Discussion:
Registration of new charset BRF
Samuel Thibault
2006-09-29 21:21:55 UTC
Permalink
Hi,

Here is a submission request for the BRF charset, which is a widely used
charset for braille dots. It is also known as ASCII braille because
it looks much like ASCII: the lower 32 characters are just equivalent
to those of ASCII, and characters 32-95 just map braille dots to they
(approximate) letter equivalent. It was defined by one of the first
companies which produced embossers, Duxbury, and then widely spread as a
standard way of exchanging already-contracted braille files.

Charset name:

BRF

Suitability for use in MIME text:

Yes.

Published specification(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII

ISO 10646 equivalency table:

http://dept-info.labri.fr/~thibault/BRF

Additional information:

Samuel Thibault <***@ens-lyon.org>

Intended usage:

COMMON
Martin Duerst
2006-10-02 07:38:22 UTC
Permalink
Hello Samuel,

Just a few comments below.
Post by Samuel Thibault
Hi,
Here is a submission request for the BRF charset, which is a widely used
charset for braille dots. It is also known as ASCII braille because
it looks much like ASCII: the lower 32 characters are just equivalent
to those of ASCII, and characters 32-95 just map braille dots to they
(approximate) letter equivalent. It was defined by one of the first
companies which produced embossers, Duxbury, and then widely spread as a
standard way of exchanging already-contracted braille files.
BRF
Where does this name come from? Is that abbreviation already
established and used? It seems rather short for a charset label.
Post by Samuel Thibault
Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII
This does not look like the actual specification
(e.g. by ISO/IEC, a national standards organization,
or so), but looks more like a document about the encoding.
Is an original specification (e.g. on the Duxbury Web site)
available?
Post by Samuel Thibault
http://dept-info.labri.fr/~thibault/BRF
Three comments here:
- The format looks like 'almost XML'. I think it would
be better to use XML or to avoid looking like XML.
- Why is the C1 area fully included? Are things such as
"END OF MEDIUM" relevant in the context of braille?
If not, I think it would be better to remove these.
- I'm not sure how long you can guarantee that this
page will be up. Because it is very short, it may
be best if you include the list here, rather than
pointing to it.
Giving your address is helpful, but probably better to
Post by Samuel Thibault
COMMON
Regards, Martin.



#-#-# Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-# http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp mailto:***@it.aoyama.ac.jp
Samuel Thibault
2006-10-03 16:22:37 UTC
Permalink
Hi,
Post by Martin Duerst
Post by Samuel Thibault
BRF
=20
Where does this name come from?
It seems to stand for Braille Ready Format.
Post by Martin Duerst
Is that abbreviation already established and used? It seems rather
short for a charset label.
Yes. People only know this name (even the IRS for tax forms) and don'=
t
even know that it came first from Duxbury.
Post by Martin Duerst
Post by Samuel Thibault
Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII
=20
This does not look like the actual specification
Agreed.
Post by Martin Duerst
Is an original specification (e.g. on the Duxbury Web site) availab=
le?

I haven't found any. I'll try to contact Duxbury for getting one.
Post by Martin Duerst
Post by Samuel Thibault
http://dept-info.labri.fr/~thibault/BRF=20
=20
- The format looks like 'almost XML'. I think it would
be better to use XML or to avoid looking like XML.
Ah, this is the usual format of charset tables in glibc.
Post by Martin Duerst
- Why is the C1 area fully included? Are things such as
"END OF MEDIUM" relevant in the context of braille?
If not, I think it would be better to remove these.
They were kept in BRF for full ASCII compatibility, when braille is s=
ent
over a modem or any other type of medium.
Post by Martin Duerst
- I'm not sure how long you can guarantee that this
page will be up. Because it is very short, it may
be best if you include the list here, rather than
pointing to it.
Ok, no problem.
Post by Martin Duerst
=20
Giving your address is helpful, but probably better to
=20
Oops, I actually misread the form from RFC2978. Here is a corrected
version:



Charset name:

BRF

Suitability for use in MIME text:

Yes.

Published specification(s):

TODO: contact Duxbury.

