JP4228729B2 - Coupon issuing device and sales promotion system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technology for sales promotion, and more particularly, to a technology for sales promotion using a coupon ticket issuing device that describes a privilege that can be received.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Terminals called so-called KIOSK terminals that issue coupons for receiving benefits such as discounts on products and services are installed in convenience stores, station squares, downtown areas, and the like. The customer can receive the benefits described in the coupon by acquiring the coupon at this terminal and bringing the coupon to each store. The store can promote sales with this coupon.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, even if the KIOSK terminal issues a coupon ticket, there are many things that are not actually used in the store. Alternatively, there are many cases in which a customer obtains a coupon for the time being but is left unused for a long time. For a store, sales promotion can be achieved only after the coupon is used, so there is a desire to increase the coupon usage rate.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for promoting sales by increasing the utilization rate of coupons.
[0005]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for increasing the coupon utilization rate.
[0006]
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for shortening the time from issuance of a coupon to use.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A ticket issuing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a sales promotion information storage unit storing a plurality of sales promotion information whose contents change according to an elapsed time from a ticketing time, and one sales promotion information. An accepting means for accepting a ticket issuing request for the described coupon, an obtaining means for obtaining the one sales promotion information from the sales promotion information storing means based on the ticket issuing request accepted by the accepting means, a ticket issuing time, and the obtaining Ticket issuing means for issuing a coupon ticket describing the sales promotion information acquired by the means. Thereby, a motivation can be given to the customer who acquired the coupon so that a coupon may be used early.
[0008]
In a preferred embodiment, the ticket issuing means may further describe a barcode for identifying the ticket issuing time and the sales promotion information on the coupon ticket. Thereby, the ticket issuing time and the sales promotion information can be read by the barcode reader when the coupon is used.
[0009]
In a preferred embodiment, the ticket issuing means further comprises means for changing the sales promotion information acquired by the acquisition means based on the distance from the ticket issuing device to the store, and the ticket issuing means is the sales promotion information acquired by the acquisition means. Instead of this, a voucher describing the sales promotion information changed by the changing means may be issued. Thereby, sales promotion information can be changed according to the distance from a ticket issuing apparatus to a store.
[0010]
In a preferred embodiment, the ticket issuing means further comprises means for changing the sales promotion information acquired by the acquiring means when the ticket issuing time belongs to a predetermined time zone, and the ticket issuing means is acquired by the acquiring means. Instead of the sales promotion information, a coupon ticket describing the sales promotion information changed by the changing means may be issued. Accordingly, the sales promotion information can be changed between a crowded time zone and a non-crowded time zone.
[0011]
In a preferred embodiment, weather information storage means for storing weather information in the vicinity of the ticket issuing device, and the sales promotion information acquired by the acquisition means is changed based on the weather information stored in the weather information storage means. The ticket issuing means can issue a coupon ticket that describes the sales promotion information changed by the changing means, instead of the sales promotion information acquired by the acquiring means. Thereby, sales promotion information can be changed according to the weather.
[0012]
In a preferred embodiment, based on the past results and the current ticketing status corresponding to the current time, the obtaining unit stores the past number of tickets issued by time and stores the past results. Means for changing the acquired sales promotion information, and the ticket issuing means issues a coupon ticket describing the sales promotion information changed by the changing means instead of the sales promotion information acquired by the acquiring means. To be able to. Thereby, sales promotion information can be changed based on the ticketing situation and comparison result of a normal same time slot | zone.
[0013]
In a preferred embodiment, the sales promotion information stored in the sales promotion information storage means may be updatable from an information processing device connected to the ticket issuing device. Thereby, sales promotion information can be changed flexibly and a sales promotion effect can be heightened.
[0014]
In a preferred embodiment, the ticket issuing means may further describe identification information for identifying the coupon in the coupon ticket. As a result, it is possible to perform a lottery with the coupon ticket identification information.
