JP4760372B2 - Information relay system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information relay system that performs information transmission between a plurality of information nodes (nodes) using mobile radio communication. In particular, the present invention relates to an information relay system suitable for information transmission between base stations such as city traffic buses and long-distance high-speed buses or roadside machines such as bus stops.

  Conventionally, as a technology that enables information transmission between communication control devices (information nodes) installed at multiple bus stops such as city traffic buses (route buses) and long-distance high-speed buses, copper wires or optical fibers are laid to each information node. However, there is one that constructs an always-connected network that always maintains communication (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, an on-demand network has been used in which wired or wireless telephones are installed at each information node and dialed when a transmission request is generated to enable communication (see Patent Document 2).

  In these networks, the time from when a communication request is generated until the information arrives at the transmission source is less than about 1 second for an always-connected network and less than about 1 minute for an on-demand network. can get.

  However, in the conventional system, the cost of laying copper wires or optical fibers is enormous, and even if a wired or wireless telephone is used, a continuous burden of the charge is forced.

  In recent years, wireless networks standardized by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 have been spreading.

  However, the communicable distance range of IEEE802.11 is very narrow with a radius of about 100 m at most. In order to be able to communicate over a wide range, it is necessary to maintain a wired system as well as the wireless network. Therefore, it is difficult to introduce the technique as it is from the viewpoint of cost effectiveness.

  In addition, when connecting information nodes in a wireless network, a plurality of communication nodes must be provided so as to overlap each other in order to expand a communicable area (see Patent Document 3), and the total cost is not low.

That is, immediacy is obtained when the conventional technology is used, but the cost of laying copper wires or optical fibers is enormous, and even if a wired or wireless telephone is used, a continuous burden of the fee is forced. It has been difficult to apply the conventional technology to a communication request that does not require immediacy from the viewpoint of cost effectiveness.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-345829 (see page 3, FIG. 1) JP 2002-364740 A (first page) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-68394 (see page 3, FIG. 9)

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is, for example, an operation mode such as a route bus, that is, a mobile terminal that is a route bus, and a simple fixing that is a bus stop. Information relaying that can achieve the required information transmission and collection simply and at low cost by taking advantage of the characteristics of the operation mode consisting of simple terminals and fixed main terminals such as bus centers and main (main) bus stops. To provide a system.

In order to solve the above problems, the means according to the first aspect of the present invention is to operate a predetermined area as a means for realizing information transmission between information nodes installed in a bus center or bus stop of a predetermined area. This is an information relay system that performs information relay by receiving information and passing information when the information relay device mounted on the bus is close to the information node. The information relay device mounted on the bus of the present invention is not related to the communication request of the application program, and the information node installed at the bus center or bus stop that is scheduled to arrive next is determined according to the bus schedule. The target ARP request packet is repeatedly transmitted at an appropriate time of not less than 0.1 seconds and not more than 0.5 seconds, and an ARP response packet from the information node corresponding to the ARP request packet is received. It is characterized in that it is confirmed without delay that it has entered the communicable range.

  The information node is a communication network relay point or base composed of wireless communication means and a computer and functioning as a transmission node and a reception node. For example, it is mounted on a base station (bus center) that is fixedly installed dispersedly on a route in a predetermined area where a moving body such as a moving vehicle moves, or a road machine such as a bus stop.

  The information relay device is composed of wireless communication means and a computer. Communication between the information node and the information relay device is performed by wireless communication using the Internet protocol, and information relay between the information nodes is performed by performing information transmission between the information relay device and the information node.

The invention according to claim 1, as a means of information relay apparatus searches for a wireless communicable nodes sends a continuously ARP request packet at a predetermined transmission time interval with respect to the expected information nodes.

  By adding the function to continuously send ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) requests and investigating the possibility of communication, information transfer with maximum efficiency is possible for information nodes that can communicate only for a certain period of time. Is possible. Further, it is possible to suppress the waste of the computer's ability by sending it at predetermined sending time intervals.

