In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for allocating a second number of buckets for a hash table shared concurrently by a plurality of threads, where the second number of buckets are logically mapped onto a corresponding parent one of the first number of buckets, and publishing an updated capacity of the hash table to complete the allocation, without performing any rehashing, such that the rehashing can later be performed in an on-demand, per bucket basis. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Hash tables are a fundamental building block in diverse applications such as databases, search engines, statistics processing, and dynamic script languages. Hash tables are a family of containers that associate keys with values. Hash tables calculate placement position for an item stored in an entry of the table, i.e., a bucket, using its hash value and a current capacity of the container. However containers usually need to dynamically increase capacity, which means either reallocation or allocation of an additional chunk of memory. So, increased capacity leads to invalidation of item placement and requires items to be moved to new places, which is commonly referred to as rehashing.
For known concurrent algorithms for hash tables, when a thread decides to resize a container, it blocks (i.e., temporarily stops) some (or even all) concurrent operations on the table until it finishes both resizing and rehashing processes. This leads to degradation in concurrency, and thus in performance. Another problem is that running time and complexity of operations with resizing differ significantly from the same operations without resizing.

Performing concurrent rehashing of a hash table for multithreaded applications


A method for automatically checking and adjusting a calibration of a mass spectrometer having a first quadrupole (Q1), a fragmentation cell and a mass analyzer comprises: introducing a sample having at least one known chemical entity; decreasing a kinetic energy so as to prevent fragmentation of ions in the fragmentation cell; optionally applying a drag field to the fragmentation cell; ionizing the at least one known chemical entity sample to generate a set of ions; performing a mass scan of the set of ions using Q1; transmitting the scanned ions through Q1 to and through the fragmentation cell; detecting the scanned and transmitted ions by a detector of the mass analyzer; and comparing the results with expected results. Embodiments may include automatic recalibration or notification of possible errors, need for further data processing or an analysis of system performance.

In a simple mass spectrometry (MS) system, ions of a sample are formed in an ion source, such as for instance an Electron Impact (EI) source, an electrospray (ESI) source or an Atmospheric Pressure Ionization (API) source. The ions then pass through a mass analyzer, such as for instance a quadrupole (Q) or a time of flight (TOF) device, for detection. The detected ions include at least one of molecular ions, fragments of the molecular ions, and fragments of other fragment ions.
Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) systems have been developed and are well known. Such tandem systems are characterized by having two or more sequential stages of mass analysis and an intermediate ion fragmentation, where ions from the first stage are fragmented into product ions for analysis within the second stage. There are two basic types of tandem mass spectrometers, namely those that are "tandem in space" and those that are "tandem in time." Tandem-in-space mass spectrometers, such as for instance triple quadrupole (QqQ) and quadrupole-time of flight (Q-TOF) devices, have two distinct mass analyzers, one for precursor ion selection and one for product ion detection and/or measurement. An ion fragmentation device, such as for instance a gas-filled collision cell, is disposed between the two mass analyzers for receiving ions from the first mass analyzer and for fragmenting the ions to form product ions for introduction into the second mass analyzer. Tandem-in-time instruments, on the other hand, have one mass analyzer that analyses both the precursor ions and the product ions, but that does so sequentially in time. Ion trap and FT-ICR are two common types of mass spectrometer that are used for tandem in time MS/MS.
Several MS/MS scan types, in particular "product ion scan", "precursor ion scan" "neutral loss scan," and Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM) scan are known. Performing a "product ion scan" is done by selecting a particular precursor ion in the first MS stage, and then obtaining in the second MS stage a full scan of the product ions that are formed when the selected precursor ion is fragmented. A "precursor scan," is a method that has a fixed product ion selection for the second MS stage, while using the first MS stage to scan all of the pre-fragmentation precursor ions in a sample. Detection is limited to only those molecules/compounds in the sample that produce a specific product ion when fragmented. In the SRM mode, only a specific precursor/product ion pair is monitored. Multiple precursor/product ion pairs can be monitored during a specific analysis. Finally, a "neutral loss scan" is a method that supports detection of all precursor ions that lose a particular mass (non-charged) during fragmentation. The second stage mass analyzer scans the ions together with the first stage mass analyzer, but with a predetermined offset corresponding to the lost mass. Neutral loss scans are used for screening experiments, where a group of compounds all give the same mass loss during fragmentation.
In theory and in practice, the steps of selecting ions and fragmenting the selected ions can be repeated iteratively. For instance, an MS/MS/MS (or MS3) analysis would include a precursor ion selection step, a fragmentation step that produces first-generation product ions by fragmentation of the selected precursor ion(s), a product-ion selection step, a second fragmentation step that produces second-generation product ions from the selected first-generation product ions and, finally, mass analysis of the second-generation product ions. The symbolism MSN (N an integer) is sometimes used to indicate tandem mass spectrometry experiments that include N generations of ions (a first generation consisting of precursor ions followed by N−1 generations of product ions). According to this same scheme, simple, non-tandem mass spectrometry is denoted by MS1 or, simply, MS.
FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of an example of a conventional mass spectrometer system, shown generally at 200, capable of providing collisional ion dissociation. Referring to FIG. 1A, an ion source 212 housed in an ionization chamber 24 is connected to receive a liquid or gaseous sample from an associated apparatus such as for instance a liquid chromatograph or syringe pump through a capillary 207. As but one example, an atmospheric pressure electrospray source is illustrated. However, any ion source may be employed, such as a heated electrospray ionization (H-ESI) source, an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source, an atmospheric pressure matrix assisted laser desorption (MALDI) source, a photoionization source, or a source employing any other ionization technique or a combination of the above techniques. The ion source 212 forms charged particles 209 (either ions or charged droplets that may be desolvated so as to release ions) representative of the sample. The charged particles 209 are subsequently transported from the ion source 212 to the mass analyzer 39 in high-vacuum chamber 226 through intermediate-vacuum chambers 218 and 225 of successively lower pressure in the direction of ion travel. In particular, the droplets or ions are entrained in a background gas and may be transported from the ion source 212 through an ion transfer tube 216 that passes through a first partition element or wall 215a into an intermediate-vacuum chamber 218 which is maintained at a lower pressure than the pressure of the ionization chamber 24 but at a higher pressure than the pressure of the high-vacuum chamber 226. The ion transfer tube 216 may be physically coupled to a heating element or block 223 that provides heat to the gas and entrained particles in the ion transfer tube so as to aid in desolvation of charged droplets so as to thereby release free ions.
Due to the differences in pressure between the ionization chamber 24 and the intermediate-vacuum chamber 218 (FIG. 1A), gases and entrained ions are caused to flow through ion transfer tube 216 into the intermediate-vacuum chamber 218. A second plate or partition element or wall 215b separates the intermediate-vacuum chamber 218 from a second intermediate-pressure region 225, likewise a third plate or partition element or wall 215c separates the second intermediate pressure region 225 from the high-vacuum chamber 226. A first ion optical assembly 27a provides an electric field that guides and focuses the ion stream leaving ion transfer tube 216 through an aperture 222 in the second partition element or wall 215b that may be an aperture of a skimmer 221. A second ion optical assembly 27b may be provided so as to transfer or guide ions to an aperture 227 in the third plate or partition element or wall 215c and, similarly, another ion optical assembly 27c may be provided in the high vacuum chamber 226 containing a mass analyzer 39. The ion optical assemblies or lenses 27a-27c may comprise transfer elements, such as, for instance a multipole ion guide, so as to direct the ions through aperture 222 and into the mass analyzer 39. The mass analyzer 39 comprises one or more detectors 48 whose output can be displayed as a mass spectrum. Vacuum ports 213, 217 and 219 may be used for evacuation of the various vacuum chambers.
The mass spectrometer system 200 (as well as other such systems illustrated herein) is in electronic communication with a controller 15 which includes hardware and/or software logic for performing data analysis and control functions. Such controller may be implemented in any suitable form, such as one or a combination of specialized or general purpose processors, field-programmable gate arrays, and application-specific circuitry. In operation, the controller effects desired functions of the mass spectrometer system (e.g., analytical scans, isolation, and dissociation) by adjusting voltages (for instance, RF, DC and AC voltages) applied to the various electrodes of ion optical assemblies 27a-27c and quadrupoles or mass analyzers 33, 36 and 39, and also receives and processes signals from detectors 48. The controller 15 may be additionally configured to store and run data-dependent methods in which output actions are selected and executed in real time based on the application of input criteria to the acquired mass spectral data. The data-dependent methods, as well as the other control and data analysis functions, will typically be encoded in software or firmware instructions executed by controller. A power source 18 supplies an RF voltage to electrodes of the devices and a voltage source 21 is configured to supply DC voltages to predetermined devices.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the conventional ion trap mass spectrometer system 200 is a triple-quadrupole system comprising a first quadrupole device 33, a second quadrupole device 36 and a third quadrupole device 39, the last of which is a mass analyzer comprising one or more ion detectors 48. The first, second and third quadrupole devices may be denoted as, using common terminology, as Q1, Q2 and Q3, respectively. A lens stack 34 disposed at the ion entrance to the second quadrupole device 36 may be used to provide a first voltage point along the ions' path. The lens stack 34 may be used in conjunction with ion optical elements along the path after stack 34 to impart additional kinetic energy to the ions. The additional kinetic energy is utilized in order to effect collisions between ions and neutral gas molecules within the second quadrupole device 36. If collisions are desired, the voltage of all ion optical elements (not shown) after lens stack 34 are lowered relative to lens stack 34 so as to provide a potential energy difference which imparts the necessary kinetic energy.
Various modes of operation of the triple quadrupole system 200 are known. In some modes of operation, the first quadrupole device is operated as an ion trap which is capable of retaining and isolating selected precursor ions (that is, ions of a certain mass-to-charge ratio, m/z) which are then transported to the second quadrupole device 36. More commonly, the first quadrupole device may be operated as a mass filter such that only ions having a certain restricted range of mass-to-charge ratios are transmitted therethrough while ions having other mass-to-charge ratios are ejected away from the ion path 45. In many modes of operation, the second quadrupole device is employed as a fragmentation device or collision cell which causes collision induced fragmentation of selected precursor ions through interaction with molecules of an inert collision gas introduced through tube 235 into a collision cell chamber 37. The second quadrupole 36 may be operated as an RF-only device which functions as an ion transmission device for a broad range of mass-to-charge ratios. In an alternative mode of operation, the second quadrupole may be operated as a second ion trap. The precursor and/or fragment ions are transmitted from the second quadrupole device 36 to the third quadrupole device 39 for mass analysis of the various ions.
The ion optical assemblies 27a-27c and quadrupole devices 33, 36, 39, as known to those of ordinary skill in the art, can form an ion path 45 from the ionization chamber 24 to at least one detector 48. The electronic controller 15 is operably coupled to the various devices including pumps, sensors, ion source, ion guides, collision cells and detectors to control the devices and conditions at the various locations throughout the mass spectrometer system 200, as well as to receive and send signals representing the particles being analyzed. If the second quadrupole device 36 is to be used only as a collision or fragmentation cell (or, in general, a reaction cell), then the second quadrupole device may be replaced by a hexapole or higher order multipole device or any other device that acts similarly, such as a stacked ring ion guide.
FIG. 1B illustrates a portion of a mass spectrometer system including a curved collision cell 36. Other not-illustrated components of the mass spectrometer system may be similar to those illustrated in FIG. 1A. Because of the curved shape of the collision cell 36, which is also denoted as Q2, the first 33 and third 39 quadrupole devices (also denoted Q1 and Q3, respectively) are oriented at an angle to one another and the ion path 45 is correspondingly curved. Ions are maintained within the collision cell 36 in the usual fashion by the confining effects of the quadrupole fields generated by oscillating potentials applied to the curved rod electrodes comprising the collision cell 36. In addition, auxiliary electrodes may be disposed within or around the collision cell in order to provide a drag field within the collision cell that functions to urge ions through the collision cell along the curved ion path 45. The configuration of quadrupole devices shown in FIG. 1A aids in manufacturing a compact size mass spectrometer and also facilitates separation of ions from neutral gas molecules, which are not deflected along the curved portion of the ion path 45.
Quadrupole scanning mass spectrometers operate by RF and DC voltages applied to various electrodes over time. Calibrations are used to convert voltage values into m/z values and to convert detected intensity values into abundance values. A full tuning and calibration procedure includes adjustments and optimizations of an ion source, lenses and detectors followed by introduction into the instrument of one or more calibrant compounds that yield ions having well-known m/z and intensity values. Such tuning and calibration procedures may be performed at regular intervals—for instance, weekly or monthly. Unfortunately, however, instrumental operation can drift with time between regularly scheduled calibrations, diminishing the accuracy of prior calibrations and requiring more frequent monitoring and calibration.
In high throughput clinical laboratory settings, it is important that instrument calibrations remain up-to-date. However, in these same environments, it is often inconvenient to perform frequent un-scheduled re-calibrations, since numerous urgent analyses of patient samples may be delayed. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatus that can perform quick calibration tests and minor calibration adjustments to compensate for instrumental drift without requiring a full instrumental tuning and re-calibration procedure.

