JP2018120444A - Piping route creation apparatus, piping route creation method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve piping route design efficiency and piping laying work efficiency.SOLUTION: A piping route creating apparatus 100, which creates a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in a predetermined space, includes an input unit 130 and a piping route creation unit 112. The input unit 130 accepts designation of a combination of devices to be connected. The piping route creation unit 112 calculates a sum of distances from one device to a reference plane of the other device for respective combinations accepted by the input unit 130, and creates a piping route in the order of smaller values thereof.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

   The present invention relates to a piping route creation device, a piping route creation method, and a program.

  When constructing a plant, it is necessary to design a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in the plant at the design stage. Patent Document 1 divides a space in a plant into mesh spaces, determines whether there are obstacles including equipment arranged in the plant in each mesh space, and determines that there are no obstacles. An automatic pipe routing method for creating a pipe route passing through a mesh space is disclosed.

JP 2002-288250 A

  The automatic piping routing method of Patent Document 1 does not consider a piping route designed in advance when searching for a piping route. For this reason, when a plurality of piping routes in the plant are designed using the automatic piping routing method of Patent Document 1, piping routes are complicated, overlapped, crossed, etc., and actually, piping is performed according to the designed piping route. May lead to a situation where it cannot be laid. In such a case, it is necessary to reexamine the piping route that can be laid by the piping route designer, and the laying worker has to interrupt the work, and the piping route design efficiency and the piping laying work efficiency are reduced. To do.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a piping route creation device and the like that can improve the piping route design efficiency and piping laying work efficiency.

  In order to achieve the above object, a piping route creation device according to the present invention is a piping route creation device that creates a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in a predetermined space, and includes an input unit. And a piping route creation means. The input means accepts designation of a combination of devices to be connected. The piping route creation means calculates the sum of the distances between the one device included in each combination received by the input means and the reference plane of the other device, and creates the piping route in the order of the smallest combination. .

  According to the present invention, the piping route creation device determines a piping route creation order and creates a plurality of piping routes according to the determined creation order. For this reason, according to this invention, a piping route can be created efficiently.

The figure which shows the structure of the piping route creation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows an example of a voxel management table Diagram showing an example of dividing the piping route design space Diagram for explaining how to determine the order of creating multiple piping routes Flow chart showing the flow of pipe route creation processing Flow chart showing the flow of division processing Flow chart showing the flow of pipe route creation order determination process The figure which shows an example of the voxel management table which concerns on Embodiment 2. The figure which shows an example of the voxel management table which concerns on Embodiment 3. Diagram for explaining how to create a piping route The figure which shows an example of the voxel management table which concerns on Embodiment 4.

  Hereinafter, a piping route creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
The piping route creation device 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is a device that creates a piping route for connecting devices installed in a plant and presents them to a user.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the piping route creation device 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, an input unit 130, and a display unit 140. Each of these parts is electrically connected to each other via a bus line BL.

  The control unit 110 includes, for example, a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The control unit 110 reads out various operation programs stored in the ROM and executes them on the RAM, thereby controlling each component of the piping route creation apparatus 100.

  Functionally, the control unit 110 includes a voxel management table creation unit 111 and a piping route creation unit 112.

  The voxel management table creation unit 111 creates the voxel management table 122 and stores it in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 120. Detailed contents of the voxel management table 122 will be described later.

  The piping route creation unit 112 creates a piping route that connects the start point and the end point of the piping designated by the user. In addition, the apparatus which will be connected is each arrange | positioned at the start point and end point of piping, or these vicinity.

  Note that the voxel management table creation unit 111 and the piping route creation unit 112 may be configured by a single computer, or may be configured by separate computers.

  The storage unit 120 is composed of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory or a hard disk drive whose stored contents can be rewritten. The storage unit 120 stores, for example, the piping route design information 121 received by the input unit 130 and the voxel management table 122 created by the voxel management table creation unit 111.

