Pardon me for butting in but I just finished a project where we are required to:
a) Print the card face,
b) encode the mag stripe
c) encode the smart chip
We tested two different card printers, one of which had a smart card coupler built in. (DataCard printer). The coupler supposedly enables communication directly to the smart chip while the card is contained within the printer. As it turns out, the type of card we are using at this time is not compatible with the encoder.
The other printer we tested (Eltron) contains smart card contacts, but requires an externally connected encoder to be able to encode the smart chip. Both printers print on the card just fine, and both encode the mag stripe just fine, but we have to use an external encoder for the smart chip. 2 step process.
What it boils down to is some printers will take a field on the report layout as defined by a certain font, and encode it on the mag stripe at the same time the card is sent through to print. Others require raw data to be sent to the printer through a serial port, with formatting, font size, positioning, mag stripe data, etc., very similar to what you would use for printer control codes.
Both ways will take the stuff you want encoded, for instance, a member number ('123456'), and apply the ISO standard formatting (start, stop, len, crc and so on) for mag stripe encoding.
The smart chip encoder requires the printer to stop at a certain point and wait for the chip to be encoded. If the printer doesn't have smart card contacts or an encoder, it will have to be encoded in a separate, or stand-alone encoder.
When it comes to reading the mag stripe info, it is best to use a reader to take the ISO format data and give it to you like you need it.
For the smart chip encoding, things get a little more complicated. They are more like accessing a secured network drive. You can read and write to certain areas of the card, but only after presenting the correct security code.
Again, the smart card is accessesd using serial communications.
For more info on the smart card encoder I use, go here:
Dave S.
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