Method for automated checking and adjustment of mass spectrometer calibration


Described herein are temperature condition indicators (e.g. freezing, threshold temperature, thermal history indicators, etc.) comprising three phase emulsions. Methods of forming and using these indicators, and products that include these indicators, are also disclosed.

Many commercial products are sensitive to temperature conditions, such as freezing, thawing, high or low temperatures, and/or extended periods of time at elevated temperature, and may lose efficacy or quality under any of these conditions. Examples of temperature-sensitive commercial products include certain pharmaceuticals, medical products, and foodstuffs as well as some industrial products. Thus, there is a continued need for additional temperature condition indicators.

Three-phase emulsions used in a temperature condition indicator


The present invention includes a welding jig having a first support plate and a second support plate rotatably connected to the first support plate. The second support plate has a template-shaped perimeter including arcuately shaped segments shaped to support pipe fittings of different sizes. By selectively positioning a particular segment and securing locking the particular segment in place, a particular pipe fitting such as a particular 90.degree. pipe elbow can be supported with one end resting on the selected particular segment and the other end resting on the first support plate. By this arrangement, particular pipe fitting can be supported in a predetermined and square position relative to a pipe, thus facilitating welding the particular pipe elbow to the pipe. This allows substantially a one-person welding operation.

The present invention relates to welding jigs, and in particular, to a welding jig for holding a pipe fitting in a predetermined spacial relation to a pipe to facilitate setup and also welding of the pipe fitting to the pipe by a single operator.
The construction industry is extremely competitive, and it is vital that a minimum of manpower be used while still assuring that quality is maintained. One area where a helper has typically been required is when welding large pipe sections together to form a custom pipe arrangement. These custom pipe arrangements are usually welded on-site to minimize the need for detailed blueprints/dimensions and also since the on-site welding eliminates shipping problems. The helper is used along with various jerry-built holders to hold the pipe fitting square while it is initially tacked in place and then fully welded to a pipe section with a leakproof weld seam. This is more difficult than it initially appears since the pipe fitting can be heavy, and also since the pipe fitting must be held slightly away from the end of the pipe section so that the weld will penetrate to the desired depth. Not only is it difficult to see whether the pipe fitting is uniformly spaced from the pipe end, but on-site conditions such as poor lighting, awkward positions, and the like complicate the welding process.
Several jigs have been developed to assist in aligning and holding a pipe fitting relative to a pipe section. However, many of these are more complicated and expensive than is desired. Further, known welding jigs are often cumbersome to use, and are not as durable and long lasting as is desired.
Thus, a welding jig solving the aforementioned problems is desired


A compression stage for the compression of cracked gas, the compression stage comprising a liquid separating means for separating liquid components from gaseous components of a cracked gas, a compressor connected to the liquid separating means, a gas cooling means connected to the compressor for cooling the compressed gas from the compressor, wherein the gas cooling means are cooled by a first cooling fluid from the cooling fluid source. The stage further comprises gas precooling means connected to the liquid separating means cracked gas, having an inlet for receiving the cracked gas.

In the production of crude oil products, the hydrocarbon feedstock can be cracked in a cracking process, involving short duration of vaporized hydrocarbon feedstock to high temperatures to form cracked hydrocarbon components having carbon chains with reduced length. The result is a cracked gas with such components at a high temperature.
After cooling and purification of the cracked gas in a primary fractionator and/or in the quench tower of a hydrocarbon feedstock cracking process, further processing requires compression to high pressures in the order of 3200-3800 kPa to separate the different hydrocarbon fractions from the cracked gas.
Compression is typically performed by a turbine-driven centrifugal compressor in four to five stages with intermediate cooling. Some condensation of water and hydrocarbons occurs during compression, and in the later stages, acidic gases are removed. The compressed cracked gas is cooled and condensed hydrocarbon fractions can be separated from the cracked gas stream. The compression can be performed in a multistage compressor system, wherein the number of stages depends primarily on the cracked-gas composition the temperature level of the cooling medium, and the highest temperature allowed for inter stage discharge. The compressor is usually driven by a single drive comprising a turbine or equivalent drive.
The compression of cracked gas is energy intensive. The compressor and the turbine driving the compressor are expensive equipment and present bottlenecks in many steam cracker plants.