  Piping route design information 121 includes piping route design space, which is a space in the plant to be designed for the piping route, CAD (Computer Aided Design) data of obstacles arranged in the piping route design space, and piping route design space. Includes piping data that indicates the type of piping to be installed, the size of the caliber, etc. The piping route design space may be a partial space in the plant or the entire space of the plant.

  The voxel management table 122 is a table for managing the position and state of each voxel formed by dividing the piping route design space SP. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the voxel management table 122 associates center coordinates and obstacle occupation information for each voxel VP. The center coordinates of the voxel VP are uniquely calculated based on the size and the number of divisions of the piping route design space SP. The obstacle occupation information is information indicating whether or not at least a part of the obstacle is included in the target voxel VP. For example, “O” indicating that at least a part of the obstacle is included, or One of the data “−” indicating that no obstacle is included is stored.

  The input unit 130 includes a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, operation buttons, and the like, and receives various user operations and input of piping route design information 121, for example.

  The display unit 140 includes a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), and an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, and is stored in, for example, the storage unit 120 according to the control of the control unit 110. Based on the CAD data included in the piping route design information 121, the piping route design space SP and a three-dimensional CAD image of the obstacle are displayed.

  Next, a procedure for creating a piping route will be described. Here, in this Embodiment, in order to make an understanding easy, as shown in FIG. 3, it demonstrates as what the piping route design space SP is a cube. Moreover, in each figure including FIG. 3, for convenience of explanation, an XYZ rectangular coordinate system is set, and using this XYZ rectangular coordinate system, building structures such as columns and partition walls in the piping route design space SP, The positional relationship between the obstacle and the piping route, which hinders the laying of the piping, such as equipment and facilities arranged in the piping route design space SP, will be described. In FIG. 3, in the XYZ orthogonal coordinate system, the plane parallel to the floor and ceiling of the piping route design space SP is defined as the XY plane, and the direction parallel to one side of the piping route design space SP is defined as the X-axis direction and the X-axis direction. The direction orthogonal to the Y-axis direction and the direction perpendicular to the bottom surface as the Z-axis direction.

  When creating a piping route, first, the piping route design space SP is subdivided into small spaces called voxels according to the number of divisions designated by the user. In the present embodiment, the voxel VP becomes a cubic space by equally dividing the piping route design space SP in the X axis direction, the Y axis direction, and the Z axis direction by the number of divisions designated by the user. That is, when the division number N is designated by the user, (N × N × N) voxels VP are formed in the piping route design space SP. Here, N is a natural number of 2 or more. FIG. 3 shows a piping route design space SP in which each side is divided into 12 and 1728 voxels VP are formed inside.

  Hereinafter, the voxels included in the piping route design space SP may be collectively referred to as “voxel VP”, referring to one of the voxels included in the piping route design space SP.

  After the piping route design space SP is divided, the voxel management table creation unit 111 creates the voxel management table 122 shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, the voxel VP corresponding to the start point and end point of the pipe designated by the user is specified. Hereinafter, a voxel corresponding to the start point is referred to as a start point voxel, and a voxel corresponding to the end point is referred to as an end point voxel. When a set of a plurality of start point voxels and end point voxels is designated, the order of creating piping routes connecting the start point voxels and end point voxels of each set is determined. Specifically, the distance from the start point voxel to the reference plane and the distance from the end point voxel to the reference plane are obtained for each set, and the sum is calculated. The pipe route creation order is determined in descending order of the sum of the distance from the start point voxel to the reference plane and the distance from the end point voxel to the reference plane, and the pipe route is created according to the determined creation order. The Here, when considering the installation property of the piping, it is generally efficient to install the piping in order from the vicinity of the floor in the plant. For this reason, in this Embodiment, a reference plane demonstrates as what is a floor surface in a plant.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, three sets of a start point voxel VPs 1, an end point voxel VPt 1, a start point voxel VPs 2, an end point voxel VPt 2, and a start point voxel VPs 3, an end point voxel VPt 3 are specified by the user's designation of the start point and end point. When the floor surface FF is a plane parallel to the XY plane, the Z coordinate of each voxel is as follows: start point voxel VPs2 <end point voxel VPt2 = start point voxel VPs1 = end point voxel VPt1 = end point voxel VPt3 <start point voxel VPs3. Therefore, the distance in the Z-axis direction from the start point voxel and the end point voxel of each set to the floor surface FF is (the sum of the distances in the Z axis direction from the start point voxel VPs2 and the end point voxel VPt2 to the floor surface FF) <(start point voxel VPs1). And the sum of distances in the Z-axis direction from the end point voxel VPt1 to the floor surface FF) <(sum of distances in the Z-axis direction from the start point voxel VPs3 and the end point voxel VPt3 to the floor surface FF). Therefore, the piping route creation order is determined in the order of the piping route connecting the start point voxel VPs2 and the end point voxel VPt2, the piping route connecting the start point voxel VPs1 and the end point voxel VPt1, and the piping route connecting the start point voxel VPs3 and the end point voxel VPt3. Is done.

