CN115048071A - Multi-layer display with layer mapping - Google Patents

Abstract

A multi-layer display system is provided that may include a plurality of display screens and a processor. The plurality of display screens may be arranged to at least partially overlap, and the display screens other than the rear side display screen closest to the light source among the plurality of display screens are in a transparent or translucent state when not displaying an image. The processor may be configured to: determining the current priority of each content to be displayed in one or more contents to be displayed; and based on the determined current priority, assigning the corresponding content to be displayed to one of the plurality of display screens for display.

Description

Multi-layer display with layer mapping

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to multi-layer displays, and more particularly to display systems and methods for displaying images in multi-layer displays.

Background

MLD (multi-layer display) is used to generate 3D display effects. And two layers of liquid crystal display images at different depths are superposed to provide visual perception effects at different depths. Especially when the eyes are moving, the 3D effect produced by parallax can be perceived. In existing applications, this effect is used to form 3D components on HMI (human machine interface), giving the impression of a stereogenic entity.

At present, MLD-based 3D display is mainly used to generate a stereoscopic effect of the display content as a whole, such as naked eye 3D technology. However, the MLD interface still adopts the conventional two-dimensional information arrangement as a whole, and only adds the stereoscopic effect of 3D display.

However, in some application fields, for example, in scenes such as autonomous or semi-autonomous driving, the content to be displayed on the display screen is more and more, and the display content to be increased in attention level is different in different scenes, and the conventional two-dimensional information arrangement has been unable to meet the increasing demand for display content and the demand for distinguishing key content. Therefore, a new content arrangement is required.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a multi-layer display system is provided that may include a plurality of display screens and a processor. The plurality of display screens may be arranged to at least partially overlap, and the display screens other than the rear side display screen closest to the light source among the plurality of display screens are in a transparent or translucent state when not displaying an image. The processor may be configured to: determining the current priority of each content to be displayed in one or more contents to be displayed; and based on the determined current priority, assigning the corresponding content to be displayed to one of the plurality of display screens for display.

In an optional embodiment, the processor may be further configured to: a current priority for each content to be displayed is determined based on the current mode of operation.

In an optional embodiment, the processor may be further configured to: and responding to the change of the current operation mode, updating the current priority and reallocating the corresponding content to be displayed.

In an alternative embodiment, the content to be displayed may include enhanced display content. The processor may be further configured to: and distributing the corresponding content to be displayed, so that the display position of the enhanced display content is set to generate the enhanced display effect with the content to be displayed on other display screens.

In an optional embodiment, the processor may be further configured to: the display position of the enhanced display content is determined based on the display position of the content to be enhanced on the other display screens on the display screens.

In an optional embodiment, the processor may be further configured to: and distributing corresponding contents to be displayed so that the contents to be displayed with higher current priority are displayed on the display screen closer to the observer side.

Drawings

In order that the features of the invention may be understood, a number of figures are described below. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only specific embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

Fig. 1 illustrates a multi-layer display system 100 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 and 3 show example correspondences of priorities of contents to be displayed and operation modes according to an embodiment, where fig. 2 shows a case where the number of priorities is the same as the number of display screens, and fig. 3 shows a case where the number of priorities is greater than the number of display screens, which is the same; and is

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary processing system 400 that may be used in a multi-layer display according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

References in the specification to "an embodiment," "some embodiments," "alternative embodiments," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

A multi-layer display system includes a plurality of separate display screens (also referred to as display layers or display panels). A viewer may view a composite image of a scene on a multi-layer display system. The composite image is the visual appearance to a viewer of the individual images of the various portions of the scene displayed on the various display screens of the multi-layer display system. Multi-layer displays can provide depth effects to viewers through fine content creation across two or more stacked display screens. These displays are currently useful in dashboard center stacks and/or dashboards of vehicles where they can provide a true or near true 3D representation of dials, gauges, sliders, menus, switches, etc. However, the multi-layer display described in the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described application.

