ISO/IEC PRF 15457-2

Identification cards — Thin flexible cards — Part 2: Magnetic recording technique

ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004 defines the physical and magnetic properties of stripes to be used for interchange of data via Thin Flexible Cards (TFCs). Wherever possible, advantage has been taken of the similarities between these properties and those defined for ID cards in ISO/IEC 7811-2, ISO/IEC 7811-6 and ISO/IEC 7811-7. Requirements included in ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004 for the encoding of TFC magnetic stripes relate to the encoding density and method but do not include the data content.

Cartes d'identification — Cartes flexibles fines — Partie 2: Technique d'enregistrement magnétique

General Information

• Status: Withdrawn
• ICS: 35.240.15 - Identification cards. Chip cards. Biometrics
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17 - Cards and security devices for personal identification
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17/WG 1 - Physical characteristics and test methods for ID-cards
• Current Stage: 5098 - Project deleted
• Completion Date: 08-Dec-2004

Relations

• Replaced By: ISO/IEC 15457-2:2007 - Identification cards — Thin flexible cards — Part 2: Magnetic recording technique
• Effective Date: 15-Apr-2008

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15457-2
Second edition
2004-##-##


Identification cards — Thin flexible
cards —
Part 2:
Magnetic recording technique
Cartes d'identification — Cartes flexibles fines —
Partie 2: Technique d'enregistrement magnétique



PROOF/ÉPREUVE
Reference number
ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2004

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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
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©  ISO/IEC 2004
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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
Contents Page
Foreword. iv
1 Scope. 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions. 2
4 General characteristics . 4
4.1 Introduction . 4
4.2 Requirements common to all formats . 4
4.3 Environmental conditions. 5
5 Magnetic stripe characteristics . 5
5.1 Stripe surface . 5
5.2 Stripe adherence . 6
5.3 Stripe life. 7
5.4 Magnetic characteristics . 7
5.5 Magnetic stripe zone reservation . 7
6 TFC.0 data recording . 8
6.1 Magnetic track characteristics . 8
6.2 Encoding characteristics . 8
7 TFC.1 data recording . 9
7.1 Magnetic track characteristics . 9
7.2 TFC.1-specific stripe requirements. 10
7.3 Encoding characteristics . 11
8 TFC.5 data recording . 12
8.1 Magnetic track characteristics . 12
8.2 TFC.5-specific stripe requirements. 12
8.3 Encoding characteristics . 12
Annex A (normative) Magnetics classes. 14
A.1 Signal amplitude requirements . 14
A.1.1 New, unused unencoded cards . 14
A.1.2 Unused, encoded cards. 15
A.1.3 Returned cards. 15
A.2 Static magnetic characteristics . 15
Annex B (normative) Encoding classes. 16
B.1 Encoding methods. 16
B.1.1 F/2F. 16
B.1.2 Split phase . 16
B.2 Encoding bit densities. 17
B.2.1 Transition angle . 17
B.2.2 Flux transition spacing. 17

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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 15457-2 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 17, Cards and personal identification.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC 15457-2:2001), of which it constitutes a
minor revision.
ISO/IEC 15457 consists of the following parts, under the general title Identification cards — Thin flexible
cards:
— Part 1: Physical characteristics
— Part 2: Magnetic recording technique
— Part 3: Test methods

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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)

Identification cards — Thin flexible cards —
Part 2:
Magnetic recording technique
1 Scope
Thin flexible cards, the subject of this International Standard, are used to automate the controls for access to
goods or services such as mass transit, highway toll systems, car parks, vouchers, stored value, etc.
For these applications, data can be written and/or read by machines using various recording techniques such
as magnetic stripe, optical character recognition (OCR), bar code, etc.
This part of ISO/IEC 15457 specifies the magnetic stripe and encoding characteristics of thin flexible cards at
two points in the card life cycle:
1. at the point of loading into the card issuing equipment;
2. at the point of issue to the public.
Guidance concerning the storage and usage of finished cards (including magnetic stripe cards) under various
environmental conditions is given in ISO/IEC 15457-1.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 4287-1, Surface roughness — Terminology — Part 1: Surface and its parameters
ISO 4287-2, Surface roughness — Terminology — Part 2: Measurement of surface roughness parameters
ISO/IEC 7811-2, Identification cards — Recording technique — Part 2: Magnetic stripe — Low coercivity
ISO/IEC 7811-6, Identification cards — Recording technique — Part 6: Magnetic stripe — High coercivity
ISO/IEC 15457-1, Identification cards — Thin flexible cards — Part 1: Physical characteristics
ISO/IEC 15457-3, Identification cards — Thin flexible cards — Part 3: Test methods
IEC 60050-221, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary — Chapter 221: Magnetic materials and
components
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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 15457-1 and the following apply.
3.1
track
area of stripe surface occupied by the data encoded by a single channel of the magnetic recording write/read
interface
3.2
central stripe
stripe centred on the widthwise axis of the card
3.3
lateral stripe
any widthwise stripe which is not centred on the widthwise axis of the card
3.4
re-usable card
durable card able to be recovered from the field (generally by automatic equipment operation) and re-issued
3.5
unused, unencoded card
card possessing all the components required for its intended purpose that has not been subjected to any
personalization or testing operation and that has been stored in a clean environment with no more than
48 hour exposure to daylight at temperatures between 5 °C and 30 °C and humidity between 10 % and 90 %
without experiencing thermal shock
3.6
unused encoded card
card according to 3.11 that has only been encoded with all the data required for its intended purpose (e.g.
1
magnetic encoding, printing etc.)
3.7
returned card
card according to 3.12 after it has been issued to the card holder and returned for the purpose of testing (e.g.
2
re-usable card returned for possible re-issue)
3.8
R , R
a z
measures of surface irregularity
NOTE See ISO 4287.
3.9
maximum field
H
max
maximum absolute magnetic field strength applied as described by the test method
[ISO/IEC 7811-6]