In FIG. 4, the voxels at the same height as the start point voxels VPs1 to VPs3 or the end point voxels VPt1 to VPt3, that is, the voxels whose center coordinates are the same as the start point voxels VPs1 to VPs3 or the end point voxels VPt1 to VPt3. Only the layers FL1 to FL3 constituted by are extracted and shown. FIG. 4 also shows the route R1 as an example of the shortest path connecting the start point voxel VPs1 and the end point voxel VPt1, the route R2, the example of the shortest path connecting the start point voxel VPs2 and the end point voxel VPt2, and the start point voxel VPs3 and the end point voxel VPt3. The route R3 is shown as an example of the shortest route connecting the two, but actually, a piping route that connects each start point and end point is created in consideration of the presence of an obstacle in the piping route design space SP. .

  After the piping route creation order is determined, the piping route is created by searching for the piping route using a general route search algorithm with reference to the obstacle occupation information and the route occupation information in the voxel management table 122. To do.

  Next, the piping route creation process executed by the piping route creation device 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The piping route creation process is a process of determining a piping route creation order and sequentially creating a piping route according to the determined creation order.

  In response to the activation of the application software for designing the piping route, the control unit 110 starts execution of the piping route creation process. When starting the piping route creation process, the control unit 110 first reads the piping route design information 121 stored in the storage unit 120 (step S101). When the piping route design information is not stored in the storage unit 120, a message for prompting input of the piping route design information may be displayed on the display screen of the display unit 140.

  Subsequently, the control unit 110 controls the display unit 140 so that the piping route design space SP based on the CAD data included in the piping route design information read from the storage unit 120 and the tertiary of obstacles in the piping route design space SP are displayed. The original CAD image is displayed on the display screen (step S102).

  After displaying the piping route design space SP and the three-dimensional CAD image of the obstacle in the piping route design space SP, it is determined whether or not the number of divisions has been designated (step S103). The control unit 110 determines whether or not the division number is designated depending on whether or not the input unit 130 has received an input operation of the division number by the user. If it is determined that the number of divisions is not specified (step S103; NO), the control unit 110 repeats the execution of the process of step S103 and waits until the number of divisions is specified.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the number of divisions has been designated (step S103; YES), the control unit 110 executes a division process. Here, the division process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The division process is a process of creating a voxel management table 122 representing the position and state of each voxel by subdividing the piping route design space SP into a plurality of voxels according to the number of divisions designated by the user.

  When starting the dividing process, the control unit 110 first divides the piping route design space SP according to the number of divisions designated by the user (step S201). Thereby, the piping route design space SP is subdivided into a plurality of voxels VP.

  Subsequently, the control unit 110 creates the voxel management table 122 (step S202). The control unit 110 refers to the piping route design information read from the storage unit 120 in step S101, calculates the center coordinates of each voxel, and whether or not at least a part of the obstacle is included in the target voxel. By determining the above, the voxel management table 122 is created. The control unit 110 controls the storage unit 120 to store the created voxel management table 122 in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 120 (step S203). After executing the process of step S203, the control unit 110 ends the division process and returns the process to the piping route creation process.

