WO2017121235A1 - Communication device and method for achieving multi-protocol interoperability - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a communication device and method for achieving multi-protocol interoperability. The communication device comprises: a first interface assembly configured as an interface for transmission of information using a standard communication protocol; a second interface assembly configured as an interface for transmission of information using a self-defined communication protocol; and a microcontroller comprising a virtual exchange module for providing interaction between information using different communication protocols. The present invention can achieve interoperability between information using different protocols, and can be designed as a device simple in hardware structure, small in size and light in weight. The invention can be powered by a common battery, and thus is very suitable for emergency and rescue applications.

Description

Multi-protocol interoperable communication device and communication method Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of information communication technologies, and in particular, to a multi-protocol interworking communication device and a communication method.

Background technique

With the rapid development of communication technology, a variety of different communication protocols have emerged to meet different needs. For example, a WiFi communication protocol, a Bluetooth communication protocol, a ZigBee communication protocol, a third/fourth generation (3G/4G) communication protocol, a satellite communication protocol, and the like. Although the development of the above-mentioned protocols satisfies the various needs of human beings, due to the diversification of protocols, users of one communication protocol cannot communicate with users of another communication protocol, that is, there is no interoperability between protocols. The lack of interoperability between devices using different protocols has caused many problems for people's lives. For example, in the process of emergency response, multiple departments (including medical, police, fire emergency, troops, charitable relief agencies within various countries, international relief and charities, etc.) cannot communicate with each other, resulting in inconsistencies Working in the ground reduces the efficiency of rescue.

In order to solve the problem of non-interoperability between communication systems, in addition to strengthening cooperation between governments and coordinating communication protocols between countries, people adopt various technical means to try to solve this problem fundamentally. From the perspective of published patents, there are two main technical means adopted:

The first type of technical means:

Pre-allocating resources, devices using different protocols adjust the communication mode according to the allocated resources, and achieve the purpose of interoperability. A patented representative of this method of the invention is, for example, U.S. Patent No. U.S. Patent No. 8,280,364, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A U.S. patent document similar to this type of method (title: Communication Assets Survey and Mapping Tool) is disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. US 20140310400 A1, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. However, this type of solution has the following disadvantages: On the one hand, the device must reserve pre-harmonized resources to communicate with the central controller. For new devices, if there are no reserved resources, they cannot be added to the system. On the other hand, all communication devices are only classified, and devices of the same class can communicate with each other, but communication devices of different types are still unable to communicate, which cannot fundamentally solve the problem of interoperability.

The second type of technical means:

The second type of technical means goes further than the first type of technical means. The second type of technical means does not impose any requirements on existing communication equipment. It communicates with each other through a third type of device and its own corresponding interface module. A new network is formed between the third type of devices, and data interacts indirectly through this new network to meet interoperability problems. Among them, there are two methods for implementing the third type of device network. The first method is to form a new network through another common frequency band. For example: U.S. Patent (Patent No.: U.S. Patent No. 7,508, 840 B2), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A second method is described, for example, in U.S. Patent No. US Pat. No. 6,158,205, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The second method is mainly to change the format of the data, and the data collected from different protocols is reformatted according to another new protocol to meet the compatibility between the data. However, although the above second method satisfies the interoperability between different protocols by means of a unified data format, the system is relatively complicated, and a third type of protocol is needed to indirectly satisfy the interoperability, and the volume of the device used. It is huge, consumes a lot of electricity, is not easy to carry, has poor applicability, and cannot meet the application of emergency rescue and other occasions.

Summary of the invention

In order to at least partially solve the above problems in the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention provide a multi-protocol interworking communication device, including:

a first interface component configured to provide an interface for transmitting information using information of a standard communication protocol;

a second interface component configured to provide an interface for transmitting information using information of a custom communication protocol;

The microcontroller, including the virtual switching module, is configured to exchange information using information of different communication protocols.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a multi-protocol interoperability communication method, including:

An interface for providing information transmission for information using standard communication protocols;

An interface for providing information transmission for information using a custom communication protocol;

Information based on different communication protocols is exchanged based on the virtual switching method.

The device provided in this embodiment is equivalent to a regional base station, so that communication devices (including wired and wireless devices) of all different protocols can exchange information (which may include data, voice, video, etc.) through the base station. Therefore, the present embodiment can satisfy interoperability using different protocol information, and the hardware structure is simple. In addition, because virtual technology is implemented on a microcontroller, it can be designed The device is small in size, light in weight, low in power consumption, and can be powered by an ordinary battery, which is convenient for personal carrying, and is particularly suitable for emergency, rescue and other occasions.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. The drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art. The details or some of the features of the drawings and the described descriptions may be modified within the spirit of the invention.