Stage and system for compressing cracked gas


Packets out-of-sequence problem can be solved by using a window flow control scheme that can dispatch traffic at the cell level, in a round robin fashion, as evenly as possible. Each VOQ at the input port has a sequence head pointer that is used to assign sequence numbers (SN) to the cells. Also a sequence tail pointer is available at each VOQ that is used to acknowledge and limit the amount of cells that can be sent to the output ports based on the window size of the scheme. Each VIQ at the output port has a sequence pointer or sequence number (SN) pointer that indicates to the VIQ which cell to wait for. Once the VIQ receives the cell that the SN pointer indicated, the output port sends an ACK packet back to the input port. By using sequence numbers and the relevant pointers, the packet out-of-sequence problem is solved.

§ 1.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns communications. In particular, the present invention concerns packet cell re-sequencing in a switch.
§ 1.2 Background Information
To keep pace with Internet traffic growth, researchers continually explore transmission and switching technologies. For instance, it has been demonstrated that hundreds of signals can be multiplexed onto a single fiber with a total transmission capacity of over 3 Tbps and an optical cross-connect system (OXC) can have a total switching capacity of over 2 Pbps. However, the capacity of today's (Year 2003) core Internet Protocol (IP) routers remains at a few hundred Gbps, or a couple Tbps in the near future.
It still remains a challenge to build a very large IP router with a capacity of tens Tbps or more. The complexity and cost of building such a large-capacity router is much higher than building an optical cross connect system (OXC). This is because packet switching may require processing (e.g., classification and table lookup), storing, and scheduling packets, and performing buffer management. As the line rate increases, the processing and scheduling time available for each packet is proportionally reduced. Also, as the router capacity increases, the time for resolving output contention becomes more constrained.
Demands on memory and interconnection technologies are especially high when building a large-capacity packet switch. Memory technology very often becomes a bottleneck of a packet switch system. Interconnection technology significantly affects a system's power consumption and cost. As a result, designing a good switch architecture that is both scalable to handle a very large capacity and cost-effective remains a challenge.
The numbers of switch elements and interconnections are often critical to the switch's scalability and cost. Since the number of switch elements of single-stage switches is proportional to the square of the number of switch ports, single-stage architecture is not attractive for large switches. On the other hand, multi-stage switch architectures, such as a Clos network type switch, is more scalable and requires fewer switch elements and interconnections, and is therefore more cost-effective.
FIG. 1 shows a core router (CR) architecture 100 which includes line cards 110,120 a switch fabric 130, and a route controller (not shown) for executing routing protocols, maintenance, etc. The router 100 has up to N ports and each port has one line card. (Note though that some switches have ports that multiplex traffic from multiple input line cards at the ingress and de-multiplexes the traffic from the switch fabric to multiple line cards at the egress.) A switch fabric 130 usually includes multiple switch planes 140 (e.g., up to p in the example of FIG. 1) to accommodate high-speed ports.
A line card 110,120 usually includes ingress and/or egress functions and may include one or more of a transponder (TP) 112,122, a framer (FR) 114,124, a network processor (NP) 116,126, and a traffic manager (TM) 118,128. A TP 112 may be used to perform optical-to-electrical signal conversion and serial-to-parallel conversion at the ingress side. At the egress side, it 122 may be used to perform parallel-to-serial conversion and electrical-to-optical signal conversion. An FR 114,124 may be used to perform synchronization, frame overhead processing, and cell or packet delineation. An NP 116,126 may be used to perform forwarding table lookup and packet classification. Finally, a TM 118,128 may be used to store packets and perform buffer management, packet scheduling, and any other functions performed by the router architecture (e.g., distribution of cells or packets in a switching fabric with multiple planes).
A switch fabric is a device that cross-connects packets from an input port (i.e., packet arriving port) to an output port (i.e., packet departing port) for unicast traffic, and to multiple output ports for multicast traffic. The switch fabric may operate at very high speed (e.g., new configuration in every 200 nsec).
When a packet arrives at CR 100, it determines an outgoing line to which the packet is to be transmitted. Variable length packets may be segmented into fixed-length data units, called "cells" without loss of generality, when entering CR 100. The cells may be re-assembled into packets before they leave CR 100. Packet segmentation and reassembly is usually performed by NP 116,126 and/or TM 118,128.
FIG. 2 illustrates a multi-plane multi-stage packet switch architecture 200. The switch fabric 230 may include p switch planes 240. In this exemplary architecture 200, each plane 240 is a three-stage Benes network. Modules in the first, second, and third stages are denoted as Input Module (IM) 242, Center Module (CM) 244, and Output Module (OM) 246. IM 242, CM 244, and OM 246 have many common features and may be referred to generally as a Switch Module (SM).
Traffic enters the switch 200 via an ingress traffic manager (TMI) 210 and leaves the switch 200 via an egress traffic manager (TME) 220. The TMI 210 and TME 220 can be integrated on a single chip. Therefore, the number of TM chips may be the same as the number of ports (denoted as N) in the system 200. Cells passing through the switch 200 via different paths may experience different queuing delays if the switch fabric has a queuing buffer in it. These different delays may result in cells arriving at a TME 220 out of sequence. FIG. 2 illustrates multiple paths between TMI(0) 210a and TME(0) 220a.
In the embodiment 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, the first stage of a switch plane 240 includes k IMs 242, each of which has n inputs and m outputs. The second stage includes m CMs 244, each of which has k inputs and k outputs. The third stage includes k OMs 246, each of which has m inputs and n outputs. If n, m, and k are equal to each other, the three modules 242,244,246 may have identical structures.
From the TMI 210 to the TME 220, a cell traverses four internal links: (i) a first link from a TMI 210 to an IM 242; (ii) a second link from the IM 242 to a CM 244; (iii) a third link from the CM 244 to an OM 246; and (iv) a fourth link from the OM 246 to a TME 220.
In such a switch 200, as well as other switches, a number of issues may need to be considered. Such issues may include packet cell re-sequencing.
The switch fabric may be required to deliver packets belonging to the same flow in order. Generally speaking, a flow refers to a virtual connection from a source end system to a destination end system. However, in this specification, a "flow" will be used to refer to a packet stream with the same input port and the same output port. If packets belonging to the same flow are not delivered in order through the switch fabric, the switch fabric is assumed to have a packet out-of-sequence problem.
An input port normally sends cells in order for all flows. However, if the switch fabric has multiple paths and each path may have a different delay due to the contention for the same output link at each stage of the switch fabric, the output port may receive cells out-of-order. Therefore, the output port needs to re-sequence cells according to their sequence number (SN) at each virtual input queue (VIQ).
§ 1.3 Previous Approaches to Solve Packet Out-of-Sequence Problems in Buffered Multi-Path Switch Fabrics, and Limitations of Such Approaches
Two methods have been proposed to solve the packet out-of-sequence problem in the buffered multi-path switch fabric. The first method re-sequences packets at the output port. The packet re-sequencing may require several conditions. First, each packet should carry a sequence number. One exemplary sequence number is a time-stamp based on the arrival time of the packet at the input port. If the sequence number is large, the overhead ratio (of sequence number size to cell or packet size) can be too big to be practical. A high overhead ratio can cause increased implementation costs, performance degradation due to reduced internal speedup, or both. Second, the degree of packet out-of-sequence should be bounded to ensure successful re-sequencing. Since Internet traffic is very complicated, it is difficult to estimate the degree of packet out-of-sequence that will occur. Even when the degree of packet out-of-sequence is bounded, implementing the re-sequencing circuits increases costs.
The second method to solve the packet out-of-sequence problem is to send all packets belonging to the same flow over the same path. This emulates a single-path switch fabric for a given flow, thus avoiding packet out-of-sequence problems altogether. This idea is attractive in the sense that the packet out-of-sequence problem only matters for the packets belong to the same flow. This scheme is referred to as "static hashing." Static hashing advantageously eliminates the re-sequencing buffer at the output port. Since packets belonging to the same flow take the same path in the multi-path switch fabric, they will arrive at the output port in the proper sequence.
Note that re-sequencing is different from re-assembly. Re-sequencing is a term used to describe an operation to correct the situation when packets belonging to the same flow arrive at the output port out-of-sequence. Re-assembly is a term used to describe reconstituting packets when the packets are segmented into cells and are interleaved in the switch fabric. For purposes of this discussion, it is assumed that packets are not interleaved in the switch fabric. In other words, all cells belonging to the same packet will be sent back-to-back, without any intervening cells. Therefore, with static hashing, the output port has no re-sequencing buffer, nor does it have a re-assembly buffer.
One problem of the static hashing scheme is the potential for load imbalance. Since each flow may have different bandwidth, it is possible that one path will be more congested than another path, or other paths. This may complicate choosing proper paths to route packets from an input port to an output port. If paths are not properly chosen, the probability of congesting one path increases, adversely impacting switch performance.
U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/479,733 (incorporated herein by reference), titled "A HIGHLY SCALABLE MULTI-PLANE MULTI-STAGE BUFFERED PACKET SWITCH", filed on Jun. 19, 2003, and listing Hung-Hsiang Jonathan Chao and Jinsoo Park as inventors, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/776,574 (incorporated herein by reference) titled "PACKET SEQUENCE MAINTENANCE WITH LOAD BALANCING, AND HEAD-OF-LINE BLOCKING AVOIDANCE IN A SWITCH" and listing Hung-Hsiang Jonathan Chao and Jinsoo Park as inventors, describe some approaches to the packet (or cell) out-of-sequence problem. Although such approaches represent an advance solution to packet and cell out-of-sequence problems, better solutions would be useful.