  Returning to the description of the flowchart of the piping route creation process shown in FIG. 5, after performing the division process in step S104, the control unit 110 determines whether or not the start point voxel and the end point voxel are designated (step S105). The control unit 110 determines whether or not the start point voxel and the end point voxel are specified depending on whether or not the input unit 130 receives a start point voxel and end point voxel designation operation corresponding to the start point and end point of the pipe. When it is determined that the start point voxel and the end point voxel are not specified (step S105; NO), the control unit 110 repeats the execution of the process of step S105 and waits until the start point voxel and the end point voxel are specified.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the start point voxel and the end point voxel are specified (step S105; YES), the control unit 110 determines whether a plurality of sets of start point voxels and end point voxels are specified (step S106). When it is determined that a set of a single start point voxel and end point voxel is designated (step S106; NO), the control unit 110 advances the process to step S108.

  On the other hand, when it determines with the group of the some start point voxel and the end point voxel having been designated (step S106; YES), the control part 110 performs a piping route creation order determination process (step S107). Here, the piping route creation order determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The piping route creation order determination process is a process for determining the creation order of piping routes for a set of a plurality of start point voxels and end point voxels designated by the user.

  When starting the piping route creation order determination process, the control unit 110 first determines the distance in the Z-axis direction from the start point voxel of the target set to the floor surface FF and the distance in the Z-axis direction from the end point voxel to the floor surface FF. Each is calculated (step S301). The control unit 110 may calculate the distance in the Z-axis direction to the floor surface FF with reference to the center coordinates of the voxel management table 122.

  Subsequently, the control unit 110 calculates the total distance calculated in step S301, which is the sum of the distance in the Z-axis direction from the start point voxel to the floor surface FF and the distance in the Z-axis direction from the end point voxel to the floor surface FF. (Step S302).

  After executing the process of step S302, the control unit 110 determines whether or not the total distance has been calculated for all sets of start point voxels and end point voxels designated by the user (step S303). If it is determined that the total distance has not been calculated for all sets of start point voxels and end point voxels (step S303; NO), control unit 110 performs steps until the total distance is calculated for all sets of start point voxels and end point voxels. The processes of S301 and S302 are repeated.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the total distance is calculated for all sets of the start point voxel and the end point voxel designated by the user (step S303; YES), the control unit 110 compares the calculated total distances of the sets. The piping route creation order is determined in ascending order of the total distance (step S304). After executing the processing of step S304, the control unit 110 ends the piping route creation order determination processing and returns the processing to the piping route creation processing.

  Returning to the description of the flowchart of the piping route creation process shown in FIG. 5, after executing the piping route creation order determination process, the control unit 110 sets each group according to the piping route creation order determined in the piping route creation order determination process. A piping route is created (step S108). After executing Step S108, the control unit 110 determines whether or not all sets of piping routes have been created (Step S109). If it is determined that not all sets of piping routes have been created (step S109; NO), the control unit 110 repeatedly executes the process of step S108 until all sets of piping routes have been created.

  If it is determined that all sets of piping routes have been created (step S109; YES), the control unit 110 controls the display unit 140 to display the created piping routes superimposed on the CAD image (step 110). Ends the piping route creation process.

  As described above, when creating a plurality of piping routes, the piping route creation device 100 according to the present embodiment determines the order of creation from the viewpoint of work difficulty, and causes a failure in the piping route design space SP. Create piping routes that avoid voxels containing objects. For this reason, according to the piping route creation apparatus 100, the design efficiency of the piping route and the laying work efficiency of the piping can be improved.

