JP5437325B2 - Information processing apparatus, system, method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to Internet search.

  In recent years, various information has been introduced as contents on Internet web pages. In particular, in commentary-type content or the like, there is a case where it is desired to know related information about an arbitrary word that has attracted interest among displayed character strings.

  When such a word is pointed with the mouse cursor, that is, selected by a so-called mouse-over operation, a summary of the linked page, a translated word, etc. are temporarily displayed as related information of the word in the vicinity of the word or in another dedicated display area. The prior art to display is known (for example, refer patent document 1). As an example, if you select an arbitrary word that has attracted such interest with the mouse and then select a certain option by right-clicking, etc., the result screen of the word searched with a search engine will be displayed as related information for that word in the browser There are also examples that open as new tabs or separate windows.

JP 2007-272859 A JP2011-002972A (particularly paragraphs 0025 to 0026)

  However, according to the conventional technology as described above, the related information of the selected word is temporarily displayed on the screen by the action of a script or the like, or the web search result for each word is displayed in a separate tab or window. It was to stay. For this reason, after reading the content on the original web page, there is a problem that the usage cannot be performed such as checking together when there are a plurality of words of interest, and the usage is limited. In particular, it has been difficult to check the related information corresponding to each word from various perspectives, such as comparing the list or switching the contents.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that facilitates multifaceted confirmation of related information corresponding to each word for a plurality of arbitrary words.

  Based on the above object, an information processing apparatus according to one aspect (1) of the present invention is provided with designation receiving means for accepting designation of an arbitrary character string among character strings displayed in the first display area. A type determination unit that determines a type of an information search service corresponding to the character string, and related information acquisition that acquires a search result based on the character string from the information search service of the determined type as related information of the character string. And display means for displaying each acquired related information in association with the character string in a second display area.

  An information processing method according to another aspect (7) of the present invention captures the above aspect in the category of the method, and designates an arbitrary character string from among the character strings displayed in the first display area. The type acceptance process that the computer accepts, the type determination process in which the computer determines the type of the information search service corresponding to the specified character string, and the search result based on the character string from the information search service of the determined type Related information acquisition processing acquired by a computer as related information of a character string, and display processing in which the computer displays the related information acquired in association with the character string in a second display area. And

  An information processing program according to another aspect (8) of the present invention captures the above aspect in the category of a computer program, and controls the computer to control the character string displayed in the first display area. The computer accepts designation of an arbitrary character string, causes the computer to determine the type of information search service corresponding to the specified character string, and the search result based on the character string from the information search service of the determined type Is acquired as related information of the character string by the computer, and each of the acquired related information is associated with the character string and displayed on the computer in the second display area.

  An information processing system according to another aspect (6) of the present invention captures the above aspect in the category of the system, and communicates with the information processing apparatus according to any of the other aspects of the present invention. Thus, a terminal for acquiring and displaying information is combined through a communication network.

  As described above, in each of the above aspects of the present invention, the second display region is obtained by associating the character string search result by the information search service of the type determined from the character string specified on the web page with the character string as related information. Display multiple items together. This makes it possible to compare the list of related text and related information selected by the user while browsing the content, or to switch to other related information such as other types and content in parallel with it. Surveys can be made together by an arbitrary method, and it becomes easy to confirm related information corresponding to each word for a plurality of arbitrary words.

  According to another aspect (2) of the present invention, in any one of the above aspects, in the second display area, the type of the information search service is switched corresponding to each set of the character string and the related information. The screen element is displayed, the search result based on the character string is acquired from the information search service of the type switched by the operation to the screen element, and the related information displayed corresponding to the character string is displayed. Instead, display switching means for displaying the acquired search result as new related information is provided.

  In this way, the type of information search service can be easily switched to, for example, web search, image search, video search, blog search, dictionary search, question answer type content search, map search, etc. by operating the screen elements for each character string. It is possible to check the related information from various perspectives, such as displaying and comparing the list of related information by switching to the type according to the position and interest of each character string. Become.

  According to another aspect (3) of the present invention, in any one of the above aspects, the display means is the second display area based on an inline frame description in markup data for displaying a web page on a web browser. A plurality of partial areas for displaying other web pages in a web browser window are set according to the character string, and the related information corresponding to the character string is displayed for each partial area. .