Maintaining packet sequence using cell flow control


This invention primarily relates to an electrical anticorrosion device for a marine propulsion arrangement. More particularly, the invention relates to a cathodic protection arrangement which is suitable for use with an inboard/outboard propulsion unit. According to the invention, an anode and a reference electrode are housed within a housing unit which is mounted upon a propulsion unit mounting bracket. The two electrodes are arranged so that each is essentially equidistant from a point located approximately midway across the lateral width of an outboard drive unit, which unit is secured to the mounting bracket, when the unit is positioned for driving the associated watercraft in a generally forward direction. The electrode housing further serves as a low speed/idle exhaust gas device which breaks up exhaust gas bubbles which otherwise might cause loud and objectionable noise. Thus, the invention allows for the effective prevention of cathodic corrosion by insuring that a proper current is supplied to a sacrificial anode and, additionally, allows for improved silencing for the low speed/idling exhaust gases of an inboard/outboard drive unit.

This invention relates to an electrical anticorrosion device for a marine propulsion arrangement. More particularly, the invention relates to a cathodic protection arrangement which is suitable for use with such a propulsion unit.
An important group of oxidation-reduction processes are those involved in corrosion. The annual combined cost of corrosion protection and the losses due to corrosion are enormous. This fact lends a particular practical importance to this general subject matter area.
The problem of corrosion is particularly acute when related to the operation of a watercraft in an aqueous environment. Such is especially the case in a marine environment since the salt water greatly accelerates the effects of galvanic corrosion. Galvanic corrosion refers to the accelerated electrochemical corrosion produced when one metal is in electrical contact with another more noble metal, both being in the same corroding medium or electrolyte (e.g., salt water) with a current between them. Corrosion of this type usually results in a higher rate of solution of the less noble metal and protection of the more noble metal.
A number methods (often referred to as "cathodic protection" systems) have been devised over the years in an attempt to prevent galvanic corrosion of the components of various devices and arrangements. One popular method utilized in connection with various watercraft for providing cathodic protection employs an anode and a separate reference electrode wherein current is supplied to the anode to polarize a submersible metal unit, such as a marine drive unit. The potential at the material to be protected, such as the drive unit, is determined with respect to the reference electrode so that a quantity of electrical current can be supplied by an appropriate source of electrical power to the anode to establish and maintain the potential at the protected unit at desired levels which will provide optimal cathodic protection.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,492,877 and 4,528,460, both to Staerzl, teach such use of an anode, a reference electrode, and a current control system in connection with watercraft propulsion systems. The '877 patent discloses an electrode apparatus for cathodic protection and the '460 patent discloses a cathodic protection controller. Generally, Staerzl ('877) discloses an electrode apparatus for a cathodic protection system, for mounting on an outboard drive unit, which uses a grounded shield mounted between an anode and a reference electrode to allow the anode and reference electrode to be mounted in close proximity to each other. Generally, the cathodic protection system provided protects the lower unit of a marine stern drive from corrosion by maintaining the lower unit at a selected electrical potential (e.g., 0.94 volts). Staerzl ('460) also teaches a control system for cathodically protecting an outboard drive unit having an anode and a reference electrode mounted thereon. Current supplied to the anode is controlled by a transistor which, in turn, is controlled by an amplifier. The amplifier is biased to maintain a relatively constant potential on the drive unit when operated in either fresh or salt water.
For the sake of convenience and ease of installation of the cathodic protection system, Staerzl has recognized that it is desirable to mount the anode and reference electrode relatively close together within a single housing unit which is readily attachable to a submersible propulsion unit. In the arrangements disclosed in the Staerzl patents, the anode and reference electrode are disposed with one of these electrodes in front of the other electrode, on a line running in a direction longitudinally with respect to an associated watercraft, in an insulating housing unit securable to a bracket unit proximate to which the propulsion unit is attached. Accordingly, the distance from the anode to certain regions of the propulsion unit to be protected is different from the distance between the reference electrode and those same regions.
Although providing some measure of convenience, such an arrangement nevertheless creates certain problems. Due to the aforementioned disparity in distances, the measured potential at the point of reference may differ somewhat from the actual potential whereat anticorrosion protection is required, and which protection is meant to be secured by supplying current to the anode. These prior arrangements, thus, render it difficult to ascertain an accurate measurement of the potential at the protected regions of the propulsion unit, and therefore to supply the correct current to the anode in order to adequately protect those regions of the propulsion unit from corrosive damage. Also, it is difficult to protect against possible damage to the anode arrangement, because excessive anode current can cause damage to portions of the anode arrangement.
It is therefore a principle object of the present invention to provide an improved electrical anti-corrosion device suitable for use with a marine propulsion arrangement.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cathodic protection arrangement which permits for the effective prevention of cathodic corrosion by insuring that a proper current is supplied to an anode.
In addition to the problem of galvanic corrosion, there is also the problem of the treatment of the exhaust gases generated during operation of a watercraft propulsion arrangement. The treatment of exhaust gases in marine propulsion units and particularly outboard drives is a troublesome one. It is well known to discharge the exhaust gases from the powering engine through an underwater exhaust gas discharge so as to utilize the body of water in which the watercraft is operating as a silencing medium. Although this is a very acceptable and effective way for silencing exhaust gases under high speed running conditions, it does present certain problems in connection with low speed exhaust gas discharge. With an outboard motor, it is the common practice to provide a separate, above the water, exhaust gas discharge which has its own silencing system for treating the idling exhaust gases. With inboard/outboard drives, on the other hand, the powering engine usually has a larger displacement and the treatment of the exhaust gases during idling presents different problems. It has been proposed with such arrangements to employ a further auxiliary exhaust gas discharge which is also underwater when the boat is traveling at low speeds but is less deeply submerged than the high speed exhaust gas discharge. Although this does provide good silencing, the exhaust gases tend to emanate in large bubbles which can cause objectionable noise.
It is therefore yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved exhaust gas discharge for a marine propulsion unit.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved underwater exhaust gas discharge for a marine inboard/outboard drive unit.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide an improved silencing arrangement for the idling exhaust gases of an inboard/outboard drive unit.

Electrical anticorrosion device for marine propulsion device


An article ejector is provided having kinematic linkages that drive ejector paddle assemblies in an article ejector mode, as well as a die cleaning mode where the kinematic linkages are driven via rotary motion in a continuous clockwise direction, in both modes, without having to impart changes in direction for the rotary drive mechanisms, and while maintaining maximum mechanical advantage of the kinematic linkages. A method is also provided.