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Further, the means adopted by the invention described in claim 2 is that the ARP request packet sent from the information relay device mounted on the bus includes information indicating that the bus has departed or passed through the bus stop, and the departure time. The operation information including the bus system number and the diamond number is added.

  Here, the bus passing information is flag data information indicating whether or not the bus has passed for displaying “bus has passed” at the information node. The operation information from the information relay device to the information node is allocated to the dummy area in the latter half of the ARP request packet and is used as, for example, transmission information from the bus to the bus center or bus stop.

  As described above, in the data area of the frame format, the operation information from the information relay device to the information node is added to the latter half of the ARP request packet and the information is effectively used to improve the communication efficiency and the system quality. It is.

Furthermore, the means adopted by the invention described in claim 3 is that an ARP response packet sent from an information node installed at a bus center or a bus stop includes information on the presence / absence of a customer at the bus stop and the bus stop. Information consisting of information on the number of people waiting at the bus and a bus stop number is added.

  Here, the presence / absence information of passengers at the bus stop is flag data information of the presence / absence of passengers at the bus stop. The operation information from the information node to the information relay device is used, for example, as information transmission from the bus center or bus stop to the bus.

The information relay system according to claim 2 or 3 is accompanied by an improved ARP mechanism in which a function capable of adding operation information to the latter half of the ARP request packet or the ARP response packet is added.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a means for realizing information transmission between a plurality of information nodes that cannot be moved and transmitted and distributed in a predetermined area, information mounted on a moving body that operates in the predetermined area. Since information is relayed by receiving information when the relay device is close to the transmission node and passing information when the relay device is close to the reception node, mobile wireless communication is performed without connecting the information nodes with a wire such as an optical fiber. The effect is that a network can be configured via the network.

According to the invention described in claim 1, as a means for searching a node that has been installed in stop Basusenta or bus plan information relay device mounted on the bus arrives next, the expected information node On the other hand, since the ARP request packet is continuously transmitted at a predetermined transmission time interval, there is an effect that efficient communication can be performed.

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According to the invention as described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 1, the ARP request packet, information indicating that the departure or pass the bus stop, and departure time, Since the information including the bus system number and the diamond number is added, the latter half of the ARP request packet can be used effectively, and the communication efficiency and quality can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first or second aspect of the present invention, the ARP response packet sent from the information node installed at the bus center or the bus stop is transmitted to the bus. of the existence information for tourists at the stop, and number of persons waiting information at bus stops, since the additional information comprising a stop number of the bus, can effectively utilize the second half of the ARP response packet, the further communication efficiency and quality There is an effect that it can be improved.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples as long as the gist of the present invention is not exceeded. 1 to 7 show an embodiment in which the information relay system of the present invention is used for information transmission between a bus center, a bus and a bus stop. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of an example of a bus route map.

  The information relay system 100 displays information such as commercial (CM), timetable, fare table, operation information, etc. displayed on the bus center BS of city traffic buses and long-distance high-speed buses, bus stops S1, S2, etc., main bus stop M1, etc. By performing mobile wireless communication with the bus 7 using the Internet protocol, the information is automatically replaced, added, changed, and updated in an unattended state. It is also used for bus operation management.

  In the information relay system 100, the bus center BS, bus stops S1, S2, etc. in the bus operating area, the main bus stop M1, etc., or the intersections function as information nodes 10, and the necessary number of such information nodes 10 are distributed and arranged. Information is communicated between the information nodes 10 by wireless communication with the information relay device 20 provided on the bus 7 operating in the predetermined area.

  The main bus stop M1 is a bus stop shared by a plurality of routes (route numbers 1 and 2). The information node 10 provided in the main bus stop M1 is set to wirelessly communicate with the relay device 20 of the bus 7 that operates the route number 1 and the relay device 20 of the bus that operates the route number 2.

  Information transmitted and received by the information relay system 100 includes, for example, bus center identification information, bus stop identification number (bus stop number), bus identification number, identification information such as transmission date and time, commercial, timetable, fare table, etc. Information, bus passage information, system number, operation information such as a diamond number, demand bus information, presence / absence of passengers at a bus stop, waiting number information at a bus stop, and the like.

