JP5540720B2 - Print control program, computer-readable recording medium, information processing apparatus, image processing apparatus, and printing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a print control program, a computer-readable recording medium, an information processing apparatus, an image processing apparatus , and a printing system.

In a printing apparatus (also referred to as a “printer”) having a printing function including a color printer, a monochrome printer, a laser printer, a copier, and a multifunction peripheral, a graphical user interface (GUI) of a printer driver program (abbreviated as “printer driver”). The printer driver user interface (UI) can set print settings for various functions including print orientation, double-sided printing, aggregation, paper feed tray, and paper type, but these functions can only be used exclusively. The number of functions is very characteristic compared to other devices.
For example, the functions of right binding of staples and booklet printing in the printer are in an exclusive relationship that cannot be used and printed simultaneously.
In the printer driver UI, a very complicated prohibition process is performed in order to eliminate an exclusive relationship between the performance and functions of the printer.

This prohibition process is a process such that, for example, when one of two functions that are mutually exclusive is selected, the other cannot be selected.
That is, it is a process for controlling so that print settings of mutually exclusive functions cannot be set simultaneously.
However, because the prohibition process is complicated, when the print settings for a function or the option for a function cannot be used, the user cannot see why the print settings for that function cannot be used from the user's perspective. In order to do this, it was sometimes unclear how to change other print settings.
In order to guide the user's change in print settings, a technique for displaying as a message the reason why the function cannot be used for the prohibition process of the printer driver is already known.

  Conventionally, when the content of a printer function setting change is input from the user, the prohibition information is processed by processing the prohibition between printer functions by referring to the function definition information defined for each model based on the content of the setting change. By reading the required terms from the managed term list based on the prohibition information, and automatically generating and displaying a message by combining those terms, it is possible to perform prohibition processing to the user. There has been a technique (for example, see Patent Document 1) that makes it possible to easily perform non-applicable print settings.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when a print setting item is selected to call the printer driver UI from the application UI shown in FIG. 9A, a printer selection screen shown in FIG. 9B is displayed. Therefore, for example, when the printer A is selected and the property button is pressed, the printer driver UI of the printer A shown in (c) of the same figure is displayed, and the user can select the printing direction, duplex printing, Print settings such as consolidated printing, paper feed tray selection, and paper type selection can be performed, and the user can be informed of the situation where exclusion is established for the contents of the print settings set here. That is, it is possible to display a situation where exclusion is established only when a normal driver UI is called from an application.

By the way, when printing from various application programs including document creation executed by the OS (abbreviated as “application”), print settings for various functions are not performed only by the printer driver UI of the printer driver. It can also be performed by a user interface (UI) in the application.
Then, the application can notify the printer driver of the contents of the print settings set by the UI in the application using an interface called DEVMODE.

However, since there is no means for the application driver to know the prohibition information defined in the printer driver, the application directly sets DEVMODE without taking into account the exclusive information of the printer driver, and issues a print instruction together with the DEVMODE.
Then, before the rendering process, the printer driver checks whether or not the DEVMODE instructed by the application is exclusive and contradictory, based on the exclusive information of the printer driver. Depending on the degree, the printing conditions were changed, such as automatically canceling some functions, and drawing data was created with the changed printing conditions.
For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when the page setting item by the UI in the application is selected from the application UI shown in FIG. 10A, the page setting UI in the application shown in FIG. If, for example, “Tray 1” is set to select tray 1 and the OK button is pressed, the establishment status of exclusion taking into account the print settings as directly instructed by such an application is as follows: Could not show to user.

