Michael, just wait until healthcare gets going with the proposed electronic claims attachments!!! This will be a 275 transaction set, with the BIN segment into which an HL7 XML-based message containing either structured data, images, text files, etc. is poured. There are even some who believe that this will be a fairly easy adoption since health care providers and payers are already using X12!!!!
Are we having fun - yet? Rachel Rachel Foerster & Associates, Ltd. 39432 North Avenue Beach Park, IL 60099 Voice: 847-872-8070 Fax: 847-589-8081 www.rfa-edi.com -----Original Message----- From: Michael Mattias [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 8:22 AM To: EDI-L Subject: [EDI-L] ANSI ASC X12: BIN and BDS segments 3/23/05 The "binary" data in BIN segments (BIN03) is defined in X12.6 (004010) thus: =============================== 3.5.1.7 Binary The binary data element is any sequence of octets ranging in value from binary 00000000 to binary 11111111. This data element type has no defined maximum length. Actual length is specified by the immediately preceding data element. The binary data element type may only exist in the Binary segment (see Section 3.11). The representation for this data element type is B. <binary> ::= <octet> {<octet>} <octet> ::= "000000002" | ... | "111111112" ...... 3.11 Binary Segment The binary segment has the same structure as a data segment but is used for transferring binary data with an accompanying length parameter. Bit patterns normally reserved for other functions may appear in the binary data element. These bit patterns could be misinterpreted. The length of the binary data element is provided in the preceding data element in order to locate the end of the binary data and prevent such misinterpretation. The binary segment may not occur outside the boundaries of a transaction set. <binary_seg> ::= BIN <gs> <number_of_octets> <gs> <binary> <tr> <number_of_octets> ::= <unsigned_integer> The data element that references the number of octets provides a count of all octets contained in the binary data element. This count does not include the preceding data element separator or trailing data segment terminator. The count is provided to enable finding the data segment terminator. =========== Ok, so this means the BIN03 may contain an octet which - if I read this correctly - may be a high-order (extended) ASCII character (x'80'- x'FF'). But how can this be, given that a communications protocol may be a 7-bit protocol? If you use a 7-bit protocol, either you'd lose bit 7 of each octet or it would be misinterpreted as a control character. Or, does the use of BDS/BIN presuppose the use of an 8-bit protocol? Or preempt the use of high-order characters? Or does the standard just assume that "you have the data, communications is a totally separate consideration?" (Which really seems strange given the origin and original design of ANSI ASC X12 data format). I ask because although I've been working with ANSI ASC X12 data since about 1984, I have never seen a BIN (or BDS ) segment used "for real." Inquiring Minds Want to Know. Thanks, Michael Mattias Tal Systems, Inc. Racine WI [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Access the list online at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L Yahoo! Groups Links . Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Access the list online at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
