NAME¶
srec_fpc - four packed code file format
SYNOPSIS¶
All ASCII based file formats have one disadvantage in common: they all need more
than double the amount of characters as opposed to the number of bytes to be
sent. Address fields and checksums will add even more characters. So the
shorter the records, the more characters have to be sent to get the file
across.
The FPC format may be used to reduce the number of characters needed to send a
file in ASCII format, although it still needs more characters than the actual
bytes it sends. FPC stands for "Four Packed Code". The reduction is
accomplished by squeezing 4 real bytes into 5 ASCII characters. In fact every
ASCII character will be a digit in the base 85 number system. There aren't
enough letters, digits and punctuation marks available to get 85 different
characters, but if we use both upper case and lower case letters we will
manage. This implies that the FPC
is case sensitive, as opposed
to all other ASCII based file formats.
Base 85¶
The numbering system is in base 85, and is somewhat hard to understand for us
humans who are usually only familiar with base 10 numbers. Some of us
understand base 2 and base 16 as well, but base 85 is for most people
something new. Luckily we don't have to do any math with this number system.
We just convert a 32 bit number into a 5 digit number in base 85. A 32 bit
number has a range of 4,294,967,296, while a 5 digit number in base 85 has a
range of 4,437,053,125, which is enough to do the trick. One drawback is that
we always have to send multiples of 4 bytes, even if we actually want to send
1, 2 or 3 bytes. Unused bytes are padded with zeroes, and are discarded at the
receiving end.
The digits of the base 85 numbering system start at %, which represents the
value of 0. The highest value of a digit in base 85 is 84, and is represented
by the character 'z'. If you want to check this with a normal ASCII table you
will notice that we have used one character too many! Why? I don't know, but
for some reason we have to skip the '*' character in the row. This means that
after the ')' character follows the '+' character.
We can use normal number conversion algorithms to generate the FPC digits, with
this tiny difference. We have to check whether the digit is going to be equal
or larger than the ASCII value for '*'. If this is the case we have to
increment the digit once to stay clear of the '*'. In base 85 MSD digits go
first, like in all number systems!
The benefit of this all is hopefully clear. For every 4 bytes we only have to
send 5 ASCII characters, as opposed to 8 characters for all other formats.
Records¶
Now we take a look at the the formatting of the FPC records. We look at the
record at byte level, not at the actual base 85 encoded level. Only after
formatting the FPC record at byte level we convert 4 bytes at a time to a 5
digit base 85 number. If we don't have enough bytes in the record to fill the
last group of 5 digits we will add bytes with the value of 0 behind the
record.
$ |
ss |
cc |
ffff |
aaaaaaaa |
dddddddd |
The field are defined as:
- $
- Every line starts with the character $, all other characters are digits of
base 85.
- ss
- The checksum. A one byte 2's‐complement checksum of all bytes of
the record.
- cc
- The byte‐count. A one byte value, counting all the bytes in the
record minus 4.
- ffff
- Format code, a two byte value, defining the record type.
- aaaaaaaa
- The address field. A 4 byte number representing the first address of this
record.
- dddddddd
- The actual data of this record.
Record Begin¶
Every record begins with the ASCII character "
$". No spaces or
tabs are allowed in a record. All other characters in the record are formed by
groups of 5 digits of base 85.
Checksum field¶
This field is a one byte 2's‐complement checksum of the entire record. To
create the checksum make a one byte sum from all of the bytes from all of the
fields of the record:
Then take the 2's‐complement of this sum to create the final checksum.
The 2's‐complement is simply inverting all bits and then increment by 1
(or using the negative operator). Checking the checksum at the receivers end
is done by adding all bytes together including the checksum itself, discarding
all carries, and the result must be $00. The padding bytes at the end of the
line, should they exist, should not be included in checksum. But it doesn't
really matter if they are, for their influence will be 0 anyway.
Byte Count¶
The byte count
cc counts the number of bytes in the current record minus
4. So only the number of address bytes and the data bytes are counted and not
the first 4 bytes of the record (checksum, byte count and format flags). The
byte count can have any value from 0 to 255.
Usually records have 32 data bytes. It is not recommended to send too many data
bytes in a record for that may increase the transmission time in case of
errors. Also avoid sending only a few data bytes per record, because the
address overhead will be too heavy in comparison to the payload.
This is a 2 byte number, indicating what format is represented in this record.
Only a few formats are available, so we actually waste 1 byte in each record
for the sake of having multiples of 4 bytes.
Format code 0 means that the address field in this record is to be treated as
the absolute address where the first data byte of the record should be stored.
Format code 1 means that the address field in this record is missing. Simply the
last known address of the previous record +1 is used to store the first data
byte. As if the FPC format wasn't fast enough already ;‐)
Format code 2 means that the address field in this record is to be treated as a
relative address. Relative to what is not really clear. The relative address
will remain in effect until an absolute address is received again.
Address Field¶
The first data byte of the record is stored in the address specified by the
Address field
aaaaaaaa. After storing that data byte, the address is
incremented by 1 to point to the address for the next data byte of the record.
And so on, until all data bytes are stored.
The length of the address field is always 4 bytes, if present of course. So the
address range for the FPC format is always 2**32.
If only the address field is given, without any data bytes, the address will be
set as starting address for records that have no address field.
Addresses between records are non sequential. There may be gaps in the
addressing or the address pointer may even point to lower addresses as before
in the same file. But every time the sequence of addressing must be changed, a
format 0 record must be used. Addressing within one single record
is
sequential of course.
Data Field¶
This field contains 0 or more data bytes. The actual number of data bytes is
indicated by the byte count in the beginning of the record less the number of
address bytes. The first data byte is stored in the location indicated by the
address in the address field. After that the address is incremented by 1 and
the next data byte is stored in that new location. This continues until all
bytes are stored. If there are not enough data bytes to obtain a multiple of 4
we use 0x00 as padding bytes at the end of the record. These padding bytes are
ignored on the receiving side.
End of File¶
End of file is recognized if the first four bytes of the record all contain
0x00. In base 85 this will be “$%%%%%”. This is the only decent
way to terminate the file.
Size Multiplier¶
In general, binary data will expand in sized by approximately 1.7 times when
represented with this format.
Example¶
Now it's time for an example. In the first table you can see the byte
representation of the file to be transferred. The 4th row of bytes is not a
multiple of 4 bytes. But that does not matter, for we append $00 bytes at the
end until we do have a multiple of 4 bytes. These padding bytes are not
counted in the byte count however!
D81400000000B000576F77212044696420796F7520726561
431400000000B0106C6C7920676F207468726F7567682061
361400000000B0206C6C20746861742074726F75626C6520
591100000000B030746F207265616420746869733F000000
00000000
Only after converting the bytes to base 85 we get the records of the FPC type
file format presented in the next table. Note that there is always a multiple
of 5 characters to represent a multiple of 4 bytes in each record.
$kL&@h%%,:,B.\?00EPuX0K3rO0JI))
$;UPR'%%,:<Hn&FCG:at<GVF(;G9wIw
$7FD1p%%,:LHmy:>GTV%/KJ7@GE[kYz
$B[6\;%%,:\KIn?GFWY/qKI1G5:;-_e
$%%%%%
As you can see the length of the lines is clearly shorter than the original
ASCII lines.
SEE ALSO¶
http://sbprojects.fol.nl/knowledge/fileformats/fpc.htm
AUTHOR¶
This man page was taken from the above Web page. It was written by San Bergmans
<sanmail@bigfoot.com>
For extra points: Who invented this format? Where is it used?