However, in the above-described conventional technology, the user can automatically cancel the print settings of some functions according to the priority of exclusive information defined in the printer driver for the contents of the print settings set from the application UI. The user did not have to know which function's print settings were canceled, and the user canceled the print settings for the function that the user wanted to prioritize. There is a problem in that the content of the print setting is changed to another content.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a function corresponding to a prohibition process in the printer driver is included in the contents of the print setting set from the UI of the application, the setting is changed by the user. The purpose is to be given the opportunity.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a print control program for realizing a function for requesting an image processing apparatus to perform a print process, wherein the computer has a first print setting notified from an application program. An exclusive function detection unit that detects functions in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time based on preset exclusive information, and a setting value for setting the function in the exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive function detection unit An exclusive function display means for displaying a screen for accepting an image, and a print setting storage means for saving a second print setting including a set value received by the screen displayed by the exclusive function display means, and detecting the exclusive function When the second print setting is saved by the print setting saving means, the means includes the second print setting. For, to provide a printing control program is a means for detecting the function of an exclusive relationship again can not be set simultaneously on the basis of the exclusion information.
Further, when the exclusive function display means displays a screen for accepting a setting value for setting the exclusive function , the print control program as described above functions as a means for accepting a print cancel operation . A program for this purpose may be further included.
Furthermore, a computer-readable recording medium on which the print control program as described above is recorded is provided.

In addition, the image processing apparatus includes a print control unit for realizing a function of requesting a print process, and the print control unit sets a preset exclusion for the contents of the first print setting notified from the application program. An exclusive function detecting unit that detects an exclusive function that cannot be set at the same time based on information, and a screen for receiving a setting value for setting the exclusive function detected by the exclusive function detecting unit is displayed. An exclusive function display unit; and a print setting storage unit that stores a second print setting including a setting value received by the screen displayed by the exclusive function display unit. The exclusive function detection unit includes the print setting storage unit. When the second print setting is saved by the setting, the contents of the second print setting are simultaneously set based on the exclusive information. To provide an information processing apparatus is a means for detecting the function of an exclusive relationship that can not again.
Further, in the information processing apparatus as described above , when the screen for accepting a setting value for setting the function having the exclusive relationship is displayed on the print control unit , the print canceling operation It is preferable to provide means for accepting .

Also provided is an image processing apparatus comprising storage means for storing the print control program as described above and transmission means for transmitting the print control program to an information processing apparatus.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a printing system comprising the above-described printing control program and an image processing apparatus that prints print data transmitted from the printing control program.

The print control program according to the present invention gives the user an opportunity to change the setting if the function corresponding to the prohibition process in the printer driver is included in the contents of the print setting set from the UI of the application. It is possible to realize a function for making it possible.
In addition, the computer-readable recording medium of the present invention can easily introduce the program into a computer.
Furthermore, the information processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus, and the printing system according to the present invention provide the user with a function that corresponds to the prohibition process in the printer driver in the contents of the print settings set from the UI of the application. An opportunity to change settings can be given.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure based on this invention of the control part of the client PC shown in FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating processing during printing in a control unit during printing of the client PC illustrated in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen which concerns on the print setting of the client PC of this Example.

It is a figure which similarly shows the example of a display screen which concerns on the print setting of the client PC of this Example. It is also a view showing an example of a display screen related to print settings of the client PC of this embodiment. Furthermore, it is a figure which shows the example of a display screen which similarly concerns on the print setting of the client PC of this Example.

Furthermore, it is a figure which shows the example of a display screen which similarly concerns on the print setting of client PC of this Example. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen with which it uses for description of a prior art. It is a figure which similarly shows the example of a display screen with which it uses for description of a prior art.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
〔Example〕
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration according to the present invention of the control unit of the client PC 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the printing system includes a plurality of client personal computers (abbreviated as “client PCs”) 1, a plurality of printers including a color printer 2 and a monochrome printer 3, and a print server 4. It is a system that can exchange data with each other via the network.
The network 5 is a communication network including a local area network or the Internet. The network 5 can also include a facsimile communication network.

The client PC 1 is an information processing apparatus that includes a control unit, an input unit, a display unit, a storage unit, and a communication control unit.
The control unit is realized by a CPU and a microcomputer including a ROM and a RAM which are computer-readable recording media, and the CPU executes the control program stored in the ROM using the RAM as a work area, whereby the entire client PC 1 is executed. To control.

