Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to washing machines for clothes
or dishes and specifically to such washing machines having an
electronic programme control means.
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At prasent one typc~! of washing ~achine normally has
electro-mechanical programme control means including a timing
motor which revolYes a shaft having programme cams thereon
which cams are caused to effect the desired programmS~ switch~
ing. With such a control ~eans~ if there is an interruption
sDf ths~ mains electrical supply during a programmSs~ then~ when
ths9 supply is re-estab~shedg the programme will commence fro~
where it was interrupted unle~3 the shaft has been manually
revolved during the interruption5
In ~ashing machines of the type having an electronic
control means it is necessary to make special provision for
interruption of electrlcal supply during a programme a~sd also
to provide for what i~ to happen at the end of a programme.
It is an ob~ect of the invention to provide a control means
providing a plurality of programmes and in which any selected
~' programme wlll be held where it was interrupted in the ev0nt
of a short term interruption of the mains supply but which
will be reset to its starting condition for switch off of the
~ mains supply or for longar term interruption3 thereof.
; According to ths~ invS~ntion we provide in a washing
machine having; a plurality of electrically energised ~eans
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for performing respective furLctions of the machine; a control
means comprising a logic circ:uit including a prograrnme matr-lx
circuit for causing the machine to operate in accordance with
any one of a plurality of programmes, and a plurality of s~itch
means for selecting respective ones of said programmes; and a
power supply circuit itself energised from a m~ins ~upply for
energi~ing said logic c~rcuit; the improvement wherein--
a. each of said switch means comprises a manuallyoperable momentary switcht
b. a respective one of a plurality of stores i9
operatively connected between a respectively
assQciated one of said mom~ntary switches and
an input of said matrix circuit and is
responsive to operation of said as~ociated
switch to be changed from a disenabled condition
~` to an enabled condition to addrs~s said matrix
circuit for establishing a respective one of
said programmes,
c. means respon~ive to the enabling of any one of
said ~tores are provided to hold the remainder
of said stores each in a disenabled condition,
d~ first reset mean~ are provided for resetting
an enabled one Q~ said stores to its disenabled
condition ln response to completion of the
programme selected by enabling of said store,
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e. second reset ~eans are provid~d ~or resetting
said enabled one of` said ~tores to its dis-
enabled condition i.n response to discontinuanc~
of energisation of said logic circuit by said
power supply mean~ 9
f. memory means are pro~ided for temporarily
m~intaining said second reset m~an~ ln it~ non-
. r~sponsive condition during discontinuance of
;. 3aid mains supply for a period not exceeding a
' predetermined time lnt~rval.
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The control means thu~ provide~ ~or resetting thestores at the end of a programme. Thus~ when reloading the
machine after the completion of a programme the user will
have to make a fresh programm~ ~election before the machine
will start and this avoids the problem of having an i~correct
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programme for the clothes whlch have been loaded into the
. wa~hing machine~
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Secondly~ if there i9 a failure in the electrical
supply to the logic circuit the ~tores will be re~at and it
w111 then be necessary for th0 user to resel~ct a programm~
ha require~; and this will 9tart all ov~r again.
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l`he control include~, howe~0rD a ~hort term memory
means so that the store~ are not re~et Imle3s the main~
supply i9 discontinued for more than a pradetermi~ed time
interval~ e.gO 8 secondsO Such a memory mea~q may b0 a
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capacitor connected across the supply to the logic circuit~
The power supply circuit may include a battery
should it be desired to provida a facil~ty to maintain the
supply to the logic circuit in case of mains interruption on
a longer term ba~is, i~e. ~or more than 8 seconds~ In such
a case the stores will only be reset when the logic circuit
supply is ef~ectively interrupt0d by failure of tha battery,
discharge thereof, or switching off the machine~
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Revarting to the first of the~e rsquirements, i.e,
to maintain logic circuit energisation for up to 8 seconds,
the second reset means may comprise a latching relay which
is latched when any stores is energised by i~itiation of a
programme and drops out on a supply interruption exceeding
said predetermined time lnterval and has a contact ~hich, on
supply re-~stablishment, passe~ a re~et si~nal to the stores~
The memory means may comprise a capacitor connec$ed
to the power supply circuit and to the second reset means,
$he capacitor being charged upon connectlon o~ the power
supply circuit to tha mains supply~ The second reset means
may include means to sense the voltage acro~s the capacitor
and which, when the voltage ~s below a predetermined value~
enables a reset signal to be passed to the stores.
