Access Control Cards - Plastic cards used to gain access to premises usually associated with magnetic stripe and proximity cards.

Bar code - A code consisting of a group of printed and variously patterned bars and spaces and sometimes numerals that are designed to be scanned and read into computer memory as identification for the object it labels.

Biometrics - Biometrics utilize "something you are" to authenticate identification. This might include fingerprints, retina pattern, iris, hand geometry, vein patterns, voice password, or signature dynamics. Biometrics can be used with a smart card to authenticate the user. The user's biometric information is stored on a smart card, the card is placed in a reader, and a biometric scanner reads the information to match it against that on the card. This is a fast, accurate, and highly-secure form of user authentication.

CR79 Cards - Slightly smaller dimensionally than CR80 made to fit in the well of a proximity card.  Dimensions are 3.303" x 2.051" (83.9mm x 51mm).

CR80 Cards - The standard card size is CR80. CR80 dimensions are 3.375" x 2.125" (85.6mm x 54mm).

CR90 Cards – Slightly larger than the standard CR80, CR90 cards are (3.63" x 2.37" (92mm x 60mm).

CR100 Cards – Often referred to as Oversize or Military sized cards, CR100 cards are (3.88" x 2.63" (98.5mm x 67mm).

CardJet Cards - From Fargo Electronics. Teslin®-based, CR-80 size cards with a surface that is specially formulated for thermal inkjet printing. CardJet Inks bond to cards and dry instantly, without smearing. CardJet cards stand up well to abrasion, dye-migration and UV fading.

Contact Smart Card Encoder - The contact smart card encoder connects the ISO contact pins mounted on the e-card docking station to a Gemplus GemCore 410 smart card coupler mounted inside the printer. The GemCore 410's digital I/O is converted to a RS-232 signal which is accessible to application programs through a dedicated DB-9 port on the outside of the printer labeled "Smart Card." 

Contactless Smart Card Encoder - The contactless smart card encoder connects an antenna mounted on the e-card docking station to a Gemplus GemEasyLink 680SL coupler mounted inside the printer/encoder. Application programs can access Mifare® contactless cards via a RS-232 signal through a dedicated DB-9 port on the outside of the printer labeled "Mifare/Contactless."

Digital Imaging - Scanning or otherwise capturing images which may be subsequently edited, filed, displayed or printed on a plastic card.

Direct-to-Card (DTC) Printing - The Direct-to-Card printing process prints digital images directly onto any plastic card with a smooth, clean, glossy PVC surface.

Dpi (dots per inch) - Measurement of a printer's resolution. Example: 600 dpi indicates that the printer can produce 600 dots of color in each inch of a card. NOTE: When judging color reproduction for a CardJet Card Printer, the inkjet resolution must be at 2400 dpi or better to achieve the color equivalent of a 300 dpi dye-sub printer.

Dye-Sublimation - Dye-sublimation is the print process card printers use to print smooth, continuous-tone, and photo-quality images. This process uses a dye-based ribbon roll that is divided into a series of color panels. The color panels are grouped in a repeating series of three separate colors along the length of the ribbon: Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan (YMC). As the ribbon and card pass simultaneously beneath the Printhead, hundreds of thermal elements heat the dyes on the ribbon. Once the dyes are heated, they vaporize and diffuse into the surface of the card. Varying the heat intensity of each thermal element within the Printhead makes it possible for each transferred dot of color to vary saturation. This blends one color into the next. The result is continuous-tone, photo-realistic color images.

Edge-to-Edge - Refers to the maximum printable area on a card. Printers with edge-to-edge printing capability can print just to the edge of a card resulting in printed cards with virtually no border. Virtually all brands print standard CR-80 cards edge to edge.

Encoding - The process of electronically "writing" information on magnetic stripes or into a variety of smart card types.

Fire Wire - High-speed external connection used for connecting peripherals, also referred to as "IEEE 1394".

Font - A character set (alphabet and numerals) of a specified design and size.

High coercivity aka HiCo - Magnetic coding on a magnetic stripe. High coercivity stripes are generally black and store information on a more secure basis than low coercivity magnetic stripes due to the higher level of magnetic energy required to encode them.

High-Volume Printing - Fast, efficient printing for producing large quantities of cards with minimal down time for supplies loading or maintenance.

High Definition Printing™ (HDP™) - The High-Definition Printing process prints full-color images onto clear HDP transfer film. The HDP film is then fused to the card through heat and pressure via a heated roller. This revolutionary technology enhances card durability and consistently produces the best card color available - even on tough-to-print matte-finished cards, proximity cards, and smart cards.

Hologram - A unique photographic printing that provides a three-dimensional effect on a flat surface. Holograms cannot be easily copied and are used for security and aesthetic purposes on cards.

Inkjet Printer - A printer or an all-in-one unit that shoots fast drying ink through tiny nozzles onto a page to form characters.  The inkjet is currently the standard for personal computer printing.  Inkjets are fast, affordable and relatively quiet, they provide high quality graphics, and prints in color.

Interface - A connection standard for transferring data that's recognized by all PCs or Macintosh computers.  For example, a parallel printer port is a common interface found on virtually all PCs for transferring data from the computer to a printer.

ISO - International Standards Organization specification for magnetic stripe encoding. Printer encoders generally support dual high/low coercivity and tracks 1, 2 and 3.  Please check printer specifications.

JIS II - Japanese Industrial Standard for magnetic stripe encoding. JIS II is published and translated into English by the Japan Standards Association.

LCD Display - The LCD - or Liquid Crystal Display - shows the current status of the printer, and changes according to the printer's current mode of operation. LCD communicates an error with text, which is easier to interpret than LED lights.