  As described above, in the above aspect, the inline frame is described in markup data such as HTML for the display window as the second display area, and a plurality of partial areas for displaying other web pages nested in the window are provided. Display related information corresponding to different character strings. Thereby, the arrangement and size of the partial areas can be freely controlled by specifying the parameters, and any related information can be freely operated as scrolling and clicking as independent web pages.

  According to another aspect (4) of the present invention, in any one of the above aspects, the designation receiving unit designates the character string displayed in the first display area by using the pointing device. It is characterized by being accepted as an operation of dragging and dropping.

  In this way, by accepting the designation of a character string as a drag-and-drop operation with a pointing device such as a mouse, a simple operation that makes it easy to throw the word you are interested in one after another into the second display area Since it is possible to specify a target for displaying related information, an excellent user interface can be realized without interrupting the flow of content browsing on the original web page.

  According to another aspect (5) of the present invention, in any one of the above aspects, the display means displays the second display area when the first display area is displayed in a display window of a web browser. A display mode displayed as a part of the display window, a display mode displayed as another tab of the display window, a display mode displayed as a display window different from the window of the web browser, or the web browser There is provided a mode selection means for displaying in at least one of the display modes to be displayed as a part of the toolbar display area and accepting selection of which display mode to display the second display area It is characterized by that.

  As described above, in the above aspect, as the aspect in which the second display area for displaying the designated character string and related information is displayed, the same window, another tab, another window, or a toolbar area can be freely selected. Respond to switching. As a result, the user can select and select multiple words in an optimal display mode according to the purpose and purpose of confirming relevant information, user preferences, display screen size, and other conditions. It is possible to effectively, efficiently, and comfortably confirm the related information.

  Each of the above aspects can also be understood as other categories (methods, programs, systems, etc.) that are not specified. For the method and program categories, the “means” indicated in the device category is used as the “processing”. "Or" step ". In addition, the execution order of processes and steps is not limited to that specified directly in the present application, and can be changed by changing the process order, executing some processes all at once or partly at any time. Furthermore, in the category of methods and programs, computers such as servers and terminals that execute individual processes and steps may be common, or may differ from process to process or from timing to timing. In addition, the present invention includes more specific aspects described later.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the technique which makes easy the multilateral confirmation of the relevant information corresponding to each word about several arbitrary words can be provided.

The functional block diagram which shows a structure about embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of data in embodiment of this invention (1st and 2nd control data). The figure which shows the example of data in embodiment of this invention (co-occurrence character string-> genre). The flowchart which shows the process sequence in embodiment of this invention. The figure (same window) which shows the example of a screen display in the embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the example of a screen display in embodiment of this invention (another tab). The figure which shows the example of a screen display in embodiment of this invention (another window). The figure (toolbar) which shows the example of a screen display in the embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the example of a screen display in embodiment of this invention (search type switching operation). The figure which shows the example of a screen display in embodiment of this invention (after switching a search classification).

  Next, a mode for carrying out the present invention (referred to as “embodiment”) will be illustrated along the drawings. In addition, the assumptions common to the contents already described in the background art and problems are omitted as appropriate.

[1. Constitution〕
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 (configuration example), an information processing apparatus 1 (hereinafter also referred to as “this apparatus 1” or “this apparatus”) that is a server system communicates with this apparatus 1 to establish a client. The present invention relates to an information processing system in which a terminal T that acquires and displays information as a system is combined via a communication network N such as the Internet or a mobile phone network. Among these, this apparatus 1 has at least an arithmetic control unit 6 such as a CPU, a storage device 7 such as a main memory and an auxiliary storage device, and a communication means 8 (communication gateway device, mobile communication) with a communication network N as a computer configuration. A communication circuit with a network, a wireless LAN adapter, and the like.

  The terminal T is an information processing apparatus such as a smartphone, a mobile phone terminal, or a personal computer. Although not shown, in addition to the computer configuration as described above, a liquid crystal display panel, a touch panel, a push button, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like are provided. It has related elements such as a used input / output unit and a browser for displaying a web page, and there are actually many according to the number of users regardless of the schematic FIG.

