Performing sequential recording to alternate destinations of an information recording medium and improving access performance of accessing the information recording medium are achieved by estimating sequential defective areas of the information recording medium based on prescribed conditions, allocating blocks of a spare area as alternate destinations of the defective areas, and performing alternate recording to the allocated alternate destinations, in response to a recording request to record information to the sequential defective areas. The above can be achieved because the use of the alternate destinations will help to prevent a time-out from occurring due to he the defective areas.

In recent years, a replaceable information recording medium of a large capacity and a disk drive device for driving this information recording medium are popularized.
As the replaceable information recording medium of a large capacity, an optical disk such as a DVD and a Blu-ray Disk (abbreviated as BD hereunder) is generally known. An optical disk recording/reproducing device for driving an optical disk is a device that performs recording/reproducing processing by forming an image of a minute beam spot on the optical disk by using laser beams, thereby changing physical characteristics of the information recording medium. For example, the optical disk recording/reproducing device performs recording/reproducing processing for the optical disk, being the information recording medium, by allowing the optical disk recording/reproducing device to undergo a phase change from a crystal state to an amorphous state to form a mark, etc., thereby performing recording/reproducing processing for this optical disk. The optical disk recording/reproducing device has a large capacity and is suitable for information recording that can be replaced [for example, see "120=(4, 7 Gbytes per side) and 80 mm (1, 46 Gbytes per side) DVD-Rewritable Disk (DVD-RAM)", Standard ECMA-330, December 2001]. As the laser beams, red laser beams are used for recording/reproducing of DVD, and blue laser beams having wavelengths shorter than those of the red laser beams are used in recording/reproduction of BD. Thus, BD has a higher recording density than that of DVD, and this contributes to realizing a large capacity.
FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a recording area of a general optical disk as the information recording medium. A plurality of tracks 2 are formed on a disk-shaped optical disk 1 in a spiral form, and a plurality of finely divided blocks 3 are formed on each track 2.
Here, the width of each track 2 of BD (track pitch) is set at 0.32 μm. Each block 3 is a unit of error correction, and is a minimum unit for performing recording and reproducing operation. For example, 1ECC (size: 32 KByte) is defined for DVD, and 1 cluster (size: 64 KByte) is defined for BD. When the unit of sector (size: 2 KByte), being a minimum unit of data of the optical disk, is used for explanation, equations such as 1ECC=16 sectors, 1 cluster=32 sectors, are established. Note that in the explanation given hereunder, when the unit is described as cluster, this is the same meaning as block 3 in the BD.
FIG. 21 is a view showing a data structure in a general recording type optical disk.
The optical disk 1 is divided into a read-in area 4 on the inner circumferential side, a read-out area 6 on the outer circumferential side, and a data area 5 between them.
As shown in FIG. 21, the data area 5 is constituted, having a user data area 14, and a spare area 15 having an inner spare area 15A and an outer spare area 15B.
The user data area 14 is an area in which arbitrary information can be recorded by a user, including real time data such as music and video, and computer data such as a text and a database.
The inner spare area 15A and the outer spare area 15B, being spare areas 15, refer to alternate areas in which data is recorded instead of being recorded into a certain block 3 (see FIG. 1) in the user data area 14. The inner spare area 15A and the outer spare area 15B are areas used as the alternate areas of the block, for example, when a defective block is detected in the user data area 14. FIG. 21 is a view showing a case in which the spare areas 15 exist one by one on the inner circumferential side of the data area (namely, read-in area side) and the outer circumferential side (namely, read-out area side). Alternate recording has a merit of enhancing the reliability of data, by alternately recording data from the defective block in the user data area 14 to the block in the inner spare area 15A or the outer spare area 15B, being alternate areas. However, in the alternate recording, recording must be performed by moving (seeking) from the user data area 14, being presently accessed, to the inner spare area 15A or the outer spare area 15B, being another areas. Therefore the alternate recording has a demerit that processing time is prolonged, and recording/reproducing performance is deteriorated.
The read-in area 4 is an area arranged on the inner circumferential side from the data area 5 in a diameter direction of the optical disk 1, and the read-out area 6 is an area arranged on the outer circumferential side from the data area 5 in the diameter direction of the optical disk 1. These read-in area 4 and the read-out area 6 serve as areas in which management information, etc., regarding the optical disk 1 is stored, and over-run of optical pickup (not shown) is prevented.
The read-in area 4 includes a first defect management area 10 (abbreviated as DMA1 hereunder) and a second defect management area 11 (abbreviated as DMA2 hereunder). Both of the DMA1 and DMA2 are areas for recording management information of the optical disk 1 such as the information regarding a data structure and a defect of the optical disk 1.
The read-out area 6 includes a third defect management area 12 (abbreviated as DMA3 hereunder), and a fourth defect management area 13 (abbreviated as DMA4 hereunder). Both of the DMA3 and DMA4 are areas for recording the management information of the optical disk 1 such as the information regarding the data structure and the defect of the optical disk 1.
Although the DMA indicates the defect management area as described above in a more limited sense, it can also indicate various kinds of information (disk management information) regarding the optical disk 1, other than the defect management information. Therefore, the DMA is treated here, as the area having the meaning of a disk management area in a broad sense.
DMA1 to DMA4 thus constituted are respectively arranged at a prescribed position in the optical disk 1, and multiple recording of the same information is performed in each of the DMA1 to DMA4. This is performed in preparation for a case that any one of the DMA1 to DMA4 is defective. With this structure, even if there is the DMA that can not be reproduced correctly, the defect management information of this optical disk 1 can be acquired, provided that there is any one of the DMA1 to DMA4 that can be reproduced correctly.
The DMA1 to DMA4 has a disk definition structure 20 (abbreviated as DDS20 hereunder) and a defect list 21 (abbreviated as DFL21 hereunder), respectively (see FIG. 2).
DFL21 is the information including the information regarding alternate processing such as alternate recording performed for the defective block (alternate entry including an address of an alternate source and an address of an alternate destination, due to the defect). Here, the information regarding the alternate processing is the alternate entry including the address of the alternate source and the address of the alternate destination, due to the defect.
The address showing positional information of the block 3 of the optical disk 1 will be explained hereunder.