1 is a schematic structural diagram of a function module of a multi-protocol interoperation communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of a framework of a virtual system composed of multiple virtual devices in the microcontroller of FIG. 1;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a function module of a multi-protocol interoperation communication device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-protocol interoperation communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the sub-flow in Figure 4;

FIG. 6 is an example of a multi-protocol interoperation communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is a partial embodiment of the invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are within the scope of the present invention. In addition, some conventional well-known structures or implementation details are not described in detail herein to avoid obscuring the nature of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a function module of a multi-protocol interoperation communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the multi-protocol interoperable communication device may include: a first interface component 100, a second interface component 200, and a microcontroller 300. among them:

The first interface component 100 can provide information transmission for information using standard communication protocols. mouth.

In the present embodiment, the first interface component 100 supports existing standard communication protocols. The existing standard communication protocols may be, for example, a WiFi communication protocol, a 3G communication protocol, a 4G communication protocol, a ZigBee communication protocol, a LAN communication protocol, a Bluetooth communication protocol, a fixed telephone communication protocol, and a satellite communication protocol. In practical applications, especially in the process of emergency rescue, the present embodiment can provide convenience for multiple departments in multiple countries. These departments involved in the rescue can use their own standard communication protocols. For application to different standard communication protocols, the first interface component 100 may include one or more of the following interfaces: a WiFi interface, a 3G interface, a 4G interface (which may also be a 5G interface developed in the future), a ZigBee interface, and a LAN interface (Figure Not marked in the), Bluetooth interface, fixed telephone interface (not shown) and satellite communication interface (not shown). It should be noted that all the interfaces are not listed in the figure. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that more interfaces can be extended in the first interface component 100, and the number of extended interfaces is not limited in this application; The expanded interface may also include other types of interfaces not mentioned above and developed in the future, and the application is not limited in this respect. All of the above interfaces can use existing international standards to support communication of the corresponding protocol. These interface modules are independent of each other and do not interfere with each other when communicating using the corresponding protocol. The configuration method of the information transmission channel based on the specific protocol is the prior art, and details are not described herein again. Thus, the present embodiment enhances the practicability of the product by providing a plurality of interfaces that match different standard protocols, so that the device can communicate freely with other communication devices.

The second interface component 200 can provide an interface for information transfer using information of a custom, non-standardized communication protocol.

In order to incorporate some non-standardized protocols into the communication system, or to meet the requirements of future new communication protocols, the present embodiment also provides a second interface component 200 based on Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology. The second interface component 200 can include one or more radio interfaces (SDR interfaces, such as SDR-1 interfaces and SDR-N interfaces, etc., where N is a natural number). These SDR interfaces may be radio interfaces that make custom communication protocols based on different radio bands (eg, medium and low frequency bands). Therefore, the present embodiment customizes the communication protocol according to different radio bands, so that the protocol program is simple, standardized, convenient to expand, and highly reliable.

Microcontroller 300 includes a virtual switching module that provides interaction for information that employs different communication protocols. Among them, the microcontroller 300 is a controller that must have a virtualization technology. The microcontroller can be based on Virtualization technology virtualizes the various functional components in a virtual system.

2 is a schematic diagram of a framework of a virtual system composed of a plurality of virtual devices in the microcontroller of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the virtual system includes a service application layer, an operating system layer, a management layer, and a hardware layer. The service application layer includes seven service applications (APPs) (service applications 1 - service applications 7). The operating system layer includes seven operating systems (OS) (Operating System 1 - Operating System 7) corresponding to respective service applications. It should be noted that the foregoing operating systems may be the same type of operating system, different types, or some of the operating systems are of the same type, and the application is not limited in this respect. The management includes a secure hypervisor. The hardware layer includes a central processing unit (such as a MIPS M-class CPU). The implementation of each of the above layers is based on the microcontroller 300.

In the present embodiment, the microcontroller 300 can be a microcontroller of the MIPS M5150 model from Imagination Technologies. The company's MIPS M-series microcontrollers are the world's first to implement virtual technology. The M Series supports Hardware Virtualization and has so far supported multiple (for example, seven) virtual operating systems.

