ISO: International Organization For Standardization
Lamination:(a) A method of applying a magnetic stripe tape to a card; adhe-
siveapplied to the film side of a magnetic material coated bonds to the stripe to
thecard. (b)A methodof fabricatingcards, builtup ofseveral layersof material
withthin sheets of adhesive in between and bonded under heat and pressure.
(c) A coating or die-cut panel applied by the printer to add scratch resistance
and inhibit fading from UV exposure.
Laminator:A device with rollers that apply both heat and pressure to add lay-
ers or coatings to cards.
Low Energy Stripe: Low coercivity magnetic stripe, usually 300 oersted;
does not refer to read output.
Magnetic Slug: Magnetic slugs or metal pieces embedded or layered in a
cardused by magnetic sensing devices. Also known as a shim card and gener-
ally limited to single code parking operations.
Magnetic Stripe: A thin layer of material consisting of oriented ferromag-
neticparticles rigidly held together by a resin binder and bonded to a nonmag-
netic carrier medium such as paper or plastic.
Media: The material used, e.g., magnetic stripes, cards, ribbons, etc.
Mil: One thousandth of an inch.
OpticalMemory: Optically coded cards depend upon varying transparency
densitiesarranged in rows, columns, or spots, read by a system of light sources
and photo detectors.
Oersteds: An electromagnetic unit of magnetic intensity (centimeter-gram-
second) used to rate the magnetic intensity of magnetic media, such as the
Magnetic Stripe used on credit card style plastic cards.
Over-laminate:Either aprotective coatingor adie-cut panel(see Overlay).
Overlay Varnish: A thin transparent coating imaged on cards to resist
scratching and fading from exposure to UV radiation.
PASS: See Card Pass.
PIN:Personal Identification Number, encrypted in the magnetic stripe encod-
ing on a financial card.
Polyester:A plastic material frequently used for ID badges and access control
cards, stronger than PVC, but cannot be embossed.
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Glossary