Generally, when access processing such as recording/reproduction is applied to the optical disk 1, control is performed by using the address physically provided on a recording layer of the optical disk 1 (physical address: abbreviated as PSN hereunder), and the address virtually and sequentially given to the area that can be accessed from a user such as a host device, namely to the data area 5, being a logic space (logical address: abbreviated as LSN hereunder). Note that these addresses are generally allocated to a sector unit or by setting prescribed numbers in the block 3 as one unit.
FIG. 22 is an explanatory view for simply explaining a relation between PSN (physical address) and LSN (logical address). Note that in FIG. 22, in order to simplify the explanation of the PSN and LSN allocated to a normal sector unit, explanation is given in a block unit.
(1) of FIG. 22 shows the relation between the PSN and LSN in the optical disk 1.
In a case of BD-RE, being a rewritable BD, the address called ADIP given to the track 2 on the optical disk 1, namely on a wall surface of a recording groove in an undulating form (wobble), and the address called AUN given to the data recorded in the block 3, correspond to the PSN. Meanwhile, LSN shows address information, and a series of numbers starting from 0 are virtually sequentially given to the LSN. As shown in (1) of FIG. 22, normally, LSN is the address sequentially allocated to all blocks 3 in the user data area 14, with its head block set at 0. Thus, the LSN at normal time corresponds to the PSN allocated to the corresponding block 3 in the user data area 14, one to one. For example, LSN=0 corresponds to PSN=A, and LSN=1 corresponds to PSN=A+1, and LSN=2 corresponds to PSN=A+2. Such a PSN (physical address) at normal time is abbreviated as offset PSN (physical address) in the explanation given hereunder.
However, for example, when a certain block in the user data area 14 is defective, and alternate recording is performed in a spare area, the LSN supposed to be allocated to the defective block in the user data area 14 is allocated to the block in the spare area used as the alternate destination.
(2) of FIG. 22 is a view showing an example of a case in which the blocks of PSN (A+2) in the user data area 14 are the defective blocks, and alternate recording is performed to the blocks of PSN (A+N+1) in the outer spare area 15B. In such a case, LSN (2) supposed to be allocated to the blocks of PSN (A+2), being the defective blocks, is allocated to the blocks of PSN (A+N+1) in the outer spare area 16, being the alternate destination. Therefore, the PSN corresponding to the LSN (2) is expressed by PSN (A+N+1). Thus, when the defective block exits, the PSN is abbreviated as an actual access PSN in the explanation given hereunder.
Therefore, in order to obtain the actual access PSN for actually accessing the data area based on the LSN requested from the host device, processing described hereunder is performed.
1) The LSN is converted into offset PSN (abbreviated as offset conversion hereunder).
2) Whether or not the offset PSN is alternate-recorded, is verified based on the DFL21.
When the offset PSN is not alternate-recorded, the offset PSN is calculated as the actual access PSN.
When the offset PSN is alternate-recorded, the PSN of the alternate destination is calculated as the actual access PSN.
A disk structure of the optical disk 1 will be simply explained hereunder, with reference to FIG. 23.
FIG. 23 is a schematic view of the optical disk 1, showing a sectional face of a recording type BD having two layers of recording layers. In the recording type BD, generally a reflective layer, a protective layer, and a recording layer are laminated on a disk substrate 50. In the recording BD shown in FIG. 23, a first protective layer 51, a first recording layer 52, an intermediate layer 53, a second recording layer 54, a second protective layer 55, and a reflective layer 56 for reflecting the laser beams are formed sequentially from its front side. The first protective layer 51 protects the first recording layer 52 for storing data, and the second protective layer 55 protects the second recording layer 54 for storing data. The intermediate layer 53 exists in between the first recording layer 52 and the second recording layer 54, having a function similar to the function of the first protective layer 51 and the second protective layer 55. The recording type BD thus constituted is irradiated with the laser beams from the front side of the disk, and recording/reproducing processing of the data is performed to the first recording layer 52 and the second recording layer 54.
As a conventional manufacturing method of BD, a method of laminating a plurality of films corresponding to each layer on the disk substrate 50 is used.
However, in the method of manufacturing the optical disk by laminating the films, the step of forming the film is required, and also the step of laminating the films is required, thus involving a problem that the manufacturing step is increased, time required for manufacture is prolonged, manufacturing cost is increased, and a price of the disk is accordingly increased. Therefore, in recent years, the manufacturing method using a spin-coat technique has been focused. Briefly speaking, the manufacturing method of the optical disk using this spin-coat technique is a technique in which film forming resin is dropped on a high speed rotating substrate, and by using a centrifugal force generated by rotation, the resin is pervaded evenly on the substrate, thus forming a recording film and a protective film.
However, the optical disk using such spin-coat technique involves a problem that air is mixed in the film such as recording layer and protective layer, namely there is a high possibility that air bubbles exists in the film. For example, when a thickness of the second protective layer 55 is 100 μm, the size of each bubbles is 100 μm at maximum when the bubbles has approximately a spherical shape, and the area where the bubbles are mixed becomes a large defective area. Further, the defective area is not applied only to the area where the bubbles are mixed, but is applied to the area where foreign matters are mixed, resulting in a large defective area in this optical disk.
When the recording/reproducing processing is performed to the optical disk thus having a large defective area, in the optical disk recording/reproducing device, normal reflected light to the laser beams can not be obtained from the area where defect such as a bubbles exists. Therefore, the block having such an area is treated as the defective block, and the data to be recorded in this defective block is alternately-recorded in the spare areas 15, being the alternate area.
FIG. 24 is a conceptual view of the optical disk 1 when the bubbles exist in the film of the optical disk 1. In the optical disk 1 shown in FIG. 24, each area shown by designation marks A to N corresponds to the block 3, and for example, one track 2 is constituted of a block A and a block B on the innermost circumferential side.
As described above, the track pitch of BD is set at 0.32 μm, and meanwhile the size of each bubble is, for example, about 100 μm. Therefore, about 300 tracks are influenced by one bubble, resulting in allowing a plurality of defective blocks to exist. In addition, as shown in FIG. 24, depending on a state of the bubbles, not only a range in which actual bubbles exists, but also the surrounding area is influenced by the bubbles, with a place where the bubbles exit set as a center, and in some cases, the defective area exists in a range of about 300 μm, which is about three times the size of the bubbles, for example. In the BD, for example in a case of the data area 5 on the inner circumferential side, as shown in FIG. 24, about two clusters (two blocks) are included in one track. Therefore, a normal cluster and a defective cluster influenced by the bubbles are mixed every other cluster. As a result, alternate recording occurs every time recording is performed to the defective cluster (defective block).