  The demand bus information is information used to call a bus to a temporary bus stop when a demand bus is executed, that is, when a passenger wants to get on the bus at a distance from the bus route.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of an example of the hardware configuration of the system. As shown in FIG. 2, the information node 10 controls a known specific power-saving radio communication means 14 and a radio communication means 14 such as an antenna 11, a transmission / reception unit 12, and a control unit 13 compliant with the IEEE802.11b standard. And a road device composed of a liquid crystal display means 16 for displaying information such as commercials by the computer 15.

  The bus 7 is equipped with an information relay device 20 composed of a known wireless communication means 24 for specific power-saving radio waves for wireless communication with the information node 10 and a computer 25 for controlling the wireless communication means 24. The wireless communication can be performed from the bus 7 to each information node 10.

  The communication range between the information node 10 and the information relay device 20 is set to a radius of about one hundred meters with the antenna 11 as the center, and the antenna 11 is provided protruding on the bus center BS and each bus stop.

  Information transmission processing by the information relay system 100 is as follows when the bus leaves (passes) the bus center. That is, the bus 7 enters the communicable area of the information node 10, and a signal based on the Internet protocol is wirelessly transmitted from the bus 7 side to the information node 10 by the wireless communication device 20. The data is transmitted and received.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the concept of the protocol layer configuration of the Internet protocol used in the information relay system. The Internet protocol used for transmission / reception of such data is divided into several layers as shown in FIG. 3, and each has a predetermined role.

  Most application programs 31 that require highly reliable communication are built on the TCP layer 32. When a communication request occurs in the application program 31 running on the computer 25, the application program 31 requests the TCP layer 32 to connect to the destination computer 15.

  The TCP layer 32 passes a connection request packet to the IP layer 33, and an IP header including information such as a transmission source IP address and a transmission destination IP address is added in the IP layer 33 and passed to the data link layer 34.

  In the data link layer 34, a MAC header including information such as a transmission source MAC address and a transmission destination MAC address is added to form a packet, which is transferred to the physical layer 35 and transmitted.

  The source MAC address is the MAC address of the computer 15 that should receive the packet. This is obtained by examining the ARP table 36 in which the data of the IP address / MAC address pair is cached.

  The ARP table 36 records a maximum of 16 pieces of data. The data recorded in the ARP table 36 is cleared when there is no access to the ARP table 36 for several minutes, for example. If the MAC address of the computer 15 is not registered in the ARP table 36, the communication means of the ARP layer 37 is activated and the MAC address corresponding to the IP address of the computer 15 is checked.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the communication procedure. In the ARP procedure, as shown in FIG. 4, an ARP request packet T in which the transmission destination IP address is the IP address of the computer 15 and the transmission destination MAC address is set to the broadcast MAC address is generated and transmitted (step 201).

  The ARP packet whose destination MAC address is the broadcast MAC address reaches the ARP layer of all communicable computers, and only the computer 15 whose destination IP address matches its own IP address generates the ARP response packet R. (Step 202).

  The ARP layer 37 of the computer 25 that has received the ARP response packet R knows the MAC address of the computer 15 from the source MAC address of the packet and records it as a pair with the IP address in the ARP table (ARP table 36) (step). 203). Thereafter, a TCP connection request packet is sent (step 204).

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which information transmission from the bus center BS to the roadside devices at the bus stops S1 and S2 is performed via the bus 7.

  Information transmission from the bus center BS to the bus stops S1, S2, etc., as shown in FIG. 5, the bus 7 operating on the route number 1 passes through the communicable areas 10a, 10b, 10c of the information contacts 10 on the route 1. In this case, the information nodes 10 and the bus 7 communicate with each other wirelessly to relay information to the information nodes 10 such as the bus stops S2 and S2 from the bus center BS.

  Here, the communicable area 10a is a communicable area between the bus 7 and the bus center BS. The communicable area 10b is a communicable area between the bus 7 and the bus stop S1, and the communicable area 10c is a communicable area between the bus 7 and the bus stop S2.

