METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING IMAGES OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN AT LEAST TWO DIMENSIONS

Apparatus and Methods for imaging magnetic fields and for using images of magnetic fields in the authentication of magnetic stripe cards or documents are disclosed. The systems described provide an increased tolerance for misalignments of magnetic reading heads. One preferred embodiment of the invention includes sensing circuitry for sensing an image of the magnetic field using an array of magnetic reading heads and sampling circuitry connected to the sensing circuitry.