CN102006519A - Method and system for realizing interaction between multi-media terminal and internet protocol (IP) set top box - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an interaction method between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, a system, a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box. The interaction method includes: the multimedia terminal browses the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal, After receiving an instruction to select a program to be pushed to the TV, obtain the media stream link address of the program, and send the media stream link address and the playback request message to the IP set-top box through an HTTP message; wherein, the media stream of the program The link address is the same as the media stream link address of the program stored in the IP set-top box EPG portal; and the IP set-top box receives the play request message and the media stream link address, resolves the play request message to obtain a play request, and connects the media Stream the link address and play the show. The technical scheme of the invention can realize instant interaction between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box.

Description

Interaction method and system between multimedia terminal and IP set-top box

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of digital home, in particular to an interaction method and system between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box.

Background technique

Interactive Internet TV (Internet Protocol TV, or Interactive Personal TV, IPTV) is a TV based on an IP network. It uses "television and IP set-top boxes" as the main terminal equipment to provide users with TV services such as live broadcast, on-demand, and time-shifting. Internet applications, such as web browsing, widgets (Widget), etc., the Widget is a small piece of code that can be executed on any web page based on Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and its manifestation may be video, map, etc. , news or mini games, etc. The characteristics of the IP network make the adaptable terminals of the IPTV system widely used, for example, personal computers (PCs), smart phones, and personal multimedia information devices (MIDs) can all be used as IPTV terminals. With the rapid development of the mobile Internet and the popularization and speed-up of home broadband, the demand for three-screen integration is becoming clearer and stronger. The realization of three-screen integration will lead to faster growth in the number of IPTV service users and the service market. The so-called three-screen integration refers to the image description of content interconnection, intercommunication, and interactive services between PC screens, multimedia terminal screens, and TV screens. The specific business forms include displacement TV, multi-screen collection, and multi-screen ordering. Good multimedia resource complementation and unified services can be formed between such terminal devices, thereby promoting the improvement of each other's use value and expanding the business scope of IPTV system service providers (usually telecom operators).

Multimedia terminals such as smartphones, MIDs, and tablet PCs play an important role in the integration of three screens due to their advantages of being handheld and mobile. Inside the home, electronic devices communicate with each other, usually using the Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines (Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines) of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) as a standard protocol. DLNA digital home can provide users with sharing, storing and accessing digital music anywhere in the home, recording and replaying content accessed by multiple users. There are also schemes and applications that use DLNA standard interconnection between multimedia terminals and set-top boxes in the industry. Multimedia terminals, IP set-top boxes, and TVs each have different screen sizes, application scenarios, and user habits, as well as their respective media formats, network connection features, and device performance. This situation requires the home network devices (Home Network Devices, HND) and mobile handheld devices (Mobile Handheld Devices, MHD) defined by the DLNA standard to meet each other's requirements, or the home infrastructure device (Home Infrastructure Device, HID). ) provides bridging and content conversion services. But the reality is that in most cases this condition cannot be met. In addition, the interactive operation between DLNA devices is aimed at the same media file. Multimedia terminals are suitable for browsing and watching video media in a hand-held manner for a short period of time casually, while IP set-top boxes and TVs are suitable for long-term in-depth viewing.

In the invention patent with the publication number CN101789950 and titled "A Realization Method Based on Interactive Internet TV in Three-screen Convergence", the interaction among mobile terminals, PCs and set-top boxes is realized by establishing a three-screen fusion support system. Specifically, The method is to record the user's operation on a certain terminal in the collection/bookmark server of the three-screen fusion support system, and then access the records in the collection/bookmark server when the user switches to another terminal, and continue the last operation or use the last second business. This method requires the user to manually access the collection/bookmark records, which cannot realize instant interaction between the mobile terminal and the set-top box, and requires the support of the collection/bookmark server in the mobile terminal service management platform on the IPTV platform side and the set-top box service management platform.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an interactive method between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, a system, a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, so as to realize instant interaction between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box, and the IPTV platform side does not need Perform complex processing.