  By the way, the communication means is constructed on the premise that communication between the transmission source computer and the transmission destination computer is always secured. Accordingly, when the antenna 11 is installed beyond the wireless communicable distance, such as the bus center BS and the bus stops S1 and S2 shown in FIG. 5, the bus center BS and the bus stops S1 and S2 cannot directly communicate with each other. Can not.

  Therefore, the information relay device 20 is mounted on the bus 7 passing near the transmission source information node 10 (bus center BS) (communication area 10a), receives information from the transmission source information node 10, and receives the target information node 10 (bus stop). When the reachable range 10b with S1) is reached, it is possible to transmit information from the bus center BS to the bus stop S1 by transferring the stored information to the target information node 10 (bus stop S1). Become. Similarly, information transmission from the bus center BS to the bus stop S2 is also possible.

  On the other hand, since the information relay device 20 is mounted on the bus 7, the transfer of information must be completed within a limited time from entering the communication range (about 100 m) with the target information node 10 until leaving. I must. Therefore, it is necessary to know that the communication range has been reached without delay.

  Further, even if the information relay device 20 that has received a plurality of information for different target nodes in the bus center BS always tries to connect the target information nodes 10 (for example, bus stops S1 and S2) with TCP, communication is not possible. High nature.

  For this reason, a large number of ARP request packets T are repeatedly sent out by the computer 25, and the calculation control capability and information transfer time of the computer 25 that controls the information relay apparatus 20 are wasted.

  Therefore, regardless of the communication request of the application program 31, it is possible to communicate by repeatedly sending out an ARP request for an appropriate information node according to the schedule of the bus 7, etc., at an appropriate time (0.1 to 0.5S). It is possible to suppress the waste of ability of the computer 25 by investigating the sex.

  FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which communication is performed with the information contact 10 (bus stops S1, S2, etc.) on the route 1 in the middle of operation based on the operation schedule 50 of the bus 7. Note that the procedures (1) to (4) in FIG. 6 are the same as those in FIG.

  In the information relay system 100, as shown in FIG. 6, when the bus 7 approaches the bus stop S1, the information relay device 20 receives information from the transmission contact 10 of the bus stop S1 (procedure (5)). Thereafter, the information relay device 20 transmits an ARP request packet T at an appropriate time based on the operation schedule 50 (procedure (6)).

  Next, an ARP response packet R for the ARP request is transmitted from the information node 10 of the communication partner S2, and this is received by the information relay device 20 (procedure (7)). Here, when the IP address of the communication partner S2 is added to the ARP table (procedure (8)), the application program 31 may detect the connection possibility and start communication. Then, information is relayed by passing information to the receiving contact 10 of the bus stop S2 (procedure (9)).

  As an example of the operation example, a process when a bus stop is started (including passage) will be described with respect to bus passage information. First, the bus 7 transmits information indicating that the bus has departed (passed) to the bus stop S1, together with the departure time, the bus system number, and the diamond number, to the ARP request packet T for transmission.

  At the bus stop S1, the information node 10 receives the above information transmitted from the bus 7, and displays that the bus 7 has started (passed) on the display 16 at the bus stop S1. The departure time, the system number 1 of the bus 7 and the diagram number can also be displayed on the display 16.

  In this way, the passenger can surely know whether or not the bus 7 has passed the bus stop. Information from the bus center BS can be transmitted to the bus stops S1 and S2, and information can be transmitted between the bus stops S1 and S2 on the same route. Moreover, information transmission combining these can also be performed.

  As another operation example, information transmission to a bus stop not starting from the bus center BS will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing information transmission from the bus center BS to the bus stop SA on the bus route 2 not starting from the center BS.

  When information is transmitted from the bus center BS to the bus stop SA on the bus route 2 not starting from the bus center BS, the information flow is as follows: the bus center BS → the bus 7 → the main bus stop M1 → the bus on the bus route 2 → the bus stop SA. This is different from the center BS → bus 7 → bus stop S1, which is the flow of information transmission from the bus center BS to the bus stop S1.