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If desired there is provided m~an~ for ensuring
that, if no programme ha~ been selected, or the ~election
has been cancelled by resetting the storeq, if there is any
water in the washing machine it is pumped out b0fore a
programme can recommence~ Thu~ there may be a le~el switch
in the washi~g compartment of the machine and the control ls
arranged ~o that when -the level switch sense~ that there is
water in the compartment and also that no programme has ~en
selected it will operate means to discharge the water from
the washing compartment before enabling furth~r operatlon of
the machine.
The means for performing reCpecti~e functions of
the machine may include motors~ valYes~ heaters etc~ to
cause the machine to e~ecute a programme.
The invention will now be described in detail by
way of example with reference to the accompanying drawlngs
in which~-
,' ~IGURE 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating an
.- electronic wa~hing machine control means conctituting a flr~t
embodiment of the invention;
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FIGURE 2 is a circuit detail showing a modified
form of second reset means usable in the circuit of Figure 1.
:~IGURE 3 i~ a block diagram illustratlng the manner
in which the logic circult is pro~ided with an electrical
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supply~ and
~ IGURES 4 and 5 are diagrammatic vi~w~ in front
ele~ation and section of a washing machine embodying the
in~ention~
Referring first to ~igure 1~ the washing machine
comprises a washing compartment 10 with which are as~ociated
hot and cold water inlet val-ves 11 and 12 to control inlet of
the water to the compartment. An outlet pipe from the washing
compartment is indicated at 13 and contains a discharge pump
14. A level ~witch 15 projects into the wa~hing compartmentO
Although only one switch is shown there may be two such level
~witches i~ which case the switch 15 will be low level switch.
The wa~hing machine control means is intended to
enable the user to select any one of a number of programmes.
Each programme is brought into operation by a manually opera-
ble programms selector switch of which only two are shown ln
Figure 1 at t6 and 17~ the switches being of the momentary
type which are spring urged to an open positio~. The circuits
a3sociated with each of the switches are similar and one such
circult will be de~cribed first in relation to the swltch 16,
A line 18 con~ects the swltch 16 with an AND gate 19 the
output of which is connected by a line 20 to a store 21 a The
store may be energised~ so that it will pa~q a signal~ by
means of a signal applied along the line 20 to .its S terminal 9
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and may be de-energised to a non-conducting st~te by a signal
applied to its R terminal. A line 22 connects the ou-tput of
the store 2I to a NOR gate 23 which i~ common to all the
selector circuitsJ A line 24 connects the llne 22 to the
line 18 and contains an isolating diode 25.
Associated with the switch 17 in a similar manner
is an AND gate 26, a store 27, a line 28 connecting the ~witch
17 to the AND gate 26, a line 29 connecting the AND gate 26
to the store 27 and a line 30 connecting the store 27 to the
N~R gate 23~ A line 31 connects lines 30 and 28 and contains
an isolating diode 32. The NOR gate 23 receives the outputs
from all of the stores ~uch as 21 and 27 which irl turn are
associat~d with respective ones of the programme selecting
switche~
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` An output line 33 extends from the NOR gate 23 to
'J' a matrix circuit including a programme matrix and including
a read only memory~ The latter is shown diagrammatically as
a number of output line~ from the stepping section 34 of the
matrix, these lines being indlcated at 35, each line corres
ponding to a programme step. A skip line is shown at 36,
the skip line being connected to an OR gate 37 the output
- of which is connected by a line 38 to the input of the
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` stepplng section 34 of the ~atrix,
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A "no programme and inhibit" line 39 con~ects the
line 33 to each o~ the AND gates 19 and 26 and, assuming that
there are more than two programmes, to all the other similar
AND gates a~sociated with the other programmes. A clock
arranged to provide timing pulses is indicated a-t 40 and is
con~ected to the matrix 34~ The timing pulses are preferably
derived from the mains A.C. voltage applied to the washing
machine~
Two programme lines are shown at 41 and 42 connected
to a selection of the programme step lines 35 controlllng
operation of respectively associated functional ~eans. Th2
lines 41 and 42 are connected respectiYely to the lines 22
and 30 and to reqpective inputs of the OR gate 37 and are
a~sociated respectively with the switches 16 and 17~
There will be as many programme lines such as 41
and 42 as there are switches such as 16 and 17, each switch
being associa-ted with~ and being operable to select, a
programme line and thus a desired series of programme steps 9
performance of which i9 dependent flrstly upon sequential
enabling of the lines and secondly upon selective enabling
of a programme line connected thereto. Each programme line
iB also connscted to the OR gate 37.