In attention-managed human-machine interface designs, it is desirable to maximize the visual presentation of information priority differences to effectively direct the attention of the user. For example, in autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, the vehicles may be in different driving modes, such as autonomous driving, co-operative driving, manual driving, and the like. In different modes, there are different requirements for the driver's attention. The display in the vehicle may act to change the driver's attention by the arrangement of the display content.

The information that needs to be displayed in a vehicle is diverse and includes information such as dials, meters, etc. described above, controls such as sliders, menus, switches, etc., road surface views such as digital maps, road surface images, etc. In different display modes, the contents that need to be preferentially displayed are different.

In the plane information arrangement, the factors can be used for embodying the information priority. However, the planar information arrangement is also the information arrangement in two-dimensional space, and only the stereoscopic display effect is added. The present disclosure is directed to expanding the multi-depth display of a multi-layer display system to produce effects that are not achieved by planar spatial arrangements to achieve allocation of display priorities in different modes.

As described above, the multi-layer display system provides the possibility of displaying at different depths. From the arrangement of the display information, it provides space for arranging the display information in depth in addition to the planar arrangement. This arrangement of information in depth can be used to prioritize the information.

Exemplary Multi-layer display System

Fig. 1 illustrates a multi-layer display system 100 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The display system 100 may include a light source 120 (e.g., a rear-mounted light source, a side-mounted light source, optionally with a light guide), and two or more display screens 130 and 140. The display screens 130 and 140 may be disposed in an overlapping manner generally parallel or parallel to each other and/or to a surface (e.g., light guide) of the light source 120. In one embodiment, the light source 120 and the display screen 130 and 140 may be disposed in a common housing. It will be understood that in some example embodiments, the multi-layer display 100 may include only two display screens, and may or may not include the light source 120 (e.g., the light source may be external to the housing of the multi-layer display system).

In some example embodiments of the present disclosure, a multi-layer display 100 may be provided at a dashboard of a vehicle to facilitate showing images (such as speedometers, gauges such as oil pressure or fuel level gauges, navigation, etc.) to a viewer (observer). It should be understood that the elements shown in the figures are not drawn to scale and, thus, may comprise different shapes, sizes, etc. in other embodiments. It should also be understood that the vehicle dashboard is but one application of the multi-layer display system described herein, and that the use of the multi-layer display system as a display for a center console or the like is contemplated in various embodiments.

Further, although shown as an automobile, the vehicle of the present disclosure may also represent other types of motorized vehicles (e.g., motorcycles, buses, tractors, tractor-trailer vehicles, or construction equipment), non-motorized vehicles (e.g., bicycles), rail vehicles (e.g., trains or trams), watercraft (e.g., boats or ships), aircraft (e.g., airplanes or helicopters), or spacecraft (e.g., satellites), among others.

In an example application where a multi-layer display system is used to display a three-dimensional (3D) effect, the multi-layer display system 100 may display graphical information to a viewer/observer 190 (such as an operator or passenger of a vehicle) by simultaneously displaying information including a gradient on two of the display screens 130 and 140. To mimic the depth cues of the displayed object, various portions of the same object may be displayed with different gradients of a given color, etc. on different display screens 130-140. For example, each of the display screens 130 and 140 may be controlled to display a different portion of the meters and/or pointers found in conventional vehicle instrument panels. In some embodiments, each of the display screens 130 and 140 may be controlled to display a different portion of an image (e.g., a clock, a meter, and/or pointer (s)) of a watch device or the like to be worn on the wrist of the user.

The light source 120 may be configured to provide illumination for the display system 100. The light source 120 may provide substantially collimated light 122 through the display screen 130 and 140. Alternatively, the light source 120 may provide highly collimated light using high brightness LEDs provided for near point sources. The LED point sources may include pre-collimation optics that provide well-defined and/or uniformly illuminated reflections from their emission areas. The light source 120 may include a reflective collimating surface, such as a parabolic mirror and/or a parabolic concentrator. In one embodiment, the light source 120 may include a refractive surface, such as a convex lens in front of the point source. However, the LEDs may be edge-mounted and direct light through a light guide, which in turn directs the light toward the display panel in certain example embodiments.