  That is, in this case, information transmission is first performed from the bus center BS to the main bus stop M1 via the bus 7 traveling on the route number 1. Next, information is transmitted from the main bus stop M1 to the bus traveling on the route bus 2, and further, information is transmitted from the bus traveling on the route number 2 to the bus stop SA.

  As another example of operation, the processing when the bus passes the bus stop because the bus is full on the high-speed bus route will be described separately for the bus processing, the bus stop processing, and the bus center processing.

  The high-speed bus sends information indicating that it passes through the bus stop to the bus stop (not shown) together with the departure time, the bus system number, and the diamond number to the ARP request packet T and transmits the information. Next, the ARP response packet R transmitted from the bus stop is received, and information indicating that there is a passenger at the bus stop is obtained from the “presence / absence information of passengers at the bus stop” added to the ARP response packet R.

  Next, the high-speed bus obtains the waiting number and the bus stop number transmitted from the bus stop, and transmits them to the bus center via a route from the high-speed bus to the bus center via the main bus stop.

  On the other hand, at the bus stop, when the information indicating that the information node 10 passes through the stop transmitted from the express bus, the display 16 at the bus stop displays that it has passed because it is full. The passage time, the bus system number, and the diamond number can also be displayed on the display 16.

  If there is a passenger who could not get on at the bus stop, the number of passengers is transmitted to the express bus. The waiting number information is obtained by automatically counting the number of interpersonal sensors. It can also be entered manually by a highway bus driver.

  The bus center BS increases the number of temporary high-speed buses when the waiting number transmitted from each bus stop exceeds a predetermined number.

  Still another operation example will be described. This operation example is an example in which a demand bus is implemented using the information relay system of the present invention.

  First, a bus request (temporary bus stop name, boarding time, destination) is transmitted from the passenger to the bus center BS via a telephone (not shown), the Internet, or the like. In the bus center BS, route bus system numbers 1 and 2 and the main bus stop M1 suitable for the passenger's request (temporary bus stop name, boarding time, destination) are selected.

  Next, the request information of the passenger is transmitted to the main bus stop M1. The route in this case is a route from the bus center BS via the bus 7 to the main bus stop M1. Furthermore, at the main bus stop M1, the request information of the passenger is transmitted to the selected route 2 bus. The route in this case is a route from the main bus stop M1 to the bus.

  The selected route bus detours to the temporary bus stop requested by the passenger, and after returning the passenger at the temporary bus stop, the bus returns to the normal bus route 2.

  As described above, according to the information relay system 100, in particular, even if the communicable ranges 10 a and 10 b having a radius of about 100 m are separated by a considerable distance (for example, 200 m to 2 km) that is not overlapped, between the bus stops S1 and S2 etc. Communication (ARP procedure) can be realized by using the bus 7 that operates the route 1.

  In addition, information communication that does not require immediacy, for example, replacement / addition / change of information such as commercials, timetables, and fare schedules displayed on base stations (bus center BS) or on-road devices such as bus stops S1 and S2 -Updating can be done easily and easily.

  Therefore, information such as the bus stops S1 and S2 can be automatically replaced / added / changed / updated in an unattended state. Therefore, the labor cost for performing these operations can be reduced, and it is not necessary for a person to work individually for each information node, and it is easy and simple with centralized management.

  Information can be transferred between information nodes without laying copper wires or optical fibers between the information nodes, and the system is composed only of wireless systems, so that the operation cost can be kept low. In particular, an appropriate cost-effectiveness can be obtained for a communication request that does not require immediacy.

  Furthermore, when sending an ARP request, by specifying a broadcast IP address or a multicast IP address as a destination IP address, all information nodes that can be communicated at that time are subject to investigation, and different ARP requests are sent for each information node. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the waste of capacity of the computer 25.

  The standard ARP layer program that has received the ARP request does not send a response when the source IP address is not a unicast IP address, but whether or not to respond to a broadcast IP address or a multicast IP address. A function of appropriately making a determination and returning a response when it is determined to be necessary can be easily added by modifying the program.

