TWI765665B - Method for identifying operation system and kvm switch using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an electronic device and method for identifying operation system in a computer electrically connected to the electronic device, wherein the method comprises steps of transmitting a first detecting command to the computer by the electronic device, receiving a first execution result generated by the computer according to the first detecting command by the electronic device, and finally, identifying the operation system in the computer according to the first execution result corresponding to the first detecting command by the electronic device.

Description

Operating system identification method and electronic device using the same

The present invention relates to the technology of job identification system identification, and in particular to an operation system identification method applied in a multi-computer control environment and an electronic device using the method.

A KVM switch (KVM switch) allows users to control multiple computers that are electrically connected to it from a single set of keyboard, monitor and mouse. The user can switch to the target computer by selecting, and then perform computer control operations through the keyboard, the screen and the mouse.

Since each computer has a specific operating system installed, for multiple computers connected to the same electronic device, the operating system installed on each computer is not necessarily the same. In conventional technology, different operating systems affect the way electronic devices are controlled. For example, electronic devices must generate unique analog keys according to different operating systems, such as Mac OS, Windows or Linux, so that users can smoothly control computers with different operating systems with the same keyboard. In addition, the absolute coordinate origin positions of the mouse cursors of different operating systems are also different, so the electronic device must also be adjusted accordingly.

In order for the electronic device to support a variety of different operating systems, the user must make a preset setting on the electronic device through manual setting, so that the electronic device can know in advance what type of operating system the computer is connected to. Although this pre-setting method can solve the operation requirement, when the computer is replaced or the electronic device is changed to a different operating environment, the user must reset it again, which increases the trouble of system setting and operation.

In view of the above, there is a need for an operating system identification method and an electronic device using the method to solve the deficiencies of the conventional technology.

The present invention provides a method for identifying an operating system and an electronic device using the method. The specific commands of different operating systems are transmitted to a computer that is electrically connected to a switch, and then the operating system is automatically determined according to the response result of the computer. kind of. With the method provided by the present invention, the user no longer needs to perform pre-setting, and the computer can be used after being connected to the electronic device. In one embodiment, the dedicated command may be a hot key or a command to start a specific program.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an operating system identification method, which is executed by an electronic device to determine the type of operating system in a computer. The method includes the following steps: firstly, the electronic device sends a first detection command to the computer. . Then, the electronic device receives the first execution result of the corresponding first detection command generated by the operating system. Finally, the electronic device determines the first execution result according to the first detection command to identify the type of the operating system.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an electronic device for connecting to a computer including an operating system, the electronic device includes a computer connection interface electrically connected to the computer and a control unit, which sends a first detection command to the computer through the computer connection interface. The computer receives the first execution result from the computer in response to the first detection command through the computer connection interface, and the control unit determines the first execution result according to the first detection command to identify the type of the operating system.

Various illustrative embodiments may be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some illustrative embodiments are shown. However, the inventive concepts may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these illustrative embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. Similar numbers always indicate similar elements. The operating system identification method and the electronic device using the method will be described below with various embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. However, the following embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1A , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electronic device of the present invention. The electronic device 2a of this embodiment is connected to a plurality of computers 4a and 4b, such as computers, but not limited thereto, such as mobile phones or tablet computers. Each of the computers 4a and 4b is electrically connected to the computer connection interfaces 26a and 26b through a connecting line 40a through its own input/output interface, such as USB or PS/2. The computer connection interfaces 26a and 26b, in one embodiment, the computer connection interfaces 26a and 26b can be USB interfaces, but not limited thereto. The electronic device 2 a further includes a control unit 20 having a controller 200 , a storage unit 201 , and an output unit 202 . In another embodiment, the controller 200, the storage unit 201, and the output unit 202 are independent components. The number of the electronic device connected to the computer in the present invention is not limited, that is, the electronic device 2a may only have a computer connection interface 26a to connect to a computer 4a as shown in FIG. 1B .