  As shown in FIG. 1, as a function according to the present invention, the control unit 10 executes an operating system (OS) 12 including Windows (registered trademark) stored in a storage unit that is a computer-readable recording medium. Thus, the application program (abbreviated as “application”) 11 stored in the storage unit is executed, and the printer driver program (“printer driver”) 13 which is a print control program for the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 to the storage unit is executed. Various processes including the installation (installation) of the printer, execution of the installed printer driver 13, and print request processing to the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 are executed.

The application 11 sends “DEVMODE”, which is print setting data indicating the contents of print settings of functions that can be set to the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 using the UI in the application 11 during printing, to the printer driver 13 via the OS 12. Output. Also, the print target data is output to the printer driver 13 via the OS 12.
The printer driver 13 includes a user interface (UI) unit 14 and a drawing unit 15, and is in an exclusive relationship in which the contents of print settings notified from the application program cannot be simultaneously set based on preset exclusion information. The exclusive function detection procedure for detecting the exclusive function, the exclusive function display procedure for displaying the function in the exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive function detection procedure, and the print setting in which the exclusive function is detected by the exclusive function detection procedure. Resetting procedure for performing a function resetting operation on the contents, and a procedure for accepting a print cancel operation when a function that is in an exclusive relationship is displayed by the exclusive function display procedure, and a print reset by the resetting procedure Re-detecting functions that are in an exclusive relationship by the above-described exclusive function detection procedure To perform the procedure to be performed.

The exclusive evaluation unit 16 of the UI unit 14 detects functions that are in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time based on exclusive information stored in advance in the exclusive information management unit 18 with respect to the contents of the print settings notified from the application 11 by DEVMODE. Perform the process. This process is also called a prohibition process.
Exclusive information for each function that can be set in the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 as a printer driver is recorded in the exclusive information management unit 18.
In other words, the exclusive evaluation unit 16 and the exclusive information management unit 18 detect an exclusive function for detecting a function in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time based on preset exclusive information for the contents of the print setting notified from the application program. Serves as a means.

The exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 records the print setting information of the functions having an incompatible exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive evaluation unit 16.
When there is an instruction from the exclusive evaluation unit 16, the exclusion applicable function display control unit 17 clearly indicates the functions that are in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time based on the information recorded in the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 and cancels printing. A screen is displayed that enables the above operation and allows the user to reset the print settings.
That is, the exclusive applicable function display control unit 17 and the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 include an exclusive function display unit that displays functions in an exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive function detection unit, and an exclusive relationship between the exclusive function detection unit and the exclusive function detection unit. The function of the resetting means for performing the function resetting operation on the contents of the print setting in which the function is detected is performed.

The modified DEVMODE management unit 20 records information on the contents of the print settings changed by the resetting operation by the operation from the user.
The print processing unit 21 creates print data from the data to be printed received from the application 11 based on the information on the contents of the print settings recorded in the modified DEVMODE management unit 20 and transmits the print data to the color printer 2 or the monochrome printer 3. To do.
In addition, when the exclusive function display unit displays the exclusive function, the UI unit 14 is configured to accept a print cancel operation and a print setting content reset by the resetting unit. It fulfills the function of means for causing the function detection means to re-detect functions in an exclusive relationship.
The exclusive information management unit 18, the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19, and the modified DEVMODE management unit 20 may be provided in a RAM (not shown) in the control unit 10, for example.

Returning to FIG. 2, the input unit of the client PC 1 allows the user to perform work when installing the printer driver for the color printer 2 and monochrome printer 3, work when requesting printing to the color printer 2 and monochrome printer 3, The input device includes a keyboard, a touch panel, and a pointing device for inputting operation information in various operations including a print setting operation.
The display unit is a display device including an LCD that displays a work screen (including a print setting screen) at the time of various operations as described above to the user.

