Credit card embossing and recording system

Claim 1

A method for verifying the accuracy of recording encoded data on one or more tracks of a magnetic recording medium by a comparison of the recorded data with data which was the source of the data which was recorded comprising: storing a data record of the one or more tracks to be recorded on the recording medium, each track having a plurality of characters with each character being encoded with a fixed number of bits; calculating a check character as a last character to be recorded for each of the tracks to be recorded for the data record; recording the one or more tracks of the magnetic recording medium with the encoded characters by relative movement of a magnetic recording means in a first direction with respect to each track, each track being recorded with the check character being recorded after the other characters in the track are recorded with a repeating bit pattern being recorded after the check character; playing back each of the one or more tracks of the magnetic recording medium by relative movement of the magnetic recording means with respect to each track in a second direction opposite to the first direction to produce a sequence of played back bits, the bit stream from each track being shifted through a shift register means associated with the track as the bits are played back with the shift register storing a number of bits equal to the number of bits for encoding a character for that associated track; comparing as each successive bit is played back from each track the check character of that track with the contents of the associated shift register means until a match is detected with the check character for that track; and comparing for each track, after a match is detected for each track, each played back character with the corresponding stored character for that track to detect any errors in recording.

Claim 2

A method for verifying the accuracy of recording encoded data on one or more tracks of a magnetic recording medium by a comparison of the recorded data with data which was the source of the data which was recorded comprising: storing a data record of the one or more tracks to be recorded on the recording medium, each track having a plurality of characters with each character being encoded with a fixed number of bits; calculating a check character as a last character to be recorded for each of the tracks to be recorded for the data record; recording the one or more tracks of the magnetic recording medium with the encoded characters by relative movement of a magnetic recording means in a first direction with respect to each track, each track being recorded with the check character being recorded after the other characters in the track are recorded with a repeating bit pattern being recorded after the check character; playing back each of the one or more tracks of the magnetic recording medium by relative movement of the magnetic recording means with respect to each track in a second direction opposite to the first direction to produce a sequence of played back bits, the bit stream from each track being shifted through a shift register means associated with the track as the bits are played back with the shift register storing a number of bits equal to the number of bits for encoding a character for that associated track; comparing as each successive bit is played back from each track the check character of that track with the contents of the associated shift register means until a match is detected with the check character for that track; and comparing for each track, after a match is detected for each track, each played back character with the corresponding stored character for that track to detect any errors in recording.

Claim 7

A system for sequentially recording a track of a plurality of digitally encoded characters each encoded with a plurality of bits on a recording medium by movement in a first direction of a recording and playback means along the recording medium and for verifying that the recorded characters were recorded without error by movement of the recording and playback means in a second direction opposite the first direction to sequentially playback the bit stream recorded in the track in an order opposite to the order of recording comprising: means for moving the recording and playback means in a straight path from a first position to a second position to cause the track of a plurality of digitally encoded characters to be recorded on the recording medium and for moving the recording and playback means from the second position back to the first position to playback the recorded track of digitally encoded characters; a memory for storing the track of characters to be recorded including a check character as the last character of the track; means for determining the check character for the track of characters to be recorded which is recorded as the last character in the track; means responsive to the recording and playback means and the memory during playback for comparing the played back bit stream bit by bit with the check character until a sequence of played back bits identical to the check character is found, and for comparing after the sequence is played back bits identical to the check character is found, sequentially the played back characters with corresponding characters stored in the memory to determine if all characters were recorded without error.

Claim 8

A system for sequentially recording a track of a plurality of digitally encoded characters each encoded with a plurality of bits on a recording medium by movement in a first direction of a recording and playback means along the recording medium and for verifying that the recorded characters were recorded without error by movement of the recording and playback means in a second direction opposite the first direction to sequentially playback the bit stream recorded in the track in an order opposite to the order of recording comprising: means for moving the recording and playback means in a straight path from a first position to a second position to cause the track of a plurality of digitally encoded characters to be recorded on the recording medium and for moving the recording and playback means from the second position back to the first position to playback the recorded track of digitally encoded characters; a memory for storing the track of characters to be recorded including a check character as the last character of the track; means for determining the check character for the track of characters to be recorded which is recorded as the last character in the track; means responsive to the recording and playback means and the memory during playback for comparing the played back bit stream bit by bit with the check character until a sequence of played back bits identical to the check character is found, and for comparing after the sequence is played back bits identical to the check character is found, sequentially the played back characters with corresponding characters stored in the memory to determine if all characters were recorded without error.