  Further, in the present apparatus 1, elements (20, 30, etc.) such as each means shown in FIG. 1 are realized by a predetermined computer program stored (installed) in the storage device 7 controlling the arithmetic control unit 6. . Among these elements, the information storage means can be realized in any data format such as a file on the storage device 7, or may be remote storage by network computing (cloud). The storage means may include not only a data storage area but also means such as data input / output and management. In addition, the unit of the storage means shown in this application is for convenience of explanation, and the configuration can be divided or integrated as appropriate, and the processing data and processing results of each means are stored in addition to the explicit storage means. A storage means is used as appropriate.

  Of the storage means, the reference data storage means 35 is means for storing reference data in which a character string is associated with a type of information search service (hereinafter also referred to as “search type”). 2 (described later). The related information storage means 45 is a means for storing a search result based on a character string as related information (not shown) of the character string. The “service” in the information retrieval service here does not mean a service performed by a person, but provides a predetermined data response from one computer to another computer via a communication network in the field of information processing technology. It means functions, programs and processes.

  Further, the arrows in the drawings such as FIG. 1 indicate the main direction of the flow of data and control, and do not deny other flows or imply a limitation of the direction. For example, when data is acquired in a certain direction, a prior data request and a subsequent acknowledge (ACK) are transmitted in the reverse direction. In addition, each means other than the storage means is a processing means for realizing and executing the functions and operations of information processing as described below, but these are functional units arranged for explanation, and actual hardware It doesn't matter if it matches elements or software modules.

[2. Action and effect)
The processing procedure in the present embodiment configured as described above is shown in the flowchart of FIG.
[2-1. Overview〕
As an outline, an arbitrary web page is displayed in a first display area (hereinafter also referred to as “main area” or “main area A”) in accordance with a user operation (step S1, main in FIG. 5). When the designation receiving means 20 receives the designation of an arbitrary character string (for example, the character string X1 “exposure correction”) among the character strings included in the web page displayed in the main area A). (Step S2: “YES”), the type determination means 30 determines the search type corresponding to the designated character string (Step S3).

  Then, the related information acquisition unit 40 acquires a search result based on the character string from the determined type of information search service as the related information of the character string (step S4), and the display unit 50 acquires each related information acquired. Are associated with the character string and displayed together in a single second display area (hereinafter also referred to as “sub-area” or “sub-area B”) (step S5; refer to FIG. 5 as a whole). The information search service for each search type is provided in an API (Application Program Interface) or other manner by, for example, the web search server V1, the image search server V2, the dictionary search server V3, or the Q & A search server V4 (FIG. 1). Is done.

  Also, in the screen examples in FIG. 5 and subsequent figures, the arrow pointing from the character string in the web page to the character string in the sub-area is for explanation and is not actually displayed on the screen. If the screen is displayed on the screen, the correspondence between the location in the web page, the character string, and related information can be easily understood at a glance, and the listability of the information is improved, so the related information corresponding to each word for multiple arbitrary words It is possible to further facilitate multilateral confirmation.

As described above, in this embodiment, the character string search result by the information search service of the type determined (step S3) from the character string specified on the web page (step S2) (step S4) is used as the related information. And a plurality of them are displayed together in a second display area (for example, sub-area B in FIG. 5) (step S5). This makes it possible to compare the list of related text and related information selected by the user while browsing the content, or to switch to other related information such as other types and content in parallel with it. Surveys can be made together by an arbitrary method, and it becomes easy to confirm related information corresponding to each word for a plurality of arbitrary words.
Hereinafter, each part of processing and other additional devices will be described.

[2-2. (Specify character string)
First, a user operation when the designation accepting unit 20 accepts designation of an arbitrary character string from a character string in a web page, the specific mode is arbitrary. For example, when an arbitrary character string is selected by a touch panel or a mouse operation, the selection can be completed by selecting a predetermined option from the right-click menu of the mouse or performing a predetermined operation. When a mouse double click operation, touch panel tap operation, double tap operation, or the like is performed on an arbitrary character string, word units may be cut out and designated by morphological analysis or the like.

