KR101134597B1 - Method and apparatus for providing web storage service storing multimedia contents and metadata separately - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a web storage service that enables a user to store and manage his / her multimedia contents in a storage location on a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to multimedia contents such as photos and videos provided from a user and By separating and storing the corresponding metadata, the user can easily search for the content he / she wants from a large amount of content by using the metadata, and provide the user with only the searched content without providing the metadata to the user. It relates to a method and apparatus for providing a web storage service to increase the number.

According to the present invention, by providing a storage place on the network to enable users to store their own multimedia content, by utilizing the metadata corresponding to each content to easily retrieve the desired content from a large amount of stored content do.

In addition, according to the present invention, after storing the metadata corresponding to the content is stored and then only the content to the user at the time of service provision and service termination and not transmitting the metadata, the user does not have metadata when the service is terminated Since only a large amount of content is downloaded, it becomes very difficult to reclassify such a large amount of data, thereby preventing departure from the service.

Multimedia content, metadata, web storage, separate storage

Description

Web storage service providing method and device for separating and storing multimedia contents and metadata {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING WEB STORAGE SERVICE STORING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS AND METADATA SEPARATELY}

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a web storage service that enables a user to store and manage his / her multimedia contents in a storage location on a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to multimedia contents such as photos and videos provided from a user and By separating and storing the corresponding metadata, the user can easily search for the content he / she wants from a large amount of content by using the metadata, and provide the user with only the searched content without providing the metadata to the user. It relates to a method and apparatus for providing a web storage service to increase the number.

Recently, as digital devices have been widely used, the amount of multimedia contents created by individuals has been increasing. For example, with the spread of digital cameras, individual individuals store a large amount of image data in their terminals. This increase in personal data can lead to a lack of storage capacity of personally owned devices, and it can be difficult to retrieve the data that users want from a large amount of data. There was a problem not to use.

In addition, the existing web storage service adopts a folder-oriented data storage method such as a general PC, so that if a user does not remember exactly what data is stored in which folder, the user may have difficulty retrieving data or the data in a desired manner. At that time, there was a problem that can not be retrieved in a flexible classified state.

The present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and provides a storage location on a network so that a user can store his / her multimedia contents, and by utilizing metadata corresponding to each content, he / she can save himself from a large amount of stored contents. The purpose is to make it easy to search for the desired content.

In addition, after separating and storing the metadata corresponding to the content, when the service is provided and the service is canceled, only the content is transmitted to the user, and the metadata is not transmitted. Therefore, when the user terminates the service, only the mass content without metadata is provided. The purpose of this is to make it difficult to reclassify such a large amount of data as it is downloaded, thereby preventing it from leaving the service.

In order to achieve the above object, a web storage service providing method of separately storing multimedia content and metadata according to the present invention includes: (a) receiving multimedia content from a user terminal; (b) assigning a content identifier to the multimedia content and storing the content identifier in a content database; (c) associating metadata associated with the multimedia content and the content identifier with each other in a metadata database; (d) extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from the user terminal; And (e) extracting the multimedia content having the specific content identifier from a content database and transmitting the extracted multimedia content to the user terminal.

Between step (a) and step (b), (a-1) may further comprise the step of receiving metadata associated with the multimedia content from the user terminal, the metadata of step (c), the It may be metadata received in step (a-1).

Between step (b) and step (c), (b-1) may further comprise the step of analyzing the multimedia content received from the user terminal to generate metadata associated with the multimedia content, the step (c ) May be metadata generated in step (b-1).

The metadata may include information about a time point at which the multimedia content is created.

The metadata may include information about an object included in the multimedia content.

Step (d) may include: (d-1) searching for a content identifier having metadata that matches a search condition received from a user terminal; (d-2) creating a list of contents corresponding to the searched content identifier and transmitting the list to the user terminal; And (d-3) receiving a content identifier of a specific content among contents included in the list of contents from the user terminal.

In step (d-2), the list of contents may not include metadata of the contents.

In the step (d-2), the list of contents may be processed by previewing the contents corresponding to the searched content identifiers.

In the step (d-2), the list of contents may be provided by classifying contents having predetermined metadata characteristics among contents corresponding to the retrieved contents identifier.

The predetermined metadata property may be metadata property regarding a date or a location where content is created.

The predetermined metadata characteristic may be a search criterion input by a user.

An additional search condition reception step of receiving an additional search condition other than the search condition from the user terminal between the step (d-2) and the step (d-3); An additional search step of searching for a content identifier having metadata that matches the additional search condition among contents included in the content list; And transmitting the content identifier searched in the additional search step to the user terminal.