[0015]
In a preferred embodiment, the sales data storage means storing information related to sales or the number of visitors, and the change for changing the sales promotion information acquired by the acquisition means based on the information stored in the sales data storage means Means for issuing a coupon ticket describing the sales promotion information changed by the changing means, instead of the sales promotion information acquired by the acquisition means.
[0016]
Further, at this time, the changing means can calculate a discount limit rate or a discount limit amount and change the sales promotion information based on the discount limit rate or discount limit amount. Thereby, sales promotion information can be changed according to conditions, such as sales, and a sales promotion effect can be heightened.
[0017]
A ticket issuing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a sales promotion information storage unit storing a plurality of sales promotion information whose contents change according to an elapsed time from a ticketing time, and one sales promotion information. An accepting means for accepting a ticket issuing request for the described coupon, a means for obtaining the current time, and an obtaining means for obtaining the one sales promotion information from the sales promotion information storage means based on the ticket issuing request accepted by the accepting means. And means for converting the elapsed time from the ticketing time included in the one sales promotion information based on the current time to calculate the final time when each benefit is received, and included in the one sales promotion information And a means for issuing a coupon that describes the content of the privilege and the final time at which the privilege is received.
[0018]
Thereby, in order to receive the privilege described in the coupon ticket, it is understood how long it is necessary to go to the store, which leads to promotion of use of the coupon ticket.
[0019]
In a preferred embodiment, the calculating means may further calculate the final time based on an expected required time required to reach the store from the ticket issuing device.
[0020]
The sales promotion system according to one embodiment of the present invention receives a sales promotion information storage unit that stores a plurality of sales promotion information in which the contents of a privilege change according to the elapsed time from the ticketing time, and inputs customer identification information. Customer information storage means for storing first reception means, second reception means for receiving a ticket issuing request describing one piece of sales promotion information, customer identification information, and customer usage record in association with each other And, based on the customer's usage record of the identification information received by the first accepting means, the second accepting means changes the one sales promotion information for which the ticketing request has been accepted, and the first accepting means accepts Accepting the input of the customer identification information, the ticketing time, the ticket issuing means for issuing the coupon that describes the changed sales promotion information, and the customer identification information described in the coupon, And means for updating the usage record stored in the customer-information storing means based on the.
[0021]
A sales promotion system according to one embodiment of the present invention uses a coupon ticket that includes a coupon ticket issuing device, an input device that accepts input of information described in the coupon, and a customer information storage device. In the promotion system, the customer information storage device includes a means for storing customer identification information and a customer rank in association with each other, and a means for updating the customer rank. A promotional information storage means for storing a plurality of sales promotion information whose contents change according to the elapsed time, a first reception means for receiving input of customer identification information, and a coupon describing a piece of sales promotion information The second receiving means for receiving the ticket issuing request, the customer information storing means for storing the customer identification information and the past usage record of the customer in association with each other, and the first receiving means Based on the past usage record of the customer of the identification information, the second receiving means changes the one sales promotion information for which the ticketing request has been accepted, the identification information for identifying the coupon to be issued, the ticketing time, and Ticket issuing means for issuing a coupon ticket that describes the changed sales promotion information, identification information of the coupon ticket, customer identification information received by the first accepting means, and information indicating the usage status of the coupon ticket And a means for updating the information indicating the usage status of the coupon ticket based on the notification from the input device, and the input device identifies the coupon ticket. A third receiving means for receiving an input of information; and a means for notifying the ticket issuing device of the identification information received by the third receiving means. On the basis of the information indicating the usage of coupons means, updating the customer ranks.
[0022]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a sales promotion system according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0023]
The overall structure of this system is shown in FIG. This system includes a coupon ticket issuing device 1 and store terminals 8 installed in each store. The ticket issuing device 1 and the store terminal 8 are connected to each other via a network 9. A coupon ticketing apparatus 1 includes a ticketing apparatus body 10, an input device 2, a display device 3, and a printer 4.
[0024]
The ticket issuing apparatus body 10 and the store terminal 8 are both configured by, for example, a general-purpose computer system, and individual components or functions in the ticket issuing apparatus 10 and the store terminal 8 described below execute, for example, a computer program. Is realized.