The storage unit is a storage device such as a hard disk device (HDD) that stores various programs including applications, printer drivers, and various data including document data and image data, and is a computer-readable recording medium.
The communication control unit controls transmission and reception of data via the network 5, transmits data including print data at the time of a print request to the color printer 2 and monochrome printer 3, and transmits the color printer 2 and monochrome printer via the network 5. Transmission / reception including reception of the printer driver from 3 is performed.

On the other hand, the color printer 2 is a printing apparatus capable of color printing including a laser color printer, and the monochrome printer 3 is a printing apparatus including a laser printer capable of monochrome printing, and includes a control unit, an operation display unit, and a printing unit. Unit, a storage unit, and a communication control unit.
That is, the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 correspond to printing apparatuses that perform print processing of print data transmitted from the client PC 1 that is an information processing apparatus (print data transmitted from the printer driver of the client PC 1).
The control unit is realized by a CPU and a microcomputer including a ROM and a RAM, which are computer-readable recording media. The CPU executes a control program installed in the ROM using the RAM as a work area, whereby each of the color printers 2 is executed. , Which controls the entire monochrome printer 3 and performs various processes including print processing based on a print request from the client PC 1 via the print server 4 and transmission processing of the printer drivers of the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 to the client PC 1, respectively. Execute the process.

The operation display unit includes a touch panel, an input unit including keys, and a display unit. The operation display unit displays various work screens and messages related to printing to the user, and operation information in various operations including work at the time of printing. Enter.
The printing unit prints an image based on the print data on the printing paper with the print setting contents received at the time of the print request from the client PC 1 via the print server 4. The printing unit can perform color printing and monochrome printing with the color printer 2, and can perform only monochrome printing with the monochrome printer 3.

The storage unit is a storage device such as a hard disk device (HDD) that stores various data including print data and a printer driver installer, and is a computer-readable recording medium.
The communication control unit controls transmission / reception of data via the network 5, receives data including print data at the time of a print request from the client PC 1 via the print server 4, and a printer to the client PC 1 via the network 5. Send / receive including driver transmission.
That is, the storage unit functions as a storage unit that stores a print control program to be provided to the client PC 1, and the communication control unit functions as a transmission unit that transmits the print control program to the client PC 1.

  In this printing system, the printer driver of the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 is installed in the client PC 1 with the above-described configuration, and various printing is performed on the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 by the print control executed by the printer driver. The print data specifying the setting options is transmitted to make a print request, and the color printer 2 and the monochrome printer 3 receive the print request from the client PC 1 and print paper based on the print data with the print setting options specified in the print data. To print.

In addition, when the control unit 10 of the client PC 1 receives the print setting contents including the setting of the function having the exclusive contradiction relationship from the application 11 by executing the printer driver 13, the print setting contents are printed before printing. Checking exclusive information recorded in advance in the printer driver 13, detecting functions that are in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time, displaying them to the user, and enabling the resetting operation to change the contents of the print settings Is a feature.
Note that the functions of the exclusive evaluation unit 16, exclusive applicable function display control unit 17, exclusive information management unit 18, exclusive evaluation result management unit 19, and modified DEVMODE management unit 20 of the UI unit 14 shown in FIG. 15 may be configured to be realized within 15.

Next, processing in the control unit 10 at the time of printing of the client PC 1 of this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing processing during printing in the control unit 10 during printing of the client PC 1 shown in FIG.
When the print instruction including the print setting content (DEVMODE) set by the UI in the application 11 is issued from the application 11, the control unit 10 notifies the UI unit 14 of the printer driver 13 via the OS 12, and the UI unit 14 sends DEVMODE to the exclusive evaluation unit 16 (ac in the figure).
The print processing unit 21 of the drawing unit 15 of the printer driver 13 receives data to be printed from the application 11 via the OS 12 (d in the figure).

The exclusive evaluation unit 16 queries the exclusive information management unit 18 for exclusive information (e in the figure), acquires the exclusive information from the exclusive information management unit 18 (f in the figure), and for the DEVMODE, the printer from the exclusive information management unit 18 DEVMODE exclusive evaluation based on driver-specific exclusive information detects a function in an exclusive relationship that cannot be set at the same time (g in the figure), and records and stores the exclusive evaluation result in the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 (in the figure) h).
Further, the exclusive evaluation unit 16 requests the exclusive applicable function display control unit 17 to display the functions in the exclusive relationship (i in the figure).