The stores 21 and 27 are reset, :iOe. de-energise~,
at the end of a programme by means of a signal on a line 43
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from the matrix 34. The line 43 passes to an OR gate ll4 and
the output from the OR ga-te passes along the line 45 to the
reset inputs R of the stores 21 and 270 The line 43 consti-tutes
first reset means to reset the stores at the end o~ a programme~
The logic circuit, which includes the stores, gates
and matrix circuit described, i8 shown in Figura 3 at 46 and
is provided with power from a power supply circuit includlng
a mains transforming and rectifylng circuit 47 controlled by
ganged mains ~witches S1. To retain the logic cirouit
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activated if there should be a short term failure of the mains
supply, a capacitor 52 is connected across the lines 49 to
provide a short term memory, e.gO for 8 seconds. To retain
. the logic circuit activated if there ~hould be a mains failure
exceeding an 8 second duration7 tha power supply circuit
includes a battery 48 connected across the output line 49 o~
the power supply circuit and protected by diodes 50. A switch
S2 is ganged with tha switches S1 to open and close therewithO
A supply indicator light SL is connected across the line~ 49
The battery voltage is slighgly less than the transformed
and rectified voltage acros3 the lines 49. The battery 48 is
; connected across the lines through a switching element 51
conn~cted to the logic circuit. When a programme is sel~cted,
the battery i~ cGnnected across the lines 49 by the element 51,
but, because of the voltage relation already mentioned, there
is no current drain on tha battery so long as the mains is
operativeO If the mains fails, the switches 51 and 52 remaining
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closed9 the battery 48 powers the loglc circuit to maintai~
its state, but no clock pulses are provided because the clock
40 is driven by the ~ains at the frequency thereof. On
resumption of supply from the main~, any programme that was
interrupted when th0 mains failed will pick up at the position
it left off, If the logic circuit electrical supply i~
ir~terrupted by operation of the ~ains ~witches S1 then the
switch S2 i~ also opened and the battery is disconnected from
the logic circuit~ The battery thus powers the logic circuit
only when the supply interruption i9 not caused by opening
the switches S1.
Second reset means is provided to reset the stores
21, 27 etc. in the event of a supply interruption to the
logic circuit, i~eD an interruption of supply to the point~
49a in Figures 1 and 3 but said reset means would be retained
in the unoperated state for short term or long ter~ failures
of the mains supply respectlvely by capacitors 52 and battery
48 according to requirements. One for~ of second reset means
is shown in ~igure 1 in the form of a latching relay 53 having
a coil 54 and nor~ally open contacts 55 and iq connected
across line 49. A~ OR gate 56 is connected by lines 57 and
58 to the lines 20 and 29 respectively, and the output of the
OR gate 56 is connected via a diode 56a by a line 59 to the
relay 53 to bring abo~t initial operation, the relay being
latched in thereafter by closure of contacts 55~ ~he relay
has a further set of contacts 60, these being ~ormally closed,
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and being connected in a lin~e 61 itself connected to input
of the OR gate 44~ to providle a reset signal through OR gate
:' 44 to -terminals R of stores 21 and 27l
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~ An AND gate 62 has inputs rsspectively connected
.; to the li~e 39 by a line 63~ to the le~el switch 15 by a
line 64~and to a pump line 65 of the matrix 34 by a line 66
- which latter also connected to the input of the OR gat,e 37
The output from the AND gate 62 is co~nected by a line 67
through an OR gate 100 to the pump 140 A no~mally open cancel
`. switch 101 has its output connected to the inputs of th~ OR
gates 44 and 100. Operation of the switch 101 resets the
st~res such as Zl and 27 thu~ c~ncelling a~y programme which
has been selected~ and also causes pumping out of any water
in the containsr 15 as will be describedc
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Indicator lights 68 and 69 ar~ connected to the
: lines 18 and 28 respectivsly and are lit when the switch
associated with the line has been operated to selsct a
programme and are retained ln the lit condition by outputs
fro~ llnes 24 and 31 respect~ly. Similar lights are
asscciated with the other pro~ramme switches (not ~hown).