(Embodiment 2)
The piping route creation device 100 according to the first embodiment searches for a piping route that avoids voxels including obstacles in the piping route design space SP when creating the piping route. However, the voxels to be avoided when searching for the piping route are not limited to voxels including obstacles in the piping route design space SP. In the present embodiment, an example in which a piping route is searched in consideration of voxels other than voxels including obstacles in the piping route design space SP will be described. Below, description is abbreviate | omitted about the structure and function similar to the piping route creation apparatus 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1, and only a different structure and function from the piping route creation apparatus 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1 are demonstrated.

  The voxel management table creating unit 111 functionally included in the control unit 110 of the piping route creating apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment creates the voxel management table 123 shown in FIG. The voxel management table 123 includes route occupation information in addition to various data included in the voxel management table 122. The route occupancy information is information indicating whether or not the target voxel is included in the previously created piping route, “○” indicating that it is included in the previously created piping route, or created first. One of the data “−” indicating that the pipe route is not included is stored.

  The voxel management table creation unit 111 of the control unit 110 updates the route occupation information data corresponding to the voxels included in the created piping route every time the piping route creation unit 112 creates the piping route. Further, when creating a new piping route, the piping route creation unit 112 refers to the voxel management table 123 in which the route occupancy information is updated, and creates voxels including obstacles arranged in the piping route design space SP. In addition, the piping route is searched while avoiding voxels included in the previously created piping route.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to create a plurality of piping routes that do not overlap and intersect with each other, and it is possible to further improve piping route design efficiency and piping laying work efficiency.

(Embodiment 3)
In the present embodiment, an example in which the route occupation information described in the second embodiment is further utilized will be described.

  In the second embodiment, the voxel management table creation unit 111 of the control unit 110 stores the route occupancy information corresponding to the voxels included in the created piping route every time the piping route creation unit 112 creates the piping route. Only the data is updated, and when the piping route creation unit 112 creates a new piping route, in addition to the voxels including obstacles arranged in the piping route design space SP, it is included in the previously created piping route. I searched the piping route while avoiding the voxels. However, the pipe laying operation may be difficult for voxels located below the voxels included in the previously created piping route.

  Therefore, the voxel management table creation unit 111 functionally included in the control unit 110 of the piping route creation device 100 according to Embodiment 3 creates the voxel management table 124 shown in FIG. The route occupancy information in the voxel management table 124 indicates that the target voxel is included in the previously created piping route or located below the voxel included in the previously created piping route. The data shown is stored. In the route occupancy information of the voxel management table 124 shown in FIG. 9, “○” indicating that the target voxel is included in the previously created piping route, below the voxel included in the previously created piping route. One of “Δ” indicating that it is located at “−” and “−” indicating that it is not included in the previously created piping route is stored.

  The search for the piping route in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows a piping route design cut along a plane parallel to the XZ plane, including the same voxel as the Y coordinate of the center coordinate of the route-occupied voxel VPu included in the previously created piping route. A cross section of the space SP is shown. In FIG. 10, the route-occupied voxel VPu that is darkly hatched is a voxel included in the previously created piping route. In addition, the work difficult voxel VPu ′ hatched slightly thinner than the route-occupied voxel VPu indicates that the voxel is located below the voxel VPu.

  As a piping route that connects the starting point voxel VPs and the starting point voxel VPt hatched with diagonal lines, either the route R4 or the route R5 that is the shortest route for avoiding the obstacle occupying voxel VPb including an obstacle can be taken. When searching for a piping route, the piping route creation unit 112 employs the route R4 as a piping route in order to avoid the voxel VPu ′.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the piping route that avoids the voxel VPu ′ that may make the piping laying work difficult may be adopted, and therefore the piping laying work efficiency can be further improved.

(Embodiment 4)
In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which a weight is assigned to the work difficult voxel VPu ′ positioned below the route occupation voxel VPu included in the previously created piping route described in the third embodiment.