When the exclusive applicable function display control unit 17 receives a display request for a function having an exclusive relationship from the exclusive evaluation unit 16, the exclusive function display control unit 17 issues an exclusive evaluation result acquisition request to the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 (j in the figure), and the exclusive evaluation result. An exclusive evaluation result is acquired from the management unit 19 (k in the figure), and a function having an exclusive relationship is clearly indicated on the display unit of the client PC 1 based on the exclusive evaluation result, print cancel can be selected, and print setting can be selected. A screen that enables a resetting operation to change the contents is displayed (l in the figure).
When the user inputs a print cancel instruction from the user (m in the figure), the UI unit 14 cancels this print. Further, when there is an input to change the print setting on the screen (n in the figure), the modified DEVMODE as the contents after the change is recorded and stored in the modified DEVMODE management unit 20 (o in the figure), and the exclusive evaluation is performed. A re-evaluation instruction is issued to the unit 16.

  In the UI unit 14, the exclusive evaluation unit 16 acquires the modified DEVMODE from the modified DEVMODE management unit 20 based on the re-evaluation instruction from the UI unit 14 (p in the figure). The process of i is executed, and the re-evaluation process of the change contents for re-detecting the function in the exclusive relationship is performed (q in the figure), and the exclusive corresponding function display control unit 17 and the exclusive evaluation result management unit 19 in the figure j The process of ~ o is executed, and the modified DEVMODE not including the setting of the function having the exclusive relationship is stored in the modified DEVMODE management unit 20.

  Thereafter, when there is a print instruction from the application 11 (r in the figure), the print instruction is sent to the print processing unit 21 via the OS 12 (s in the figure), and the print processing unit 21 passes through the application 11 and the OS 12. Based on the print instruction, a correction DEVMODE acquisition request is sent to the correction DEVMODE management unit 20 (t in the figure), the correction DEVMODE is acquired from the correction DEVMODE management unit 20 (u in the figure), and according to the acquired correction DEVMODE, Print data is created from the data to be printed (v in the figure), the print data is output to the color printer 2 or the monochrome printer 3 (w in the figure), and printing is requested.

  In this way, the application 11 directly sets the print setting of the printer function made in the UI in the application 11 to DEVMODE without taking into account the exclusive information of the printer driver 13, and issues a print instruction together with the DEVMODE to the printer driver. When the printer driver 13 detects an exclusive function that cannot be set at the same time by prohibition processing before printing, the printer driver 13 informs the user which function is exclusive and selects the function that the user wants to prioritize. Therefore, if the function corresponding to the prohibition process in the printer driver 13 is included in the contents of the print setting from the application 11, the user can be given an opportunity to change the setting.

Next, operations and display examples at the time of printing of the client PC 1 will be described.
4 to 8 are diagrams showing examples of display screens related to print settings of the client PC 1 of this embodiment.
First, for example, the color printer 2 is selected from the printer selection screen shown in FIG. 4 and a property button is pressed, and the printer driver UI of the color printer 2 shown in FIG.
In this printer driver UI, the type of paper feed tray is selected as “manual feed tray”, and the paper type is selected as “thick paper”.
Further, “page setting” is selected from the menu of the application 11 shown in FIG. 6, the page setting shown in FIG. 7, which is the UI unique to the application 11, is opened, and “Tray 1” is selected in the tray setting. Then, press the OK button to execute printing.

Then, the printer driver 13 is designated with the contents of the print settings of “Tray 1” and “thick paper” for the tray setting and paper type functions, respectively.
Here, if the exclusive information recorded in the printer driver 13 defines that “Tray 1” and “thick paper” have an exclusive relationship, the printer driver 13 determines that “Tray 1” and “thick paper” are based on the exclusive information. "Is detected as an exclusive function that cannot be set at the same time, and the information (information) screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed.
In this information screen, “Tray 1” in the paper feed tray and “thick paper” in the paper type are functions that are in an exclusive relationship and cannot be used together, a message prompting the user to reset, and cancel canceling printing Displays a selection field in which the button and the paper type and the paper type for which the exclusive contents are set can be reset.

