User guide
Section 4. USB Communications
13 
CARD ENCODE TYPE 
This one-byte value indicates the type of encoding that was found on the card. The following 
table defines the possible values. 
Value Encode Type  Description 
0 ISO/ABA  ISO/ABA encode format 
1 AAMVA  AAMVA encode format 
2 reserved 
3 Blank  The card is blank. 
4 Other  The card has a non-standard encode format. For example, 
ISO/ABA track 1 format on track 2. 
5 Undetermined  The card encode type could not be determined because no 
tracks could be decoded. 
6 None  No decode has occurred. This type occurs if no magnetic stripe 
data has been acquired since the data has been cleared or 
since the device was powered on. This device only sends an 
Input report when a card has been swiped so this value will 
never occur. 
TRACK DATA 
If decodable track data exits for a given track, it is located in the track data field that corresponds 
to the track number. The length of each track data field is fixed at 110 bytes, but the length of 
valid data in each field is determined by the track data length field that corresponds to the track 
number. Track data located in positions greater that the track data length field indicates are 
undefined and should be ignored. The HID specification requires that reports be fixed in size, 
but the number of bytes encoded on a card may vary. Therefore, the Input Report always 
contains the maximum amount of bytes that can be encoded on the card and the number of valid 
bytes in each track is indicated by the track data length field.  The track data is decoded and 
converted to ASCII. The track data includes all data starting with the start sentinel and ending 
with the end sentinel. 
TRACK 1 DATA 
This field contains the decoded track data for track 1. 
TRACK 2 DATA 
This field contains the decoded track data for track 2. 
TRACK 3 DATA 
This field contains the decoded track data for track 3. 