It should be noted that, in the aforementioned embodiment, the computer connection interfaces 26a and 26b are interfaces that can output signals to the computers 4a and 4b and receive signals from the computers 4a and 4b. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1C , the electronic The computer connection interface 26a or 26b of the device 2b may further have an output interface 260a and an input interface 260b, wherein the output interface 260a is capable of outputting signals to the computer 4a and the input interface 260b receives input signals from the computer 4a.

In this embodiment, the controller 200 , the storage unit 201 , and the output unit 202 are integrated in the control unit 20 . The output unit 202 is used for generating and outputting the first detection command. In this embodiment, the output unit 202 further includes an command unit 202a and an output device 202b, wherein the command unit 202a has a hot key related to the first start command (eg: a or a combination of keys (or commands), and the first operation command, and the output device 202b transmits the first start command and the first operation command to the computers 4a and 4b. In an embodiment of the command unit 202a, it is a look-up table, and a corresponding table of various operating systems, various startup commands, and various operation commands is established inside. Therefore, in this embodiment, the controller 200 can extract, from the command unit 202a, the hotkey corresponding to the first boot command of the specific operating system and the operation command corresponding to the first boot command from the command unit 202a according to the pre-defined look-up table to output to the output device 202b To computers 4a and 4b. In another embodiment, the command unit 202a may also be an element that generates a string as the first start command and the first operation command, and then outputs the generated first start command and the first operation command to the output unit 202b, to be passed to computers 4a and 4b.

In one embodiment, the output device 202b is an HID input device that conforms to the USB communication protocol and can be recognized by the computers 4a and 4b, and transmits the first detection command to the computers 4a and 4b through the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d. The storage unit 201 can be a storage area identified by the computers 4a and 4b according to a specific communication protocol. In this embodiment, the storage unit 201 is a storage device that the computers 4a and 4b can identify according to the USB communication protocol, such as a storage slot or a storage location of a specific path. It should be noted that, in an embodiment, the storage unit 201 may generate corresponding storage areas for different computers 4a and 4b, so as to facilitate the subsequent determination of the operating system in the computers. In another embodiment, it can also be the same storage area, so that the content of the first operation instruction can be identified by which computer is generated, so as to facilitate the subsequent determination of the operating system in the computer.

Please refer to FIG. 1D , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electronic device of the present invention. The electronic device 2 of the present embodiment is a KVM switch, which has a control device connection interface 24 for electrically connecting with the control devices 50 and 51 . The control device connection interface 24 may be a USB interface or a PS/2 interface. In this embodiment, the control device connection interface 24 is a USB interface. In this embodiment, the control device 50 is a keyboard, and the control device 51 is a mouse. It should be noted that, in another embodiment, the control device may also be a device integrating a mouse and a keyboard, such as a touch panel. The electronic device also has a plurality of computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d for electrical connection with the computers 4a and 4b. The computers 4a and 4b can be computers, workstations, notebook computers, tablet computers, or smart phones. Each computer 4a and 4b has its own input/output interface, such as USB or PS/2, and video output interface, such as DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort or D-sub interface, through connecting cables (such as dongle cable) ) 40 is electrically connected to the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d. In this embodiment, the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d respectively have first interfaces 260 and 262 for transmitting keyboard and mouse signals with the computer and second interfaces 261 and 263 for transmitting images. The electronic device 2 further has an image output interface 25 , such as DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort or a D-sub interface, which is electrically connected to the display 52 . In addition, it should be noted that the first interface 260 that transmits keyboard and mouse signals to the computer or receives computer output signals can also be divided into two interfaces as shown in FIG. 1C , and one is used to receive computer feedback signal, one is used to output the signal to the computer.

The electronic device 2 further includes a control unit 20 , a first switch 21 and a second switch 22 . The first switch 21 is electrically connected to the control unit 20, the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d, and the image output interface 25. In this embodiment, the first switch 21 is coupled to the image channels in the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d. It is used for selecting the image of one of the computers 4 a or 4 b to output to the image output interface 25 according to the control signal sent by the control unit 20 . The second switch 22 is electrically connected to the control unit 20, the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d, and the control device connection interface 24. In this embodiment, the second switch 22 is connected to the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d with respect to the input/output interface. The channels are coupled together to select one of the computers 4a or 4b according to the control signal sent by the control unit 20, and transmit the input signals from the control devices 50 and 51 to the receiver through the computer connection interfaces 26c and 26d. Selected computer 4a or 4b.