Here, for example, the current setting content of the paper feed tray is changed to “BypassTray”, and the paper type is determined to be printed as “thick paper” and the OK button is pressed. When “BypassTray” and “thick paper” are not in an exclusive relationship, printing is executed, and the user can obtain a result of printing thick paper from the color printer 2 by using the BypassTray.
In this way, immediately before printing, the printer driver checks the received DEVMODE against the exclusive information of the printer driver, presents the contradictory function to the user, and which of the contradictory ones is adopted as printing. Can be selected and set as printing conditions. When printing settings can be made for each of the UI and printer driver UI in the application, the contents of the print settings set by the user are prohibited and other settings It is possible to prevent printing from being performed.

The print control program, computer-readable recording medium, and information processing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to personal computers such as desktop personal computers and notebook personal computers.
The printing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to all image forming apparatuses including a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of functions including a printer, a copying machine, a scanner function, a copy function, a print function, and a communication function.
Furthermore, the printing system according to the present invention can be applied to all systems capable of communicating between the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus as described above via a network including a local area network and the Internet.

1: Client PC 2: Color printer 3: Monochrome printer 4: Print server 5: Network 10: Control unit 11: Application 12: OS 13: Printer driver 14: UI unit 15: Drawing unit 16: Exclusive evaluation unit 17: Exclusion applicable Function display control unit 18: Exclusive information management unit 19: Exclusive evaluation result management unit 20: Modified DEVMODE management unit 21: Print processing unit

JP 2008-269160 A

Claims (7)

On the computer,
A print control program for realizing a function for requesting print processing to an image processing apparatus,
The computer,
Exclusive function detection means for detecting functions in an exclusive relationship that cannot be simultaneously set based on preset exclusive information for the contents of the first print setting notified from the application program;
Exclusive function display means for displaying a screen for accepting a setting value for setting a function in an exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive function detection means ;
Functioning as a print setting storage unit that stores the second print setting including the set value received by the screen displayed by the exclusive function display unit;
The exclusive function detecting unit has a function in an exclusive relationship in which, when the second print setting is stored by the print setting storing unit, the contents of the second print setting cannot be simultaneously set based on the exclusive information. A printing control program which is means for detecting again . The computer,
When the exclusive function display unit displays a screen for accepting a setting value for setting the exclusive function , the program further includes a program for functioning as a unit for accepting a print cancel operation. The printing control program according to claim 1 . A computer-readable recording medium on which the print control program according to claim 1 is recorded. A printing control means for realizing a function of requesting the image processing apparatus to perform printing processing;
The print control means
Exclusive function detection means for detecting functions in an exclusive relationship that cannot be simultaneously set based on preset exclusive information for the contents of the first print setting notified from the application program;
Exclusive function display means for displaying a screen for accepting a setting value for setting a function in an exclusive relationship detected by the exclusive function detection means ;
A print setting storage unit that stores a second print setting including a setting value received by the screen displayed by the exclusive function display unit;
A function in which the exclusive function detecting unit has an exclusive relationship in which, when the second print setting is stored by the print setting storing unit, the contents of the second print setting cannot be simultaneously set based on the exclusive information; An information processing apparatus which is means for detecting again . In the printing control means,
5. The information according to claim 4, further comprising means for accepting a print canceling operation when the exclusive function display means displays a screen for accepting a setting value for setting the exclusive function. Processing equipment. An image processing apparatus comprising: a storage unit that stores the print control program according to claim 1; and a transmission unit that transmits the print control program to an information processing apparatus . 3. A printing system comprising: the print control program according to claim 1; and an image processing apparatus that prints print data transmitted from the print control program.

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