[0025]
As the input device 2 and the display device 3, for example, a touch panel integrated with each other can be used. The printer 4 prints and outputs a coupon as will be described later.
[0026]
The ticket issuing apparatus body 10 further includes a control unit 11 that controls each process described below, a time measuring unit 12 that informs the current time, a coupon information database 13, a customer database 14, a ticketing database 15, and weather information. A database 16, a sales database 17, and a map database 18 are provided.
[0027]
The coupon information database 13 includes a coupon table 21 and a store table 22. The customer database 14 has a customer table 23. The ticketing database 15 has a ticketing history table 24 and a timed ticketing counter table 25. The weather information database 16 includes a region table 26, a weather code table 27, and a weather table 28. The sales database 17 has a sales table 29.
[0028]
The coupon table 21 stores, for each store, a plurality of pieces of sales promotion information in which the content of a privilege that can be received by a customer who brought a coupon ticket changes according to the elapsed time from the ticketing time. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, a coupon code 211 indicating the type of coupon, a store code 212, incentive information 213 for sales promotion, and a ticket issue number 224 are included as data items.
[0029]
In the present embodiment, the incentive information 213 stores an elapsed time (minutes) from ticketing and a discount rate (%) up to the elapsed time. There can be a plurality of combinations of elapsed time and discount rate. The specific contents of the incentive information 213 (for example, how many minutes the elapsed time is set and how much the discount rate is set) can be individually determined by each store. The incentive information 213 may be updatable. For example, the incentive information 213 of the store can be updated by accessing the store terminal 8 or a store manager's mobile phone (not shown) via the network 9.
[0030]
The store table 22 stores information related to a store to which the ticket issuing device 1 issues a coupon. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the data item includes a store code 221, a store name 222, a store address 223, a store telephone number 224, a comment 225 from the store, and a time zone coefficient 226. . The time zone coefficient 226 is a coefficient for strengthening the incentive in a predetermined time zone where the incentive is desired to be strengthened.
[0031]
The customer table 23 stores information about customers who acquire and use coupons. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the data item includes a customer code 231, a name 232, a customer address 233, a customer telephone number 224, an age 225, a gender 226, and a customer rank 227. This customer table 23 is an information processing apparatus other than the ticket issuing apparatus main body 10 and may exist on an information processing apparatus that the ticket issuing apparatus main body 10 can access via a network or the like. As will be described later, the customer rank 227 is determined by the number of times a coupon is issued and the number of times of use (or usage rate).
[0032]
The ticketing history table 24 stores the ticketing history of the coupon ticket issued by the ticketing device 1. For example, as shown to Fig.4 (a), it has ticket issue number 241, coupon ID242, coupon code 243, ticket issue date / time 244, customer code 245, and use flag 246 as a data item. The use flag 246 is a flag indicating whether or not the issued coupon is used. When the ticket is issued, “0” indicating that the flag is not used is set.
[0033]
The ticket issuing counter table by time zone 25 stores the ticket issuing performance by time zone for each type of coupon ticket. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the coupon includes a coupon code 251, a ticketing date 252, a time-based ticketing number 253, and a total ticketing number 254. Here, the number of tickets issued per hour is stored.
[0034]
The region table 26 is a table for assigning a region code for each region. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, a region code 261 and a region name 262 are associated with each other.
[0035]
The weather code table 27 is a table for assigning a weather code or the like to the weather. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the data item includes a weather code 271, weather 272, an incentive coefficient 273, and a time coefficient 274.
[0036]
For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, the weather table 28 stores a weather forecast 262 for each time zone for each region code 261. The weather forecast (expected weather) is represented by a weather code. The incentive coefficient 273 is a coefficient for increasing the discount rate and enhancing the incentive than when the weather is clear. The time coefficient 274 is a coefficient for making the time during which the incentive is effective longer than in fine weather.