The invention provides an interactive system between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, the system comprising:

Multimedia Terminal Electronic Program Guide (EPG) Portal, used to provide introduction preview and/or clip viewing of live and/or on-demand programs;

The EPG portal of the IP set-top box corresponds to the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal one by one, and is used to provide the browsing function of the complete program;

The multimedia terminal is used to browse the introduction and/or clips of the live and/or on-demand programs in the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal, and obtain the media stream link address of the program after receiving an instruction to push a program to be played on the TV , and send the media stream link address and the playback request message to the IP set-top box through the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message;

The IP set-top box is used to receive the play request message and the media stream link address sent by the multimedia terminal, parse the play request message to obtain the play request, connect the media stream link address and play the program;

The home router is used for forwarding data between the multimedia terminal and the multimedia terminal EPG portal, between the IP set-top box and the IP set-top box EPG portal, and between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box.

Preferably, the interactive system may have the following characteristics:

The multimedia terminal is further used to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message.

Preferably, the interactive system can also have the following characteristics:

The IP set-top box includes a page server, and the page server is used to receive and analyze the play request message.

Preferably, the interactive system can also have the following characteristics:

The interactive system also includes:

The business management platform is used to complete the user authentication of the multimedia terminal and the acquisition of the entrance address of the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal; and the user authentication of the IP set-top box and the acquisition of the entrance address of the EPG portal of the IP set-top box;

a media content server, responsible for the processing of the clips of live and/or on-demand programs and the media content of selected programs; and

The content distribution network is used to publish the media content processed by the media content server to the edge of the network, and forward it to the multimedia terminal and/or IP set-top box through the home router.

The present invention also provides an interactive method between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, the interactive method comprising:

The multimedia terminal browses the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the multimedia terminal EPG portal, and after receiving an instruction to select a program to be pushed to the TV, obtains the media stream link address of the program, and passes the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP The message sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box; wherein, the media stream link address of the program is identical to the media stream link address of the program stored in the IP set-top box EPG portal; and

The IP set-top box receives the play request message and the media stream link address, parses the play request message to obtain a play request, connects to the media stream link address and plays the program.

Above-mentioned interactive method can have following characteristics: described multimedia terminal obtains the media flow link address of this program, and this media flow link address and broadcast request message are sent to IP set-top box by hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message and comprise:

The multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message.

Above-mentioned interaction method also can have following characteristics: described IP set-top box receives described play request message and media stream link address, resolves this play request message and obtains play request, connects this media stream link address and plays this program and includes:

The IP set-top box receives the play request message and media stream link address through its built-in page server, parses the play request message to obtain a play request, connects to the media stream link address and plays the program.

The present invention also provides a multimedia terminal. The multimedia terminal is used to browse the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal. The media stream link address of the program, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message; The media stream link addresses of the programs are the same.

Preferably, the multimedia terminal can have the following characteristics: the multimedia terminal is further used to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top boxes.

The present invention also provides an IP set-top box. The IP set-top box includes a page server, and the page server is used to receive a play request message and a media stream link address sent by a multimedia terminal, and analyze the play request message to obtain a play request. Connect the media stream link address and play the program.

The above-mentioned interactive system, interactive method, multimedia terminal and IP set-top box use the existing HTTP mechanism for communication, and realize data transmission through the built-in page server and page browsing client of the device, without adding special communication interaction on these two devices Therefore, while saving system resources and reducing system complexity, it also has strong versatility.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the networking schematic diagram of the interactive system embodiment between mobile terminal and IP set-top box of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the signaling flowchart of the embodiment that the multimedia terminal of the present invention executes user authentication and EPG portal entry address acquisition;

Fig. 3 is the signaling flowchart of the embodiment of using multimedia terminal to browse live and on-demand programs in the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a signaling flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention in which a multimedia terminal pushes a program to an IP set-top box and plays it on a TV.

Detailed ways

The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described here are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

The invention provides an interactive system between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box. The system includes: a multimedia terminal electronic program guide (EPG) portal, an IP set-top box EPG portal, a multimedia terminal, an IP set-top box, and a home router; wherein, the multimedia terminal electronic The program guide (EPG) portal is used to provide introduction preview and/or clip viewing of live and/or on-demand programs; the IP set-top box EPG portal corresponds to the above-mentioned multimedia terminal EPG portal and is used to provide browsing functions for complete programs; multimedia The terminal is used to browse the introduction and/or clips of live and/or on-demand programs in the multimedia terminal EPG portal, and after receiving an instruction to select a program to be pushed to the TV, obtain the media stream link address of the program, and pass The hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box; the IP set-top box is used to receive the play request message and the media stream link address sent by the multimedia terminal, and parse the play request message to obtain Play request, connect the media stream link address and play the program; home router, responsible for the data between the multimedia terminal and the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal, between the IP set-top box and the EPG portal of the IP set-top box, and between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box Forward.

