JP2009031205A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a best navigation system for routing a recommended course which selects gate position in tollbooth or parking location in parking area and guides vehicles towards the above selected gate position or parking location, reducing driver's burden. <P>SOLUTION: The navigation system 100 for guiding the route to destination is equipped with a gate information acquiring means 11 for acquiring information on gates G1-G6 of tollbooth T in toll road, a recommended gate determination means 12 for determining the recommended gate based on both information of the gates G1-G6 and the route after passing through the gate, and a vehicle guiding means 14 for guiding a vehicle V1 to the recommended gate determined by the recommended gate determination means 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device that guides a recommended route to a destination, and in particular, selects a gate position at a toll gate or a parking position at a parking lot that is optimal for guiding the recommended route, The present invention relates to a navigation device that guides a vehicle to a parking position.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a moving body guidance system that guides a vehicle while providing accurate guidance information when using a specific facility such as a toll booth or a parking lot is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

This moving body guidance system is installed in front of a toll booth (for example, 1 kilometer to the toll booth) by linking an onboard device for ETC (Electronic Toll Collection system) and a car navigation system. Based on the movement instruction information received from the notification antenna and the gate arrangement information stored on the vehicle side, the guidance information is displayed on the display device and the sound is output so that the vehicle is accurately guided to the gate to which the vehicle should pass. I will let you.
JP 2001-134895 A

  However, the moving body guidance system described in Patent Document 1 only presents information regarding the operating state of the ETC gate, such as which gate is for an ETC-compatible vehicle and which gate is for an ETC-incompatible vehicle, and can be passed. When there are a plurality of ETC gates, the vehicle may not be guided to a specific gate simply by indicating that the plurality of gates can pass therethrough, and guidance to the driver may be insufficient.

  In view of the above points, the present invention selects the gate position at the toll gate or the parking position at the parking lot, which is optimal for guiding the recommended route, and operates while guiding the vehicle to the selected gate position or parking position. An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that reduces the burden on the user.

  In order to achieve the above object, a navigation device according to a first invention is a navigation device for guiding a route to a destination, gate information acquisition means for acquiring information related to a toll gate on a toll road, And a recommended gate determining means for determining a recommended gate based on the information on the gate and the information on the route after passing through the gate, and a vehicle guiding means for guiding the vehicle to the recommended gate determined by the recommended gate determining means. It is characterized by that.

  As a result, the navigation apparatus guides the vehicle to the recommended gate while determining the recommended gate based on the traveling direction of the vehicle after passing the toll gate and the open / closed state, type or congestion state of each gate. The burden on the driver when passing can be reduced.

  Moreover, 2nd invention is the navigation apparatus which concerns on 1st invention, Comprising: The lane information acquisition means which acquires the information regarding the lane where a vehicle is drive | working further is provided, The said recommended gate determination means is information regarding the said gate The recommended gate is determined based on the information on the route after passing through the gate and the information on the lane acquired by the lane information acquisition means.

  As a result, the navigation device considers the current travel lane of the vehicle before passing the toll gate in addition to the traveling direction of the vehicle after passing the toll gate and the open / closed state, type or congestion of each gate. Since the vehicle is guided to the recommended gate, the burden on the driver when passing through the toll gate can be further reduced.

  A third invention is a navigation device according to the first or second invention, wherein the vehicle guiding means displays information on a recommended gate on a display screen without re-searching a route. And

  Thus, the navigation device can promptly and promptly output guidance regarding the recommended gate without causing the route search means to re-search the route, and further reduce the burden on the driver when passing the toll gate.

  A fourth invention is a navigation apparatus according to the first to third inventions, wherein the vehicle guiding means guides the vehicle to a recommended lane before passing through a recommended gate.

  Thereby, the navigation apparatus can guide the vehicle to a lane suitable for passing through the recommended gate in advance before passing through the recommended gate, and can further reduce the burden on the driver when passing through the toll gate.