ISO 10646 equivalency table:

0x00 U+0000 NULL (NUL)
0x01 U+0001 START OF HEADING (SOH)
0x02 U+0002 START OF TEXT (STX)
0x03 U+0003 END OF TEXT (ETX)
0x04 U+0004 END OF TRANSMISSION (EOT)
0x05 U+0005 ENQUIRY (ENQ)
0x06 U+0006 ACKNOWLEDGE (ACK)
0x07 U+0007 BELL (BEL)
0x08 U+0008 BACKSPACE (BS)
0x09 U+0009 CHARACTER TABULATION (HT)
0x0a U+000A LINE FEED (LF)
0x0b U+000B LINE TABULATION (VT)
0x0c U+000C FORM FEED (FF)
0x0d U+000D CARRIAGE RETURN (CR)
0x0e U+000E SHIFT OUT (SO)
0x0f U+000F SHIFT IN (SI)
0x10 U+0010 DATALINK ESCAPE (DLE)
0x11 U+0011 DEVICE CONTROL ONE (DC1)
0x12 U+0012 DEVICE CONTROL TWO (DC2)
0x13 U+0013 DEVICE CONTROL THREE (DC3)
0x14 U+0014 DEVICE CONTROL FOUR (DC4)
0x15 U+0015 NEGATIVE ACKNOWLEDGE (NAK)
0x16 U+0016 SYNCHRONOUS IDLE (SYN)
0x17 U+0017 END OF TRANSMISSION BLOCK (ETB)
0x18 U+0018 CANCEL (CAN)
0x19 U+0019 END OF MEDIUM (EM)
0x1a U+001A SUBSTITUTE (SUB)
0x1b U+001B ESCAPE (ESC)
0x1c U+001C FILE SEPARATOR (IS4)
0x1d U+001D GROUP SEPARATOR (IS3)
0x1e U+001E RECORD SEPARATOR (IS2)
0x1f U+001F UNIT SEPARATOR (IS1)
0x20 U+2800 BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK
0x21 U+282E BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2346
0x22 U+2810 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-5
0x23 U+283C BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-3456
0x24 U+282B BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1246
0x25 U+2829 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-146
0x26 U+282F BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12346
0x27 U+2804 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-3
0x28 U+2837 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12356
0x29 U+283E BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-23456
0x2a U+2821 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-16
0x2b U+282C BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-346
0x2c U+2820 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-6
0x2d U+2824 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-36
0x2e U+2828 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-46
0x2f U+280C BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-34
0x30 U+2834 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-356
0x31 U+2802 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2
0x32 U+2806 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-23
0x33 U+2812 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-25
0x34 U+2832 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-256
0x35 U+2822 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-26
0x36 U+2816 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-235
0x37 U+2836 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2356
0x38 U+2826 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-236
0x39 U+2814 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-35
0x3a U+2831 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-156
0x3b U+2830 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-56
0x3c U+2823 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-126
0x3d U+283F BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-123456
0x3e U+281C BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-345
0x3f U+2839 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1456
0x40 U+2808 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-4
0x41 U+2801 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1
0x42 U+2803 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12
0x43 U+2809 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-14
0x44 U+2819 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-145
0x45 U+2811 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-15
0x46 U+280B BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-124
0x47 U+281B BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1245
0x48 U+2813 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125
0x49 U+280A BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-24
0x4a U+281A BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-245
0x4b U+2805 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-13
0x4c U+2807 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-123
0x4d U+280D BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-134
0x4e U+281D BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1345
0x4f U+2815 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-135
0x50 U+280F BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1234
0x51 U+281F BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12345
0x52 U+2817 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1235
0x53 U+280E BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-234
0x54 U+281E BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2345
0x55 U+2825 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-136
0x56 U+2827 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1236
0x57 U+283A BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2456
0x58 U+282D BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1346
0x59 U+283D BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-13456
0x5a U+2835 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1356
0x5b U+282A BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-246
0x5c U+2833 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1256
0x5d U+283B BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12456
0x5e U+2818 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-45
0x5f U+2838 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-456

Additional information:

It was defined by one of the first companies which produced embossers=
,
Duxbury, and then widely spread as a standard way of exchanging
already-contracted braille files.