[0037]
The information stored in the weather table 28 can be acquired from, for example, a weather forecast information providing server (not shown) connected via the network 9.
[0038]
The sales table 29 stores the sales amount and the number of visitors at each store. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the data item includes a date 291, a store code 292, a sales amount 293, and the number of customers 294. The data of the sales table 29 can also be acquired from the store terminal 8 via a network, for example.
[0039]
Next, the process which the ticket issuing apparatus 1 of the coupon ticket which has said structure performs is demonstrated. First, information described in the coupon will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, according to the information displayed on the coupon 50, the description area is divided into three and managed. That is, the coupon ticket 50 includes a store area 51 for describing information related to the store such as a store name, a store address, and a telephone number, and a sales promotion area for describing incentive information that gives the customer an incentive to visit the store or purchase products. 52 and an additional area 53 for describing a coupon issue time, a coupon ID, a barcode, and the like.
[0040]
The coupon ticket issuing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is preferably installed in a busy street such as a station square or a busy street. A passing customer can obtain a coupon from the ticket issuing device 1. The first ticketing procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0041]
<Ticketing process 1>
The control unit 11 causes the display device 3 to display a store or coupon selection screen. At this time, the customer selects one of them using the input device 2 and issues a coupon ticket issuing request (S11). If a customer code is input in step S11, management by customer as described later becomes possible. For the input of the customer code, for example, a card in which the customer code is recorded in advance is handed over to the customer, and a card reader (not shown) may read the card.
[0042]
The control unit 11 acquires the incentive information 213 from the coupon table 21 based on the store code 212 of the selected store or the coupon code 211 of the selected coupon (S12). Next, store name 222, store address 223, store phone number 224, and store comment 225 are acquired from store table 22 using store code 221 as a key (S13). And the present time is acquired from the time measuring part 12 (S14). The control unit 11 generates a unique coupon ID (for example, an arbitrary combination of a coupon code and the number of tickets issued), stores the ticketing history in the ticketing history database 24, and issues the number of tickets 214 issued in the coupon table 21 and the time-specific ticketing. The number of tickets 253 by time zone in the counter table 25 is updated (S15). Finally, the printer 4 prints the information acquired from the store table 22 in the store area 51 in response to the instruction from the control unit 11, the incentive information in the sales promotion area 52, and the issue time in the additional area 53, respectively. (See FIG. 7) is output (S16).
[0043]
In this way, the discount rate decreases as time passes from the time of ticketing, so it can be expected that customers who have obtained this coupon will soon go to the store.
[0044]
In this ticket issuing process, various processes or functions can be added. For example, a barcode 55 a indicating incentive information printed in the sales promotion area 52 and a barcode 55 b indicating issue time may be generated and printed in the additional area 53. An example of this is shown in FIG. Further, a two-dimensional barcode indicating incentive information and the current time may be used.
[0045]
Alternatively, the coupon ID 56 generated in step S15 may be printed in the additional area 53. An example of this is shown in FIG. Further, the coupon ID may be converted into a barcode and printed on the additional area 53. In addition, in the example of FIG. 10, it is described that there is a possibility of further receiving a privilege with the coupon ID 56 as a lucky number. Furthermore, when the customer code input is accepted, the customer code may be printed in the additional area 53.
[0046]
<Processing at the time of use>
When the customer brings the coupon issued as described above to each store, the privilege shown in the sales promotion area 52 can be received. At this time, the store terminal 8 may have the following functions. That is, when the coupon ID or the customer code is printed on the coupon, the store clerk inputs the coupon ID or the customer code into the store terminal 8 or reads the barcode indicating the coupon ID. The store terminal 8 notifies the ticket issuing device body 10 of the coupon ID or customer code input here. The control unit 11 of the ticket issuing apparatus main body 10 changes the use flag 246 of the ticket issuing history table 24 to “1” indicating that it has been used, using the notified coupon ID or customer code as a key.