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 2 at the same time, wherein FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of an operating system identification method of the present invention. First, an electronic device 2a is provided (as shown in step 30 ), for example, the electronic device 2a shown in FIG. 1A . The computers 4a and 4b are connected to the electronic device 2 through the connecting line 40 . Each of the computers 4a and 4b has an operating system, such as Mac OS, Windows OS or Linux, respectively. After step 30, go to step 31, sending the first detection command to the computers 4a and 4b via the electronic device 2a. In one embodiment, the first detection command further includes a first activation command and a first operation command related to the first activation command, wherein the purpose of the first activation command is to generate an application program corresponding to the first activation command. , and the first operation instruction is an instruction that can be executed by the application program activated by the first activation instruction. It should be noted that, the timing of sending the detection command by the electronic device 2a may be when the electronic device is powered on, or when the computer is replaced. In addition, in an embodiment of step 31, the electronic device 2a simultaneously generates the first detection command to the computers 4a and 4b, or in another embodiment, the electronic device 2a may first detect the computer 4a and then detect the computer 4b, which can be determined according to the user's needs, and there is no certain limitation.

In an embodiment, the content of the first startup command is a hotkey that can be recognized by a specific operating system, wherein the hotkey can be a combination of one or more keys (or commands), and the operating system executes the corresponding first startup command. Actions. For example: Take Windows as an example, the first startup command is the command to start the Command line, and the corresponding hotkey is the combination of the Windows key + R key and the input string cmd; taking the Linux environment as an example, the command to start the Command line is the hotkey The key is Ctrl + Alt + t; for the Mac OS environment, the command to start the Command line is the combination of the hotkey F4 key and the input string terminal. For example, after the electronic device 2a transmits the first activation command to the computers 4a and 4b, it then generates the first operation command to the computers 4a and 4b. If the first activation command can be recognized and executed by the computers 4a and 4b, a corresponding application program will theoretically be generated, and then the first operation command can be executed to generate a result corresponding to the first operation command.

In an embodiment of step 31, according to the architecture shown in FIG. 1A, the controller 200 controls the command unit 202a to generate a hot key corresponding to the first activation command, and transmits the hot key to the computers 4a and 4b. Taking the computer 4a as an example for illustration, in this embodiment, the first startup command includes two parts, the first part is the Windows key + R, and the second part is the cmd command. First, after the electronic device 2 transmits the first part of the first startup command, that is, the Windows key + R key, to the computer 4a, if the operating system inside the computer 4a is Windows, the computer 4a will be in the state shown in FIG. 3A . Next, as shown in FIG. 3B , the controller 200 controls the command unit 202a to transmit the second part of the first start command, that is, the cmd command is used to start the command line application, and as a result, a string is generated in the screen of FIG. 3B cmd. When the computer 4a executes the command "cmd", a screen as shown in FIG. 3C will be formed, that is, the screen of the application program command line. After that, the controller 200 controls the instruction unit 202a to transmit the first operation instruction to the computer 4a, and the computer 4a receives and executes the first operation instruction in the state of FIG. 3C. The first operation instruction in this embodiment may be systeminfo > /KVM_device/system_file .txt to form a picture as shown in Figure 3D. In one embodiment, if it is the computer 4b, the first operation command may be systeminfo > /KVM_device/system_file2.txt, so that the files generated by the computers 4a and 4b are separated to facilitate subsequent judgment.

Among them, systeminfo is the command that the application command line can execute. It should be noted that this command is not limited by systeminfo, as long as it is a command that can be executed by the application program activated by the first activation command. The symbol ">" represents a turn, that is, the execution result of the instruction on the left side of the ">" is output to the destination on the right side of the ">". In this embodiment, the destination is the directory of /KVM_device/, and the file is stored as system_file .txt. It should be noted that the location of the KVM_device directory is the storage unit 201, which is the storage directory name of the USB storage device that the electronic device 2a virtually matches to the computer, and system_file.txt is the file name stored in the KVM_device directory. It should be noted that, the directory name or file name can be determined according to requirements, and is not limited by this embodiment.

