PCD TF Vol.2 Field Length Corrections

Hi John,

Thanks for the revised TF (Rev 2.1) draft copy. I noticed a few thing relating to the OBX segment. It looks like the OBX-18 field is limited to a length of 22 in the general OBX definition (Appendix B.8). This is as it was in the previous TF. I would think It should probably be increased, as 22 is probably not large enough for the information as specified. I noticed that in the OBX definition for the PCD-03 (Table 3.3.4.4-1) the size has been increased to 427. I also noticed that the sizes for OBX-15, OBX-16, and OBX-17 are also different between the two OBX definitions as well.

The description for OBX-18 in section B.8 could use one more example for the vendor specific ID such as  |123456^ICU_MONITOR^megacorp.com^DNS|.

Why does the PCD-03 change the definition of OBX-18? This makes things more complicated for implementers. Can't it use the hierarchy described in B.8 to specify the channel and device?

It also looks like PCD-03 specifies the manufacturer's name to be placed in the 'universal ID type' component which is limited to a length of 6. It also does not make it clear the IE-1 should also contain the serial number as it is required by the IE definition.

One proof reading note: the description for EI (Appendix C.5) uses HD instead of EI at times for referencing components.

I'm not sure if all this commenting on the TF revision is appropriate to direct to you. If not please let me know who or where to send comments to in the future.

Thanks again for all the help,

Scott