Vanguard, IRIS and DIS Unveil Printer-Encoders for EPC ID Cards

With either of the new printer-encoders, the process begins when an operator takes a photograph of the ID-card recipient. At that time, the user can input the recipient's name, address and employee or student identification number, as well as other data, into a laptop or PC. The data and picture are directed through a cable connection to the RFID printer, after which the system prints the entered information onto the blank RFID card and encodes it to its tag.

The design of the plug-in software, Ziegler says, will enable it to work with almost any custom or off-the-shelf ID card software on the market. "As long as the software includes an 'ID card design' function," he notes, "we are able to drop a text string onto the card design, which provides instruction for the RFID encoder to operate."

The printer-encoders are available only in prototype now, says IRIS' technical services manager, Brett Ryan. However, Vanguard, IRIS and DIS intend to pilot the product with the unnamed end user in May.

According to Alan Neves, Vanguard ID's national RFID account manager, there has been what he calls a glaring hole for UHF card printers. "We were looking for something from IRIS," he says, that would be a retransfer printer—one that prints its inverted image on film, which is then laid on the card. Such a process leaves an image that lasts longer than standard direct-to-card printers. Neves had been working with ThingMagic on an RFID reader, and says he "saw an opportunity: Why not put the two companies together [to design a card printer-encoder]?"

Vanguard ID makes composite cards, as opposed to PVC cards. Thus, Neves states, when the RFID inlay is incorporated inside, the Teslin—a silica-polymer material that is printable like paper, but durable and waterproof like plastic—is wrapped around the chip, helping to protect it. The Teslin-inlay assembly is then laminated in polyester.

With the new ThingMagic printer-encoders, cards can be delivered partially printed, with one side blank so the customer can print specific identification information on that side. The UHF card chips for this border application can operate at up to 20 feet or more.