  The search for the piping route in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 11, the hatching density decreases as the three work difficult voxels VPu ′ positioned below the route occupation voxel VPu included in the previously created piping route move away from the route occupation voxel VPu. In this way, it means that different work difficulty weights are given to the work difficulty voxels VPu ′. That is, the work difficulty voxel VPu ′ having a higher hatching density has a higher work difficulty and the work difficulty voxel VPu ′ having a lower hatching density has a lower work difficulty.

  If the number of piping routes created in the piping route design space SP is large and the route R4 cannot be adopted, the route R6 that avoids the difficult work voxel VPu 'is adopted. If there is a situation where even the route R6 cannot be adopted, the route R7 passing through the work difficult voxel VPu 'having a low work difficulty weight among the work difficult voxels VPu' may be adopted.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the piping route can be created in consideration of the complicated state of the piping route, so that the piping route design efficiency and the piping laying work efficiency can be improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and application are possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

  In the above embodiment, the operation program executed by the CPU of the control unit 110 is stored in advance in the ROM. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the operation program for executing the above-described various processes is mounted on an existing general-purpose computer, a framework, a workstation, or the like, and according to the above-described embodiment. You may make it function as an apparatus equivalent to the piping route creation apparatus 100.

  The method of providing such a program is arbitrary. For example, the program is stored and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium (flexible disc, CD (Compact Disc) -ROM, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) -ROM) or the like. Alternatively, the program may be stored in a storage on a network such as the Internet and provided by downloading it.

  Further, when the above processing is executed by sharing an OS (Operating System) and an application program, or by cooperation between the OS and the application program, only the application program may be stored in a recording medium or storage. It is also possible to superimpose a program on a carrier wave and distribute it via a network. For example, the above program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS) on a network, and the program may be distributed via the network. Then, this program may be activated and executed in the same manner as other application programs under the control of the OS, so that the above processing can be executed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Piping route creation apparatus, 110 ... Control part, 111 ... Voxel management table creation part, 112 ... Piping route creation part, 120 ... Storage part, 121 ... Piping route design information, 122, 123, 124 ... Voxel management table, 130 ... Input unit, 140 ... Display unit, BL ... Bus line, FF ... Floor surface, FL1, FL2, FL3 ... Layer, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 ... Route, SP ... Pipe route design space, VP ... voxel, VPb ... obstacle occupied voxel, VPu ... root occupied voxel, VPu '... work difficult voxel, VPs1, VPs2, VPs3 ... start point voxel, VPt1, VPt2, VPt3 ... end point voxel

Claims (6)

A piping route creation device for creating a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in a predetermined space,
Input means for accepting designation of a combination of devices to be connected;
Piping route creation means for calculating the sum of the distances between the one device included in each combination received by the input means and the reference plane of the other device, and creating the piping route in the order of the smallest combination When,
Piping route creation device equipped with. Dividing means for dividing the space into a plurality of small spaces;
A table that creates a table that associates the position in the space with information indicating whether or not the pipe is created by the piping route creation means for each of the plurality of small spaces divided by the dividing means. Creating means, and
The piping route creation means creates a new piping route based on the data stored in the table created by the table creation means.
The piping route creation device according to claim 1. The table creating means gives information indicating the difficulty of pipe laying work to a small space located below the small space included in the piping route created by the piping route creating means,
The piping route creation device according to claim 2. The table creating means assigns a weight to information indicating the difficulty level of pipe laying work.
The piping route creation device according to claim 3. A piping route creation method for creating a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in a predetermined space,
An input step for accepting designation of a combination of devices to be connected;
A piping route creation step of calculating the sum of the distances between the one device included in each combination received in the input step and the reference surface of the other device, and creating the piping route in the order of the smallest combination When,
Piping route creation method with A program used in a piping route creation device for creating a piping route for connecting a plurality of devices arranged in a predetermined space,
In the computer provided in the piping route creation device,
An input process for accepting designation of a combination of devices to be connected;
Piping route creation processing for calculating the sum of the distances between the one device included in each combination received in the input processing and the reference plane of the other device and creating the piping route in the order of the smallest combination When,
A program for running

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