When a user applies for service cancellation, the user may allow downloading of content stored in the content database and may not allow downloading of metadata stored in the metadata database.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a web storage service providing apparatus for separating and storing multimedia content and metadata, by giving a content identifier to the multimedia content received from the user terminal and storing the metadata and metadata associated with the multimedia content A content manager that stores the information in association with the identifier; A content database storing multimedia content assigned a content identifier by the content manager; A metadata database in which metadata associated with the content identifier is stored; A content search unit for extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from a user terminal; A user interface unit for receiving multimedia content from a user terminal and providing the content to the content management unit, and providing content corresponding to the content identifier extracted by the content search unit to the user terminal; And a control unit controlling an operation of each component included in the web storage service providing apparatus.

The data received by the user interface unit and provided to the content manager may further include metadata associated with the multimedia content.

The method may further include a metadata generator configured to analyze multimedia content received from a user terminal and generate metadata related to the multimedia content.

The metadata may include information about a time point at which the multimedia content is created.

The metadata may include information about an object included in the multimedia content.

The content retrieval unit may include: an identifier retrieval module for retrieving a content identifier having metadata that matches the search condition from a metadata database; And a content list creation module for creating a list of contents corresponding to the content identifier searched by the identifier search module and providing the list to the user interface.

The list of contents may not include metadata of the contents.

The list of contents may be processed by previewing the content corresponding to the searched content identifier.

Preferably, when the user applies for service cancellation, the content manager may allow the download of the content stored in the content database and do not allow the download of the metadata stored in the metadata database.

According to the present invention, by providing a storage place on the network to enable users to store their own multimedia content, by utilizing the metadata corresponding to each content to easily retrieve the desired content from a large amount of stored content It is effective.

In addition, according to the present invention, after storing the metadata corresponding to the content is stored and then only the content to the user at the time of service provision and service termination and not transmitting the metadata, the user does not have metadata when the service is terminated Since only a large amount of content is downloaded, it becomes very difficult to reclassify such a large amount of data, thereby preventing the departure from the service.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration for a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The user 10 may upload the multimedia content to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 through his terminal 20. The user terminal 20 may be both a wired terminal 21 such as a PC or a wireless terminal 22 such as a mobile phone. The user interface for uploading content may be provided by connecting to a general web browser or by downloading and installing a dedicated application from the web storage service providing apparatus 100.

2 is a diagram showing a web storage service providing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The web storage service providing apparatus 100 may include a control unit 101, a content management unit 102, a content database 103, a metadata database 104, a content search unit 105, a user interface unit 106, and an authentication unit ( 108 and a user information database 109, and may further include a metadata generator 107.

The controller 101 controls the operations of the content manager 102, the content retrieval unit 105, the user interface unit 106, the metadata generator 107, and the authentication unit 108 described below to provide a web storage service. Perform a series of processing related to.

The content manager 102 assigns and stores a content identifier to the multimedia content received from the user terminal 20 and stores metadata associated with the multimedia content in association with the content identifier.

Metadata is data stored in association with multimedia content. For example, if the multimedia content is a photo, data such as the date the photo was taken, a person appearing in the photo, a background or a place in the photo, and the like may be metadata stored in association with the photo.

The generation of such metadata can be done in a number of ways. First, when a user uploads multimedia content, the user can input the same and upload it. That is, by directly inputting information such as the date the photo was taken, the person appearing in the photo, the background appearing in the photo, or the place where the photo was taken, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 meta-data such information. Can be stored with the picture as data.

Alternatively, the client program operating in the user terminal 20 may recognize the picture requested by the user to generate metadata and upload the metadata to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 together with the picture. For example, the taken date of the photo uploaded to the user terminal for uploading to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 may be generated as metadata, and the metadata indicating that the photo is taken from 'mountain' by recognizing the background of the photo May generate a metadata indicating that a specific person exists by recognizing a face appearing in the picture. Prior art related to metadata generation is Korean Patent Publication No. 2009-0000204.

Alternatively, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 having received the multimedia content from the user terminal 20 may generate and store the metadata as described above with respect to the multimedia content. In this case, the metadata generating unit 107, which will be described later, is responsible for generating metadata.

Such metadata may be usefully used when a user searches for multimedia content stored and uploaded by the user to the web storage service providing apparatus 100. That is, when a user inputs such a search condition when searching for a picture in which a specific person appears or a picture in which a specific background such as a mountain appears, for example, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 uses metadata. By searching and providing multimedia contents that meet the search conditions to the user, the user can then search in various ways as needed.