  A navigation device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is a navigation device for guiding a route to a destination, a parking space information acquisition means for acquiring information related to a parking space of a parking lot, information related to the parking space, and parking. Recommended parking space determining means for determining a recommended parking space based on information about a route after leaving the parking lot, and vehicle guiding means for guiding the vehicle to the recommended parking space determined by the recommended parking space determining means It is characterized by that.

  Thereby, the navigation device determines the recommended parking space based on the traveling direction of the vehicle after leaving the parking lot and the position of the empty parking space or the entrance / exit position of the parking lot, etc., and makes the vehicle the recommended parking space. Since it guides, the burden on the driver when using the parking lot can be reduced.

  By the means described above, the present invention selects the gate position at the toll gate or the parking position at the parking lot, which is optimal for guiding the recommended route, and guides the vehicle to the selected gate position or parking position. It is possible to provide a navigation device that reduces the burden on the user.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a navigation device according to the present invention. The navigation device 100 guides a vehicle to the selected gate while selecting a gate through which the vehicle passes at a toll gate such as a toll road. The apparatus includes a control unit 1, a communication unit 2, a positioning unit 3, a storage unit 4, an imaging unit 5, a display unit 6, and an audio output unit 7.

  The control unit 1 is a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. For example, the route search unit 10, the gate information acquisition unit 11, and the lane information acquisition While storing programs corresponding to each of the means 12, the recommended gate determining means 13 and the vehicle guiding means 14 in the ROM, the CPU is caused to execute processing corresponding to each means.

  The communication unit 2 is a device for controlling communication with the outside. For example, the communication unit 2 is an ETC vehicle-mounted device, and is connected to a communication center (toll road) via an ETC warning antenna using DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication). It is a communication facility provided by a management company, etc.).

  Further, the communication unit 2 may receive gate information through wide-area wireless communication using a mobile phone frequency or road-to-vehicle communication using a specific low power radio frequency. Information useful for selecting a gate (hereinafter referred to as “recommended gate”) through which the vehicle should pass, such as traffic jam information and road regulation information, may be received.

  Furthermore, you may make it the communication part 2 receive the information regarding the map and parking space of a parking lot from the small antenna installed in the entrance / exit of the parking lot.

  “Gate information” is information related to gates installed at toll gates such as toll roads. For example, the number of gates, gate open / closed state, gate type (gate for ETC-equipped vehicles equipped with ETC onboard equipment, or , Gates for general vehicles not equipped with ETC on-board devices, etc.), gate arrangement (the order of ETC-equipped vehicle gates or general vehicle gates), information on congestion of each gate, and the like.

  The communication unit 2 may transmit information held by the vehicle to the communication center via the mobile phone frequency or the specific low power radio frequency. This is because the communication center can collect, process and distribute information from each vehicle.

  The positioning unit 3 is a device for measuring the position of the vehicle. For example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver receives a GPS signal output from a GPS satellite via a GPS antenna, and based on the received signal. Measure vehicle position (latitude, longitude, altitude). The measurement by the positioning unit 3 may be any method such as independent positioning or relative positioning (including interference positioning), but preferably relative positioning with high accuracy is used. At this time, the vehicle position may be corrected based on outputs of various sensors such as a steering angle sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and a gyro sensor, and various information received via a beacon receiver or an FM multiplex receiver.

  Further, the navigation device 100 stores the time transition of the vehicle position measured by the positioning unit 3 in the storage unit 4, and the traveling locus and traveling speed of the vehicle passing through the toll gate via the communication unit 2 are stored in the communication center. The vehicle position measured by the positioning unit 3 may be transmitted to the communication center in real time.

  As a result, the communication center identifies the gate open / close state and gate type based on the travel trajectory collected from a plurality of vehicles, and distributes the gate information to other vehicles without relying on the information held by the toll road management company. Will be able to. Specifically, the communication center uses an ETC-equipped vehicle gate as a gate through which a plurality of vehicles pass at a predetermined speed or more, and a gate for which a plurality of vehicles are temporarily stopped as a general vehicle gate, A gate that does not pass is grasped as a closed gate.