  In addition, after selecting an arbitrary character string on the web page, a drag-and-drop operation to the sub-region B or a predetermined region for starting use of the sub-region B may be considered. In this case, the designation accepting unit 20 accepts designation of a character string on the web page displayed in the main area A as an operation of dragging and dropping to the sub area B with a pointing device such as a touch panel or a mouse.

  In this way, by accepting designation of a character string as a drag-and-drop operation with a pointing device such as a mouse, the interested word can be easily moved to the second display area (for example, sub-area B in FIG. 5) one after another. The target of displaying related information can be specified with a simple operation such as throwing it in, so that an excellent user interface can be realized without interrupting the flow of content browsing on the original web page.

[2-3. (Type judgment)
The type determination means 30 can freely determine the search type corresponding to the character string specified as described above, but as an example, the topic or theme to which the character string belongs as illustrated in the contrast data of FIG. (Referred to as “genre”) in advance with the first reference data (FIG. 2 (1)), and for the genre, the corresponding search type and the second reference data (FIG. 2 (2)) in advance. Keep it. By following this two-step association in the order of character string → genre → search type, the genre corresponding to the character string can be determined. For example, the search type “image search” can be determined from the character string “copyright free” through the genre “illustration / material image” (broken arrow in FIG. 2).

  The control data as described above may be prepared manually, but an intention analysis system such as that disclosed in Patent Document 2 may be used for creation. According to this intention analysis system, for example, so-called category service data in which a domain name and a genre of a website are associated with each other is prepared in advance, and the domain name of which genre among web pages of search results for each of various keywords. By determining whether or not many are clicked, it is possible to obtain contrast data in which keywords, that is, character strings and genres are associated with each other, which corresponds to the first contrast data (FIG. 2 (1)).

  Further, the second reference data (FIG. 2 (1)) that associates the genre with the search type may be generated by an arbitrary method in addition to being prepared in advance by hand. As an example, the search order corresponding to a certain character string is determined as the search type with the highest share order of the character string, by obtaining the share order between the character strings in which individual keywords, that is, character strings are used as search keys, for each search type. Can be considered. In this way, contrast data in which the character string and the search type are directly associated with each other can be obtained without the domain name and genre data as in Patent Document 2. In addition, the search type can be determined from the character string by appropriately using intention analysis by language processing technology used for Japanese language processing such as morphological analysis and syntax analysis.

  As another example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a character string (probably called “co-occurrence character string”) having high co-occurrence (a tendency to be specified in combination as a search character string) with a designated character string. The search type corresponding to the character string may be determined using the contrast data that associates the search type with the search type. In the example of FIG. 3, a character string that is frequently searched in combination with a character string “image” is associated with an image search. In addition, a character string combined with the character string “to” such as “What is HTML” is associated with the dictionary search. In this way, using the co-occurrence character string data used in the so-called related search service, it is possible to obtain contrast data that directly associates the character string with the search type.

[2-4. (Display method of the second display area)
A search result obtained by the related information acquisition means 40 as the related information of the character string based on the designated character string (step S4) from the information search service of the search type determined as described above is displayed by the display means 50. It is displayed in the sub area B in association with the character string (step S5, FIG. 5). The related information may be displayed immediately in sequence each time a character string is specified, but if a plurality of character strings are specified and then displayed in a batch after waiting for a predetermined display operation, the related information is displayed. Multiple character strings can be displayed quickly and smoothly without waiting.

  As a result of displaying the related information in the sub-region B as described above, when the number of designated character strings increases, a display in which many sets of character strings and related information are accumulated in the sub-region B is displayed. (For example, two sets in FIG. 5) A technical technique for specifically realizing such display is also free.

  As an example, a web browser window (as in the example of FIG. 5), which is a sub-region B illustrated in FIG. 5, based on an inline frame description in markup data for the display means 50 to display a web page on the web browser. In addition, a plurality of partial areas (for example, B1 and B2) for displaying other web pages are set in accordance with the character string in a part of the window (including the case where it is a part of the window). It is conceivable to display related information corresponding to “correction”, “sniper”).

