RFC 2159 (rfc2159) - Page 1 of 7

A MIME Body Part for FAX

Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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Network Working Group                                  H. Alvestrand
Request for Comments: 2159                                   UNINETT
Category: Standards Track                               January 1998


                        A MIME Body Part for FAX

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

1.  Introduction

   This document contains the definitions, originally contained in RFC
   1494, on how to carry CCITT G3Fax in MIME, and how to translate it to
   its X.400 representation.

   NOTE: At the moment, this format does not seem appropriate for a
   "general purpose image format for the Internet", if such a beast can
   exist. It exists only to carry information that is already in G3 Fax
   format, and may be usefully converted to other formats when used in
   specific contexts.

2.  The image/g3fax content-type

   This content-type is defined to carry G3 Facsimile byte streams.

   In general, a G3Fax image contains 3 pieces of information:

     (1)   A set of flags indicating the particular coding scheme.
           CCITT Recommendation T.30 defines how the flags are
           transmitted over telephones.  In this medium, the flags are
           carried as parameters in the MIME content-type header
           field.

     (2)   A structure that divides the bits into pages.  CCITT
           recommendation T.4 describes a "return to command mode"
           string; this is used here to indicate page breaks.





Alvestrand                  Standards Track
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