  The storage unit 4 is a device for storing various types of information. For example, the storage unit 4 is a storage medium such as a hard disk or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), and includes node positions such as intersections and interchanges, and links (elements connecting nodes). ) Distance, link cost (refers to the time, cost, etc. required to pass the link), facility location (latitude, longitude, altitude), facility name, etc., is stored in a map information database. .

  The map information database includes detailed data of the toll gate (refers to the shape of the road leading to the toll gate or the number of lanes).

  The imaging unit 5 is a device that images the outside of the vehicle. For example, the imaging unit 5 includes a camera that uses an imaging element such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), and identifies road signs and road markings. Or an image for measuring the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle. Note that the imaging unit 5 may be an infrared camera that can shoot at night or a stereo camera that can measure the distance to the subject.

  In addition, the navigation apparatus 100 performs image processing on the image captured by the imaging unit 5, derives the gate arrangement of the toll gate, the number of gates, the open / closed state of the gate, and the like and stores them in the storage unit 4. Such information may be transmitted to the communication center.

  As a result, the communication center identifies the gate open / close state and gate type based on information collected from a plurality of vehicles, and distributes the gate information to other vehicles without relying on the information held by the toll road management company. Will be able to.

  The display unit 6 is a device for displaying various types of information. For example, the display unit 6 is a liquid crystal display or the like, and a recommended route searched by a route search unit 10 described later, a recommended gate determined by a recommended gate determination unit 13 described later, or the like. Display information about.

  The voice output unit 7 is a device for outputting various information as voices. For example, the voice output unit 7 is an in-vehicle speaker, and a recommended route searched by a route search unit 10 described later or a recommended gate determined by a recommended gate determination unit 13 described later. Etc. are output as audio information.

  Next, various units included in the control unit 1 will be described.

  The route search means 10 is based on the vehicle position (latitude, longitude, altitude) measured by the positioning unit 3, the position information of the destination (latitude, longitude, altitude) and the map information database stored in the storage unit 4. This is a means for deriving an optimum route from a predetermined position (for example, the current position of the vehicle) to the destination. For example, the shortest route is searched using the Dijkstra method as the shortest route search algorithm. In addition to the shortest route, a fastest route that can reach the destination earliest, a route that does not use a highway, and the like may be searched.

  The route search means 10 displays the searched recommended route on the display screen of the display unit 6 so that the recommended route can be identified from other routes so that the driver can easily confirm the recommended route. The voice guidance along is output from the voice output unit 7 to assist the driver in driving.

  The gate information acquisition unit 11 is a unit for acquiring gate information. For example, the gate information acquisition unit 11 receives gate information transmitted from the communication center via the communication unit 2 and stores the received gate information in the storage unit 4.

  Here, the gate information will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the toll gate T to which the vehicle V1 about to leave the toll road travels. FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration example of gate information corresponding to the toll gate T illustrated in FIG. FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which a vehicle V1 traveling on the right lane L2 of the two-lane road R1 having the lane L1 and the lane L2 is approaching a toll gate T having six gates G1 to G6. In addition, after the vehicle V1 passes the toll gate T according to the recommended route searched by the route search means 10, the vehicle crosses the right lane L4 of the two-lane road R2 having the lane L3 and the lane L4, and the first intersection. The state where it is scheduled to turn right is shown.

  Furthermore, FIG. 2 shows that there are 12 driving patterns based on the two lanes on the road R1 and the six gates on the toll booth T (see the arrows in the figure. Note that the gray arrows are The driving pattern to be obtained is shown, and the black arrow indicates one driving pattern selected from twelve driving patterns.

  FIG. 3 shows gate information obtained through the communication unit 2 and shows gate information indicating the gate type and open / closed state of each gate specified by the gate number. The gates G1, G2, and G4 are for general vehicles. The gates, gates G3, G5, and G6 are ETC-equipped vehicle gates, and only the gate G5 is in a closed state.