Here, in order to improve the recording/reproducing performance, a case that the optical disk recording/reproducing device has a cache function is considered. The cache function is a function of operating, for the purpose of increasing a command (request) response processing speed between the host device and the optical disk recording/reproducing device. Specifically, when reception of the recording data is completed by a cache memory provided in the optical disk recording/reproducing device, in response to a recording request from the host device, the command completed before recording is actually performed to the optical disk. Then, the optical disk recording/reproducing device realizes improvement in the command response processing speed, by performing actual recording processing to the optical disk 1 at an arbitrary timing thereafter.
In a state that the optical disk recording/reproducing device sequentially receives the data whose recording is requested from the host device such as a host PC in a cache effective state, but the data is not recorded yet, namely the data to be recorded is set in a state of still being on the cache memory, and when a reading request is given from the host device, unrecorded data held by the cache memory is recorded in the optical disk 1 and then read-out processing of the data of the requested area is performed. However, at this time, when the recording destination is the area including the bubbles as described above, the alternate recording occurs frequently, thus further increasing the processing time, and a long time is required for executing the read-out processing. In the PC (personal computer), time-out of the request (command) from the host device is normally 7 seconds, or 7.5 seconds. Therefore, in the aforementioned case, a problem is that there is a high possibility of time-out of the read-out request.
Further, there is also a case that the cluster which is impossible to be executed tracking exists, depending on a sate of the bubbles. Regarding the optical disk 1 having such a cluster, of course data recording/reproducing processing can not be performed and the AUN, being the PSN (physical address) can not be acquired, and also the reflected light by wobble given to the track 2 (recording groove) of an object cluster can not be correctly acquired. Accordingly, the ADIP address read-out by the change in the wavelengths of the reflected light can not be acquired. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the optical disk 1 is set in a state in which the PSN can not be read-out.
In order to perform fixing processing (synchronization processing) of an access position when a target address is accessed, generally, the optical disk 1 adopts a method of moving (seeking) an optical head to the area in front of the area of the target address, then by a focus servo, making the optical head reach the area of the target address along the track 2 with the help of the reflected light from the track 2 by using the rotation of the optical disk 1, and preparing for emission of the recording/reproducing laser beams from the target address. However, the reflected light from the track 2 can not be acquired by mix-in of the bubbles, thus making it impossible to execute a tracking servo, and the minute beam spot can hardly be scanned along the track 2.
Therefore, there is a possibility of occurrence of problems that as well as the cluster in which the bubbles are mixed, the other cluster that follows the cluster having the mixed bubbles can not be accessed as a result. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 24, when the areas of blocks I, K, M are influenced by the bubbles, the addresses of these blocks can not be acquired, thus making it impossible to specify the present position tracked by optical beams. Therefore, there is a case that the successive blocks J, L, N can not be accessed either.
FIG. 25 is an explanatory view showing a case in which the bubbles exist in the film of the recording type BD disk (in this case, in the second protective layer 55). As shown in FIG. 25, the defect due to the bubbles and foreign matters is thereby set in a state of a swollen film. Namely, the defect in this state has a sterically concavo-convex shape. The size of such a kind of defect is about several hundreds μm at largest, and unlike a scratched scar that can be actually verified by the naked eye of a human being, it is significantly difficult to observe the aforementioned defect by the naked eye. In addition, particularly in a case of the defect due to bubbles mixing out of the defects due to mixing of foreign matters, even if the corresponding place is expanded by using a microscope, the film of the front and back area undulates like a concentric wave, with the bubbles set as the center, in an actual disk, in addition to a place of the bubbles itself that can be actually visually observed. Therefore, there is a significantly high possibility that even the area around the bubbles also becomes the defective area that can not be accessed in performing the recording/reproducing processing. Namely, a size of a range of the defective area due to the bubbles corresponds to a total size of the size of the bubbles itself having a visible solid shape and about the same size of the bubbles in the back and forth of these bubbles. In other words, the size of the defective area due to the bubbles is about three times the size of the bubbles having a solid shape.
In the optical disk recording/reproducing device that performs recording/reproducing processing to aforementioned optical disk, a normal reflected light to the laser beams can not be obtained from the area in which the defect such as bubbles exist. Therefore this area is treated as the defective block, and the data is alternately recorded in the spare areas, being the alternate areas, by the optical disk recording/reproducing device, the data being supposed to be originally recorded in this defective block.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 25, in a case of a multi-layer disk having a plurality of recording layers, when the bubbles exist in the film of the optical disk, particularly between a disk surface, being the side irradiated with the laser beams and the reflective layer 56 for reflecting the irradiated laser beams, access fails to the area corresponding to a position of almost the same radius as that of the position where the bubbles exist, in not only the second recording layer 54 close to the bubbles but also in the first recording layer 52, being the other recording layer. Namely, the area becomes the defective area in each recording layer, by existence of one bubble.
Each kind of technique is proposed in a field of a defect management method in a conventional optical disk recording/reproducing device, in order to respond to an unfavorable circumstance such as an existence of the defective block when the tracking servo is executed based on a recording signal. For example, as an example of the defect management method, there is a technique in which the area including the defective block and a subsequent prescribed range is treated as the defective area, and information of a list of this defective area is registered, and when reproducing operation is performed, avoiding access to the defective area, the alternate destination is to be accessed, thereby making it possible to perform reproducing operation without being influenced by the defective block. This technique is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 2002-184116.    Patent Document Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 2002-184116    Non-patent Document 1: 120 mm (4, 7 Gbytes per side) and 80 mm (1, 46 Gbytes per side) DVD-Rewritable Disk (DVD-RAM)2, Standard ECMA-330, December 2001