With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the embodiment, the virtual switching module may include multiple virtual devices corresponding to different protocols (for example, may be a WiFi virtual machine, a 3G/4G virtual device, or a 5G virtual device developed later). , ZigBee virtual machine, LAN virtual machine, Bluetooth virtual machine, fixed telephone virtual machine and satellite communication virtual machine, etc.). Each virtual machine has a specific ID (the ID numbers of these virtual machines are used to identify the virtual machines, and each ID number is not the same). When a specific communication connection is made, each interface is connected to its adapted virtual machine. For example, the WiFi interface is connected to the WiFi virtual device, the 3G/4G interface is connected to the 3G/4G virtual device, the ZigBee interface is connected to the ZigBee virtual device, the LAN interface is connected to the LAN virtual device, and the Bluetooth interface is connected to the Bluetooth virtual device. The fixed telephone interface (not shown) is connected to the fixed telephone virtual machine (not shown), and the satellite communication interface (not shown) is connected to the satellite communication virtual unit (not shown).

In this embodiment, the communication device further includes a virtual router. The virtual router is configured to provide a transmission path for information interaction between the virtual devices, so that information corresponding to the different communication protocols corresponding to the virtual devices having different IDs is exchanged according to the transmission path determined by the virtual router.

In the virtual system supported by the microcontroller of the present embodiment, each virtual system is connected with an interface communication protocol to complete the purpose of supporting multiple communication protocols in one system. The information exchange inside each virtual machine can be realized by the mature Virtual Switch technology. For example, the open source software Open vSwitch can achieve the purpose of data exchange. Data exchange can also be opened A new routing protocol is implemented.

In this embodiment, the virtual layer router can be implemented by using a data exchange technology in a hypervisor (Secure Hypervisor). The Hypervisor coordinates the access of virtual resources (such as microcontrollers) to virtual machines and the protection between individual virtual machines. When the hardware resource starts, it loads the operating system of all virtual machine clients, while allocating memory, disk, network, etc. to the virtual machine.

In addition, virtual technology is a conventional technology. Virtual technology is mainly used to implement the operation of multiple systems under one hardware platform. This technology is mainly implemented on a conventional computer. For example, the Linux simulation environment implemented in a computer using a Windows system is a virtual technology. For example, cloud computing also uses a large number of virtual technologies. Usually computers can achieve very powerful computing functions, but they do not have strong communication capabilities. In addition, the computer is too large to be used for the need to connect a telephone, such as a small, flexible communication device (such as a smart phone). Therefore, at present, there is no technical solution for utilizing virtual technology to solve communication in a conventional computer. By using the virtual technology to implement the microprocessor 300 instead of the huge server, the embodiment not only satisfies the interoperability between different protocols, but also can be designed to be small in size, simple in hardware structure, light in weight, low in power consumption, and can be used only by ordinary The battery supports the device that it supplies (such as a smart phone), which is convenient for individuals to carry, and is especially suitable for emergency, rescue and other occasions.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a function module of a communication device for multiple protocols according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, a multi-band antenna 400, a radio transceiver 500, and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) 600 are added to the embodiment of FIG. Wherein, the multi-band antenna 400 can be connected to the transceiver 500, and the FPGA 600 can be connected to the transceiver 500 and the second interface component 200, respectively.

In the present embodiment, the software communication can be performed by the FPGA 600 on the custom communication protocol. The transceiver 500 can receive or transmit signals of radios of multiple bands.

In this embodiment, the software wireless technology can be implemented using mature technology. One common technique is FPGA. FPGAs allow developers to quickly design functions, program software, and download software to run in FPGAs, with repeated modifications and downloads. Taking the Xilinx FPGA module as an example, remote or local update of software can be realized by CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) XC95288X. The technology for implementing SDR in an FPGA is also very mature. For example, the US Patent Application (Software Defined Radio, Publication No. US20040242261A1) discloses an example of implementing SDR through an FPGA. This article is incorporated herein by reference. Specific clients can save some common software modules in the database (which can be in the cloud server). When applied, download updates in the database. The content of this part can be referred to, for example, the disclosure of the patent document of the Chinese Patent Application No. 201310452351.1, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Therefore, the present embodiment performs software update on the customized communication protocol through the FPGA, and is convenient to design into a communication product with powerful functions, low power consumption, simple operation, and small volume.

In this embodiment, a plurality of interface modules are provided, including various wireless interface modules, for example, for the WiFi protocol, the 3G/4G protocol, and the future 5G protocol, the satellite communication protocol, the Bluetooth protocol, the ZigBee protocol, and the fixed network telephone protocol. , interface module of wired local area network (LAN) protocol, etc. At the same time, in order to meet the needs of future development, into the new communication protocol, the equipment has a long-term, sustainable application, the system also embedded multiple SDR modules, through the monitoring and analysis of new wireless signal protocols, download the relevant protocol modules, Generate an interface module that is compatible with the new protocol. This will continue to fuse new communication protocols.