  The lane information acquisition unit 12 is a unit for acquiring lane information. For example, the lane information acquisition unit 12 is a lane in which the vehicle currently travels based on the vehicle position measured by the positioning unit 3 (hereinafter referred to as “current travel lane”). The identification number is acquired, or the identification number of the current traveling lane is acquired while performing road-to-vehicle communication with a magnetic nail or the like embedded in the road via the communication unit 2. The “lane information” is information for specifying the current traveling lane.

  The recommended gate determining unit 13 is a unit for determining a recommended gate according to the acquired gate information. For example, the recommended gate determining unit 13 travels after the vehicle V1 passes the toll gate T according to the recommended route searched by the route searching unit 10. The target lane (hereinafter referred to as “recommended lane after passing through the gate”) is determined, and the recommended gate is determined based on the recommended lane after passing through the gate.

  The recommended gate determination unit 13 may determine the recommended gate in consideration of the current travel lane specified by the lane information acquisition unit 12 in addition to the recommended lane after passing through the gate.

  For example, when the gate information acquisition unit 11 acquires the gate information, the recommended gate determination unit 13 determines whether or not the vehicle V1 is equipped with the ETC on-board unit based on the presence / absence of an output from the ETC on-board unit. When it is determined that the vehicle-mounted device is not mounted, the gate G4 that is optimal for traveling on the recommended lane after passing through the gate (lane L4 of the road R2) is determined as the recommended gate based on the recommended gate determination map.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the recommended gate determination map, and the presence / absence of an ETC on-board device (even if the ETC on-board device cannot be used due to abnormal insertion of the ETC card, etc., is included in the state where there is no ETC on-board device) .) Shows a recommended gate corresponding to a combination of the current travel lane (lane L1 or lane L2) and route information (left turn, straight ahead, or right turn) after passing through the toll gate T. The recommended gate determination unit 13 generates a recommended gate determination map based on the gate information and the recommended route searched by the route search unit 10 when the gate information acquisition unit 11 acquires the gate information.

  Further, the recommended gate determination means 13 determines the congestion status of each gate, the shape of the toll gate T (the shape of the road R1 connecting the toll road main line and the toll gate T, and the shape of the road R2 connecting the toll gate T and the general road. In addition, the recommended gate determination map may be generated in consideration of the presence / absence of a commercial vehicle dedicated gate.

  The vehicle guiding means 14 is a means for guiding the vehicle to pass through the recommended gate determined by the recommended gate determining means 13. For example, the vehicle guiding means 14 displays a guidance screen on the display unit 6, and from the audio output unit 7. The vehicle is guided to the recommended gate while outputting a voice guidance message along the guidance screen.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the guidance screen. While displaying a schematic diagram of the toll gate T, the recommended gate is displayed in a different color from the other gates, and the position of the recommended gate is indicated using an arrow. In this state, the vehicle V1 is guided to the recommended gate.

  Further, the vehicle guidance means 14 may highlight the recommended gate while blinking the recommended gate image, or highlight the recommended gate image while darkly displaying a gate in a closed state or a gate other than the recommended gate. You may make it let.

  Further, the vehicle guidance unit 14 may cause the route search unit 10 to re-search the route and display the route to the recommended gate on the electronic map. In this case, the vehicle guiding means 14 reduces the link cost of the route to the recommended gate, or increases the link cost in a route other than the route to the recommended gate, so that the route to the recommended gate is one of the recommended routes. To be selected as a part. Each gate holds a unique node.

  Further, the vehicle guidance unit 14 displays the image of the route to the recommended gate generated by the process different from the search process by the route search unit 10 on the electronic map without causing the route search unit 10 to re-search the route. Alternatively, the route image already displayed on the display unit 6 and the voice guidance message related to the image may be replaced with the newly generated route image reaching the recommended gate and the voice guidance message related to the image. .