Numerous techniques are known for separating thin-walled thermoformed articles from sheets of thermoformable plastic material. The trimming of thermoformed articles from a continuous web or sheet of thermoformable plastic material has long been known in the art. It has been known to form and sever articles from webs of both solid and foamed-plastic material.
Using a thermoforming process, articles are molded into a heated material web using a thermoforming machine. A heated web of material is transported through the thermoforming machine where articles are then formed in the web. The web is then transported from the thermoforming machine at a relatively high operating speed into a trim press where the articles are severed from the web of plastic material.
Typically, a trim press includes cooperating male and female members, each member having cooperating cutting surfaces, such as complementary punches and dies that correspond with an outer configuration of the formed articles. Such pairs of punches and dies are adapted to cooperate and trim individual articles from the web as they are brought together on opposite sides of the web by the trim press. Recently, attempts have been made to further increase the operating speed of trim presses. Such increases in operating speed can lead to significant increases in throughput and article output. Accordingly, relatively high-speed trim presses have been developed that generate a continuous horizontally-nested stack of articles which are slid onto a platform, or packing table. However, increases in operating speed have caused some problems in that a vacuum is created when drawing apart platens of a trim press which can actually suck severed articles or scrap web material back up into the trim press dies, which can create a jam or problem when running the trim press at relatively high operating speeds.
FIGS. 7–8 illustrate one prior art solution in the form of an article accumulator 250 that is mounted onto a trim press similar to the trim press depicted with reference to FIG. 1 wherein article ejector 250 substitutes for the new article ejector that is described with reference to FIGS. 1–6 and 9–11, as described in the Detailed Description, below. For the case of the prior art article ejector 250, a support frame 252 is secured to a top face of an upper platen (not shown), such as the upper platen depicted with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Support frame 252 is secured via four mounting blocks 336, 338, 340, and 342 via threaded fasteners. A pair of vertical die posts 312 and 314 are also supported within the upper platen via fastener collars 332 and 334. Die posts 312 and 314 are rigidly and vertically secured within the upper platen. An ejector bridge 310 is supported by a bushing assembly 316 and 318 at each end for vertical up and down reciprocation along die posts 312 and 314. A plurality of ejector paddle assemblies depend downwardly from ejector bridge 310, such as ejector paddle assembly 344, for ejecting articles that are severed between male and female dies of a trim press into an accumulator cavity, where the articles are stacked and accumulated for delivery to a conveyor.
According to the construction of prior art article ejector 250, a servo motor 262 drives a drive pulley 320 which further drives a driven pulley 324 via a timing belt 330. Driven pulley 324 is rigidly affixed onto a drive shaft 308 in order to drive a driven wheel 322 at its opposite end. Wheel 322 and pulley 324 each pivotally support one end of a crank arm 326 and 328, respectively. Crank arms 326 and 328 are fixed with bearings at opposite ends to mounting positions on ejector bridge 310 so as to drive ejector bridge 310 and paddle assemblies 344 up and down so as to eject and clear product from between dies of a trim press during operation.
As shown in FIG. 7, support frame 252 includes side plates 300 and 302 which are joined together via rigid cross-shafts 304 and 306.
Article ejector 250, according to prior art techniques, is run in two operating modes. First, article ejector 250 is normally run to downwardly press (or eject) severed articles from dies and into a stack within an article accumulator (not shown). During such normal operating mode, pulley 324 and wheel 322 are driven between a 12:00 o'clock and 3:00 o'clock position by driving drive pulley 320 back and forth in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, respectively, via operation of servo 262. Accordingly, crank arms 326 and 328 are only driven to half their maximum displacement position as dictated by the attachment points in the diameters on wheel 322 and pulley 324.
Another operating mode is desired in order to eject plastic material or damaged articles when there has been a misfeed or jam in a trim press. During such an operating mode, it is desirable to more deeply and fully stroke paddle assemblies into the female bores beneath a female die to eject any waste or damaged articles or material to clean out the trim press dies and cavities. In order to achieve such a result, the prior art techniques provided by article ejector 250 require operation of servo motor 252 to drive wheel 322 and pulley 324 between the 12:00 o'clock and 6:00 o'clock positions by driving drive pulley 320 in respective clockwise and counter-clockwise directions.
Accordingly, the two operating modes require that normal operation occur between a 12:00 o'clock and 6:00 o'clock position on pulley 324 which does not provide maximum stroke for a given amount of mechanical advantage as provided by the accompanying kinematic linkages (and in the first operating mode). Secondly, the clockwise and counter-clockwise reciprocating motion of the kinematic linkages in servo motor 262 is not efficient or optimal for high-speed operation. The associated moments of inertia are undesirable for relatively high operating speeds because the associated masses of the kinematic components suddenly change (or reverse) direction at high speed, which is undesirable and creates imbalance forces and increasing loading at component connections.
Accordingly, improvements are needed to provide a more efficient and high-speed article ejector for a high-speed thermoforming trim press. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide more optimal use of kinematic linkages and to reduce the negative effects of inertial operating forces to increase the operating speed and effectiveness of an article ejector.

Trim press, article ejecting device, trim press article ejector, and method of stacking and cleaning out thermoformed articles


A network packet is encapsulated and has at least one field in the header of the encapsulation. A multicast delivery tree is written into a field of the encapsulating header. A method for operating a router to use the multicast delivery tree encapsulated in the header of the network packet has the following steps. The router receives a packet from a computer network, the packet having an encapsulated field. The router then reads a multicast delivery tree from the encapsulated field, the multicast delivery tree having a route to each of a plurality of destination stations. Then, the router forwards the packet to an address selected in response to the multicast delivery tree.

Multicast of computer packets from a source station to a plurality of destination stations has been provided for in standard computer engineering since the early days of computer networking, as illustrated by the description by Radia Perlman in her book Interconnections, published by Addison Wesley, Copyright date 1992, all disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, particularly at page 26 where the group/individual bit at the last position of the first octet of the destination address is discussed.
A multicast session conducted over a large computer network requires that routers route packets from the source station to the various destination stations. For example, a router receiving a multicast packet may have many ports through which it could route the packet, but it is wasteful of network bandwidth for the router to transmit the packet on any port which does not reach a multicast destination station. Accordingly, routers must maintain state information for multicast groups so that the router will "know" which ports to which it should route the multicast packets received by the router. Multicast addresses use a plurality of bits to indicate a group number, and so the router must maintain lists of multicast groups, along with the ports to which a received packet must be routed. With many multicast groups being transmitted over a large computer network, such as for example, the worldwide Internet, the amount of state information which a router must store becomes too large to be easily managed. Accordingly, conventional multicast systems are limited by the storage capacity of routers in the number of simultaneous multicast sessions which they can maintain.
Conventional multicast builds a tree structure from the source of a multicast stream to the destination stations of that stream. The collection of multiple destination stations is known as a multicast group. A multicast group may have one or more stations supplying the multicast packets. Multicast packets are forwarded from the source down the tree by each intervening router. Each router contains state information to determine the next hop forwarding destination(s) for a packet. For each source/group pair [S, G] the router holds information describing the expected inbound interface and the set of outbound interfaces. Where there are multiple outbound interfaces, the packet is duplicated and forwarded over each interface.
It is attractive to consider the use of multicast to provide applications such as n-way voice and video conferencing. Clearly the numbers of groups required by such applications when widely deployed could reach millions. However, the state information scaling problem rules out conventional multicast for such applications.
A possible solution is to encode the wrapper with only the final destination addresses, either end stations or routers. However, this method imposes a requirement on all intermediate routers implementing the method to perform processing effort in looking at these addresses. This additional processing effort makes such a scheme unsatisfactory.
There is needed a multicast system which can scale to millions of multicast groups, and not overload intermediate routers with state information or additional route lookup processing.

Small group multicast in a computer network


A method for producing a polyether-polyol having a narrow molecular weight distribution, which comprises carrying out selective fractional extraction of the low-molecular weight component from a polyether-polyol (A) having an average molecular weight of from 500 to 4500 represented by formula (1):HO—[(CH2)4O]n—[(CR1R2)pO]q—H  (1)wherein R1 and R2, which may be the same or different, each represents a hydrogen atom or a linear or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; n indicates a positive integer; p indicates an integer of from 1 to 8; and q indicates 0 or a positive integer, by the use of an aqueous solution (C) containing from 15 to 70 wt % sulfuric acid at a room temperature to 100° C., to thereby suitably determine the amount of the aqueous sulfuric acid solution to the overall organic layer and the sulfuric acid concentration in accordance with the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the intended polyether-polyol to be fractionally extracted.

Generally, an ordinary polyether-polyol produced by cationic polymerization such as polymerization of tetrahydrofuran or copolymerization of tetrahydrofuran with any other cyclic ether has a broad molecular weight distribution. However, it is known that, when a polyether-polyol having a narrow molecular weight distribution is used for the production of polyurethane elastic fibers, polyether-ester elastomers and the like, the products may have well-balanced physical properties as compared with those from the polymer having a broad molecular weight distribution, and the products may accurately exhibit their properties in accordance with the object thereof and, in addition, there can be produced good elastomers having improved heat resistance, especially excellent dynamic physical properties such as elongation recovery and repetitive compression resistance. On the contrary, for example, polytetramethylene ether glycol obtained through polymerization of tetrahydrofuran by the use of a typical catalyst, fluorosulfonic acid, chlorosulfonic acid or acetic anhydride-perchloric acid has a broad molecular weight distribution, since the polymerization mode for it is cationic polymerization. In addition, its molecular weight distribution does not follow the rule of Gauss distribution but is biased toward the high-molecular fraction. The broad molecular weight distribution of the polymer is a long-pending question in the art. In particular, with the recent tendency toward precision industries, the request for polyether-polyol with a narrow molecular weight distribution is increasing (e.g., see JP-B 57-47687, the term "JP-B" used herein means an "examined Japanese Patent Publication").
It has heretofore been well known that a polydisperse polymer produced through an ordinary polymerization may be fractionated into a monodisperse polymer through an ordinary liquid-liquid fractionation in a combination of an oleophilic or non-polar solvent and a hydrophilic or polar solvent. The fractionation of polyoxypropylene glycol, polyoxyethylene glycol and polytetramethylene ether glycol in cyclohexane-toluene/water-methanol with varying the ratio of water-methanol therein gives polymers of almost monodispersion (e.g., see Makromol. Chem., 41, 61 (1960) and J. Appl. Poly. Sci., 9, 467 (1965)). Also, a method of fractionating tetrahydrofuran polymer or tetrahydrofuran-alkylene oxide copolymer in cycloalkane/water-methanol is disclosed (e.g., Japanese Patent 3,352,702).
However, even though polyoxytetramethylene glycol having a narrow molecular weight could be obtained in these methods in which some organic solvents are used in combination thereof, there are still problems in that much energy is needed for solvent recovery and solvent separation may be often difficult. Still another but more serious problem is that the residual fraction that remains after the fractional extraction of the intended product having a narrow molecular weight distribution must be subjected to post treatment. Anyhow, these methods have the industrial disadvantages as above.