In some example embodiments, the front panel may employ transparent display technology (such as transparent LED technology or OLED technology), i.e. in a transparent or translucent state when no image is displayed to present the content of the rear display. The last (rear) side display layer may be a non-transparent technology, such as LCD technology. The LCD layers may be twisted nematic films of vertically aligned, patterned vertically aligned or in-plane switching modes, transparent oleds (toleds), and/or transparent direct view micro LED displays. In some example embodiments, LCD displays may be used in a normally black mode, i.e., if no voltage is applied across the pixels, they have no effect on the incident polarized light. In some embodiments, a TOLED or micro LED display may be used in an off state where no light is emitted. In an example embodiment, the display panel 130-140 may be a combination of a full-color RGB panel, an RGBW panel, or a monochrome panel. The display screen 130-140 is not limited to the listed display technologies and may include other display technologies that allow for the projection of light. In one embodiment, the light may be provided by a projection type system comprising a light source and one or more lenses and/or a transmissive or reflective LCD matrix.

In one embodiment, each of the display screens 130, 140 may be of substantially the same size and have flat surfaces that are parallel or substantially parallel to each other. In another embodiment, one or more of the display screens 130, 140 may have a curved surface. In one embodiment, one or more of the display screens 130, 140 may be displaced from the other display screen such that a portion of the display screen is not overlapped and/or is not overlapped by another display screen.

The display screen 130-140 may be configured to display graphical information for viewing by the observer 190. The graphical information may include visual displays of objects and/or text. In one embodiment, the graphical information may include a displayed image or a sequence of images for providing video or animation. In one embodiment, displaying image information may include moving objects and/or text across the screen, or changing or animating objects and/or text. Animation may include changing the color, shape, and/or size of an object or text. In one embodiment, the displayed objects and/or text may be moved between the display screens 130 and 140. The distance between the display screens 130 and 140 may be set to obtain a desired depth perception between the features displayed on the display screens 130 and 140.

Each of the display screens 130 & 140 may be configured to receive data and simultaneously display a different image on each of the display screens 130 & 140 based on the data. Because the images are separated by physical separation due to the separation of the display screen 130 and 140, each image may be provided at a different focal plane and depth is perceived by the viewer 190 in the displayed image. The images may include graphics in different portions of the respective display screens.

Deep placement of content

In vehicles such as vehicles, more and more information needs to be displayed, so that the conventional two-dimensional planar arrangement is insufficient to cope with all the information that needs to be displayed. Such information includes, but is not limited to, controls such as menus, buttons, digital maps, road conditions, vehicle information, entertainment information, reminder information, alert information, security information. In order to avoid missing or reduced visibility of information display caused by two-dimensional planar arrangement of a plurality of information and to improve the effect of enhanced display, the present disclosure distributes a plurality of contents to be displayed to display screens of different depths in a multi-layered display system.

In particular, the content to be displayed may be assigned to different depths of the display screen according to its priority. For example, it is possible to cause content with higher priority to be assigned to the display 130 on the side close to the observer 190 (front side), and content with lower priority to be assigned to the display 140 on the side close to the light source 120 (rear side).

The priority of the content to be displayed may be predetermined. For example, it may be determined according to whether the content requires a direct operation. The priority of the content requiring direct operation may be set higher than the priority of the content not requiring direct operation, so that the content requiring direct operation is displayed on the display screen closer to the front side. The priority may also be determined based on the content itself, i.e. whether the content requires high attention. The priority of the content requiring high attention may be set higher than the priority of the content not requiring high attention so that the content requiring high attention is displayed on the display screen closer to the front side. In some implementations, priority may also be determined taking into account whether the content requires direct manipulation and whether the content itself requires high attention.