Signal detection can be achieved by one or more of the following three techniques: (1) Energy (Energy); (2) Matched Filter; (3) Cyclostationary Feature. Corresponding examples can be found in the patent documents of CA 2746269 C, US Pat. No. 5,571, 119, B2, and US Pat. Through signal detection, the most common types of known signals can be distinguished, and the purpose of communicating with the new signal protocol is accomplished by calling the relevant signal protocol in the system. If a new signal cannot be resolved, the next step is to resolve the modulation technique in the signal transmission. The resolution of modulation techniques falls into two categories: (1) based on Likelihood-based; (2) Feature-Based. </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; After the modulation technology is distinguished, the software module based on the modulation technology can be called from the system itself, or can be downloaded from a neighboring node or a back-end database. For the download method, refer to the patent document with the publication number CA201310452351.1, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Reference.

Communication between different protocol modules can be achieved through virtualized network technology. For example, the standard Virtual Switch function module in the Hypervisor layer can realize mutual communication between virtual systems. Complete the purpose of information interaction between different protocols through the virtual layer. The specific implementation can be implemented on a microcontroller. Microcontrollers have the advantages of being inexpensive, small in size, and easy to program. MIPS Technologies, Inc.'s M-Class M51XX series chips support virtualization capabilities. Now Hardware Assisted Virtuallisation, which supports the existence of multiple virtual machines and gives each virtual machine an ID.

The microcontroller of the present embodiment can be flexibly configured. For example, one or more microcontrollers are provided corresponding to each of the first interface component and the second interface component, and only one microcontroller may be provided for only the first interface component and the second interface component.

4 is a schematic flow chart of a multi-protocol interoperation communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the method may include the following steps:

S401: An interface for providing information transmission for information using a standard communication protocol.

In the present embodiment, the standard communication protocol is selected from at least one of the following communication protocols:

WiFi communication protocol, 3G/4G communication protocol, ZigBee communication protocol, LAN communication protocol, Bluetooth communication protocol, fixed telephone communication protocol, and satellite communication protocol. The interfaces provided are interfaces that match these communication protocols.

S402: Providing an interface for transmitting information by using information of a custom communication protocol.

In this embodiment, the custom communication protocol is customized based on different radio bands, and the custom communication protocol is software-updated through the FPGA.

S403: Perform information exchange using different communication protocols based on the virtual switching mode.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a specific process of step 403 in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5, step S403 may include:

S4031: Build multiple virtual machines corresponding to different protocols based on virtualization technology, and give each virtual machine a specific ID.

S4032: Construct a virtual router for providing a transmission path for information interaction between different ID virtual devices, so that information corresponding to different communication protocols corresponding to different ID virtual devices is exchanged according to a transmission path determined by the virtual router.

FIG. 6 is an example of a multi-protocol interoperation communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of ZigBee, Bluetooth, and WiFi exchanging data through a virtual machine's Shared File System Service is shown in this example.

First, an interface for information transmission can be provided for information using standard communication protocols. Shown in this embodiment is a ZigBee interface, a Bluetooth interface, and a WiFi interface provided by information transmission using a standard communication protocol such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi, and the like. In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the essence of the present invention, an interface related to a custom protocol is not shown in this embodiment.

Thereafter, information using different communication protocols can be interacted based on the virtual switching method. Specifically, first, a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to different protocols (such as the ZigBee, Bluetooth, and WiFi virtualizers shown in FIG. 6) may be constructed based on the virtualization technology, and each virtual device is given a specific ID (for example, FIG. 6). ZigBee shown: 10.1.2.19, Bluetooth: 10.1.2.10 and WiFi: 10.1.2.21).

Then, a virtual router for providing a transmission path for information interaction between different ID virtual devices may be constructed such that information corresponding to different communication protocols corresponding to different ID virtual devices interact according to a transmission path determined by the virtual router. In this embodiment, the virtual layer router can be implemented by using a data exchange technology in a hypervisor. The Hypervisor can coordinate the hardware (such as each interface in FIG. 6) to implement access to each virtual device corresponding to each hardware through the cloud platform, so that different ID virtual devices can be used according to different communication protocols. The transmission path determined by the virtual router interacts. For example, in the Linux operating system, information sharing between virtual machines can be implemented by using the bash command. The commands on each node are respectively as follows:

The following bash files will be installed on 10.1.2.21:

#! /bin/sh

//This package is installed on the 10.1.2.21 machine that uses network file sharing to share data.