Preferably, the above-mentioned multimedia terminal is further configured to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message. The above-mentioned IP set-top box includes a page server, and the above-mentioned page server is used to receive and analyze the play request message.

The above-mentioned interactive system, through the interaction between multimedia terminals, IP set-top boxes, home routers, and associated multimedia terminal EPG portals and IP set-top box EPG portals, allows users to browse text and picture previews of live and on-demand programs through multimedia terminals, or watch For video clips, when the user selects a program and pushes it to be played on the TV, the multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the program and sends it to the IP set-top box. The IP set-top box switches to connect to the media stream and plays the program on the TV. In addition, the interactive system uses the existing HTTP mechanism for communication, and does not need to add a special communication interactive module on the multimedia terminal and IP set-top box. Therefore, while saving system resources and reducing system complexity, it also has a strong Versatility.

As shown in Figure 1, it is the networking schematic diagram of the interactive system embodiment between mobile terminal and IP set-top box of the present invention, and this system comprises: business management platform 11, EPG service system 12, media content system 13, content distribution network 14, Home router 15, multimedia terminal 17 and IP set-top box 18.

The service management platform is responsible for the management of IPTV services; it specifically completes functions such as user authentication of multimedia terminals and IP set-top boxes, acquisition of electronic program guide (EPG) portal address, and user logout.

The EPG service system is used to provide IPTV navigation services for IPTV terminals, display live broadcast and on-demand content, etc. In this embodiment, the EPG service system includes a multimedia terminal EPG portal 121 and an IP set-top box EPG portal 122, which are exclusively accessed by multimedia terminals and IP set-top boxes respectively. The EPG portal 121 of the multimedia terminal and the EPG portal 122 of the IP set-top box have different entry addresses. In the terminal EPG portal, each live and on-demand program browsing page contains not only the media stream link address of its video clips, but also the media stream link address of its complete program.

The media content system is responsible for completing media control functions such as on-demand, multicast, on-demand time-shifting and multicast time-shifting, as well as media processing functions such as encoding and fragmentation of media content sources, and media stream transmission. In this embodiment, it is mainly responsible for the processing of media content of video trailers (cuts) and complete live or on-demand programs.

The content distribution network is used to release IPTV service content to the edge of the network closest to users, so that users can access IPTV services nearby, solve network congestion, and improve the corresponding speed of user access.

Home routers are used to connect multimedia terminals and IP set-top boxes to broadband networks and IPTV platforms, and are responsible for data forwarding between the two and IPTV platforms; their access to networks includes various types of digital subscriber line (xDSL) methods, Ethernet mode, passive optical network (xPON) mode, etc. At the same time, the home router is also used for data routing and forwarding between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box, so that the two can access each other through the HTTP protocol.

In this embodiment, a multimedia terminal specifically refers to a smart phone, a MID, a tablet computer, etc., which can be handheld and mobile, have an IP network connection function, a text and picture browsing function, an audio and video network streaming media playback function, and local audio and video playback. functional electronic devices. The function in this embodiment is to browse the text, picture introduction and video preview of the live and on-demand programs in the EPG portal, and push them to the TV for playback.

The IP set-top box has access to the IPTV system, realizes interactive TV live broadcast, on-demand, time-shifting and other TV services and Internet-based applications. A web server (Web Sever) is embedded in the device system for interacting with multimedia terminal devices.

The above-mentioned interactive system makes full use of the advantage that the multimedia terminal is suitable for casual and short-term handheld use. It is convenient for users to browse the text, picture introduction and video clips of live broadcast and on-demand programs and select programs. During this operation, it does not affect the TV. Normal viewing, very suitable for many people to watch IPTV TV together, which improves the user experience and ease of use of IPTV. In addition, the system realizes the real-time interaction between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box, and the IPTV platform side does not need complicated processing.

The present invention also provides a multimedia terminal, which is used to browse the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal, and obtain the program after receiving an instruction to select and push a program to the TV for playback The media stream link address of the program, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message; wherein, the media stream link address of the program is the same as that of the program stored in the IP set-top box EPG portal The media stream link addresses are the same.

Preferably, the above-mentioned multimedia terminal is further configured to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message.