Method for producing polyether-polyol having narrow molecular weight distribution


Methods, computer readable medium, and apparatus for tracking the direction of a moving item by laser bar code scanners are disclosed. In particular, the method includes the following steps at a first sample in time. Those steps include sensing video transitions reflected off packaging graphics of the moving item by a pair of scan planes, counting the number of video transitions sensed by each scan plane of the pair of scan planes, and determining if the moving item intersects each of the scan planes by comparing the counted number of video transitions for each scan plane of the pair with a predetermined threshold at the first sample. At a second sample in time, the above steps are repeated and the method includes the additional step of evaluating the direction of movement of the moving item from changes observed from the first sample and the second sample.

Bar code scanners typically operate by using a motor and pattern mirrors to scan a light beam across a label surface and measuring the reflected light. The light beam is generated by a laser, usually a laser diode, and associated optics. The reflected light returns along the incident path and is focused onto a photodetector. The photodetector converts this collected light energy into an electrical signal. This electrical signal is processed by analog electronics, converted to a digital signal, and further processed by digital electronics, usually including a processor and associated firmware.
The processor receives a stream of bar code label data including whatever has passed within the range of the laser or light beam, including complete and partial label data. The processor, under control of programming typically stored in firmware, attempts to piece together partial bar code label data or bar code fragments ("partials") in order to decode a bar code label, ignore multiple reads of the same item, and perform other tasks. The information received can be ambiguous and otherwise difficult to interpret, for a number of reasons. For example, scanners may have difficulty reading a bar code due to its position on the item relative to the light beam. Typically, the firmware attempts to avoid a multiple read problem by requiring a relatively long delay between good reads of bar code label on identical items. This reduces scanning throughput, and is therefore presently a necessary but undesirable solution.
Another approach to eliminating duplicate scans involves utilizing item gates implemented utilizing a light emitting diode (LED) and photocell pair at the entry and exit of a scan zone. A bar code scanner utilizing this approach would detect an item entering and exiting the scan zone when the light from the entry and exit LEDs were blocked and unblocked by the item. This approach had many failings including inaccurate readings. For example, an item might not block enough of the light from the LEDs to trigger an item gate and, thus, the scan of the item would be rejected and the operator would be required to re-scan the item. Additionally, this solution requires additional hardware utilized only for the specific purpose of addressing the duplicate scan problem, thus, adding to the cost of the bar code scanner.
Another conventional approach to eliminating duplicate scans, as described in Blanford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,741, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, involves utilizing motor positional information to determine the location of a bar code at any given time to determine if an item has left the scan zone. Despite its advantages, this solution requires that the bar code label be seen more or less continuously through the scan zone which does not happen on many scans due to the location or small size of bar codes currently in use.

Methods and apparatus for tracking the direction of a moving item by a bar code scanner