  When the re-search by the route search means 10 is omitted, the vehicle guidance means 14 displays an image of the route to the recommended gate on the electronic map in a timely and prompt manner and outputs a related voice guidance message in a timely and prompt manner. It is because it can do.

  Further, the vehicle guiding means 14 may guide the vehicle V1 to a lane suitable for passing through the recommended gate on the road R1 connecting the toll road main line and the toll gate T.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining lane guidance by the vehicle guidance means 14 and is a lane suitable for passage through the gate G4 determined as a recommended gate (hereinafter referred to as “recommended lane before passing through a gate”). L1.) Shows a state of guiding the vehicle V1.

  The vehicle guidance means 14 displays the information on the recommended lane before passing through the gate on the display unit 6 (for example, the left arrow indicating the direction in which the recommended lane before passing through the gate is present). Is output from the voice output unit 7.

  In this case, the recommended gate determining means 13 does not determine the recommended gate after grasping the current traveling lane of the vehicle V1, but determines the recommended lane before passing through the gate after determining the recommended gate. Depending on the distance between the vehicle V1 and the toll booth T, the order of determining the recommended gate may be switched. This is to prevent the user from forcibly changing the lane.

  Next, a process in which the navigation device 100 guides the vehicle V1 to the recommended gate (hereinafter referred to as “vehicle guide process”) will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the vehicle guidance process.

  First, the control unit 1 of the navigation apparatus 100 monitors whether or not the gate information output from the communication unit 2 is acquired by the gate information acquisition unit 11 (step S1), and continues monitoring until the gate information is acquired. (NO in step S1).

  When the gate information is acquired (YES in step S1), the control unit 1 refers to the recommended route searched by the route search means 10, and the behavior of the vehicle V1 after passing through the gate (turn left, go straight, or Whether to turn right, etc.) is estimated and a recommended lane is determined after passing through the gate (step S2).

  Moreover, the control part 1 acquires the present position of the vehicle V1 by the lane information acquisition means 12 based on the output of the positioning part 3, and acquires the present driving lane of the vehicle V1 (step S3).

  Thereafter, the control unit 1 refers to the recommended gate determination map generated by the recommended gate determination means 13 based on the gate information, and determines the recommended gate based on the recommended lane after passing through the gate and the current traveling lane before passing through the gate. (Step S4).

  Thereafter, the control unit 1 causes the vehicle guidance means 14 to display the position of the recommended gate at the toll booth T on the display unit 6 and to output a voice guidance message regarding the recommended gate from the voice output unit 7, while Guide to the recommended gate.

  As a result, the navigation device 100 passes through the toll gate T even when the vehicle V1 passes through the toll gate T that is configured with a gate whose opening / closing state and type change according to maintenance or traffic change. Since the vehicle V1 is guided to the recommended gate while selecting the optimum recommended gate according to the traveling direction of the vehicle V1 after the current driving lane and the current driving lane before passing the toll gate T, etc., when passing the toll gate T The vehicle V1 can smoothly pass through the toll gate T without causing confusion to the driver.

  Next, a navigation device 200 that is another configuration example of the navigation device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the navigation device 200, and FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the parking lot Z that the vehicle V2 intends to use.

  The navigation device 200 is a device that guides the vehicle V2 to the selected parking space while selecting the space where the vehicle V2 is to be parked in the parking lot Z. The control unit 1 controls the parking space information acquisition unit 15 and the recommended parking space. Although it differs from the navigation apparatus 100 which has the gate information acquisition means 11, the lane information acquisition means 12, and the recommended gate determination means 13 in the point which has the determination means 16, about another structure, it is common in the navigation apparatus 100.

  The parking space information acquisition means 15 is means for acquiring parking space information. For example, the parking space information acquisition means 15 receives parking space information transmitted from a dedicated antenna installed near the entrance of the parking lot Z via the communication unit 2. .