Person & email address to contact for further information:

Samuel Thibault <***@ens-lyon.org>

Intended usage:

COMMON
Samuel Thibault
2006-10-05 07:10:27 UTC
Permalink
Hi,
Post by Martin Duerst
Post by Samuel Thibault
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII
=20
This does not look like the actual specification
(e.g. by ISO/IEC, a national standards organization,
or so), but looks more like a document about the encoding.
Is an original specification (e.g. on the Duxbury Web site)
available?
I got an answer from Duxbury:

=AB=A0The short answer is that there is no official standard for the =
BRF
format. Our company's best braille expert offered some more informati=
on
about the subject:

If "official" means an ISO standard, then there is none. However,=
though
defined by Duxbury many years ago (1975), BRF files are widely un=
derstood
and accepted in the industry and community concerned with braille=
, as a
simple and obvious way to encode any arbitrary document consistin=
g entirely
of standard 6-dot braille text, regardless of content or format. =
It is in
that sense a defacto standard. For the many braille embossers tha=
t are
designed to operate like a classic "teletype" printer, a BRF file=
can often
serve as an embosser-ready file -- i.e. it can be sent directly t=
o the
embosser without any intervening processes apart from those essen=
tial to
driving the hardware itself. That use, in fact, was the basis of =
the
definition of BRF files in the first place.
A BRF file is very simply defined:
Each character in braille is encoded according to the North Ameri=
can
ASCII-Braille code, sometimes called the MIT code (from its genes=
is in the
1960s) and also known as the North American Braille Computer Code=
or NABCC.
For example, a space (no dots) is an ASCII space, dots 14 is an A=
SCII 'c'
(or 'C' -- case is irrelevant), dots 126 is an ASCII '<'. The com=
plete set
of equivalences is listed in the table towards the end of

http://www.duxburysystems.com/braille.asp
=A0=BB

I'm not sure know whether the url above will be as "stable" as the
wikipedia one, however.

Samuel
Martin Duerst
2006-10-09 00:15:28 UTC
Permalink
Hello Samuel,

Many thanks for your inquiries with Duxbury.
Why don't you include both the Wikipedia and the Duxbury
link in the registration? Also, please put the expanded
name of the encoding in the 'Additional Information' section.

Regards, Martin.
Hi,
Post by Martin Duerst
Post by Samuel Thibault
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII
This does not look like the actual specification
(e.g. by ISO/IEC, a national standards organization,
or so), but looks more like a document about the encoding.
Is an original specification (e.g. on the Duxbury Web site)
available?
ォ The short answer is that there is no official standard for the BRF
format. Our company's best braille expert offered some more information
If "official" means an ISO standard, then there is none. However, though
defined by Duxbury many years ago (1975), BRF files are widely understood
and accepted in the industry and community concerned with braille, as a
simple and obvious way to encode any arbitrary document consisting entirely
of standard 6-dot braille text, regardless of content or format. It is in
that sense a defacto standard. For the many braille embossers that are
designed to operate like a classic "teletype" printer, a BRF file can often
serve as an embosser-ready file -- i.e. it can be sent directly to the
embosser without any intervening processes apart from those essential to
driving the hardware itself. That use, in fact, was the basis of the
definition of BRF files in the first place.
Each character in braille is encoded according to the North American
ASCII-Braille code, sometimes called the MIT code (from its genesis in the
1960s) and also known as the North American Braille Computer Code or NABCC.
For example, a space (no dots) is an ASCII space, dots 14 is an ASCII 'c'
(or 'C' -- case is irrelevant), dots 126 is an ASCII '<'. The complete set
of equivalences is listed in the table towards the end of
http://www.duxburysystems.com/braille.asp
サ
I'm not sure know whether the url above will be as "stable" as the
wikipedia one, however.
Samuel
#-#-# Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-# http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp mailto:***@it.aoyama.ac.jp
Samuel Thibault
2006-10-09 08:55:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Martin Duerst
Many thanks for your inquiries with Duxbury.
Why don't you include both the Wikipedia and the Duxbury
link in the registration?
Yes, that's what I'll do.
Post by Martin Duerst
Also, please put the expanded name of the encoding in the 'Addition=
al
Post by Martin Duerst
Information' section.
`Braille Ready File' ? Ok.

Samuel

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