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The basic function of an ID-1 identification card is to contain information in a visual, tactile, and electronic form that identifies its bearer and that may support transactions the card is to enable. Visual information may be presented through artwork, personal pictures, anticounterfeiting mechanisms (such as holograms), or machine-readable mechanisms (such as barcodes). Embossing is used to convey information in a tactile form suitable for creating impressions of characters on other media. This is a capability often used in transactions based on such identification cards. Information may be conveyed in electronic form through two mechanisms—magnetic stripes, which are prevalent on credit cards, and an embedded integrated circuit chip, which is the defining characteristic of smart cards.

The elements of an ID-1 identification card include

  The card backing (the plastic)
  Optional embossing areas on which alphanumeric information may be stamped
  An optional area to which a magnetic stripe may be attached

Information can then be magnetically encoded on the magnetic stripe. As illustrated in Figure 3.1, an ID-1 identification card is a rectangle approximately 85.6 mm wide, 53.98 mm tall, and 0.76 mm thick. ISO/IEC 7810 places stringent restrictions on the distortions allowed in the card backing, particularly near the area that may contain a magnetic stripe. The intent of these exacting specifications is to ensure that reader or imprinting devices into which ID-1 cards are inserted can reliably read the information off a magnetic stripe and imprint the embossed numerals without causing any damage or significant deterioration of the card.


Figure 3.1.  ID-1 identification card form factor.

The material characteristics of ID-1 identification cards are also established by ISO/IEC 7810. Specifically, the card must be composed of polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl chloride acetate, or “materials having equal or better performance.” There are correspondingly stringent deformation characteristics for the card. In general, the specifications require that after one end of a card is flexed by up to 35 mm (which corresponds to about half the width of a card), it should return to its original flat state to within 1.5 mm. Further, it is specified that it be possible to bring the card to within an acceptable flat state through the uniform application of a moderately light pressure across the face of the card. Interestingly, the actual durability of a card is not established by the ISO/IEC specifications, but rather is left to a “mutual agreement between the card issuer and the manufacturer.”

Encoding of Information for Identification Cards

Building on the base formed by ISO/IEC 7810, the ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811 specification establishes standards for the encoding of information on an identification card through embossing or magnetic stripe techniques.


Note:  
ISO/IEC standards are available from
ISO/IEC Copyright Office
Case Postale 56
CH-1211 Geneve 20
Switzerland

Copies of international standards, catalogs, and handbooks (ISO and IEC), as well as all foreign standards from ISO member body countries (DIN, JISC, BSI, AFNOR, and so on), are available in the United States from

ANSI
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212-642-4900 (voice)
212-302-1286 (fax)

Embossing means causing the shape of characters to rise above the backing plane of the card. The embossed characters essentially form a typeface that can be used to print these characters onto some other material through the use of a rudimentary “printing press.” Before online printing of transaction receipts became prevalent, merchants used these imprinting devices to prepare credit card invoices and receipts. ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-1 establishes the allowed characteristics of embossing itself, including the relief height of the embossed characters (0.46 mm to 0.48 mm), the spacing between embossed characters (2.54 mm to 3.63 mm), and the size of the characters (4.32 mm). Auxiliary ISO specifications identify the characters and font sizes that render embossed characters suitable for optical recognition devices, along with the test procedures used to determine that a specific identification card meets all of these specifications. These include

  ISO 1073-1, Alphanumeric character sets for optical recognition—Part 1: Character set OCR-A—Shapes and dimensions of the printed image
  ISO 1073-2, Alphanumeric character sets for optical recognition—Part 2: Character set OCR-B—Shapes and dimensions of the printed image
  ISO 1831, Printing specifications for optical character recognition
  ISO/IEC 10373, Identification cards—Test methods

ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-2 specifies the recording techniques used to encode characters into a magnetic stripe affixed to an ID-1 card. Provisions are made for three different types of information recording, referenced as Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3. Track 1 can contain up to 79 alphanumeric characters encoded at a write density of 8.27 bits per mm (210 bits per inch). This track can contain both alphabetic and numeric information. Track 2 can contain up to 40 characters of numeric information encoded at a write density of 2.95 bits per mm (75 bits per inch). Both Track 1 and Track 2 are intended to be write-once/read-many channels—essentially, once the card is issued, these are read-only channels. Track 3 is both a write-many and a read-many facility (that is, a read/write track). It can contain up to 107 characters encoded at 8.27 bits per mm (210 bits per inch). The encoding for each of the data tracks includes a “longitudinal redundancy check” character that can be used by the card reader to detect any errors in the information read versus what was originally written onto the card.


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