Specifying CHANNELS

The CHANNELS section in the label_encodings file defines the line (or lines) that can appear below the PRINTER BANNER line(s) on the lower third of the banner and trailer pages. The CHANNELS section can be specified to print a string whenever the label of a print job contains a certain compartment.

In the example in Figure 3-8, the channels are the lines that read DISTRIBUTE ONLY TO HUMAN RESOURCES EMPLOYEES (NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT REQUIRED). At commercial sites, it is possible to specify any text you want to appear in the CHANNELS section with any compartment bit you choose.

Figure 3-8 Commercial Use of the CHANNELS Specification on the Print Job's Banner Page

In government installations, the channels line(s) of the banner page conventionally are specified to display any caveats that are associated with the compartments of the job's label. Figure 3-9 shows a typical CHANNELS warning on a print job's banner page at a government installation: HANDLE VIA (CH B)/(CH A) CHANNELS JOINTLY.

The following discussion explains and illustrates how the CHANNELS string HANDLE VIA (CH B)/(CH A) CHANNELS JOINTLY is specified for a job whose label includes the compartment words A and B. For the purpose of the example, only (CH A) and (CH B) apply. However, since the compartment bit for a third channel (CH C) is included in their definitions, (CH C) is also mentioned in this discussion.

The example illustrates the following:

• Two compartment bits are associated individually with one set of words and together with another set of words

• A third compartment bit is included with the encodings for the first two bits

• One suffix is defined for whenever any combination of one or more channel words is in the label

• Another suffix is defined for when a single channel word is in the label

• A third suffix is defined for when more than one channel word is in the print job's label

Figure 3-9 Government Use of the CHANNELS Specification on the Banner Page

As shown in the following example, two suffixes CHANNELS JOINTLY and CHANNELS ONLY and a prefix HANDLE VIA are defined.

Example 3-4 Suffixes and Prefixes Defined in the CHANNELS Section in a Government label_encodings File

CHANNELS:

WORDS:
name= CHANNELS JOINTLY;         suffix;
name= CHANNELS ONLY;            suffix;
name= HANDLE VIA;               prefix;

Following the prefixes and suffixes definitions in Example 3-4, the channel names (CH A), (CH B), and (CH C) are specified in two different ways to achieve the following results:

• Whenever any one of the three compartment bits associated with channels is in the label, the HANDLE VIA: prefix is printed.

• When only one of the three compartment bits associated with channels is in the label, the CHANNELS ONLY suffix is printed after the channel name (CH A), (CH B), or (CH C).

• When more than one compartment bit associated with channels is in the label, the prefix is followed by the channel names separated by a slash (/), which are then followed by the CHANNELS JOINTLY suffix.

  The first three lines that define CHANNELS words in Example 3-4 are repeated in Example 3-5 to focus on how (CH A), (CH B), and (CH C) are encoded to appear with the CHANNELS ONLY suffix:

• (CH A) is encoded with bit 0 on and bits 1 and 6 explicitly set to off using the tilde (~): 0 ~1 ~6

• (CH B) is encoded with bit 1 on and bits 0 and 6 explicitly set to off using the tilde (~): ~0 1 ~6

• (CH C) is encoded with bit 6 on and bits 0 and 1 explicitly set to off using the tilde (~): ~0 ~1 6)

Example 3-5 CHANNELS ONLY Suffix Defined to Appear Alone with Individual Channels

CHANNELS:

WORDS:

name= CHANNELS JOINTLY;         suffix;
name= CHANNELS ONLY;            suffix;
name= HANDLE VIA;               prefix;
name= (CH A);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY;
compartments= 0 ~1 ~6;
name= (CH B);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY;
compartments= ~0 1 ~6;
name= (CH C);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY;
compartments= ~0 ~1 6;

The first three lines of channel name definitions in the CHANNELS section shown in Example 3-5 have the following results:

• The HANDLE VIA prefix and the CHANNELS ONLY suffix are printed when one of the words associated with bits 0, 1, and 6 elsewhere in the label_encodings is in the job's label

• The HANDLE VIA prefix and CHANNELS ONLY suffix are printed:

  • With (CH A) when compartment bit 0 is turned on in the label and compartment bits 1 and 6 are off

  • With (CH B) when compartment bit 1 is turned on in the label and compartment bits 0 and 6 are off

  • With (CH C) when compartment bit 6 is turned on in the label and compartment bits 0 and 1 are off

    The last three lines that define CHANNELS WORDS in Example 3-5 are repeated in Example 3-6 to show how (CH A), (CH B), and (CH C) are encoded to appear with the CHANNELS JOINTLY suffix when more than one of the words associated with bits 0, 1, and 6 is in the job's label. A slash is inserted between the channels names when more than one of the bits defined in the channels section is in the job's label.

Example 3-6 Encodings for More Than One Channel in the CHANNELS Section in a Government label_encodings File

name= (CH A);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY; compartments= 0 ~1 ~6;
name= (CH B);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY; compartments= ~0 1 ~6;
name= (CH C);   prefix= HANDLE VIA; suffix= CHANNELS ONLY; compartments= ~0 ~1 6;

The CHANNELS specification illustrates the importance of order when compartments are being encoded. The first three lines shown in Example 3-6 have already taken care of the cases when only one of the channels compartment bits is turned on, so the last three lines can take care of cases when more than one bit is turned. Therefore, none of the last three lines need to have any compartment bits explicitly set to 0. Because any cases where any of the channels words appears in the job's label by itself have already been taken care of, the result of these last three lines is that the suffix CHANNELS JOINTLY is always printed when any of two or more of the three compartment words associated with the channels is in the label:

• (CH C) is printed with CHANNELS JOINTLY when bit 6 is turned on and either of bit 0 or 1 or both are also turned on

• (CH B) is printed with CHANNELS JOINTLY when bit 1 is turned on either of bit 0 or 6 or both are also turned on and

• (CH A) is printed with CHANNELS JOINTLY when compartment 0 is turned on and either of bit 6 or 1 or both are also turned on

  Example 3-7 shows the labels with compartment bit 6. The figure shows that compartment bit 6 is associated words associatedwith the label word CC.

Example 3-7 labels WORDS associated with Compartment Bit 6

SENSITIVITY LABELS:

WORDS:
  .
  .
  .	
name= CC;                       minclass= TS; compartments= 6;

Example 3-8 shows that compartment bit 1 is associated with the sensitivity labels word B.

Example 3-8 Sensitivity Labels WORDS Associated with Compartment Bit 1

SENSITIVITY LABELS:

WORDS:
  .  .  .	
name= B;                        minclass=  C; compartments= 1;

Example 3-9 shows that compartment bit 0 is associated with sensitivity labels word A.

Example 3-9 Sensitivity Labels WORDS Associated with Compartment Bit 0

SENSITIVITY LABELS:

WORDS:
   .   .	   .
name= A;                        minclass=  C; compartments= 0;

To sum up, the channels line prints as HANDLE VIA (CH B)/(CH A) CHANNELS JOINTLY because:

• HANDLE VIA is defined to always appear with any of the defined CHANNELS words

• The sensitivity label has two access-related words, A and B, that are associated with two compartment bits 0 and 1.

• Because two of the bits defined for CHANNELS words appear in the job's label, the CHANNELS WORDS (CH A) and (CH B) are followed by CHANNELS JOINTLY.

  Any words to come before the channel name are specified as prefixes and any words to come after the channel name are specified as suffixes.

The following table may be used to plan CHANNELS.