Defect managing method and defect managing device


Provided is a capacity monitoring method used for a computer system including one or more application computers, one or more storage systems, and a management computer. The storage system includes a physical disk and a disk controller. In the capacity monitoring method, a storage area of the physical disk belongs to a storage pool, the storage system provides a volume, and the management computer monitors a used capacity of the storage pool, judges whether or not a storage capacity required for operating the application computer for a predetermined time period is present in the storage pool based upon an increasing speed of the used capacity of the storage pool to be monitored, and executes a predetermined process operation when the storage capacity required for operating the application computer for the predetermined time period is not present in the storage pool. Accordingly, the storage pool is properly operated and managed.

This invention relates to a computer system equipped with a storage system, and more particularly, to a technique for monitoring a storage capacity.
Storage systems provide logical volumes (LUs) to application servers by statically allocating storage areas of physical disks. However, the LUs have the below-mentioned problems.
That is, for instance, there is a problem in that storage capacities of physical disks which are allocated to application servers become larger than storage capacities which are actually used for the application servers (namely, over provisioning). This is because storage capacities which are used for application programs operating on the application servers cannot be correctly grasped. There is another problem in that operational costs required to change the capacities of the LUs are high.
As a technique for solving those problems, thin provisioning is known. Storage systems provide volumes (thin provisioning volumes) realized by the thin provisioning to the application programs operating on the application servers.
Thus, the storage systems can provide the thin provisioning volumes which are recognized as volumes having larger storage capacities than the storage capacities of physical disks which are actually allocated. Upon reception of write requests from the application programs operating on the application servers to the thin provisioning volume, the storage systems dynamically allocate an unused storage area of a storage pool to the thin provisioning volume which are requested by the above-mentioned write requests.
On the other hand, JP 2004-110321 A discloses a data management system for managing used storage capacities of storage systems for each project in an business-to-business collaboration application.

Storage capacity management system in dynamic area provisioning storage


An architecture is disclosed for facilitating communications with one or more embedded devices from a client application. The architecture includes gateway software and server software. The gateway software includes device communications software for sending and receiving device messages to and from the one or more embedded devices and gateway communications software for sending and receiving communications to other software. The server software includes user interface software that is downloadable by the client application for use to communicate with the server software. The server software also includes serving software for responding to requests received from the client application through the user interface software. The server software also includes gateway communications software for sending and receiving communications to the gateway software. The architecture operates such that the server software communicates with the gateway software and the gateway software communicates with the one or more embedded devices. The server software sends a user interface component to the client application, and the client application uses the user interface component to communicate with an embedded device by sending communications to the server software. The server software facilitates communications with the embedded device through the gateway software.

In recent years there has been a great increase in the amount of computer technology that is involved in daily life. In today's world, computer technology is involved in many aspects of a person's day. Many devices being used today by consumers have a small computer inside of the device. These small computers come in varying sizes and degrees of sophistication. These small computers include everything from one microcontroller to a fully-functional complete computer system. For example, these small computers may be a one-chip computer, such as a microcontroller, a one-board type of computer, such as a controller, a typical desktop computer, such as an IBM-PC compatible, etc.
The small computers, (which can be rather large computers depending on the particular need which is being met by the computer), almost always have one or more processors at the heart of the computer. The processor(s) usually are interconnected to different external inputs and outputs and function to manage the particular device. For example, a processor in a vending machine for soda pop may be connected to the buttons used to select the pop, to the switch that allows a pop to drop down to a user, and to lights to indicate that the machine does not have any more pop of a particular variety.
Computer technology is involved in many aspects of daily life. Many appliances, devices, etc., include one or more small computers. For example, refrigerators, telephones, typewriters, automobiles, vending machines, and many different types of industrial equipment usually have small computers, or processors, inside of them. Computer software runs the processors of these computers and tells the processors what to do to carry out certain tasks. For example, the computer software running on a processor in a vending machine may cause a soda pop to drop to a user when the correct change has been entered by a user.
These types of small computers that are a part of a device, appliance, tool, etc., are often referred to as embedded systems. The term "embedded system" usually refers to computer hardware and software that is part of a larger system. Embedded systems usually do not have typical input and output devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and/or monitor. Usually, at the heart of each embedded system is one or more processor(s).

Architecture for communicating with one or more electronic devices through a gateway computer


A method for manufacturing a surface-emitting laser array device is disclosed. In order to control the polarization characteristics of the surface-emitting laser, the surface-emitting laser array device according to the present invention can be manufactured by alternately arranging the surface-emitting laser formed by inclining a cavity in the <110> and <110> direction in accordance with the row or the column direction of the surface-emitting laser, so that the polarization characteristics of the surface-emitting laser in two directions which are relatively perpendicular to each other may be obtained. According to the present invention, it has an advantageous effect that the interaction between the adjacent laser beams can be minimized with maintaining the symmetric feature of the lasing beam when manufacturing an integrated surface-emitting laser array device. Further, since the traveling direction of the lasing beam can be controlled depending upon the polarization characteristics, not only the optical interconnection or optical switching can easily be performed, but also the device can effectively be applied to the device, for example, the magneto-optic disk which is sensitive to the polarization characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a surface emitting laser array, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing the same in which polarization characteristics which constitute a laser array are controlled by alternately arranging the surface emitting laser formed by sloping a cavity in the <110> or <110> direction and etching the same in accordance with the row or the column direction of the surface emitting laser.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser has characteristic which the polarization is randomly presented as opposed to a edge-emitting laser. Therefore, if such polarization characteristics are controlled in a desired direction, not only the optical connecting efficiency for optical interconnection or optical switching can be improved, but also it is greatly effective when it is applied to a device, such as a magneto-optics disk which is sensitive to the polarization.
As an example of the conventional method for controlling the polarization, the two methods that one is to etch the cavity into an asymmetric-type section, the other is to form a fine pattern on the surface thereof have been reported. However, there are disadvantages that the former loses the circularity of the laser beam and the latter makes the manufacturing process complicated since a technique which requires the high degree of difficulty, such as an electron-beam lithography method. First of all, the highest problem is that even though the both two methods may derive the polarization in one direction, but it cannot apply the deflection characteristics of the two directions which are relatively perpendicular to each other to a single semiconductor chip when in manufacture.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a surface-emitting laser array in which polarization characteristics of the a surface-emitting laser are controlled by alternately arranging the surface-emitting laser formed by sloping and etching a cavity in the <110> and <110> direction in accordance with the row or the column direction of the surface-emitting laser.
According to the present invention, since the surface-emitting laser array which has the polarization characteristics of the relatively perpendicular directions to each other and is manufactured by integrating it to a single semiconductor chip has a different polarization characteristics as compared to that the adjacent laser beams, the interaction therebetween can be minimized and the device may easily be applied to the device which is sensitive to the polarization characteristic. Further, the optical interconnection or optical switching can easily be performed.

