NANC 117

Generalized Time Issue

Origination Date :07/26/1997

Originator:AGCS

Description:

The format of YYYYMMDDMMHHSS.0Z is a valid GeneralizedTime. X.208 specifies 3 options for the GeneralizedTime for BER encoding:

a) local time
b) universal coordinated time (uses "Z" at end)
c) local time with a differential (uses "-xxxx").

The encoding is a "VisibleString" encoding, which does allow "0" to be represented. Also, note that the ".0" really means ".x", where x is the value of the tenth of a second. Normally, GeneralizedTime does not specify how long the visible string is. The reason is that the ".xxx" is based on how much resolution your system clock has, to the tenth of a second, microsecond, nanosecond, etc. For the IIS, this is restricted to 17 to indicate the time will be to a resolution of a tenth of a second. For LNP systems that only have resolution to the second, the last digit will be zero.

To be strictly correct, the IIS really should not specify exactly how long the string is, as long as it is at least 15 octets. Each system 1) on sending, should determine how it wants to represent time, and 2) on receiving, should be able to interpret any of the three formats of GeneralizedTime it receives and make the appropriate translation to interpret the digital signature using the 17 digits.

Final Resolution:

This change order will be evaluated by the group.

This change order was closed no action.

Related Release:

N/A

Status: Closed