As an example, in a multi-layered display system having two display screens 130 and 140, contents having higher priority are displayed on the display screen 130 on the front side, and contents having lower priority are displayed on the display screen 140 on the rear side. For example, contents requiring direct operations such as controls (e.g., menus, buttons, etc.) or information requiring high attention such as security information, reminder information, etc. may be displayed on the display screen 130 on the front side. Meanwhile, information with lower priority such as a digital map, a road surface live condition, a background, etc. may be displayed on the display screen 140 on the rear side. In some embodiments, to enhance the enhanced display effect, the content displayed on the front side display screen 130 may obscure the content at the corresponding position on the rear side display screen 140.

However, it is envisaged that in different scenarios, the content that the display needs to display and the priority of the various content displayed may vary. For example, when the occupant is operating the display screen by buttons or touch, controls such as menus, buttons, and corresponding prompt information may require a higher priority than usual. When the vehicle is in an autonomous or semi-autonomous driving mode and no driver maneuvers are required for a while, the priority of driving information may be reduced and the priority of entertainment information may be increased to keep the driver's attention to a certain level. When the vehicle is in an emergency, it is necessary to increase the priority of safety information and driving information and decrease the priority of other contents to be displayed. Therefore, in many embodiments of the present disclosure, the priority of each content to be displayed is variable, and may be changed according to the operation mode currently in use, for example.

Since the priority of the same kind of content to be displayed may change according to a change in the current operation mode, a case may occur in which the priorities of two or more kinds of content to be displayed are the same at a certain time. At this time, two or more kinds of contents to be displayed having the same priority can be displayed on the same display screen, and an appropriate planar layout is performed.

The number of priorities may be set with reference to the number of display screens. Typically, the number of priorities does not exceed the number of display screens, so that content of different priorities can be displayed on different display screens. However, in some embodiments, the number of priorities may exceed the number of display screens. In this embodiment, contents to be displayed of different priorities may be displayed in the same display screen. At this time, the contents to be displayed with different priorities can be distinguished in the same display screen by two-dimensional planar arrangement, for example, by changing the elements such as center/edge position, font, color, and the like.

Fig. 2 and 3 show example correspondences of priorities of contents to be displayed and operation modes according to an embodiment, where fig. 2 shows a case where the number of priorities is the same as the number of display screens, and fig. 3 shows a case where the number of priorities is greater than the number of display screens.

In the example shown in fig. 2, the number of priorities and the number of display screens are both 3. In the operation mode a, a content a to be displayed with a priority of 1 is assigned to the display screen a, a content B to be displayed with a priority of 2 is assigned to the display screen B, and a content C to be displayed with a priority of 3 is assigned to the display screen C. When the operation mode is changed to the operation mode B, the priority of the content B to be displayed is changed to 1 and thus is assigned to the display screen a; the priority of the content a to be displayed is changed to 2 and thus is assigned to the display screen B; the priority of the content C to be displayed is not changed and thus is still assigned to the display screen C. When the operation mode is changed to the operation mode C, the priority of the contents A and B to be displayed is 1, so that the contents A and B to be displayed are displayed in the display screen A at the same time; the priority of the content C to be displayed is changed to 2 and thus is assigned to the display B.

In the example shown in fig. 3, the number of priorities is increased to 4, and the number of display screens is still 3. In this example, the contents to be displayed with the priorities of 3 and 4 are both displayed on the display screen C. For example, in the operation mode a, a content a to be displayed with a priority of 1 is assigned to the display screen a, a content B to be displayed with a priority of 2 is assigned to the display screen B, a content C to be displayed with a priority of 3 and a content D to be displayed with a priority of 4 are assigned to the display screen C. When the operation mode is changed to the operation mode B, the priority of the content B to be displayed is changed to 1 and thus is assigned to the display screen a; the priority of the content a to be displayed is changed to 2 and thus is assigned to the display screen B; the priorities of the content to be displayed C and the content to be displayed D are not changed and thus are still assigned to the display screen C. When the operation mode is changed to the operation mode C, the priority of the contents A and B to be displayed is 1, so that the contents A and B to be displayed are displayed in the display screen A at the same time; the priority of the content C to be displayed is changed to 2 and thus is assigned to the display screen B; the priority of the content D to be displayed is changed to 3 and is still displayed by the display screen C.