Method of manufacturing polarization-controlled surface emitting laser array

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A frequency synthesizer is described illustrating a method for modulation having an adjustable standard curve used to modulate an input signal for spread spectrum modulation. In particular, the a standard curve is generated, wherein the standard curve modulates an input signal to generate a spread spectrum of frequencies. The standard curve is associated with a standard modulation frequency. The standard curve is sampled at a constant sampling frequency. A shape of the standard curve is adjusted, such that critical points of the standard curve are captured when sampling the standard curve. The shape of said standard curve that is altered varies between at least two periods.

The following descriptions are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Electronic systems and circuits have made a significant contribution towards the advancement of modern society and are utilized in a number of applications to achieve advantageous results. Numerous electronic technologies such as digital computers, calculators, audio devices, video equipment, and telephone systems facilitate increased productivity and cost reduction in analyzing and communicating data, ideas and trends in most areas of business, science, education and entertainment. However, the electronic systems that provide these advantageous results typically emit electromagnetic signals. These electronic systems are also often operated in close physical proximity to other electronic systems and interfere with the operations of the other electronic systems. However, traditional attempts at mitigating electronic emissions are often expensive and relatively resource intensive.
A number of electronic systems include phase lock loops can be utilized in attempts to perform a variety of functions. For example, some phase lock loops are utilized in frequency synthesis. In a frequency synthesizer, a phase locked loop (PLL) is usually used to multiply/divide the frequency of a selected low frequency crystal. The PLL is used to force the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) output to change until a feedback loop frequency and an input frequency to a phase detector have a particular phase relationship. Controlling the output of the phase lock loop can be complicated and/or involve a relatively significant amount of circuit resources.


An information processing apparatus stores output data in a storage unit, in an output system in which an output device acquires and outputs the output data stored in the storage unit. The information processing apparatus includes a determining unit configured to determine whether a substitute output function should be valid for the output data, based on information read from the output data, by using a substitute output setting including the information that can be read from the output data for which the substitute output function should be valid; and a specifying unit configured to specify a substitute output person, based on information read from the output data, and reflect information of the specified person in output-data-related-information relating to the output data that is stored together with the output data in the storage unit, when it is determined that the substitute output function should be valid for the output data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an output system, and an output method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a technology of storage printing (pull printing), in which a list of print jobs that have been stored in a server device by the user is displayed on an operation screen of a multifunction peripheral (MFP), etc., the user is prompted to select a print job from the list, and the print job selected by the user is caused to be provided from the server device to the multifunction peripheral, etc., and to be printed by the multifunction peripheral, etc. Furthermore, there is conventionally known a technology of substitute printing, in which a user, who requested the printing, delegates the printing authority to another user.
For example, there is a system for handling substitute printing. Substitute printing is to delegate an input print job to another user. In the case of requesting substitute printing, the user specifies the substitute user or group, for requesting the substitute printing, from a printer driver, etc. In this system, a job list is generated, including output jobs input by a user who is identified by user identification information and output jobs with which the user is associated as a shared output person, and the job list is sent to the device executing the output job (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the case of performing substitute printing by the conventional system, there is a need to select substitute printing, and to specify another user to which the printing authority is going to be delegated. As described above, in the case of performing substitute printing by the conventional system, the user needs to select substitute printing and specify another to which the printing authority is going to be delegated, and therefore time-consuming efforts are required of the user
Note that this problem is not limited to a printing system for performing pull printing; this problem also arises in an output system that outputs a job, which has been stored in a storage destination by a user, from an output device such as a printer, a projector, and a monitor.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2014-44546

Information processing apparatus, output system, and output method


The present disclosure is directed to nuclear thermionic avalanche cell (NTAC) systems and related methods of generating energy from captured high energy photons. Huge numbers of electrons in the intra-band of atom can be liberated through bound-to-free transition when coupled with high energy photons. If a power conversion process effectively utilizes these liberated electrons in an avalanche form through a power conversion circuit, the power output will be drastically increased. The power density of a system can be multiplied by the rate of high energy photon absorption. The present disclosure describes a system and methods built with multilayers of nuclear thermionic avalanche cells for the generation of energy. The multilayer structure of NTAC devices offers effective recoverable means to capture and harness the energy of gamma photons for useful purposes such as power systems for deep space exploration.

Conventional nuclear batteries, nuclear capacitors, or similar nuclear power generation systems rely upon nuclear fission induced by the collision of two subatomic particles. Generally, a subatomic particle, typically a neutron, is absorbed by the nucleus of a fissile material that fissions into two lighter elements and additional neutrons along with releases of thermal energy and prompt gamma rays. The fissile material in some cases can be a material such as uranium-235. Conventional and prior art systems, however, fail to capture the energy of other particles and prompt gamma ray released during fission. The current disclosure describes methods and systems for the effective absorption or capture of isotope-emitted beta particles and high energy photons to maximize the power output. The methods and systems disclosed herein result in a more efficient means to produce power as effective absorption or capture of these high energy subatomic particles and high energy photons that determine more power density of energy conversion systems.
Prior art energy systems include nuclear batteries described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,269,463, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Methods and systems disclosed herein improve the energy conversion, production, and efficiency of Nuclear Thermionic Avalanche Cell (NTAC) related systems. Prior art energy systems using a NTAC are described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,269,463, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The novel configuration and design of the NTAC disclosed herein takes advantage of an isotope's multiple internal interactions via a uniquely designed multiple layered structure of the NTAC. The unique design disclosed herein results in an energy conversion and power generation system with extremely high power density output. The systems and methods disclosed herein would only require refueling every three to four decades (depending on the application and activity rate of fission) or perhaps longer. Such functionality could be attractive in applications where the energy-using device is very remote from energy refueling sources or where there are operational benefits associated with minimal refueling. Potential applications include use in drones, high altitude aircraft, public utility-scale electric power generation facilities, electric propulsion for automobiles and airplanes, power for remote and rural communities, nodal power without transmission lines, marine electric-propulsion onboard nautical vessels, spacecraft, and satellites.