  As described above, in this embodiment, for example, an inline frame is described in markup data such as HTML for a display window to be used as the second display area (sub-area B), and another web page is further nested in the window. A plurality of partial areas (for example, B1 and B2) are provided, and related information corresponding to different character strings is displayed on each of the partial areas. As a result, the appearance of the arrangement and size of the partial areas can be freely controlled by specifying parameters, and any related information can be freely scrolled and clicked as independent web pages.

[2-5. (Switching display mode)
In addition, the sub-region as described above can be freely displayed in relation to the original window or tab, but as a typical example, the main region is displayed in the display window of the web browser. In such a case, a display mode in which the display means 50 displays the sub-region as follows can be considered.
(1) A first display mode in which the sub-region B is displayed as a part of the display window (W1) as illustrated in FIG. 5 (2) As illustrated in FIG. 6, the same display window (for example, W2) A second display mode (3) displayed as another tab (for example, T2) (FIG. 6 (2)), as illustrated in FIG. 7, the window (for example, W3) of the web browser Third display mode (4) displayed as a display window W3B different from FIG. 8, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a sub-region B (substantially rectangular in FIG. 8) as part or all of the toolbar display region TB of the web browser Display mode (displayed with a broken line)

  Of course, the display mode of the sub-region B is not limited to these first to fourth display modes. However, when displaying in any one of these display modes, the mode selection means 60 displays the sub-region in any display mode. The display unit 50 accepts the selection of whether to display (step S6: “YES”), and performs display update to switch the display mode of the sub-area accordingly (step S7). Here, the mode of accepting the selection of the display mode of the sub-area is free and is not shown. However, on the setting screen called by the right click operation of the mouse, the setting web page provided by the device 1, or the terminal T What is necessary is just to receive in an appropriate | suitable aspect, such as the setting screen which a program and a script display.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the same window (for example, FIG. 5) and another tab (for example, FIG. 6) are displayed as the second display area (sub area) for displaying the designated character string and related information. ), According to switching by freely selecting another window (for example, FIG. 7) or a toolbar area (for example, FIG. 8) (steps S6 and S7). As a result, the user can select and select multiple words in an optimal display mode according to the purpose and purpose of confirming relevant information, user preferences, display screen size, and other conditions. It is possible to effectively, efficiently, and comfortably confirm the related information.

  The single second display area is not limited to a single one, and if a plurality of second display areas are used, flexible usability such as using different second display areas for each group of character strings can be realized. In addition, when there are a plurality of second display areas as described above, it is possible to accept selection of display modes from the plurality of display modes as described above for each second display region independently and simultaneously in parallel. By doing so, it is possible to realize even better usability by properly using the optimal display mode for each group of character strings.

[2-6. (Change search type)
In addition, the search type of the related information displayed in the sub area can be switched for each character string by operating a predetermined screen element. That is, the display switching unit 80 displays screen elements (toggle switch, drop box, radio button, etc.) for switching the search type in the sub-region B corresponding to each set of character string and related information. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, the switching parts P (P1, P2) that also serve as the display of the search type are displayed corresponding to the character strings “exposure correction” and “sniper”.

  When this switching part P (here P2 is taken as an example) is pointed with the mouse cursor M and a selection operation such as clicking is performed, a drop-down list D is displayed as illustrated in FIG. A switching operation for selecting the type can be performed (step S8: “YES”). In the example of FIG. 9, the search type that was “web search” is to be switched to “image search” by a mouse operation.

  When the search type is switched by the switching operation to the screen element in this way (step S8: “YES”), the display switching unit 80 acquires the search result based on the corresponding character string from the information search service of the switched search type. Then, instead of the related information displayed corresponding to the character string, the acquired search result is displayed as new related information (step S9). FIG. 10 shows an example of a screen on which related information by image search, which is a new search type after switching, is displayed.

  When switching the search type as described above, the display switching unit 80 calls the corresponding function of the related information acquiring unit 40 for acquiring the search result, and the display unit 50 for updating the display to new related information. It may be executed by calling a function.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the type of information search service is set to, for example, a web search, an image search, a video search, a blog search, a dictionary by operating a screen element (for example, the switching part P) for each character string (step S6). Since it is possible to easily switch to search, question answering type content search, map search, etc. (step S7), the types of related information are displayed while being switched to the types according to the position or interest of each character string, and the list is compared. For example, it is possible to more effectively check related information from various perspectives.

