scope:

Purpose and scope

This is one of a set of Recommendations for Message Handling. The entire set provides a comprehensive specification for Message Handling comprising any number of cooperating open systems.

This Recommendation specifies the algorithms the MHS uses when converting between different types of encoded information.

Other aspects of Message Handling are defined in other Recommendations. The overall system and services of Message Handling is specified in Recommendation X.400. The overall architecture of the MHS is defined in Recommendation X.402. The conformance testing of MHS components is described in Recommendation X.403. The conventions used in the definition of the abstract services provided by MHS components are defined in Recommendation X.407. The abstract service the MTS provides and the procedures that govern its distributed operation are defined in Recommendation X.411. The abstract service the MS provides is defined in Recommendation X.413. The application protocols that govern the interaction of MHS components are specified in Recommendation X.419. The interpersonal Messaging System, an application of Message Handling, is specified in Recommendation. X.420.

Paragraph 2 of this Recommendation describes the general aspects of conversion for the MHS. In §§ 3 to 10, particular conversion rules are defined. Annex A provides code conversion tables. Annex B lists the abbreviations used.