Multi-layer structure of nuclear thermionic avalanche cells

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA


Methods, a radio network node (110), a wireless device (120) and a positioning node (130) for obtaining a location estimate are disclosed. The location estimate indicates a location of a target radio node (110, 120). The wireless device (120) is operated to obtain the location estimate by use of functionality provided by a cellular telecommunication system (100). A node (110, 120, 130) refers to any one of the radio network node (110), the wireless device (120) and the positioning node (130). The node (110, 120, 130) obtains (308, 312, 316) a reference point for the target radio node (110, 120). The node (110, 120, 130) obtains (309, 313, 317) displacement information indicating displacement, in relation to the reference point, of the target radio node (110, 120). The node (110, 120, 130) sends (314a, 318a)) the displacement information and/or obtains (310, 314b, 318b) the location estimate by dead reckoning based on the displacement information and the reference point.

The possibility to determine the position of a mobile device has enabled application developers and wireless network operators to provide location based, and location aware, services. Examples of those are guiding systems, shopping assistance, friend finder, presence services, community and communication services and other information services giving the mobile user information about their surroundings.
In addition to the commercial services, the governments in several countries have put requirements on the network operators to be able to determine the position of an emergency call. For instance, the governmental requirements in the United States of America (USA), such as Federal Communications Commission Emergency 9-1-1 (FCC E911) that it must be possible to determine the position of a certain percentage of all emergency calls. The requirements make no difference between indoor and outdoor environment.
In many environments, the position can be accurately estimated by using positioning methods based on Global Positioning System (GPS). However, GPS-based positioning may often have unsatisfactory performance e.g. in urban and/or indoor environments. Complementary positioning methods could thus be provided by a wireless network. In addition to User Equipment-based (UE-based) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS including Global Positioning System, GPS), the following methods are available in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard for both the control plane and the user plane,                Cell Identification (CID),        Evolved-CID, such as E-CID including network-based Angle of Arrival (AoA),        Assisted-GNSS including Assisted-GPS,        Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA),        Uplink (UL) Time Difference of Arrival (UTDOA)—being currently standardized.
TDOA-/TOA-based methods, e.g. OTDOA, UTDOA or GNSS/A-GNSS: A typical format of the positioning result is an ellipsoid point with uncertainty circle/ellipse/ellipsoid which is the result of intersection of multiple hyperbolas/hyperbolic arcs (e.g. OTDOA) or circles/arcs (e.g. UTDOA, GNSS, or A-GNSS).
Hybrid methods: Since the hybrid technique involves a mix of any of the methods above, the position result can be any shape, but in many cases it is likely to be a polygon.
Cellular positioning methods often rely on knowledge of anchor nodes' locations, e.g., evolved Node B (eNodeB) or beacon device locations for OTDOA, Location Measurement Unit (LMU) antenna locations for UTDOA, eNodeB locations for E-CID. The anchor nodes' location may also be used to enhance Adaptive Enhanced Cell ID (AECID), hybrid positioning, etc.
Dead Reckoning (DR), aka deduced reckoning, is the process of calculating one's current position by using a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time, and course.
In cellular networks, GPS receivers with dead reckoning are used during GPS unavailability period, e.g., in tunnels, parking garages, and other common situations. When the GPS signals are restored, the dead-reckoning solutions may also provide a starting point for the GPS receiver configuration to search for GPS signals.
Three types of GPS receivers that support dead reckoning are known:                GPS receiver that utilizes vehicle speed signal input        GPS receivers utilizing wheel rotation data, where vehicle's speed and steering direction is estimated from wheel rotation data        GPS receiver with integrated inertial sensors, e.g., gyro sensor or acceleration sensor.
The disadvantage with dead reckoning based on GPS is mandating GPS receivers which may be not affordable e.g. for low-cost wireless devices.
The three key network elements in an LTE positioning architecture are the Location Service (LCS) Client, the LCS target and the LCS Server. The LCS Server is a physical or logical entity managing positioning for a LCS target device by collecting measurements and other location information, assisting the terminal in measurements when necessary, and estimating the LCS target location. A LCS Client is a software and/or hardware entity that interacts with a LCS Server for the purpose of obtaining location information for one or more LCS targets, i.e. the entities being positioned. LCS Clients may reside in a network node, external node, Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), user equipment (UE), radio base station, etc., and they may also reside in the LCS targets themselves. An LCS Client (e.g., an external LCS Client) sends a request to LCS Server (e.g., positioning node) to obtain location information, and LCS Server processes and serves the received requests and sends the positioning result and optionally a velocity estimate to the LCS Client.
Position calculation can be conducted, for example, by a positioning server, e.g. Evolved SMLC (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location Platform (SLP) in LTE or UE. The latter corresponds to the UE-based positioning mode, whilst the former may be network-based positioning (calculation in a network node based on measurements collected from network nodes such as LMUs or eNodeBs) or UE-assisted positioning (calculation is in a positioning network node based on measurements received from UE).
FIG. 1a illustrates the UL positioning architecture specified by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Although UL measurements may in principle be performed by any radio network node (e.g., eNodeB), UL positioning architecture may include specific radio network nodes such as UL measurement units (e.g., LMUs) which e.g. may be logical and/or physical nodes, may be integrated with radio base stations or sharing some of the software or hardware equipment with radio base stations or may be completely standalone nodes with own equipment (including antennas). The architecture is not finalized yet, but there may be communication protocols between LMU and positioning node, and there may be some enhancements for LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) or similar protocols to support UL positioning. A new interface, "SLm", between the E-SMLC and LMU is being standardized for uplink positioning. The interface is terminated between a positioning server (E-SMLC) and LMU. It is used to transport SLmAP, aka LMUp, protocol messages over the E-SMLC-to-LMU interface. Several LMU deployment options are possible. For example, an LMU may be a standalone physical node, it may be integrated into eNodeB or it may be sharing at least some equipment such as antennas with eNodeB—these three options are illustrated in the FIG. 1a.
LPPa is a protocol between eNodeB and LCS Server specified only for control-plane positioning procedures, although it still can assist user-plane positioning by querying eNodeBs for information and eNodeB measurements.
In LTE, UTDOA measurements, UL RTOA, are performed on Sounding Reference Signals (SRS). To detect an SRS signal, LMU needs a number of SRS parameters to generate the SRS sequence which is to be correlated to receive signals. SRS parameters would have to be provided in the assistance data transmitted by positioning node to LMU; these assistance data would be provided via an Application Protocol referred to as SLmAP (SLmAP), aka Location Measurement Unit protocol (LMUp), as defined in 3GPP TS 36.456/36.459. However, these parameters are generally not known to the positioning node, which needs then to obtain this information from eNodeB configuring the SRS to be transmitted by the UE and measured by LMU; this information would have to be provided in LPPa or similar protocol.
In FIG. 1b, architecture for downlink (DL) positioning according to prior art is illustrated.
Positioning Quality of Service (QoS) normally refers to two aspects of requirement: positioning accuracy and response time. The importance of each of the two quality characteristics is that they are generally service- and LCS application dependent. Often the positioning accuracy is of a more importance and typically it is the bottleneck in implementation.
Accuracy, and confidence, is important in several parts of the positioning system. First, when a positioning request arrives from the end user to the positioning node, a decision on which positioning method to use needs to be taken. The positioning node then needs to look up prior accuracies of the available positioning methods and compared these to the signaled requested accuracy from the end user, in order to select a most suitable positioning method. Then when a positioning results is available, the achieved accuracy is computed in the positioning node and it is determined if the requested accuracy was met. If so the positioning node reports the result and possibly the accuracy, back to the end user. If not met, the positioning node may proceed with a positioning re-attempt or another positioning method.
Positioning QoS may be of two types:                Target positioning QoS, aka target LCS quality, which may be associated, e.g., with the LCS Client type or service type and is typically known prior positioning method selection, e.g., received by positioning node from MME or obtained by a pre-defined rule,        Positioning result QoS or positioning result quality, which needs to be distinguished from positioning measurement quality; there may be multiple measurements used for positioning of the same UE, and each measurement is characterized with own quality; the set of measurements and their qualities also impact the positioning result quality, but measurement quality is not the same as the positioning result quality.
AECID is one kind of fingerprinting positioning technology that refines the basic cell identity positioning method in a variety of ways. It is Ericsson proprietary.
The AECID positioning method is based on the idea that high precision positioning measurements, e.g. A-GPS measurements, can be seen as points that belong to regions where certain cellular radio propagation condition persist.
Step 1: A-GPS positioning is performed at the same time of UE network signal measurement. The AECID positioning method introduces a tagging of high precision measurements according to certain criteria, e.g. including                The cell Ids that are detected by the terminal, in each grid point.        Quantized path loss or signal strength measurements, w.r.t. multiple RBSs, performed by the terminal, in each grid point.        Quantized Round Trip Time, such as Round Trip Time in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) or Timing Advance (TA) in Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and LTE, or UE Rx-Tx time difference(in LTE) in each grid point.        Quantized noise rise, representing the load of a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, in each grid point.        Quantized signal quality e.g. RxQual in GSM, Ec/NO in WCDMA and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) in LTE.        Radio connection information like the radio access bearer (RAB).        Quantized time.
It is noted that the tag consist of a vector of indices, each index taking an enumerable number of discrete values. Continuous variables used for tagging, like path loss, hence need to be quantized.
Step 2: Collect all high precision positioning measurements that have the same tag in separate high precision measurement clusters, and perform further processing of said cluster in order to refine it. Geographical region can be smaller than the extension of a cell of the cellular system.
Step 3: A polygon that represents the geographical extension of a cluster is computed, for each stored high precision position measurement cluster. The two most pronounced properties of the algorithm include:                The area of the polygon is minimized (accuracy hence maximized).        The probability that the terminal is within the polygon (the confidence) is precisely known (it is set as a constraint in the algorithm).
Step 4: For an incoming positioning request, the UE's network measurement is firstly obtained. By looking up cell Ids or tags, the polygon corresponding to the determined tag is then looked up in the tagged database of polygons, followed by reporting, e.g. over Radio Access Network Application Part (RANAP) using the polygon format.