A method for manufacturing a TFT-integrated color filter is provided, which can controllably fabricate a color filter having a high aperture efficiency and a high resolution at low costs without the need for aligning the color filter with a TFT substrate as required by the prior art. The method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter includes the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed; preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH; placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution; and with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively, illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for forming a color filter used for a CCD camera, various display elements such as liquid crystal display elements, or a color sensor, and in particular relates to a method for manufacturing a colored layer or black matrix. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a new color filter which simply forms such a colored layer or black matrix with high resolution.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Currently, there are well-known methods for manufacturing a color filter include (1) dyeing, (2) pigment dispersion, (3) printing, (4) ink jet, (5) electrodeposition, and (6) micelle electrolysis.
Among these methods, both the dyeing and pigment dispersion methods listed above in (1) and (2) have reached a substantially complete level in terms of technology and have been used for many color solid-state image sensing devices (CCD). However, these two methods require patterning through a photolithography process, thus resulting in increased process steps at higher costs.
On the contrary, the printing and ink jet methods listed above in (3) and (4) do not require any photolithography process. However, the printing method listed above in (3), in which printing is performed on a thermosetting resin dispersed with pigment and then the resin is cured, is inferior in resolution and uniformity of film thickness. The ink jet method listed above in (4), in which a color filter layer is obtained by forming a particular ink recipient layer, making hydrophilic/hydrophobic portions on its surface through an appropriate process, and then discharging an ink onto the hydrophilic portions, has several problems with resolution and positioning accuracy because it may be more likely that an adjacent filter layer will be improperly colored.
In the electrodeposition method listed above in (5), a color filter layer of R.G.B. is obtained by repeating three times an electropainting process in which a high voltage of approximately 70 V is applied to a previously patterned transparent electrode in an electrolytic solution of water-soluble polymer dispersed with pigment to form an electrodeposition film. This method has disadvantages that patterning is limited to particular shapes and it cannot be used for TFT liquid crystal displays because the transparent electrode must have been previously patterned through a photolithography process for use as an electrode for electrodeposition. No additional patterning would be required if a color filter could be formed integrally with pixel electrodes of a TFT liquid crystal substrate through electrodeposition. However, since a prior electrodeposition method used higher electrodeposition voltages, it was very difficult to cause an active-matrix circuit to produce electrodeposits on transparent pixel electrodes and electrodeposition could not be performed using TFT pixel electrodes.
The micelle electrolysis method listed above in (6) is a kind of electrodeposition but oxidation-reduction reaction of ferrocene used as a deposition material allows the electrodeposition voltage to be reduced and a color filter can be integrally formed on a TFT liquid crystal substrate through electrodeposition. However, since a TFT has a larger internal resistance, some voltage can be applied to it but a large current cannot flow through it. Therefore, it is very difficult to form a color filter directly on pixel electrodes through a TFT drive circuit even if the micelle electrolysis method is used. In addition, a thin film formed through the micelle electrolysis method may contain as impurities ferrocene or a surface-active agent, which is essential to the film forming process but may be incorporated into the film during deposition, and thus, the formed color filter may have decreased transparency. This method has further disadvantages that the manufacturing efficiency will be decreased because it may take several tens minutes to perform electrodeposition and that it requires a higher cost because a ferrocene compound, which is a required component for the electrolytic solution, is very expensive. Moreover, any alkali metal that is required as a supporting salt cannot be used because it may adversely affect a TFT circuit or liquid crystal.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-5874 (1993) proposes a method for integrally forming a color filter on a TFT substrate. According to this method, a color filter layer with predetermined pixels of predetermined colors is formed through electrodeposition using a TFT drive circuit. Therefore, this method requires an electrodeposition apparatus and the TFT has a very large internal resistance which may cause voltage drop to prevent a necessary current or voltage from being produced for electrodeposition, and thus, additional electrodes for electrodeposition may be required. In addition, the TFT circuit must be protected against an alkali metal contained in the film and the electrodeposition method requires an electrodeposition solution of higher conductivity and addition of a supporting salt, which may contribute to incorporation of impurities as described above. Moreover, since no typical TFT drive circuit can be used to perform electrodeposition directly on pixel electrodes, another type of TFT is required which has a small internal resistance to allow a high current to flow through it. From these reasons, such a usual electrodeposition technology might be considered very difficult to fabricate a color filter using a TFT drive circuit. Thus, no liquid crystal display element of practical level could be implemented by integrally forming a color filter substrate and a TFT substrate. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-90818 (1984) describes a method for manufacturing a color filter, comprising the steps of: providing on a transparent substrate electrodes consisting of a conductive transparent thin film divided into a plurality of regions; selecting each electrode and applying a voltage to it for electropainting; and repeating the previous steps to color different electrodes with different colors, and the specification also describes that the method is applicable to switching elements such as TFTs. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-23834 (1985) describes a method for manufacturing a matrix-type multicolor display device which comprises a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of source lines orthogonal to the gate lines with a thin film transistor array formed at each intersection therebetween, which has a substrate with a display electrode comprising a color filter of a plurality of tones and the drain of the thin film transistor connected thereto and an opposed substrate with an overall conductor formed thereon, and which has a display material sandwiched between the transistor array and the transparent conductor, including the steps of: using conductive portions of the color filter and the transistor array as electrodeposition electrodes; selectively forming a colored film on these conductive portions through electrodeposition in a solution which contains at least electrodeposition polymers and colorants dissolved or dispersed therein; and repeating the previous steps. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-24603 (1990) describes a method for manufacturing a color filter in obtaining a color filter which has a transparent electrode formed on a transparent substrate according to a predetermined pattern and has an organic pigment layer on the transparent electrode, including the steps of: immersing the substrate and an electrolytic electrode in a solution which contains a non-water-soluble organic pigment solubilized in a micelle solution of a surface-active agent; producing a current flow between the predetermined pattern of the transparent electrode and the electrolytic electrode to cause micelle electrode oxidation on the transparent electrode to deposit organic pigment molecules on the transparent electrode; and repeating the previous steps on other transparent electrode patterns with other organic pigments having different spectral characteristics.
On the other hand, a well-known method for forming a film through optical reaction is the Photocatalytic Deposition Method, which is a kind of micelle electrolysis, and devised by Hoshino of Chiba University. The Photocatalytic Deposition Method is described in detail by Hoshino, Kato, Kurasako, and Kokado in a publication of The Society of Photographic Science and Technology of Japan, Vol. 59, No. 2 (1996). The method uses oxidation-reduction reaction of ferrocene to deposit a film on an unilluminated region but it has disadvantages that it requires application of voltage from an external device, resulting in a complicated apparatus to be used for the method. Therefore, it is unsuitable for forming fine patterns such as color filters.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a method for manufacturing a TFT-integrated color filter, which can controllably fabricate a color filter having a high aperture efficiency and a high resolution at low costs without the need for aligning the color filter with a TFT substrate as required by the prior art.
The method for manufacturing the TFT-integrated color filter can be attained by providing a method for manufacturing a color filter and an electrolytic solution therefor as follows:
(1) A method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter is provided, including the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed; preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH; placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution, and with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively; and illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors.
The method for manufacturing a color filter according to the present invention can controllably fabricate a color filter having a high aperture efficiency and a high resolution at low costs without the need for aligning the color filter with a TFT substrate as required by the prior art because the color filter is formed integrally with the TFT. Therefore, a high-precision liquid crystal display element can be manufactured at low costs by using the color filter.
(2) A method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter is provided, including the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed; preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH; placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution, with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively; illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors; and repeating the previous steps at one or more times with another electrolytic solution containing another coloring material of a different color.
(3) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to the paragraph (1) or (2) above is provided, wherein the photocatalytic thin film is a thin film containing titanium oxide.
(4) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (3) above is provided, wherein the material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH has a carboxyl in the molecule.
(5) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (4) above is provided, wherein the material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH is a polymer material.
(6) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (5) above is provided, wherein the polymer material is a copolymer of a monomer having hydrophobic groups and hydrophilic groups and the ratio of the number of hydrophobic groups to the total number of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups is within the range from 40% to 80%.
(7) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (6) above is provided, wherein the pH of the electrolytic solution is controlled by a pH adjuster which may not affect the film-deposition characteristics.
(8) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (7) above is provided, wherein the conductivity of the electrolytic solution is controlled by a salt which may not affect the film-deposition characteristics.
(9) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (8) above is provided, wherein the temperature of the electrolytic solution is controlled.
(10) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (9) above is provided, wherein the electrolytic solution contains light-transmissive and conductive particulates.
(11) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (10) above is provided, wherein after the colored film is formed, a black matrix is formed by applying a black ultraviolet-curing resin to the surface on which the colored film is formed, illuminating the light-transmissive substrate with ultraviolet light from the side with no colored film, and removing non-curing portions.
(12) A method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter is provided, including the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate with a black matrix by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate; applying a black positive-working photoresist thereto; illuminating the substrate with light from the side with no thin-film transistors nor light-transmissive pixel electrodes; removing the positive-working photoresist from the illuminated region; and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed, preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH, placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution, with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively, illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors, and repeating the previous steps at one or more times with another electrolytic solution containing another coloring material of a different color.
(13) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (10) above is provided, wherein a black matrix is formed in a light-transmissive region with no colored film by applying a black negative-working photoresist to the color filter fabrication substrate after the colored film is formed, illuminating the substrate with light from the side with no colored film, and removing the negative-working photoresist.
(14) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (10) above is provided, wherein the gate electrode and the drain electrode of each thin-film transistor are made of a low-reflection material to provide the electrodes with similar functions to those of the black matrix.
(15) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to the paragraph (14) above is provided, wherein the gate electrode and the drain electrode are made of two or three layers of Cr.
(16) The method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (15) above is provided, wherein a light-transmissive conductive thin film is formed on the colored film for continuity with the pixel electrodes.
(17) An electrolytic solution used for the method for manufacturing a color filter according to any one of the paragraphs (1) through (16) above is provided, wherein it contains a coloring material and another material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH.
(18) The electrolytic solution according to the paragraph (17) above is provided, wherein the material which may decrease in solubility or dispersibility with respect to an aqueous solution with any change in pH is a polymer material having a carboxyl and the coloring material is a pigment.
(19) The electrolytic solution according to the paragraph (17) or (18) above is provided, wherein the polymer material is a copolymer of a monomer having hydrophobic groups and hydrophilic groups and the ratio of the number of hydrophobic groups to the total number of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups is within the range from 40% to 80%.
(20) A method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter is provided, including the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed; preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which has a nature that it deposits in a film through a photocatalytic reaction; placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution, and with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively; illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors.
(21) A method for manufacturing a thin-film transistor integrated color filter is provided, including the steps of: preparing a color filter fabrication substrate by forming thin-film transistors and light-transmissive pixel electrodes in arrays on a light-transmissive substrate and providing a photocatalytic thin film in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed; preparing an electrolytic solution containing a coloring material and another material which has a nature that it deposits in a film through a photocatalytic reaction; placing the color filter fabrication substrate in the electrolytic solution so that at least the pixel electrodes and the photocatalytic thin film are in contact with the electrolytic solution, with predetermined ones of the thin-film transistors driven selectively; illuminating the color filter fabrication substrate with ultraviolet light to form a colored film on the surface of the photocatalytic thin film corresponding to the undriven thin-film transistors; and repeating the previous steps at one or more times with another electrolytic solution containing another coloring material of a different color.
(22) A color filter which has thin-film transistors, pixel electrodes, and a colored film formed on a light-transmissive substrate is provided, wherein a photocatalytic thin film is provided in contact with the pixel electrodes so that portions of the pixel electrodes are exposed and the colored film is formed on the photocatalytic thin film.
(23) A liquid crystal display is provided, which has at least a color filter according to the paragraph (22) above, an opposed substrate placed to be opposed to the color filter, and a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the color filter and the opposed substrate.

Method for manufacturing TFT-integrated color filter using photocatalysis, color filter, and liquid crystal display


Embodiments are described for arbitrating stacked dies in multi-die semiconductor packages. In one embodiment, die identification data for at least two stacked dies are arbitrated to select one of the dies as the primary die and the other as secondary. Each die includes an input/output buffer that drives an output signal to a commonly shared output terminal in response to receiving a die identification data bit as the input signal. Each die also includes an arbitration circuit that generates a control signal in response to the identification bit of one die being mismatched to a corresponding identification bit of the other die. The control signal programs a stack enable fuse in accordance with the arbitration to designate one of the dies as the secondary die.

The demand for cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and other electronic devices to be smaller, lighter and more powerful has driven the development of more compact electronic memory device packaging with increased functionality. Stacked die packages include two or more die that are placed on top of each other and are fitted into the same area. Stacked-die packages are often used in products requiring increased memory density and performance in a reduced package size. Within a stacked die memory component, each die in the stack must be individually activated or selected to properly assign various contacts and control pins, such as a DQ pad, a command pad, a chip select pin, and a clock enable pin. Conventionally, the stacked dies are selectively assigned through built-in fuses and antifuses that are programmed before the dies are packaged.
For example, in preparing die for use in a dual die-stack device, die are designated as either a "top" die or a "bottom" die while still in wafer form. Designating devices as either top or bottom die prior to assembly, however, can cause the stacking assembly process to be costly and inefficient. Additionally, each die must be sorted and tracked separately to be paired accordingly, further complicating the assembly process which may add to the cost of manufacturing stacked die devices.
After the die have been designated a stack position and prior to bonding a top die and a bottom die, the die undergo a variety of testing to identify the "good" dies for packaging and the "bad" dies to discard. The good top and bottom die go on to be paired together and packaged. A problem that can result is that the number of good top dies are not equal to the number of good bottom die. As a result, the extra top or bottom dies remain unpaired and may be used in monolithic integrated circuits. However, the bonding configurations would have to be change from the current stack assignments to match the monolithic configuration, adding steps to the overall assembly process. Stacked die assembly processes are designed to maximize productivity and assembly yield while minimizing yield loss and development time to assemble the completed package.
There is, therefore, a need for programming stack positions of die in multi-die memory devices after packaging.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems, methods and devices for arbitrating die stack position in a multi-die stack device


Symmetrical qubits with reduced far-field radiation are provided. In one example, a qubit device includes a first group of superconducting capacitor pads positioned about a defined location of the qubit device, wherein the first group of superconducting capacitor pads comprise two or more superconducting capacitor pads having a first polarity, and a second group of superconducting capacitor pads positioned about the defined location of the qubit device in an alternating arrangement with the first group of superconducting capacitor pads, wherein the second group of superconducting capacitor pads comprise two or more superconducting capacitor pads having a second polarity that is opposite the first polarity.