Lamination - The process of combining lamination material and core material using time, heat and pressure. Laminate patches used in card printers come on rolls, with and without carriers/liners.

Lockable Hopper - Some card printer manufacturers – Fargo - provide a lockable card hopper door. This lock is intended to help prevent theft of your blank card stock. This feature is especially helpful if using valuable card stock such as preprinted cards, smart cards, or cards with built-in security features such as holograms.

Low coercivity aka LoCo - Magnetic coding on a magnetic stripe. Low coercivity stripes are generally brown and store information less securely than high coercivity magnetic stripes.

Machine-Readable - A code or characters that can be read by machines.

Magnetic (“Mag”) Stripe - Mag Stripe refers to the black or brown magnetic stripe on a card. The stripe is made of magnetic particles of resin. The resin particle material determines the coercivity of the stripe; the higher the coercivity, the harder it is to encode -- and erase -- information from the stripe. Magnetic stripes are often used in applications for access control, time and attendance, lunch programs, library cards, and more.

**How much data can you encode to a Magnetic Stripe?  Per ISO 7811 Format

Memory Card - A type of smart card. Also known as a synchronous card, it features 256 bit or 32 byte memory and us suitable for use as a token card or identification card.

Microprocessor Card - A type of smart card, also known as an asynchronous card. Features 1 kilobyte to 64 Kbytes of memory and is suitable for portable or confidential files, identification, tokens, electronic purse or any combination of uses.

Network Printer - A printer available for use by workstations on a network.  A network printer either has its own built-in network interface card, or it's connected to a printer on the network.

Output Stacker - The Output Stacker stores printed cards in a first-in/first-out order. This feature makes it easy to keep printed cards in a specific order for faster issuance or to print serialized cards.

Oversized Cards - Oversized cards are used for more efficient visual identification and are available in many non-standard sizes. The most popular sizes are CR-90 (3.63" x 2.37"/92mm x 60mm) and CR-100 (3.88" x 2.63"/98.5mm x 67mm).

Overlaminate - Protective clear or holographic material designed to offer advanced card security and durability. Two types are available from FARGO : Thermal Transfer Overlaminate is a .25 mil thick material that enhances card security and durability. PolyGuard Overlaminate is available in 1 mil and .6 mil thicknesses and provides extraordinary protection for applications that require highly durable cards.

Overlay Panel - The clear overlay panel (O) is provided on dye-sublimation print ribbons. This panel is automatically applied to printed cards and helps prevent images from premature wear or UV fading. All dye-sublimation printed images must have either this overlay panel or an overlaminate applied to protect them.

Over-the-Edge - Refers to the maximum printable area on a card. Printers with over-the-edge printing capability can print past the edge of a card resulting in printed cards with absolutely no border.

Printer Driver - The software that enables your operating system to properly build and format commands and data bound for your printer; in effect, a printer driver tells your operating system all that it needs to know to successfully operate your printer.

Prox Card - Short for Proximity card; a form of contactless smart card used for access control applications. Embedded in the card is a metallic antenna coil, which allows it to communicate with an external antenna. Because the cards require only close "proximity" to a RF antenna to be read, they are also referred to as contactless cards.

Prox Card Encoder - The prox card encoder uses a HID ProxPoint® Plus reader mounted on the e-card docking station inside the printer/encoder. The ProxPoint is a "read only" device producing a Wiegand signal that is converted to RS-232 using a Cypress Computer Systems CVT-2232. Application programs can read information from HID prox cards via a RS-232 signal through a dedicated DB-9 port on the outside of the printer labeled "Prox."

PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride. The primary material used for typical plastic cards.

Resin Thermal Transfer - Resin Thermal Transfer is the process used to print sharp black text and crisp bar codes that can be read by both infra-red and visible-light bar code scanners. It is also the process used to print ultra-fast, economical one-color cards. Like dye-sublimation, this process uses a thermal Printhead to transfer color from the ribbon roll to the card. The difference, however, is that solid dots of color are transferred in the form of a resin-based ink which fuses to the surface of the card when heated. This produces very durable, single-color images.

Resolution - Dimension of the smallest element of an image that can be printed. Usually stated as dots-per-inch (dpi).

Smart Card - Smart cards have an embedded computer circuit that contains either a memory chip or a microprocessor chip. There are several types of smart cards: Memory, Contact, Contactless, Hybrid (Twin), Combi (Dual Interface), Proximity and Vicinity.

Thermal Printing - The process of creating an image on a plastic card using a heated print head.

Thermal Print Head - An electronic device which uses heat to transfer a digitized image from a special ribbon to the flat surface of a plastic card.

Thermal Transfer Overlaminate - A card overlaminate available in a .25 mil thickness that increases card security and durability; often used for moderate durability applications or when additional security (such as holographic images) are needed.

Universal Serial Bus (USB 1.0) - An input/output (I/O) bus capable of data transfer at 12 megabits (1.5 megabytes) used for connecting peripherals to a microprocessor. Typically, each device connected to a computer uses its own port. USB can connect up to 127 peripherals through a single port by daisy-chaining the peripherals together. USB devices may be hot plugged, which means that power does not have to be turned off to connect or disconnect a peripheral. It is expected that USB will become a primary means of connection in IBM-compatible PCs. Most major hardware, software, and telecommunications providers support USB.   Some printers do not yet support USB, however, most of these parallel interface printers will accomodate a parallel to USB conversion cable.

YMC - Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan are the primary print colors for cards. The three colors are combined in varying degrees to make a full spectrum of colors. YMCKO is the same as YMC plus Black (K) and clear protective overcoat (O).

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