Methods and network nodes for positioning based on displacement data


The invention relates to a mobile defibrillator which has a housing. In order to improve the diagnostic reliability, particularly in the case of irregular heart rhythms and myocardial infarctions, provision is additionally made for an imaging ultrasound device to be provided in or on the housing.

Such a defibrillator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,104 B1, for example. The defibrillator makes provision for an electrocardiograph. The electrocardiograph allows the cardiac electric activity of a patient to be recorded. On the basis of the cardiac electric activity, it is possible to detect a cardiac arrest, ventricular fibrillation, irregular heart rhythms or myocardial infarctions. The known defibrillator has a disadvantage in that myocardial infarctions, in particular imminent or silent myocardial infarctions, cannot be dependably and reliably detected.


Methods and apparatus are disclosed for use in procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart, such as identifying or evaluating the electrical activity of the heart, diagnosing and/or treating conditions associated with the electrophysiology of the heart. An apparatus having thermocouple elements of different electromotive potential conductively connected at a junction is introduced into the interior of the heart and a section of heart tissue is contacted with the junction. An electrical current is passed through the thermocouple elements to reduce the temperature of the junction in accordance with the Peltier effect and thereby cool the contacted heart tissue. The effect of the cooling may be monitored and, if desired the section of heart tissue may be treated.