The structure and function of the multimedia terminal are the same as those of the multimedia terminal in the above interactive system embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

The present invention also provides an IP set-top box, the above-mentioned IP set-top box includes a page server, and the above-mentioned page server is used to receive the receiving play request message and the link address of the media stream sent by the multimedia terminal, analyze the play request message to obtain the play request, and connect the The media stream link address and play the program.

The IP set-top box has the same structure and function as the IP set-top box in the above-mentioned interactive system embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

The present invention also provides an interactive method between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, said method comprising:

The multimedia terminal browses the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the multimedia terminal EPG portal, and after receiving an instruction to select a program to be pushed to the TV, obtains the media stream link address of the program, and passes the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP The message sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box; wherein, the media stream link address of the program is identical to the media stream link address of the program stored in the IP set-top box EPG portal; and

The IP set-top box receives the play request message and the media stream link address, parses the play request message to obtain a play request, connects to the media stream link address, and plays the program.

In the execution process of this method, the multimedia terminal needs to obtain the entry address of the multimedia terminal EPG portal, as shown in Figure 2, it is the signaling flow chart of the embodiment of user authentication and EPG portal entry address acquisition for the multimedia terminal of the present invention, in this In the embodiment, the user can run the IPTV client application program or the page browsing client application program on the multimedia terminal. This paper takes the IPTV client application program as an example for description, and the process includes:

Step 201, establish the TCP connection between the multimedia terminal and the service management platform, and use the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) protocol to interact with the service management platform, first perform user authentication and EPG portal entry address acquisition process;

The IPTV client application program of the multimedia terminal establishes a TCP connection between the multimedia terminal and the service management platform;

Step 202, the multimedia terminal sends a user authentication request message to the service management platform through an HTTP Get (Get) message, and the user authentication request message includes a user identification (UserID);

Step 203, the business management platform responds to the randomly generated challenge word page for authentication and encryption through an HTTP response (Response) message;

Step 204, the multimedia terminal uses the challenge word field to encrypt user information such as user identification, device identification, IP address, MAC address, and send (Post) messages to the service management platform through HTTP;

Step 205, the service management platform performs identity verification, judges whether the device is a multimedia terminal according to the device identifier, and returns the authentication result and the EPG portal address of the dedicated multimedia terminal through an HTTP response (Response) message after the verification is passed.

Through the above process, user authentication and EPG portal entry address acquisition can be completed.

After the multimedia terminal has obtained the entry address of the multimedia terminal EPG portal, the introduction and/or clips of the live and/or program on demand in the multimedia terminal EPG portal can be browsed, as shown in Figure 3, for the present invention uses the multimedia terminal to browse live and on-demand The signaling flow chart of the program embodiment, the process includes:

Step 301, the IPTV client application program of the multimedia terminal automatically connects to the EPG portal entry address;

Wherein, the method for obtaining the entry address of the EPG portal refers to the above-mentioned embodiment of performing user authentication on the multimedia terminal and obtaining the entry address of the EPG portal;

Step 302, after the multimedia terminal enters the portal page, the user selects the interested IPTV column to browse through the human-computer interaction interface of the multimedia terminal;

Step 303, the user browses the text and picture introduction of on-demand or live programs;

The above browsing interaction is completed using the HTTP protocol, and the multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the movie through the HTTP Response;

Step 304, if the user chooses to watch a video trailer (film clip) of a certain program, the multimedia terminal establishes a connection with the media content system;

Step 305, the multimedia terminal uses a media player to play the video content of the media stream link address;

Step 306: If the user chooses to push a certain program to the TV for playback, the multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the push-to-TV playback instruction and the complete content of the program through the HTTP Response.

The media stream link address of the complete content of the program is the same as the media stream link address selected by the user to play the program in the EPG of the IP set-top box.

Through the above process, the user can use the multimedia terminal to browse live and on-demand programs.

The process in which the multimedia terminal pushes the program to the IP set-top box and plays it on the TV is shown in Figure 4. The process includes:

Step 401, the IPTV client application program of the multimedia terminal establishes a TCP connection between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box, and uses the HTTP protocol to interact with the IP set-top box;

The specific process is as follows:

Step 402, the multimedia terminal sends the media stream link address and the play request message of the program to the IP set-top box through HTTP Get;

Step 403, after the IP set-top box parses the message, immediately stop the current task, and connect to the media stream link address of the program;

Step 404, playing the media content.