After step 31, step 32 is performed to receive the first execution result of the corresponding first detection command generated by the operating system of each computer by the electronic device 2a. In step 32, taking the computer 4a as an example, as shown in FIG. 3D in step 31, because the first startup instruction has been executed and the screen shown in FIG. 3C is generated, when the computer therefore executes the first operation instruction on the computer, for example: systeminfo > /KVM_device/system_file.txt, after that, there is a file system_file.txt in the directory of KVM_device, which records the result of the computer output after the systeminfo command is executed, and the first execution result mentioned above. It should be noted that since the storage unit 201 is a storage area that can be recognized by the computer 4a, that is, the computer 4a recognizes the storage unit 201 as one of its own storage slots, and the name of the storage slot is identified as the storage of the KVM_device for the computer 4a. Table of contents. Therefore, the system_file.txt file is stored in the storage unit 201 .

After step 32, step 33 is performed, and the electronic device 2a determines the first execution result according to the first detection command to identify the type of the operating system. In this step, the electronic device 2 can find the file system_file.txt corresponding to the first detection command in the KVM_device directory, which means that the operating system executed in the computer 4a is Windows, so it will go directly to step 35 to set the electronic device 2a The operating system connected to the computer connection interface 26a is the Windows operating system. On the contrary, if the operating system of the computer 4a is not identified, it means that the operating system of the computer 4a is not Windows, in other words, because the first startup command and the first operation command shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B belong to the Windows operating system. txt file in the KVM_device, it means that the operating system currently being executed by the computer 4a is not windows, then step 34 will be performed to change the content of the first detection command into the second detection command, and then enter The flow shown in Figure 4.

In the following further description, in step 31a of FIG. 4, the second detection command is transmitted to the computers 4a and 4b via the electronic device 2a. In this embodiment, the second detection command is a command related to the Linux operating system, which includes a second startup command and a second operation command. In this embodiment, the second startup command is also used to start the command line application under the Linux operating system environment. In one embodiment, the content of the second activation instruction is a combination of the hot key Ctrl key + Alt key + t key. After that, the electronic device will then send the second operation command, for example: ls > /KVM_device/files.txt . Among them, ls is the command that can be executed by the application command line to list the file information in the current directory, but it is not limited by this command. The symbol ">" in the second operation instruction means that the execution result is output to the directory /KVM_device/, and the file is stored as files.txt. If it is computer 4b, it is files2.txt. It should be noted that, KVM_device is the storage directory name of the USB storage device that the electronic device virtually matches to the computer, and files.txt is the file name stored in the KVM_device directory. It should be noted that, the directory name or the file name can be determined according to requirements, for example, different names can be provided in accordance with different computers 4a and 4b, which is not limited by this embodiment.

After step 31a, step 32a is performed to receive the second execution result of the corresponding second detection command generated by each computer operating system through the electronic device 2a. Taking the computer 4a as an example, in step 32a, because the second start-up command has been executed, after the computer 4a executes the second operation command, the computer 4a will output the result to the KVM_device directory for storage with the file name files.txt , the file records the result output by the computer after the execution of the ls command, as well as the aforementioned second execution result.

After step 32a, step 33a is performed, and the electronic device 2a determines the second execution result according to the second detection command to identify the type of the operating system. In this step, if the electronic device 2 can find the file files.txt corresponding to the second detection command in the KVM_device directory, it means that the operating system executed in the computer 4a is Linux, so it will go directly to step 35a to set the electronic device The computer connection interface 26a of 2a is connected to the type of Linux operating system. On the other hand, if the operating system of the computer 4a is not recognized, it means that the operating system of the computer 4a is not Linux, then step 34a will be performed, and the content of the second detection command will be changed into the third detection command, and then the operation shown in FIG. 5 will be entered. process.