': The opsration of the circu~t thus far described will
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now be explained~ It will be asisumed that the store~ 21 and
27 are de-lanergised, i.e~ in their non~conducting state; and
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that the relay 53 i9 de~energised but that the switches Sl
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and S2 have been clo~ed and that there is electrlcal supply
to the circuit 46.
If the programme selector switch 16 1 3 pressed then
a ~ig~al will pass along the line 18 to the AND gate 19. If
none of the stores such a~ 21 and 27 i3 already energi3ed
there will be a no-programme slgnal on the line 39 and tha
AND gate 19 will have an output which will pass along the
line ZO to energise the store 21. An output will then pa~s
along the line 22 to the NOR gate 23, pro~iding an inverted
output along the line 33 to the stepping section 34 of the
matrix circuit. The light 68 will be energised by means of
a signal along the line 24~ A sig~al on line 33 will also
enable the clock 40 so that the pulses will be passed to
the ~tepping section 34 of the matrix circuit.
The appearance of an inv~rted output o~l the line
39 inhibits all the AND gates such as 19 and 26 and thus
prevents a~other programme bei.ng selected once one programme
has been selected.
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The signal on the line 22 will select the programme
: line 41, a~ld with the enabling of the clock 40, the machine
will start *o wash through the programme steps of the
programme ~elected as determined by the lines 35 to which
the progra~me line 41 i9 connectedO Additional inputs to the
matrix circuit, such as completion signal~ generated by the
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attainment of a predet~rmined temperature, or wa-ter le~el,
are fed into the matrix 34 through the input~ to OR gate 37
along the line 38, and cause stepping of the programme lines
35 to be enabled in sequence in the known ~an~er~
The s~p line 36 i9 provided in case the stepping
. section of the matri~ circuit should move from it~ "home"
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, position with no program~e selected, and ensures that the
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stepping section returns to it~ home position at the clock
frequency ready to start a programme~
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At the cvmpletion of a programme 9 a signal appears
on the line 43 and this i9 fed to the OR gate 44 producing
an output on the line 45 which resets the store 21 to restore
lines 22, 24, 33 and 3g to their initial state~ so that the
machine is nov ready for another programme selection.
~; A similar operation would have taken place had the
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selector switch 17 been pressed in~tead of the selector qwitch
16, but would have involved the ~ND gate 26 and the store 27
and lines 30~ 31~ 33 and 390 Thera will be an AND gate and
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store similarly connected :for each programme switch.
Wh,en a signal appears on the line 20 due to opera-
. tio~ o~ the switch 16, the signal is fed along the line 57
;~ to the OR gate 56, thu~ producing a sîg~al in the lina 59
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~; to energise the relay 53 and close the contacts 55, thus
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latching the relay in and opening the contacts 600 Should
there be an interruption in the supply to the logic circuit 9
due either to a power failure exceeding 8 seconds, or opening
of the switches S1 and S2 9 then the relay 53 will drop out
and this wlll cause opening of the contacts 55 and closing of
the contacts 60. A reset si~nal level ~aintained on line 61
will pass through the contacts 60~ both prior to operation
of any of the switches such as 16, 17 and when contacts 60
close due to the power failure or opening o~ switches S1 and
S2 as just mentioned. The reset signal generated will pass
through the OR gate 44 to the reset line 45 thus to reset the
stores 21 and 27 and all the other stores. It will thus be
necessary for the user9 after a supply interruption, to
reselect a new programme which will then start from the
beginning.
A short ~upply interruption~ e.g. not more than
8 seconds~ will not affect the programme because of the short
term memory provided by the capacitor 52. When the battary
48 is provided main3 failure of longer than 8 seconds~ while
the switches S1 and S2 are closed, will be dealt with by
the battery 48 holding the logic circuit in the state it is
at failure and the second reset means unopera-ted. Should
the battery voltage be low9 or should it not be pro~ided~
the stores will be reset a~ter 8 second~ as al~eady described~
Inter~uption of the supply by opening the switches S1 and S2
will result in resetting of the stores by closure v~ normally
open contacts 60.