[0047]
Thereby, it can be grasped | ascertained whether the coupon ticket which the ticket issuing apparatus 1 issued was actually utilized, and it becomes possible to measure the effect of the sales promotion activity by the ticket issuing apparatus 1. FIG.
[0048]
<Updating customer rank>
When the usage status of the coupon ticket issued as described above can be grasped, it is also possible to grasp the usage status for each customer. Then, the customers can be ranked based on the usage situation for each customer. The specific processing will be described below.
[0049]
First, when customer registration is performed by assigning a unique customer code to a customer, the lowest rank 3 is set as the customer rank 238. The following processing is preferably performed regularly (for example, once a month).
[0050]
The control unit 11 refers to the ticketing history table 24 and counts the number of tickets issued and the number of uses for each customer for a predetermined period or all periods using the customer code 245 as a key. And the control part 11 determines a customer rank based only on the ticketing frequency | count and usage frequency, or only the usage frequency. For example, a customer who has a predetermined number of tickets issued is ranked one rank above rank 2, and among rank 2 customers, a customer whose number of uses is equal to or greater than a predetermined number or whose utilization rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is the highest rank 1 It may be. In this way, customers can be ranked. Then, as will be described later, the incentive information may be changed using this customer rank.
[0051]
<Ticketing process 2>
In the first ticketing processing procedure, the incentive information 213 acquired from the coupon table 21 is printed in the sales promotion area 52 as it is. Next, a case where the incentive information 213 is changed and printed in the sales promotion area 52 will be described as a second ticketing processing procedure.
[0052]
A flowchart of the second ticketing procedure is shown in FIG. As can be seen from this flowchart, the difference from the ticketing process 1 is step S21 for converting incentive information. When the incentive information is converted in step S21, the converted incentive information is printed in the sales promotion area 52 in step S16. A plurality of processing modes can be applied as step S21, and each will be described. The following conversion processes can be arbitrarily combined.
[0053]
The first conversion process is a process of converting the elapsed time from the ticketing time included in the incentive information to the last valid time. From the elapsed time from the ticketing time included in the incentive information 213 and the current time acquired from the timekeeping unit 12, the final time for receiving each discount is calculated. For example, when the current time is 7 pm, the incentive information “10% off if within 30 minutes from the ticketing time” is converted to “10% off until 7:30 pm”.
[0054]
The second conversion process is a process of converting the incentive information 213 based on the distance from the ticket issuing device 1 to the store. For example, the distance to the store is obtained based on the current position (installation position of the ticket issuing device) stored in a storage device (not shown), the store address 223 in the store table 22 and the map information in the map database 14. When the distance is obtained here, a distance coefficient corresponding to the distance is obtained. Here, the road coefficient is a coefficient that enhances the incentive according to the distance, and is stored in the map database 14. Then, the discount rate is increased by multiplying each discount rate of the incentive information 213 by a road coefficient corresponding to the road distance. Thereby, when it takes time to move from the ticket issuing apparatus 1 to the store, the discount rate can be increased to enhance the sales promotion effect.
[0055]
The third conversion process is a process of converting the incentive information 213 when a time zone in which incentives are desired to be strengthened is determined in advance and the current time acquired from the time measuring unit 12 belongs to that time zone. For example, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the current time belongs to a predetermined time zone, and if so, acquires the time zone coefficient 226 of each store, multiplies each discount rate by the time zone coefficient, and calculates the discount rate. Up.
[0056]
The fourth conversion process is a process of converting incentive information based on weather information stored in the weather database 16. For example, the area code of the place where the ticket issuing apparatus 1 is installed is acquired from the area table 26. Furthermore, a weather code of the current weather or a predicted weather in the future (for example, 1-2 hours ahead) is acquired from the weather table 28 based on the region code. Then, the incentive coefficient 273 and the time coefficient 274 corresponding to this weather code are acquired from the weather code table 27.