On the other hand, when the user applies for the termination of the web storage service, the content management unit 102 allows the download of the content stored in the content database 103 described below and the metadata stored in the metadata database 104 Download may not be allowed. As a result, when the user terminates the service, only the mass content without metadata is downloaded and it is very difficult to reclassify the mass data, thereby preventing the user from leaving the service.

The content database 103 stores the multimedia content to which the content identifier is assigned by the content manager 102.

Metadata database 104 stores metadata associated with the content identifier, as described above.

The content search unit 105 extracts a specific content identifier from the metadata database 104 according to a search condition received from the user terminal 20. The content retrieval unit 105 may include an identifier retrieval module for retrieving a content identifier having metadata corresponding to the retrieval condition from the metadata database 104 and a list of contents corresponding to the content identifier retrieved by the retrieval identifier. It may include a content list creation module to provide to the user interface unit 106 by creating a.

The list of contents may be a preview of a content corresponding to the searched content identifier, and the list of contents does not include metadata of the contents.

The user interface unit 106 receives the multimedia content from the user terminal 20, provides the content management unit 102, and transfers the content corresponding to the content identifier extracted by the content search unit 105 to the user terminal 20. to provide. The data received by the user interface unit and provided to the content manager may further include metadata associated with the multimedia content.

The method may further include a metadata generator configured to analyze multimedia content received from a user terminal and generate metadata related to the multimedia content.

The metadata generator 107 analyzes the multimedia content received from the user terminal 20 and generates metadata related to the multimedia content. The metadata generated by the metadata generator 107 may include information about the time at which the multimedia content is created, and may also include information about an object included in the multimedia content.

The user authentication unit 108 performs the subscription and withdrawal of such a web storage service and authentication for using the web storage service. Information about the person who subscribed to the web storage service is stored and managed in the user information database 109.

3 is a flowchart of a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the web storage service providing apparatus 100 receives the multimedia content and the metadata transmitted from the user terminal 20 (S110), a content identifier is assigned to the received content and stored (S120), and the metadata is stored with the content identifier. It is stored in association (S130). When the metadata is received from the user terminal 20 as described above with reference to FIG. 2, the user directly inputs metadata information related to the multimedia content, or the client program of the user terminal 20 This is the case where the multimedia content is recognized and the metadata is generated and then transmitted to the web storage service providing apparatus 100. In another embodiment, the metadata generating unit 107 of the web storage service providing apparatus 100 that receives the multimedia content from the user terminal 20 as described above with reference to FIG. ) May generate and store metadata about the multimedia content.

After receiving the search condition (keyword combination, natural language search, etc.) for the multimedia content search from the user terminal 20 (S140), and extracts the content identifier associated with the metadata that meets the received search condition (S150), The content corresponding to the extracted content identifier is retrieved from the content database 103 and transmitted to the user terminal 20 (S160).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of extracting a specific content identifier from the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 3.

When the web storage service providing apparatus 100 receives a specific search condition (keyword combination, natural language search, etc.) from the user terminal 20, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 searches for a content identifier associated with metadata that satisfies the received search condition (S151). In this case, if there is a lot of stored data, even if the content is searched by a combination of keywords, a corresponding content identifier may be found. In this case, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 creates a content list corresponding to the content identifier (S152) and transmits the content list to the user terminal 20 (S153), and the specific content selected by the user from the user terminal 20. Receive the content identifier for (S154). Thereafter, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 extracts the corresponding content based on the selected content identifier and transmits the corresponding content to the user terminal 20.

A first embodiment related to how to create a content list will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, and a second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of the metadata database 104 of the web storage service providing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2.

The metadata database 104 matches and stores content identifiers and corresponding metadata. When receiving a search condition (keyword combination, natural language search, etc.) for searching for multimedia content from the user terminal 20, a content identifier associated with metadata that satisfies the received search condition is extracted. According to the embodiment of the figure, when the metadata that satisfies the received search condition is 'metadata 001', the corresponding content identifier 'content identifier 00001' and 'content identifier 00002' are extracted.

6 is a diagram illustrating a process in which the user terminal 20 receives a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the user terminal 20 transmits the multimedia content and metadata to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 (S110), the web storage service providing apparatus 100 assigns a content identifier to the received content and then provides the content and metadata. Stored in the content database 103 and the metadata database 104, respectively (S120, S130).

As described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, when the metadata is received from the user terminal 20, the user directly inputs metadata information related to the multimedia content or the user terminal 20. The client program recognizes the multimedia content, generates metadata, and transmits the metadata to the web storage service providing apparatus 100. In another embodiment, the metadata of the web storage service providing apparatus 100 that receives the multimedia content from the user terminal 20 as described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 although not shown in the process of this drawing. The unit 107 may generate and store metadata about the multimedia content.