In one example implementation, it is assumed that the multi-layer display includes two display screens 130, 140, where the display screen 130 is located closer to the front side of the viewer 190 than the display screen 140. Further, it is assumed that the content to be displayed contains four types of road surface views, information, controls, and high attention. The road surface view may be a digital map and/or a road surface video. The information may be a reminder information and/or an alarm information. The control may be an HMI (human machine interface) control that can be operated. The high attention may be an HMI component that requires information or direct operation of the driver's direct attention, may be an emergency prompt box, an object image prompt box for road surface view, and/or a cursor box. It should be understood that the case of two display screens and four contents to be displayed shown here is merely an example and should not be construed as any limitation to the present disclosure.

When the user operates the menu, that is, in the menu operation mode, the relationship of the priorities of the four display contents is high attention > road surface view ═ control ═ information. Accordingly, the display contents of high attention are assigned to the display screen 130 on the front side, and the display contents of the road surface view, the control, and the information are assigned to the display screen 140 on the rear side. When the display system is used for displaying contents, that is, in the content display mode, the priority of the four kinds of display contents is in the relationship of high attention, control, information and road surface view. Accordingly, the display contents of high attention, control, and information are assigned to the display screen 130 on the front side, and the display contents of the road surface view are assigned to the display screen 140 on the rear side. When the vehicle encounters an emergency and needs driver intervention, namely, in the emergency display mode, the priority of the four display contents is in the relationship of high attention > road surface view ═ control ═ information. Therefore, as in the menu operation mode, the display contents of high attention are assigned to the display screen 130 on the front side, and the display contents of the road surface view, the control, and the information are assigned to the display screen 140 on the rear side.

In the implementations described above, high-interest content may be combined with display elements of other display screens in different display modes to form an enhanced display effect. In the menu mode of operation, for example, high-focus content (such as a cursor box) on the display screen 130 may form an enhanced display with controls on the display screen 140. In the emergency display mode, high-interest content on the display screen 130 (such as an emergency prompt box) may be combined with information on the display screen 140 (such as prompt information and/or alert information) to form an enhanced display effect.

Content such as high attention that forms a strong display effect in combination with content displayed on other display screens is referred to herein as enhanced display content. The priority of the enhanced display content may be determined with reference to the manner described above, but its display position in the display screen, i.e., the planar position, is selected to produce an enhanced display effect with the content to be displayed on the other display screen. In other words, the display position is related to the display position of the content to be enhanced on the other display screens on the display screens thereof. For example, the enhanced display content may be overlapped with the display content to be enhanced, or some deviation may be generated to further generate the stereoscopic display effect. The enhanced display content and the display content to be enhanced may themselves enhance the display effect by enhancement means in a two-dimensional planar arrangement, such as center/edge position, font, color, etc.

Exemplary processing System

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary processing system 400 that may be used in a multi-layer display according to an embodiment. The processing system 400 may include one or more processors 410 and memory 420. Processor 410 may include a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other type of processor. Depending on the configuration and/or type of computer system environment, memory 720 may include volatile memory (e.g., RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g., ROM, flash memory, etc.), or some combination of the two. In addition, the memory 420 may be removable, non-removable, and the like.

In other embodiments, the processing system may include additional storage (e.g., removable storage 440, non-removable storage 445, etc.). Removable storage 440 and/or non-removable storage 445 may comprise volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or any combination thereof. In addition, removable storage 440 and/or non-removable storage 445 may include CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store information for access by processing system 400.