  The “parking space information” is information about the parking space, and includes the position of an empty space (including the number of floors in the case of tower parking), the position of the entrance / exit of the parking lot Z, the usage time, the parking fee, and the like.

  The recommended parking space determining means 16 is a means for determining a space where the vehicle V2 should be parked in accordance with the acquired parking space information. For example, the recommended parking space search means 10 and the recommended position searched by the route searching means 10 A parking space in which the vehicle V2 is to be parked is determined based on the direction in which the vehicle V2 heads after leaving the parking lot Z that is guided according to the route.

  Here, FIG. 9 shows the state of the parking lot Z having two empty spaces P2, P12 out of the 12 parking spaces P1 to P12, and according to the recommended route searched by the route searching means 10. After the vehicle V2 leaves the parking lot Z, the vehicle V2 is scheduled to travel in the north direction (upward in the figure).

  Further, FIG. 9 shows that there are two traveling patterns based on two empty spaces (see arrows in the figure. Note that gray arrows indicate possible traveling patterns, and black arrows indicate 1 shows a traveling pattern selected from two traveling patterns.)

  As a result, the navigation device 200 is optimal in accordance with the traveling direction of the vehicle V2 after leaving the parking lot Z, even when the vehicle V2 uses the parking lot Z in which the number and position of empty spaces change from moment to moment. Since the vehicle V2 is guided to the selected vacant space while selecting a vacant space, the driver can smoothly use the garage Z without being confused by the driver when using the parking garage Z. Like that.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the navigation device 100 includes the presence / absence of the ETC on-board device, the state of the ETC on-board device (forgetting to insert the ETC card, etc.), the route after passing through the current travel lane and the toll booth T ( The recommended gate is determined based on the left turn, straight drive, or right turn), etc., but the vehicle V1 handle specifications (right handle specification or left handle specification), vehicle type (whether it is a commercial vehicle), or the operator manually The recommended gate may be determined based on conditions set by operation (for example, even when a vehicle equipped with an ETC on-vehicle device is used when passing through a general vehicle gate).

It is FIG. (1) which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the toll gate which a vehicle is going to pass. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the gate information corresponding to the toll gate shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a recommended gate determination map. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a guidance screen. It is a figure for demonstrating the lane guidance by a navigation apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a vehicle guidance process. It is FIG. (2) which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the parking lot which a vehicle intends to utilize.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Communication part 3 Positioning part 4 Memory | storage part 5 Imaging part 6 Display part 7 Audio | voice output part 10 Path | route search means 11 Gate information acquisition means 12 Lane information acquisition means 13 Recommended gate determination means 14 Vehicle guidance means 15 Parking space information acquisition Means 16 Recommended parking space determination means 100, 200 Navigation device G1-G6 Gate L1-L4 Lane P1-P12 Parking space R1, R2 Road T Toll booth V1, V2 Vehicle Z Parking lot

Claims (5)

A navigation device for guiding a route to a destination,
Gate information acquisition means for acquiring information about toll gates on toll roads;
Recommended gate determining means for determining a recommended gate based on information on the gate and information on a route after passing through the gate;
Vehicle guidance means for guiding the vehicle to the recommended gate determined by the recommended gate determination means;
A navigation device comprising: Lane information acquisition means for acquiring information about the lane in which the vehicle is currently traveling,
The recommended gate determining means determines a recommended gate based on the information on the gate, the information on the route after passing through the gate, and the information on the lane acquired by the lane information acquiring means.
The navigation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The vehicle guiding means displays information on the recommended gate on the display screen without re-searching the route.
The navigation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The vehicle guiding means guides the vehicle to a recommended lane before passing through the recommended gate.
The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein A navigation device for guiding a route to a destination,
A parking space information acquisition means for acquiring information about the parking space of the parking lot;
Recommended parking space determining means for determining a recommended parking space based on information on the parking space and information on a route after leaving the parking lot;
Vehicle guidance means for guiding the vehicle to the recommended parking space determined by the recommended parking space determination means;
A navigation device comprising:

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