Then, if the user inputs a search condition to search for the multimedia content stored in the user, the user terminal 20 transmits it to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 (S140). The web storage service providing apparatus 100 searches for a content identifier associated with metadata that satisfies the received search condition (S151), creates a content list corresponding to the searched content identifier (S152), and transmits it to the user terminal 20. When the user selects a specific content from the content list (S153), the user terminal 20 transmits the content identifier of the content to the web storage service providing apparatus 100 (S154). Thereafter, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 extracts the corresponding content based on the selected content identifier and transmits the corresponding content to the user terminal 20 (S160).

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen display for providing searched contents to a user in a web storage service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The web storage service providing apparatus 100 searches for the content database 103 based on the content identifier searched by the metadata satisfying the search condition received from the user terminal 20, extracts the corresponding contents, and then extracts the corresponding contents. The contents are processed into previews (previews) and provided to the user terminal. The user views the preview 710 provided to the user terminal 20, selects the desired contents 711 and 712, and the web storage service providing apparatus 100 selects the content corresponding to the content selected from the user terminal 20. Upon receiving the identifier, the corresponding content is transmitted to the user terminal 20.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a process of performing an additional search from a primary searched content list in a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the primary searched content list 710, an additional search may be performed by adding a search condition to the search window 713. That is, when a user requests a search by adding a search condition to the search box 713, the web storage service providing apparatus 100 receives an additional search condition from the user terminal 20 (S210) and provides the first provided content. The content identifier matching the additional search condition is searched among the contents of the list (S220), and the searched content identifier is transmitted to the user terminal 20.

9 is a view showing another form of a screen display for providing a searched content to a user in a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The web storage service providing apparatus 100 may create a virtual folder by using metadata according to the classification condition received from the user terminal 20, and classify the searched content identifier based on the classification folder (910) and show it to the user. The actual state of storage is not changed, only the file system structure is provided to make it look like this. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when the user inputs a classification condition of 'date', the web storage service providing apparatus 100 classifies the content identifier by date from the data corresponding to the date among the stored metadata. The state provided to the terminal 20 in the form of a virtual folder 910 is shown.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a process for providing a user interface such as a screen display of FIG. 9.

When a predetermined metadata property is selected by the user (S310), the web storage service providing apparatus 100 classifies the content of the content list by the selected metadata property (S320) and transmits the content to the user terminal (S330). As described above, according to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 9, when the user inputs a metadata property of 'date', the web storage service providing apparatus 100 may include a content identifier from data corresponding to a date among stored metadata. To classify by date to provide a virtual folder to the user terminal 20.

While the method and apparatus for providing a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention have been described above, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments presented herein, and those skilled in the art who understand the spirit of the present invention have the same idea. Within the scope, other embodiments may be easily proposed by adding, changing, deleting or adding components, but this will also be within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration for a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing a web storage service providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart of a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of extracting a specific content identifier from the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a metadata database of the apparatus for providing a web storage service shown in FIG. 2.

6 illustrates a process in which a terminal receives a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen display for providing searched contents to a user in a web storage service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a process of performing an additional search from a primary searched content list in a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a view showing another form of a screen display for providing a searched content to a user in a web storage service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a process for providing a user interface such as a screen display of FIG. 9.

Claims (25)