鍵+space(空白)鍵，第二部分為terminal指令，用以啟動terminal應用程式。以計算機4a為例，首先電子裝置2a傳送第三啟動指令的第一部分，亦即，command

鍵+space(空白)鍵給計算機4a。之後，電子裝置2a會接著傳送第三操作指令，例如：ls ＞ /KVM_device/files.txt。其中，ls為terminal應用程式可以執行的列出目前目錄下檔案資訊的指令，”＞”代表將執行結果輸出到 目錄/KVM_device/的目錄下，並將檔案儲存成files.txt。要說明的是，KVM_device為電子裝置對計算機所虛擬符合USB儲存裝置的儲存目錄名稱，而files.txt則為儲存在KVM_device目錄下的檔名。要說明的是，目錄名稱或檔名都可以根據需求而定，例如配合不同計算機4a與4b而有不同的命名，並不以本實施例為限制。 In the following further description, in step 31b of FIG. 5, the third detection command is transmitted to the computers 4a and 4b via the electronic device 2a. In this embodiment, the third detection command is a command related to the Mac operating system, which includes a third startup command and a third operation command. In this embodiment, the third startup command is also used to start the command line application program under the Mac operating system environment, that is, the terminal. In one embodiment, the third startup instruction includes two parts, the first part is the command

key + space (blank) key, the second part is the terminal command, which is used to start the terminal application. Taking the computer 4a as an example, first the electronic device 2a transmits the first part of the third activation command, that is, the command

key + space (space) key to computer 4a. After that, the electronic device 2a will then send a third operation command, for example: ls > /KVM_device/files.txt. Among them, ls is the command that the terminal application can execute to list the file information in the current directory, ">" means output the execution result to the directory /KVM_device/, and save the file as files.txt. It should be noted that, KVM_device is the storage directory name of the USB storage device that the electronic device virtually matches to the computer, and files.txt is the file name stored in the KVM_device directory. It should be noted that, the directory name or the file name can be determined according to requirements, for example, different names can be provided in accordance with different computers 4a and 4b, which is not limited by this embodiment.

After step 31b, step 32b is performed to receive the third execution result of the corresponding third detection command generated by each computer operating system by the electronic device. In step 32b, because the third start-up command has been executed, after the computer 4a executes the third operation command, the computer 4a will output the result to the KVM_device directory for storage under the file name files.txt. Regarding the result output by the computer after the execution of the ls instruction, as well as the aforementioned third execution result.

After step 32b, step 33b is performed, and the electronic device 2a determines the third execution result according to the third detection command to identify the type of the operating system. In this step, if the electronic device 2 can find the file files.txt corresponding to the third detection command in the KVM_device directory, it means that the operating system executed in the computer 4a is Mac OS, so it will go directly to step 35b to set the electronic The computer connection interface 26a of the device is connected to a type of Mac operating system. On the contrary, if the operating system of the computer 4a is not identified, it means that the operating system of the computer 4a is an unknown operating system. In one embodiment, when the operating system types of the computers 4a and 4b cannot be determined, the electronic device 2a uses the preset operating system settings as the basis for control. It should be noted that, although the above three operating systems are used as examples of judgment, it is not limited by this. If there are other operating systems, the judgment can also be performed according to the above method to find out the operating system to which the computer belongs.

It should be noted that although the foregoing embodiment is described with the structure of FIG. 1A , similarly, the implementation structure of FIG. 1B using a KVM switch as the electronic device 2 can also be implemented in the same process.

It should be noted that, in addition to being applied to the aforementioned KVM switching device, the electronic device 2 in the foregoing embodiments can also be a flash drive, a mobile hard drive, a HUB, an electronic fixture or any other device capable of connecting with a computer. The present invention is not intended to limit the electronic device.

In view of the above, the operating system identification method provided by the present invention and the electronic device using the method can automatically determine the type of the operating system according to the specific instructions of different operating systems, and then according to the response result of the computer, so as to avoid the user The trouble of manual setting one by one achieves the effect of automatic setting.

