An acknowledgment of receipt is, in communication disciplines and technologies, a return message that confirms that a certain communication has actually reached its destination.
The term of acknowledgment of receipt is broad and refers to different communicational situations that can occur in person, by mail, via email or in other technological scenarios. This return function ensures that the message has been received correctly and that there have been no errors, problems or other inconveniences that may be circumstantial, technical or personal.
In the traditional communication model, in addition to the message, a sender and a receiver are counted, a channel through which the message is sent, a context that implies a particular transmission environment and a code that is known by the sender and the recipient. recipient when communicating. An unsatisfactory or unsuccessful communication is due to any problem due to "noise" in the transmission, which can be technical (for example, the telephone connection is broken) or human order (for example, the receiver refuses to receive the message).
The standard of the acknowledgment of receipt was created primarily with the purpose of assuring the sender that his communication has been received effectively, that is, that the transmission relationship has been established successfully.
In a mailing, for example, of a telegram, the acknowledgment of receipt is registered by the post office operator and, in the event that the message could not be delivered, the sender receives a note detailing the corresponding reason.
A variant of the acknowledgment is the RSVP (from French, "Répondez s'il vous plaît" or "Respond, please"), by means of which a person or institution that organizes an event and sends invitations, requires the recipients of the same to confirm their attendance.
In computing, for example, the acronym ACK (for "Acknowledgment" or "Acknowledgment"), and it is common for a return message to be sent in network exchange operations, confirming that there are no errors or disruptions in the technology conversation. According to the protocol used, the counterpart can also be included NACK (by "Negative Acknowledgment" or "Negative Acknowledgment"), by means of which it is communicated that errors or failures have been detected in the message or communication sent.
This type of protocol is used on a small and large scale, and its use is also very common in the daily sending of e-mails. If it is an urgent email, of a work nature or on which the sender wants to know his destination, there is the possibility of including an acknowledgment of receipt in the message sending programs. With this function, the recipient of the email must confirm, upon receipt of the email, that the message has in fact arrived, and the program immediately sends a return communication to the sender.