1) The definitions used in ISO/IEC 7811 refer to embossing and electronic encoding which are not defined in
ISO/IEC 15457. However, printing on issue (as opposed to pre-printing) frequently accompanies magnetic encoding in
applications of thin flexible cards.
2) In certain applications of thin flexible cards, the purpose of testing returned cards is to establish their suitability to be
re-issued for re-use. Such testing is generally done automatically by bulk sorter/encoder equipment.
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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
3.10
coercivity
H = H
cM cJ
continuously applied magnetic field which reduces the magnetisation to zero from a previous maximum
magnetisation state in the opposite direction, the quantity of interest being that which is measured parallel to
the longitudinal axis of the stripe
[ISO/IEC 7811-6]
3.11
longitudinal squareness
SQ = M /M at (H )
r max
ratio of the value of magnetisation (M ) at zero magnetic field (H ==== 0) after the application and removal of the
r
maximum field (H ) to the magnetisation (M) at the maximum field applied (H ) measured along the
max max
longitudinal axis of the stripe
[ISO/IEC 7811-6]
3.12
switching field by derivative
SF
D
width at half height of the differentiated static magnetisation curve M(H) divided by the coercivity from the
same curve
[ISO/IEC 7811-6]
3.13
switching field by slope
SF
S
(/H /-/H /)/ H' , where M(-/H /) = 0,5 M and M(-/H /) = −0,5 M ; the difference between the field values at the
2 1 cM 1 r 2 r
intercept of the static magnetisation M (H) loop with M (H) = 0,5 M and M (H) = −0,5 M, divided by the
r r
coercivity
[ISO/IEC 7811-6]
3.14
recording technique
technique, such as magnetic or optical encoding etc., used to store data on the card
3.15
nominal bit density
D
R
encoding density specified for a track
3.16
maximum test current
I
max
upper of two test write currents used for testing TFC magnetic stripes
3.17
maximum test density
D
max
upper of two test recording densities used for testing TFC magnetic stripes
3.18
minimum test current
I
min
lower of the two test write currents used for testing TFC magnetic stripes
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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
3.19
minimum test density
D
min
lower of two test recording densities used for testing TFC magnetic stripes
3.20
individual signal amplitude
U
i
base to peak amplitude of a single readback signal pulse
3.21
average signal amplitude
U
A
arithmetic mean of the absolute values of the individual signal amplitudes found in a readback waveform:
n
U
∑ ik
k=1
U = (where n is the number of individual signal amplitudes)
A
n
3.22
modulation
m
range of variation of a readback signal defined by:
U − U
imax imin
m =
2 ×U
A
where U is the individual readback signal amplitude and U is the average readback signal amplitude
i A
recorded at D and I .
max max
4 General characteristics
4.1 Introduction
Three card sizes, TFC.0, TFC.1 and TFC.5, are defined in ISO/IEC 15457-1.
Common physical characteristics and the geometrical and topographical characteristics of each card size are
specified in ISO/IEC 15457-1.
In this part of ISO/IEC 15457, the magnetic stripe and track characteristics specific to each size of card are
given in separate clauses. Common characteristics are specified in clause 4. Specifications for the permitted
magnetic and encoding characteristics are given in the annexes.
All clauses in all parts of ISO/IEC 15457 apply to finished cards or to the reels/packs from which such cards
are taken. Certain clauses however, such as durability, concern the characteristics of the card throughout its
life. As a matter of convenience and practicality, certain tests can be carried out on unfinished cards where it
can be demonstrated that no significant change in that property can arise during subsequent processing.
4.2 Requirements common to all formats
4.2.1 General requirements
Thin flexible cards may be finished in a variety of ways, according to the requirements of the system in which
they are to be used. This part of ISO/IEC 15457 deals with those which are equipped with a magnetic stripe.
Stripes may be magnetically encoded, in accordance with this part of ISO/IEC 15457.
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ISO/IEC 15457-2:2004(E)
The addition of a magnetic stripe and the encoding of that stripe shall not affect the continued conformance of
the finished cards to the other applicable parts of ISO/IEC 15457.
Magnetic stripes, however presented, shall be free from defects which could interfere with usage, such as
joins, discontinuities, loose particles, embedded debris, creases, indentations and high spots. They shall not
adhere to, or leave an impression on, the adjacent cards in a reel or pack.
4.2.2 Reference edges
Once identified in accordance with the criteria defined in clause 5 of ISO/IEC 15457-1, the same front and
reference edges shall be used exclusively and consistently in applying all relevant parts of ISO/IEC 15457,
including this.
NOTE 1 In the case of a central stripe, this constraint results in a unique relationship between reference edges and the
beginning of the encoded message.
NOTE 2 For example, in the case of a lateral stripe, this constraint results in the unique relationship between reference
edges and stripe shown in Figure 1.
Back

Reference edges are indicated by the black triangles.
Figure 1 — Reference edges for lateral stripe
4.3 Environmental conditions
4.3.1 Testing environment
The environmental conditions under which the characteristics specified in this part of ISO/IEC 15457 are to be
measured are specified in ISO/IEC 15457-3.
4.3.2 Storage environment and packaging
Magnetic stripes shall continue to comply with the requirements of this standard after storage under the
storage environment and packaging conditions specified in ISO/IEC 15457-1.
4.3.3 Usage environment
Magnetic stripes shall remain structurally reliable and usable within the usage environment specified in
ISO/IEC 15457-1.
5 Magnetic stripe characteristics
5.1 Stripe surface
5.1.1 Protrusion
In order to accommodate manufacturing processes which apply
...