The above descriptions are merely for describing the preferred embodiments or examples of the technical means adopted by the present invention to solve the problems, and are not intended to limit the scope of the patent implementation of the present invention. That is, all the equivalent changes and modifications that are consistent with the context of the scope of the patent application of the present invention, or made in accordance with the scope of the patent of the present invention, are all covered by the scope of the patent of the present invention.

2, 2a: Electronic devices 20: Control unit 200: Controller 201: Storage Unit 202: Output unit 202a: Instruction unit 202b: Output device 21: First Switcher 22: Second switcher 24: Control device connection interface 25: Image output interface 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d: Computer connection interface 260, 262: The first interface 261, 263: Second interface 260a: output interface 260b: input interface 4a, 4b: Computers 40, 40a: connecting line 50, 51: Control device 52: Display 3: Method 30~35: Process 31a~35a: Process 31b~35b: Process

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electronic device of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of another structure of the electronic device of the present invention. FIG. 1C is another schematic diagram of the structure of the electronic device of the present invention. FIG. 1D is another schematic structural diagram of the electronic device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of an operating system identification method of the present invention. FIG. 3A to FIG. 3D are when the operating system of the present invention is identified. 4 to 5 are schematic flowcharts of an embodiment of an operating system identification method of the present invention.

2a: Electronics

20: Control unit

200: Controller

201: Storage Unit

202: Output unit

202a: Instruction unit

202b: Output device

26a, 26b: Computer connection interface

4a, 4b: Computers

40a: connecting line

Claims (10)

An operating system identification method for determining the type of an operating system of a computer after being executed by an electronic device, comprising the following steps: sending a first detection command to the computer through the electronic device; using the electronic device Receive a first execution result corresponding to the first detection command generated by the operating system; and determine the first execution result by the electronic device according to the first detection command to identify the type of the operating system. The operating system identification method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first detection command comprises a first activation command and a first operation command related to the first activation command, wherein the first activation command is to activate the operation An execution function of the system, and the first operation instruction is an execution instruction corresponding to the execution function. The operating system identification method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first detection command is a control command related to a first operating system, and identifying the type of the operating system further comprises the following steps: using the electronic device according to the first operating system When an execution result determines that the operating system does not conform to the first operating system, output a second detection command corresponding to a second operating system to the computer; receive the second detection command corresponding to the operating system generated by the electronic device detecting a second execution result of the command; and judging the second execution result by the electronic device according to the second detecting command to identify whether the operating system conforms to the second operating system. The operating system identification method according to claim 3, wherein the second detection command includes a second activation command and a second operation command related to the second activation command, wherein the second activation command The instruction is an execution function activated under the operating system, and the second operation instruction is an execution instruction corresponding to the execution function. The operating system identification method of claim 1, further comprising: driving the first detection command by a control unit of the electronic device to output the first detection command to the computer through a computer connection interface of the electronic device; and receiving the first execution result through the computer connection interface. An electronic device for connecting a computer, the computer includes an operating system, the electronic device includes: a computer connection interface, coupled with the computer; and a control unit, through the computer connection interface to issue a first detection command to The computer receives a first execution result from the computer in response to the first detection command via the computer connection interface, and the control unit determines the first execution result according to the first detection command to identify the type of the operating system. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the first detection command includes a first activation command and a first operation command related to the first activation command, and the first activation command is activated under the operating system An execution function that operates, and the first operation instruction is an execution instruction corresponding to the execution function. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein when the electronic device determines that the operating system does not conform to the first operating system according to the first execution result, it outputs a second detection command corresponding to a second operating system to The computer, the electronic device receives a second execution result corresponding to the second detection command generated by the operating system, and the electronic device determines the second execution result according to the second detection command to identify whether the operating system conforms to the the second operating system. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the second detection command comprises a second activation command and a second operation command related to the second activation command, wherein the second activation command is activated in the operating system An execution function operating under the second operation instruction is an execution instruction corresponding to the execution function. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the control unit further has a controller, a storage unit, and an output unit, the storage unit and the output unit are electrically connected to the controller, and the controller controls the output The unit generates the first and second detection commands and transmits them to the computer, and the storage unit is used for storing the first execution result or the second execution result returned by the computer.

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