[3. Other embodiments]
In addition, the said embodiment is only an illustration and this invention includes what is illustrated below and other embodiment other than that. For example, the configuration diagrams, data diagrams, flowcharts, and the like in the present application are merely examples, and the presence / absence of each element, the order of the arrangement and processing execution, and the specific contents can be changed as appropriate. As an example, each means shown as a component of the information processing apparatus 1 as a server in the above embodiment may be realized as an application program of a terminal such as a smartphone. Of course, the first display area is not limited to a web page, and may be content displayed by receiving an application program of a terminal such as a smartphone.

  In addition, each unit described in the above embodiment is realized by hardware such as different servers, or an external platform or the like is an arbitrary form such as an API (Application Program Interface) or network computing (so-called cloud). The configuration of the present invention can be flexibly changed. Furthermore, each element such as means relating to the present invention may be realized by other information processing mechanisms such as a physical electronic circuit as well as an arithmetic control unit of a computer.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 6 Operation control part 7 Storage apparatus 8 Communication means 20 Specification reception means 30 Type determination means 35 Contrast data storage means 40 Related information acquisition means 45 Related information storage means 50 Display means 60 Aspect selection means 80 Display switching means A Main Area B Sub-area D Drop-down list M Mouse cursor N Communication network P (P1, P2) Switching part V1 Web search server V2 Image search server V3 Dictionary search server V4 Q & A search server T Terminal TB Toolbar display area W (W1, W2, W3, W3B, W4) Display window X1 Character string

Claims (8)

Designation accepting means for accepting designation of an arbitrary character string among character strings displayed in the first display area;
Of a plurality of information search services provided by the search server, according to the usage status of the information search service, a type determination unit that determines the type of the information search service corresponding to the specified character string;
Related information acquisition means for acquiring a search result based on the character string as related information of the character string from the information search service of the determined type;
Display means for displaying each related information acquired in the second display area in association with the character string;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The type determination unit corresponds to the character string the type of information search service that has been used most frequently in the search using the specified character string as a keyword among a plurality of information search services provided by the search server. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus determines the type of information search service. In the second display area, a screen element for switching the type of the information search service is displayed corresponding to each set of the character string and the related information, and the type switched by an operation on the screen element A display for acquiring a search result based on the character string from the information search service and displaying the acquired search result as new related information instead of the related information displayed corresponding to the character string the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a switching means. The display means is a partial area for displaying another web page in a window of the web browser which is the second display area by an inline frame description in markup data for displaying the web page on the web browser the according to the string plurality set, the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that for displaying the related information corresponding to the character string for each partial region. The specification accepting unit accepts designation of a character string displayed in the first display area as an operation of dragging and dropping to the second display area by a pointing device. 5. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 4 to 4 . The display means displays the second display area when the first display area is displayed in a display window of a web browser.
A display mode to be displayed as a part of the display window;
A display mode to be displayed as another tab of the display window;
A display mode for displaying as a display window different from the window of the web browser;
Or display in at least one of the display modes displayed as part of the toolbar display area of the web browser,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , further comprising a mode selection unit that receives a selection of which display mode to display the second display area. A designation receiving process in which the computer accepts designation of an arbitrary character string among the character strings displayed in the first display area;
Among the plurality of information search services provided by the search server, a type determination process in which the computer determines the type of the information search service corresponding to the specified character string according to the usage status of the information search service;
Related information acquisition processing in which a computer acquires a search result based on the character string as related information of the character string from the determined type information search service;
A display process in which the computer displays the related information acquired in the second display area in association with the character string;
An information processing method comprising: By controlling the computer
Let the computer accept the designation of any character string among the character strings displayed in the first display area,
Of the plurality of information search services provided by the search server, according to the usage status of the information search service, the computer determines the type of information search service corresponding to the specified character string,
Causing the computer to obtain a search result based on the character string from the information search service of the determined type as related information of the character string;
An information processing program for causing a computer to display each acquired related information in a second display area in association with the character string.

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