[0057]
Then, each discount rate included in the incentive information is multiplied by the incentive coefficient 273 acquired here, and the elapsed time included in the incentive information is multiplied by the time coefficient 274 acquired here to change the incentive information. . At this time, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, the incentive coefficient 273 and the time coefficient 274 are 1 when the weather is fine, and are larger than 1 when it is raining or heavy snow. In other words, incentives are strengthened to appeal to customers even in fine weather than in fine weather.
[0058]
The fifth conversion process performs a process of changing the incentive information so as to strengthen the incentive when the number of tickets issued today (today) is small as compared with the past ticketing results in the same time period. For example, the control unit 11 refers to the time zone ticketing counter table 25 and calculates, for example, the average for the last one week as the past time zone ticketing performance. Then, the past ticketing results and the ticketing status up to the present day are compared. For example, if the current number of tickets issued is less than a certain percentage (for example, 30%) compared to the actual number of tickets issued in the same time period, change the incentive information by increasing the discount rate. Enhance incentives.
[0059]
The sixth conversion process performs a process of changing the incentive according to the sales situation of each store. This changes the incentive information based on the sales information stored in the sales table 29. For example, the control unit 11 calculates a limit discount rate or a limit discount amount for each store based on the sales amount 293 and the number of visitors 294, and changes the incentive information.
[0060]
The seventh conversion process performs a process of changing the incentive for each customer according to the customer rank. At this time, the control unit 11 refers to the customer rank 238 and changes the incentive information according to the customer rank. For example, when the customer rank is rank 3, the incentive information is left unchanged. When the customer rank is rank 2, the incentive information is changed so as to be more advantageous to the customer than rank 3. When the customer rank is rank 1, the incentive information is changed so as to be more advantageous for the customer than the case of rank 2. As described above, if the customer rank is updated in accordance with the number of uses of the present system, a customer with a higher number of uses can receive more advantageous benefits.
[0061]
By performing the conversion process as described above, the ticket issuing device 1 can issue coupon coupons that describe various aspects of incentive information. As a result, a privilege attractive to the customer is given, and the use promotion of the issued coupon can be expected.
[0062]
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a sales promotion system according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a coupon information database.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a customer database.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a ticketing database.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a weather information database.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sales database.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a coupon ticket.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a first ticketing processing procedure.
FIG. 9 is a diagram of the first embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram according to the first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a second ticketing processing procedure.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Coupon ticket issuing device, 2 ... Input device, 3 ... Display device, 4 ... Printer, 8 ... Store terminal, 9 ... Network, 10 ... Ticketing device main body, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Timekeeping part, 13 ... Coupon Information database, 14 ... customer database, 15 ... ticketing database, 16 ... weather information database, 17 ... sales database, 18 ... map database.

Claims (2)

A voucher issuing device,
Promotion information storage means storing a plurality of sales promotion information in which the content of the privilege changes according to the elapsed time from the ticketing time;
Accepting means for accepting a coupon ticketing request describing one piece of sales promotion information;
An acquisition means for acquiring the one sales promotion information from the sales promotion information storage means based on the ticketing request received by the reception means;
Changing means for changing the sales promotion information acquired by the acquiring means based on the distance from the ticket issuing device to the store for which the coupon ticket is issued;
Ticketing time, and be provided with a ticketing means for issuing coupons described promotional information changed by said changing means,
A ticket issuing device characterized by the above . A voucher issuing device,
Promotion information storage means storing a plurality of sales promotion information in which the content of the privilege changes according to the elapsed time from the ticketing time;
Accepting means for accepting a coupon ticketing request describing one piece of sales promotion information;
A means for obtaining the current time;
An acquisition means for acquiring the one sales promotion information from the sales promotion information storage means based on the ticketing request received by the reception means;
A calculation means for converting an elapsed time from the ticketing time included in the one sales promotion information based on a current time, and calculating a final time when each benefit is received;
Ticket issuing means for issuing a coupon that describes the content of the privilege included in the one sales promotion information and the final time at which the privilege is received ;
The calculating means further calculates the final time based on an estimated required time required to reach the ticketing target store from the ticketing device;
A ticket issuing device characterized by the above .

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