
supported by Teledoc. Open Document Archi
tecture (ODA) and Open Document Interchange
Format (ODIF) are CCITT Recommendations
(T.410 series) also adopted by International
Organization for Standardization (ISO 8613).
ODA is a modern, object-oriented document
architecture for the description of both the
logical and layout structures of a document.
Examples of logical objects are abstracts,
titles, sections, paragraphs, figures,
tables, etc. Examples of layout objects are
pages, columns, frames, etc. ODA provides
for the representation of documents in
processable form, which allows revision by a
recipient, and formatted form, which allows
the precise specification of the document
layout. ODA also supports the transfer of
documents in formatted processable form.
ODIF defines the data stream of the actual
interchange format. ODIF files accessed via
the Teledoc Service correspond to the Euro
pean Workshop on Open Systems (EWOS) Q112
document application profile (DAP). They
have been converted to ODIF Q112 from Rich
Text Format (RTF) by the Bull ODA Product
Set (BOPS). ODIF files have the file
extension .odf. Teledoc will migrate to
support ODA international standard profiles
ISP 11181/ISP 11182 (FOD 26/FOD 36) after
converters are available for ITU document
processing tools. If you are interested in
more information on ODA, please contact the
Open Document Architecture Consortium
(ODAC):
ODAC
Avenue Marcel Thiry 204
1200 Brussels
Belgium
Tel. +32 2 774 9623
Fax. +32 2 774 9690
OTHER FORMATS
Other document formats may be available on
the ITU Document Store. Retrieving these
formats via the TAM depends upon the
capability of the electronic mail system you
use (e.g. support for binary message
attachments).
*******************************************
ANNEX C
A CAVEAT ABOUT ACCESS THROUGH UUCP SITES
Although UUCP sites typically have access to
Internet compliant mail, there is a
considerable difference between email access
through the Internet and UUCP: UUCP sites
typically do not have the store and forward
capacities for file transfer. It is considered a
breach of UUCP etiquette to transfer large files
or documents without first arranging it with the
administrators of affected sites along the route.
****** END OF TELEDOC HELP DOCUMENT ******