  In addition, in the Internet protocol, a minimum packet size is defined, and if the packet size is less than that, dummy data must be added. Since the ARP request and response packets are less than the minimum value, dummy data is added.

  Therefore, communication efficiency and quality can be improved by adding operation information to the dummy data portion. This function is not included in the standard ARP processing program, but can be easily added by modifying the program.

  Since operation information is added to the ARP request packet or the ARP response packet, the latter half of the ARP request packet or the ARP response packet can be used effectively, and the communication efficiency and quality can be improved.

  On the other hand, for communications that require immediacy, such as information transmission of bus operation management data, instead of connecting all bus stops by wire, the main bus stops M1, which are distributed in the bus operation area, This can be dealt with by connecting only M2 or the like to the bus center BS by wire.

  Therefore, according to this system 100, the operation mode such as a route bus, that is, a mobile terminal that is a route bus, a simple fixed simple terminal that is a bus stop S1, etc., and a fixed such as a bus center BS, a main bus stop M1, etc. Utilizing the characteristics of the operation mode composed of main terminals, the required information transmission and collection can be achieved at low cost and simply.

  The best mode of the information relay apparatus 100 of the present invention has been described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments, and does not depart from the spirit of the present invention. The configuration can be changed as appropriate.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the information nodes 10 are not limited to the case where the information nodes 10a, 10b, and 10c are arranged in a distributed manner so that they do not overlap with each other. Needless to say, this is also applicable to this case.

  When an information node as a wireless bridge is provided with an external antenna having directivity and extending a communication distance, communication is possible in a range from 1 km to several km. At that time, even if the effective throughput falls to 1 to 2 Mbps, the intended communication is possible. Further, such an external antenna may be provided in the information relay device to be a mobile radio bridge.

  In addition, the information relay apparatus 20 estimates a communicable area with the transmission node or the reception node based on the operation schedule 50, and in the communicable area, the wireless communication unit 24 is turned on, and the transmission node or the reception node Outside the communicable area, the power of the wireless communication means 24 may be turned off or in a standby state.

  The information relay system of the present invention is a low-cost transmission and collection of required information, taking advantage of the characteristics of the operation form of a moving body that operates in a predetermined area, such as a route bus, high-speed bus, train, subway, truck, taxi, It can be used in any mobile communication field that is required to be achieved simply.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of a bus route map. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the hardware constitutions of the system of an Example. It is a figure which shows the concept of the protocol layer structure in an internet protocol. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the procedure of the information transmission between the information contacts using a mobile body. It is a conceptual diagram which shows a mode that the information transmission from a bus center to a bus stop is performed via a bus. It is a conceptual diagram which shows a mode that communication with a mobile body and an information contact is performed based on an operation schedule. It is explanatory drawing which shows the information transmission to the bus stop of the bus route which does not start from a bus center.

Explanation of symbols

7 Bus (mobile)
10 Information Node 11 Antenna 15 Computer 20 Information Relay Device 25 Computer 100 Information Relay System T ARP Request Packet R ARP Response Packet

Claims (3)

As a means for realizing information transmission between information nodes installed at a bus center or bus stop in a predetermined area, information is relayed when an information relay device mounted on a bus operating in the predetermined area approaches the information node. An information relay system that performs information relay by receiving and passing information,
The information relay device mounted on the bus is not related to the communication request of the application program, and targets information nodes installed at the bus center or bus stop that will arrive next according to the bus schedule. The ARP request packet is repeatedly transmitted at an appropriate time of not less than 0.1 seconds and not more than 0.5 seconds, and an ARP response packet from the information node corresponding to the ARP request packet is received. An information relay system characterized by confirming that it has entered the communicable range without delay. Information to the ARP request packet sent from the information relay apparatus mounted on the bus, which consists of information indicating that the departure or pass the bus stop, and departure time, and the system number of the bus, the diamond number The information relay system according to claim 1, further comprising: The ARP response packet sent from the information nodes installed in stop the Basusenta or the bus, the existence information of customers at bus stops, and number of persons waiting information at bus stops, and stop bus number information relaying system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the addition of information consisting of.

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