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It is possible for the supply failure to have taken
place when the programme i9 at a state in which -there is water
in the washing compartment 10 and it will therefore be de~ir
able for this compartment to be emptied before the programme
is restarted. If there i5 a no-programme signal on the line
3g and a signal from the level switch 15 showing that there
is water in the washing compartment 9 signals will pass along
the lines 63 9 64 and 66 to the AND gate 62 and this will
bring about operation of the pump 14 by means of a signal
pas3ing along the line 67 Op~ration o~ the pump may be
terminated~ either after a predetermined ti~e d0lay, or when
further senslng means~ not shown~ senses that there is virtually
no water left in the wa~hing compartment. After the water has
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been discharged from the washing compartment the programme
can continue. Operation of the cancel button 101 will also
operate the pump 14 through the OR gate 100 a~ well as resetting
the stores through the OR gate 440
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The invention provides first reset means which
resets the stores 21 and 27~ i~eO de-energi3e~ them~ to a
; non~conducting state at the end of a progra~me by m~ans o~
~` the signal on the line 43. Also provided is second reset
means comprising the relay 53 which ensures that, aft0r ~ains
supply interruption of not ~ore than 8 seconds, or longer if
battery 48 is provided~ the stores are r~s0t to their non
i; conductlng states thus preventing the pic~ing up of a
programme at a random point, or the inadvertent use of the
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wrong programme due to it having been used the last time
the machine was used.
Figure 2 shows an alternative arrangement in which
the capacitor 52 is replaced by a re~istor 71 and capacitor
709 and latching relay 53 is replaced by a store 73, and in
which the OR gate 56 and its as~ociated line~ 57~ 58 and ~9
are omitted.
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Thus ref'erring to Figure 2~ the capacitor 70 and
resistor 71 are con~ected in series across the logic circuit
~upply lines 72 corresponding to lines 49 o~ Figure 1. The
store 73, having set and reset inputs S and R, is connected
across the capacitor and its output i3 connected to a line
74 itqelf connected to one input of an AND gate 75. The
output from the AND gate 75 i9 connected by a line 76 to an
OR gate 44a, the line 76 taking the place of the line ~1 in
~igure 1~ The circuit is otherwi~e as Figure 1, the gate
44a taking the place of the gate 44~ A reset signal is
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applied along the line 77 to the AND gate 75 from the positive
line.
The store 73 compares th0 voltaga across the
capacitor 70 with the thre~hold reset voltage of the store.
When the supply 72 is first connected the signals on both
the R and S inputs of the ~tore 73 are both low, as capacitor
70 charges R input is dominant and there will be a reset
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signal on the line 74 which~ with the positiv~ supply connected
on line 77, will provide an output on -the llne 76 and thus
a reset signal on the line 45a corresponding to the line 45.
When the capacitor 70 is cha:rged voltage on the S input
builds up, the store 73 will be ener~ised so that there will
be no output on the lines 74 and 76 and thus no reset signal
on the line 45a until a mains failure of sufficient duration
has occurred to discharge capacitor 70 to supply a signal at
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Referring now -to Figures 4 and 59 these ~how a
washing machine embodying the invention~ the washing machine
comprising a cabinet 80 having a front loading door 81 and
a control panel 82. The control panel carries a pl~lrality
of momentary switches some of which are indicated at 83, the
switches controlling the programmes and being equivalent to
the ~witches 16 and 17 shown in Figure 1. Associated with
each switch is an indicator light, some of which are indicated
at 84~ The control panel also carries the mains switch S1,
the indicator light SL and the cancel switch 101. The
washing container is indicated in Figure 5 at 85 and i~
rotated by means of a motor 86 by means of a belt 87 entrained
aro~ld pulle~s on the motor and the contain~r 85~
The washing machirle includes functional items such
as the water inlet valves 10 and 11 shown in Figure 1~ the
motor 86, if desired a heater for the water and level switches
and the various functional elements of th0 washing machine,
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i.e. the motors~ valves etc. are operated in the clesired
sequence :for the particular programme upon r~ceiving signals
from the logic circuit as determined by the conn0ction
between the programme lines such ~s 41 ancl 42 and the programme
~tep lines 35.
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