Apt-get install nfs-kernel-server

//This command installs Network File Sharing Service (NFS). File sharing service allows the system to pass the network

Share directories and files with others. It is a distributed file system protocol that allows for services

Load the remote directory on the device. Allows storage space to be managed in different locations and written from multiple clients

The space

Echo"/data 10.1.2.0/24(rw,fsid=0,insecure,no_subtree_check,async,no_root_squash)">>/etc/exports

//You can configure the directory to be exported by adding the directory to the /etc/exports file.

Exportfs–a

/ / This command exports all file system paths specified in the / etc / exports file

Service nfs-kernel-server restart

/ / Restart the nfs-kernel-server service

The following bash file needs to be created as a client on the second virtual machine (10.1.2.19):

#! /bin/sh

Apt-get install nfs-common

//You can automatically install the remote network file sharing service by adding the remote network file sharing service share to the /etc/fstab file on the virtual machine client.

Echo"10.1.2.21://data nfs4defaults 0 0">>/etc/fstab

/ / The following commands are manually installed

Mount-t nfs 10.1.2.21:/data/data

Similar to the 10.1.2.19 node, the process at 10.1.2.20 is as follows:

#! /bin/sh

Apt-get install nfs-common

Echo"10.1.2.21://data nfs4defaults 0 0">>/etc/fstab

Mount-t nfs 10.1.2.21:/data/data

With the present embodiment, interaction between information using different communication protocols can be achieved. According to the example of the embodiment, the interaction between the information of the custom communication protocol and the information between the information of the custom communication protocol and the information of the standard communication protocol can also be realized by the interaction manner in the example. Nothing is repeated in this regard.

The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, ie may be located A place, or it can be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement without deliberate labor.

Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the various embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course, by hardware. Based on such understanding, the above-described technical solutions may be embodied in the form of software products in essence or in the form of software products, which may be stored in a computer readable storage medium such as ROM/RAM, magnetic Disc, CD, etc., including a number of instructions to make one The computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) performs the methods described in various embodiments or portions of the embodiments.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not limited thereto; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments are modified, or the equivalents of the technical features are replaced. The modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A multi-protocol interoperable communication device, comprising: a first interface component configured to provide an interface for transmitting information using information of a standard communication protocol; a second interface component configured to provide an interface for transmitting information using information of a custom communication protocol; Microcontrollers, including virtual switching modules, are configured to provide information interaction for information that employs different communication protocols. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the first interface component comprises at least one of the following interfaces: a WiFi interface, a 3G interface, a 4G interface, a ZigBee interface, a LAN interface, a Bluetooth interface, a fixed telephone interface, and Satellite communication interface. A communication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said second interface component comprises one or more radio interfaces, the communication protocol of said radio interface being customized according to different radio bands. A communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an FPGA coupled to said second interface component, said FPGA software updating a custom communication protocol. The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the virtual switching module comprises a plurality of virtual machines corresponding to different protocols, each virtual machine having a specific ID, the communication device further comprising: The virtual router is configured to provide a transmission path for information interaction between the virtual devices, so that information corresponding to the different communication protocols respectively corresponding to the virtual devices having different IDs is exchanged according to the transmission path determined by the virtual router. The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the communication device further comprises: Multi-band antenna, and A transceiver for connecting or transmitting a plurality of bands of radios to the multi-band antenna and FPGA, respectively. A multi-protocol interoperable communication method includes: An interface for providing information transmission for information using standard communication protocols; An interface for providing information transmission for information using a custom communication protocol; Information based on different communication protocols is exchanged based on the virtual switching method. The communication method according to claim 7, wherein said standard communication protocol is selected from at least one of the following communication protocols: WiFi communication protocol, 3G communication protocol, 4G communication protocol, ZigBee communication protocol, LAN communication protocol, Bluetooth communication protocol, fixed telephone communication protocol, and satellite communication protocol. The communication method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the custom communication protocol is customized according to different radio bands, and the custom communication protocol is software-updated by the FPGA. The communication method according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein the interacting with information using different communication protocols based on the virtual switching method comprises: Build multiple virtual machines corresponding to different protocols and give each virtual machine a specific ID, and A virtual router is configured to provide a transmission path for information interaction between different ID virtual devices, so that information corresponding to different communication protocols corresponding to different ID virtual devices is exchanged according to the transmission path determined by the virtual router.

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