A method of providing a web storage service for separating and storing multimedia content and metadata, (a) assigning a content identifier to the multimedia content received from the user terminal and storing the content identifier in a content database; (b) analyzing the multimedia content to generate metadata associated with the multimedia content; (c) associating the metadata and the content identifier with each other and storing the metadata in a metadata database; (d) extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from a user terminal; And (e) extracting multimedia content having the specific content identifier from a content database and transmitting the extracted multimedia content to a user terminal, When a user applies for service cancellation for the web storage service, the web storage service is provided, which allows the download of content stored in the content database and does not allow the download of metadata stored in the metadata database. Way. A method of providing a web storage service for separating and storing multimedia content and metadata, (a) assigning a content identifier to the multimedia content received from the user terminal and storing the content identifier in a content database; (b) providing an interface for inputting metadata corresponding to the multimedia content to a user terminal; (c) receiving metadata associated with the multimedia content from a user terminal and associating the received metadata with the content identifier in a metadata database; (d) extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from a user terminal; And (e) extracting the multimedia content having the specific content identifier from the content database and transmitting the extracted multimedia content to the user terminal, When a user applies for service cancellation for the web storage service, the web storage service is provided, which allows the download of content stored in the content database and does not allow the download of metadata stored in the metadata database. Way. delete The method according to claim 1, The metadata, Including information on when the multimedia content was created Web storage service providing method characterized in that. The method according to claim 1, The metadata is Including information on an object included in the multimedia content Web storage service providing method characterized in that. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Step (d) is, (d-1) retrieving a content identifier having metadata that matches a search condition received from the user terminal; (d-2) creating a list of contents corresponding to the searched content identifier and transmitting the list to the user terminal; And (d-3) receiving a content identifier of a specific content from among contents included in the list of contents from a user terminal; Web storage service providing method comprising a. The method according to claim 6, In step (d-2) the list of contents, Not containing metadata of multimedia content Web storage service providing method characterized in that. The method according to claim 6, In step (d-2) the list of contents, And a multimedia content corresponding to the retrieved content identifier in a preview form. The method according to claim 6, In the step (d-2), the list of contents, Web storage service providing method characterized in that provided by the content having the metadata characteristics among the multimedia content corresponding to the retrieved content identifiers. The method according to claim 9, The metadata characteristic may include at least one of a date, a specific person, and a location where multimedia content is created. The method according to claim 9, The metadata characteristic is a web storage service providing method, characterized in that the search criteria input by the user. The method according to claim 6, Between step (d-2) and step (d-3), An additional search condition receiving step of receiving an additional search condition other than the search condition from a user terminal; An additional search step of searching for a content identifier having metadata that matches the additional search condition among multimedia contents included in the content list; And Transmitting the content identifier retrieved in the additional search step to a user terminal Web storage service providing method characterized in that it further comprises. delete delete A web storage service providing apparatus for storing multimedia contents and metadata separately, A content management unit for assigning and storing a content identifier to multimedia content received from a user terminal and storing metadata associated with the multimedia content in association with the content identifier; A content database storing multimedia content assigned a content identifier by the content manager; A metadata database in which metadata associated with the content identifier is stored; A content search unit for extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from a user terminal; A user interface unit for receiving multimedia content and metadata associated with the multimedia content from a user terminal and providing the multimedia content to the content management unit, and providing content corresponding to the content identifier extracted by the content search unit to the user terminal; And Control unit for controlling the operation of each component included in the web storage service providing apparatus , ≪ / RTI & When the user requests to cancel the service for the web storage service, the content search unit allows the download of the content stored in the content database and does not allow the download of the metadata stored in the metadata database. Web storage service provider. A web storage service providing apparatus for storing multimedia contents and metadata separately, A metadata generator configured to analyze multimedia content received from a user terminal and generate metadata related to the multimedia content; A content manager configured to assign and store a content identifier to the multimedia content and store the metadata in association with the content identifier; A content database storing multimedia content assigned a content identifier by the content manager; A metadata database in which metadata associated with the content identifier is stored; A content search unit for extracting a specific content identifier from the metadata database according to a search condition received from a user terminal; Control unit for controlling the operation of each component included in the web storage service providing apparatus , ≪ / RTI & When the user requests to cancel the service for the web storage service, the content search unit allows the download of the content stored in the content database and does not allow the download of the metadata stored in the metadata database. Web storage service provider. 18. The method of claim 16, The metadata, Web storage service providing apparatus comprising the information on the time when the multimedia content is created. 18. The method of claim 16, The metadata, Web storage service providing apparatus comprising the information on the object included in the multimedia content. The method according to claim 15 or 16, The content search unit, An identifier retrieval module for retrieving a content identifier having metadata matching the search condition from the metadata database; And A content list creation module which creates a list of contents corresponding to the content identifier searched by the identifier search module and provides the list to the user interface unit. Web storage service providing apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 19, And the list of contents does not include metadata of multimedia contents. The method of claim 19, The list of contents, Web storage service providing apparatus characterized in that the multimedia content corresponding to the retrieved content identifier is processed in the form of a preview. delete In the web storage service providing method for separating and storing multimedia content and metadata, (a) receiving a metadata characteristic for content search from a user terminal, (b) creating a virtual folder having metadata belonging to the metadata property as a folder name, (c) extracting a content identifier associated with metadata belonging to the metadata property, classifying the extracted content identifier into the virtual folder, and transmitting the extracted content identifier to the user terminal; (d) providing multimedia content corresponding to the transmitted content identifier to the user terminal; Web storage service providing method comprising a. The method according to claim 23, Before the step (a), receiving the multimedia content from the user terminal, and analyzing the received multimedia content to generate metadata related to the received multimedia content Web storage service providing method comprising a further. 27. The method of claim 24, (e) allowing a download of the multimedia content and disallowing the download of the metadata when a user applies for service cancellation for the web storage service; Web storage service providing method comprising a further.

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