As shown in fig. 4, processing system 400 may communicate with other systems, components, or devices via a communication interface 470. Communication interface 470 may embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism. By way of example, communication interface 470 may be coupled to a wired medium (e.g., a wired network, direct-wired connection, etc.) and/or a wireless medium (e.g., a wireless network, a wireless connection using acoustics, RF, infrared, or other wireless signals, etc.).

The communication interface 470 may also couple the processing system 400 to one or more input devices 480 (e.g., voice input devices, touch input devices, etc.) and/or output devices 490 (e.g., a display, speakers, etc.). The viewer may use the input device 490 to manipulate the manner in which information is displayed on the output device 490 and/or what information and/or graphics are displayed in different portions of the output device 490. In one embodiment, the communication interface 470 may couple the processing system 400 to a display that includes two or more display panels arranged in an overlapping manner.

As shown in fig. 4, graphics processor 450 may perform graphics/image processing operations on data stored in frame buffer 460 or another memory of the processing system. The data stored in frame buffer 460 may be accessed, processed, and/or modified by components of processing system 400 (e.g., graphics processor 450, processor 410, etc.) and/or components of other systems/devices. In addition, data may be accessed (e.g., by graphics processor 450) and displayed on an output device coupled to processing system 400. Accordingly, memory 420, removable storage 440, non-removable storage 445, frame buffer 460, or a combination thereof may include instructions that, when executed on a processor (e.g., 410, 450, etc.), implement a method of data (e.g., data stored in frame buffer 460) processing for improved reliability and/or display quality on a display, such as, for example, the process described above for displaying an image in a multi-layer display by displaying different portions of the image on respective screens of the multi-layer display.

As shown in FIG. 4, portions of some example embodiments of the invention may include computer-readable and computer-executable instructions that reside, for example, in processing system 400 and that may be used as part of a general purpose computer network (not shown). It should be understood that the processing system 400 is merely exemplary.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented by representative instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that represent various logic in a processor, which when read by the processor causes the processor to perform the logic of the techniques described herein.

Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, non-transitory tangible arrangements of articles of manufacture or formation made by machines or devices that include storage media such as: a hard disk; any other type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk read-write memories (CD-RWs), and magneto-optical disks; semiconductor devices such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM) such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); phase Change Memory (PCM); magnetic or optical cards; or any other type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail. It will be appreciated that various embodiments and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above teachings without undue experimentation. Therefore, the technical solutions available to those skilled in the art through logic analysis, reasoning and limited experiments based on the prior art according to the concept of the present invention should fall within the scope of protection defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. A multi-layer display system, comprising:

a plurality of display screens arranged to at least partially overlap, and display screens other than a rear side display screen closest to the light source among the plurality of display screens are in a transparent or translucent state when not displaying an image; and

a processor configured to:

determining the current priority of each content to be displayed in one or more contents to be displayed; and is

Based on the determined current priority, the corresponding content to be displayed is assigned to one of the plurality of display screens for display.

2. The multi-layer display system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determining a current priority of the each content to be displayed based on a current operation mode.

3. The multi-layer display system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to: and responding to the change of the current operation mode, updating the current priority and reallocating the corresponding content to be displayed.

4. The multi-layer display system of any of claims 1 to 3,

the content to be displayed includes enhanced display content,

the processor is further configured to: and distributing the corresponding content to be displayed, so that the display position of the enhanced display content is set to generate an enhanced display effect with the content to be displayed on other display screens.

5. The multi-layer display system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to: determining the display position of the enhanced display content based on the display position of the content to be enhanced on the other display screens.

6. The multi-layer display system of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the processor is further configured to: and distributing the corresponding contents to be displayed so that the contents to be displayed with higher current priority are displayed on the display screen closer to the observer side.

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