In this process, the interaction between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box is instant, and the user who previews the program does not affect the user who watches the IPTV.

The above-mentioned interactive method adopts the existing HTTP mechanism for communication, and realizes data transmission through the built-in page server and page browsing client of the device. It does not need to add a special communication interaction module on these two devices. While reducing the complexity of the system, it also has strong versatility.

Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps in the above method can be completed by instructing related hardware through a program, and the above program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like. Optionally, all or part of the steps in the foregoing embodiments may also be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Correspondingly, each module/unit in the foregoing embodiments may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software function modules. The present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The foregoing are only preferred examples of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and changes. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. an interactive system between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, characterized in that, said interactive system comprises: Multimedia Terminal Electronic Program Guide (EPG) Portal, used to provide introduction preview and/or clip viewing of live and/or on-demand programs; The EPG portal of the IP set-top box corresponds to the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal one by one, and is used to provide the browsing function of the complete program; The multimedia terminal is used to browse the introduction and/or clips of the live and/or on-demand programs in the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal, and obtain the media stream link address of the program after receiving an instruction to push a program to be played on the TV , and send the media stream link address and the playback request message to the IP set-top box through the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message; The IP set-top box is used to receive the play request message and the media stream link address sent by the multimedia terminal, parse the play request message to obtain the play request, connect the media stream link address and play the program; The home router is used for forwarding data between the multimedia terminal and the multimedia terminal EPG portal, between the IP set-top box and the IP set-top box EPG portal, and between the multimedia terminal and the IP set-top box. 2. The interactive system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multimedia terminal is further used to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message. 3. The interactive system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The IP set-top box includes a page server, and the page server is used to receive the play request message and the media stream link address, parse the play request message to obtain the play request, connect the media stream link address and play the program. 4. The interactive system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the interactive system further comprises: The business management platform is used to complete the user authentication of the multimedia terminal and the acquisition of the entrance address of the EPG portal of the multimedia terminal; and the user authentication of the IP set-top box and the acquisition of the entrance address of the EPG portal of the IP set-top box; a media content server, responsible for the processing of the clips of live and/or on-demand programs and the media content of selected programs; and The content distribution network is used to publish the media content processed by the media content server to the edge of the network, and forward it to the multimedia terminal and/or IP set-top box through the home router. 5. an interactive method between a multimedia terminal and an IP set-top box, characterized in that, the interactive method comprises: The multimedia terminal browses the introduction and/or clips of live and on-demand programs in the multimedia terminal EPG portal, and after receiving an instruction to select a program to be pushed to the TV, obtains the media stream link address of the program, and passes the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP The message sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box; wherein, the media stream link address of the program is identical to the media stream link address of the program stored in the IP set-top box EPG portal; and The IP set-top box receives the play request message and the media stream link address, parses the play request message to obtain a play request, connects to the media stream link address and plays the program. 6. The interactive method according to claim 5, wherein the multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the program, and sends the media stream link address and the play request message to IP set-top boxes include: The multimedia terminal obtains the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and sends the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the HTTP obtain message. 7. interactive method according to claim 6, is characterized in that, described IP set-top box receives described play request message and media stream link address, resolves this play request message and obtains play request, connects this media stream link address and Playing the program includes: The IP set-top box receives the play request message and media stream link address through its built-in page server, parses the play request message to obtain a play request, connects to the media stream link address and plays the program. 8. A kind of multimedia terminal, it is characterized in that, described multimedia terminal is used for browsing the introduction and/or clip of the live broadcast in the multimedia terminal EPG portal and program on demand, after receiving the instruction that a program is pushed to TV broadcasting, Obtain the media stream link address of the program, and send the media stream link address and the play request message to the IP set-top box through the hypertext transfer protocol HTTP message; The program's media stream link address is the same. 9. The multimedia terminal according to claim 8, characterized in that, the multimedia terminal is further used to obtain the media stream link address of the program through the HTTP response message, and obtain the media stream link address and play the program through the HTTP response message The request message is sent to the IP set-top box. 10. A kind of IP set-top box, it is characterized in that, described IP set-top box comprises page server, and described page server is used for receiving the receiving play request message and media flow link address that multimedia terminal sends, and resolves this play request message to obtain playing request, connect to the media stream link address and play the program.

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