The subject disclosure relates to quantum computing, and more specifically, to techniques facilitating qubit design and fabrication for quantum computers.
As computer technology advances and conventional computing devices decrease in physical scale, a growing interest has been placed on quantum computing as a technique by which computing technology can continue to advance past the physical limitations of traditional computers. A quantum computer can operate via superconducting quantum logic circuits, which can include arrays of qubits linked by quantum buses. One type of qubit that can be utilized is the transmon qubit, which is discussed by Koch et al., "Charge-insensitive qubit design derived from the Cooper pair box," Phys. Rev. A 76, 042319 (2007). As discussed by Koch et al., "[a] transmon consists of two superconducting islands coupled through two Josephson junctions, but isolated from the rest of the circuitry." Koch et al. further discusses that a transmon includes "a shunting connection of the two superconductors via a large capacitance CB accompanied by a similar increase in the gate capacitance Cg."
The capacitances associated with transmon qubits can result in radiation losses and crosstalk between separate qubits and far-field radiation emitted from individual qubits, which can both have an adverse impact on qubit circuit size and efficiency. A technique for reducing crosstalk between different qubits is discussed by Abraham et al., "SYMMETRIC PLACEMENT OF COMPONENTS ON A CHIP TO REDUCE CROSSTALK INDUCED BY CHIP MODES," U.S. Pat. No. 8,972,921. Abraham et al. discusses reduction of inter-qubit crosstalk via                a chip comprising two circuits arranged as mirror images of each other on a substrate. Each of the circuits . . . includes three qubits that are interrogated by microwave pulses through their interaction with microwave resonators or harmonic oscillators that store RF energy. The circuits also each include five ports through which drive signals are introduced and output signals of the circuit are received"(reference numerals omitted). With respect to far-field radiation emitted by an individual qubit, however, there exists a need in the art for techniques to improve the size and efficiency of a multi-qubit circuit via reduction of said radiation.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The invention relates to a method and a control system for driving an electric motor (4) coupled with a crankshaft (2) of an internal combustion engine, in order to position the crankshaft (2) at a starting angle, wherein the control system comprises: a detection device (7) for receiving and/or determining a position angle and/or the rotational speed of the crankshaft (2), and a control unit (5) which is capable of driving the electric motor (4) in a closed loop control mode dependent on the rotational speed of the crankshaft and of positioning the crankshaft (2) at said starting angle after the internal combustion engine (1) is stopped, so that, in the case of a subsequent start, the internal combustion engine (1) is started from this starting angle, wherein the control unit (5) is designed so as to drive the electric motor (4) according to an open loop control mode, below a prespecified rotational speed limit independently of the rotational speed in an open loop control, so that the crankshaft (2) is set to the starting angle.

In order to start up internal combustion engines, it is necessary to use a starter, e.g. in the form of an electric motor which is directly or indirectly coupled with the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine. The crankshaft is then accelerated by the starter until it reaches the engine speed required to start the internal combustion engine.
The starting torque which the starter initially needs to generate varies according to the position angle of the crankshaft. Particularly when a cylinder is in a compression stroke at that point, a high starting torque is required which has a negative impact on the starting behaviour of the internal combustion engine.
In order to improve the starting behaviour of the internal combustion engine, it is known from publication DE 198 17 497 A1 of the applicant that the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine be brought to a specific starting angle, from which the starting procedure is then carried out. In this way, an unsuitable position of the crankshaft at the beginning of the starting procedure can be avoided, and the starting time of the internal combustion engine or the initial torque to be summoned by the starter during the starting procedure can be reduced. The crankshaft can be positioned after the internal combustion engine has been stopped, or before the internal combustion engine is started.
Normally, electric starting motors are used to start internal combustion engines, which are driven using field-oriented regulation. These electric motors are asynchronous or synchronous motors in particular. Such electric motors are operated using a motor control which requires the rotational speed of the rotor or crankshaft as an input quantity for field-oriented regulation.
For this purpose, the crankshaft is equipped with a position sensor, for example, which determines the position angle of the crankshaft and uses it to calculate the rotational speed of the crankshaft. However, the degree of precision of the calculated rotational speed depends on how precisely the position angle has been determined by the position sensor. Rotational speed sensors are also frequently provided in order to detect the rotational speed directly.
In both cases, the calculated rotational speed is relatively imprecise. Particularly when the crankshaft rotational speed is low, this results in the relative error becoming very large, and field-oriented regulation in order to drive the electric motor is no longer possible. The crankshaft can no longer be actively positioned in a reliable manner using the electric motor, particularly just before the crankshaft comes to a standstill, when the combustion engine is stopped.
A possible solution to this problem would be to use more precise sensors to detect the position angle and/or rotational speed. However, it is desirable to position the crankshaft at a starting angle while maintaining the components of the engine system used to date.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved method and an improved control system for positioning the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine.

Method and control system for positioning a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine


An air driver device having a simple construction, being of a compact size, and having excellent durability. The air driver device is designed to shut off a supply of compressed air to an air motor, by means of a tightening torque control mechanism and a shut-off valve mechanism, in a case where the tightening torque reaches the set torque value. The air device is designed to tighten screw members at a prescribed tightening force, wherein the tightening torque control mechanism is composed of (i) a clutch unit, (ii) a driving piston on the back face of which is formed one clutch plate, so that clutch plates of the clutch unit may move by making rotational differential motions in a case where the tightening torque reaches the set torque value, (iii) a cylinder for storing this driving piston, (iv) a check valve for operating the shut-off valve mechanism, in linkage with the driving piston through an oil charged in the cylinder, and (v) a torque control member for regulating the set torque value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an air driver device used for tightening screw members such as screws, bolts & nuts, etc., more specifically an air driver device for tightening screw members at a prescribed tightening force.
2. Background of the Related Art
Conventionally, an air driver device is used for tightening screw members such as screws, bolts & nuts, etc., and is put to practical use by tightening screw members at a prescribed tightening force, by shutting off a supply of compressed air to an air motor, by means of a tightening torque control mechanism and a shut-off valve mechanism, in a case where the tightening torque has reached a set torque value (refer to JP 58-34265 B, JP 2004-106146 A).
This conventional air driver device comprises an operating shaft for turning an air motor by opening the shut-off valve of a shut-off valve mechanism disposed in the air supply channel by inwardly pushing a spindle, and is designed in such a way as to connect a cam turned by the air motor with the spindle, by means of a torque control mechanism which makes a differential rotational motion, relatively, in a case where the tightening torque has reached the set torque value, so as to stop the air motor by closing the shut-off valve of the shut-off valve mechanism by moving the push rod with a differential rotational motion of the torque control mechanism.
To be more concrete, as a torque control mechanism, this air driver device is designed to put balls 126, which are fit and supported in ball fitting holes 121 drilled in the spindle 101, in contact with the respective ball supporting faces 120 of the cam 105, and slidably fit, on the outer circumference of the ball fitting & supporting portion of the spindle 101, a cam ring 123 tapered on the face to be in contact with the balls 126, in the axial direction, to transmit the rotational driving force from the cam 105 turning with the air motor 103, through the balls 126, to the spindle 101, as shown in FIG. 13˜FIG. 14. On the other hand, this air driver device adopts a construction in which, when the tightening torque reaches the set torque value, the balls 126 are pushed outwardly, in the direction of the outer circumference, from the ball supporting faces 120 of the cam 105 in order to stop the transmission of torque between the cam 105 and the spindle 101. In the case where the balls 126 are pushed upwardly in the direction of outer circumference, from the ball supporting faces 120 of the cam 105, a differential motion in the direction of rotation is produced between the cam 105 and the spindle 101, producing a difference of rotation between the two. This causes a pilot pin 122, which turns together with the cam 105, to turn relatively against the spindle 101, to push up a lock pin 140 with the projected side of its chamfered step portion 131, release the engagement between the pilot pin 122 and the chamfered step portion 131 by the lock pin 140 and enable movement of the pilot pin 122 and the push rod 104, so as to stop the air motor by closing the shut-off valve 110 of the shut-off valve mechanism.
As explained above, the above-mentioned conventional air driver device, which uses, as a torque control mechanism, a mechanism of complicated structure composed of constituent members such as a cam 105, balls 126, a cam ring 123, etc., is difficult to realize in compact size, and also presents a problem that the constituent members are easily worn and lack durability.