As is well known, the human heart has four chambers for receiving blood and for pumping it to various parts of the body. In particular, the two upper chambers of the heart are called atriums, and the two lower chambers are called ventricles.
During normal operation of the heart, oxygen-poor blood returning from the body enters the upper right chamber known as the right atrium through the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava. The right atrium fills with blood and eventually contracts to expel the blood through the tricuspid valve to the lower right chamber known as the right ventricle. Contraction of the right ventricle ejects the blood in a pulse-like manner from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery which divides into two branches, one going to each lung. As the oxygen-poor blood travels through the lungs, it becomes oxygenated (i.e. oxygen-rich).
The oxygenated blood leaves the lungs through the pulmonary veins and fills the upper left chamber of the heart known as the left atrium. When the left atrium contracts, it sends the blood through the mitral valve to the lower left chamber called the left ventricle. Contraction of the left ventricle, which is the stronger of the two lower chambers, forces blood through the main artery of the vascular system known as the aorta. The aorta branches into many smaller arteries and blood vessels that eventually deliver the oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
As is apparent from the description above, the proper sequence of contraction and relaxation of the heart chambers is fundamental to its operation. Contraction of the heart chambers is controlled by the heart's conduction system, which includes areas of specialized "nodal" tissue or "nodes" capable of generating and transmitting electrical impulses. The ability to generate electrical impulses is known as "automaticity."
The natural pacemaker of the heart is called the SA (sino-atrial) node. It lies in the groove where the superior vena cava joins the right atrium. The SA node contains two types of cells, one of which exhibits automaticity.
In general, the conduction of an electrical impulse generated by the SA node proceeds as follows. The cardiac impulse travels across the walls of the atria, eventually causing the atria to contract. The impulses generated by the SA node are also transmitted to the atrio-ventricular (AV) node located in the lower portion of the right atrium near the right ventricle. From the AV node, the impulses travel through another area of nodal tissue known as the bundle of His and eventually to the Purkinje's fibers that envelop the ventricles. When the impulses reach these fibers, they cause the ventricles to contract.
More specifically, from the SA node the cardiac impulse spreads radially along ordinary atrial myocardial fibers. A special pathway, the anterior interatrial myocardial band, conducts the impulse from the SA node directly to the left atrium. In addition, three tracts, the anterior, middle, and posterior internodal tracts or pathways constitute the principal routes for conduction of the cardiac impulse from the SA to the AV node. These tracts consist of ordinary myocardial cells and specialized conducting fibers.
The AV node is situated posteriorly on the right side of the muscle wall dividing the heart's right and left atria, (known as the interatrial septum). The AV node also contains cells that exhibit automaticity. The AV node receives and relays the impulses through the septum to a cluster of fibers between the ventricles known as the bundle of His.
The bundle of His passes down the right side of the inter ventricular septum (the muscle wall between the right and left ventricles) and then divides into the right and left bundle branches. The right bundle branch is a direct continuation of the bundle of His and it proceeds down the right side of the interventricular septum. The left bundle branch, which is considerably thicker than the right, branches almost perpendicularly from the bundle of His and bisects the interventricular septum. On the surface of the left side of the interventricular septum the main left bundle branch splits into a thin anterior division and a thick posterior division.
The right bundle branch and the two divisions of the left bundle branch ultimately subdivide into a complex network of conducting fibers called Purkinje's fibers which envelop the ventricles.
As an impulse travels from the region of the atria to the ventricles, the first portions of the ventricles to be excited are the interventricular septum and the papillary muscles. The wave of activation spreads to the septum from both its left and its right endocardial surfaces (the inner membrane of the heart wall). Early contraction of the septum tends to make it more rigid and allows it to serve as an anchor point for the contraction of the remaining ventricular myocardium (the middle layer of muscle that comprises the heart wall).
The endocardial surfaces of both ventricles are activated rapidly, but the wave of excitation spreads from endocardium to the outer membrane or sheath of the heart wall known as the epicardium at a slower velocity. Because the right ventricular wall is appreciably thinner than the left, the epicardial surface of the right ventricle is activated earlier than that of the left ventricle. The last portions of the ventricles to be excited are the posterior basal epicardial regions and a small zone in the basal portion of the interventricular septum.
Cardiac arrhythmia refers to a disturbance in the rhythm of contraction and relaxation of the heart's chambers. In cardiac arrhythmia, the atria and/or ventricles do not contract and relax in the regular and sequential pattern described above, and may instead contract prematurely and/or randomly. In the most serious types of arrhythmia, such as fibrillation, the impulses may fragment into multiple, irregular circuits which are incapable of causing coordinated contractions of the heart chamber and, therefore, may adversely affect the pumping of blood.
Various causes of arrhythmia have been identified. One cause of cardiac arrhythmia may be a disorder in the formation of the impulse. For example, although the primary source of impulse formation is the SA node, it is known that most cardiac cells are capable of exhibiting automaticity. If an impulse traveling, for example, from the SA node is delayed or diverted, other cardiac cells or clusters of cells outside the areas of nodal tissue may spontaneously initiate an impulse. These cells or cell clusters are known as ectopic foci. The impulses generated by ectopic foci may be transmitted to the atria and/or ventricles prior to the impulse that is traveling along the normal conductive pathway, thereby causing premature contraction of the heart chamber.
Arrhythmia may also be caused by disorders in the conduction or transmission of an impulse from one region of the heart to another region. In this case, injury to a section of the heart tissue that is part of the normal conductive pathway may slow, block or even divert transmission of the impulse from its normal path. Impulses traveling along a different pathway proximal to the blocked pathway may attempt to reenter the blocked pathway. If the impulse reenters the blocked pathway, it may prematurely stimulate other nodal tissue causing the atria or ventricles to contract before these chambers have returned to their relaxed state.
One known method of treating cardiac arrhythmia, includes ablating the focal point of the arrhythmia within the heart tissue with the tip of a catheter or other surgical device. The devices used for treating arrhythmia typically have elongated, small diameter tubular bodies that include tips that can be heated, super-cooled or are capable of emitting radiofrequency energy. Typically, the device is introduced and advanced through the vascular system of the patient until the tip of the device reaches the desired location (e.g. the suspected source of the arrhythmia for treatment). When applied to the source of the arrhythmia, these heated, super-cooled or otherwise energized catheter tips ablate the section of tissue responsible for the cardiac arrhythmia.
One such method for treating disorders associated with the conduction of electrical signals in cardiac tissue is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,649. There, an antenna located at the distal tip of the catheter receives electrical signals from the heart which aids the physician in determining the source of the cardiac disorder. Once the source has been located, radiofrequency or microwave frequency energy is applied to the section of tissue through the tip of the catheter to ablate the source of the electrical disorder. The ablation can be controlled by means of an attenuator which regulates the amount of power radiated by the antenna.
Another example of a method and apparatus for ablating a portion of body tissue is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,355. There, a catheter is guided through the patient's body to the area of tissue to be ablated. An electrode located at the catheter tip monitors electrical activity of the tissue and transmits the information to a monitor display. After the physician has positioned the tip of the catheter at the suspected source of the arrhythmia, the tip of the catheter is cryogenically super-cooled to ablate the desired section of heart tissue. The device in this patent includes a flow control valve to regulate the amount of cryogenic liquid delivered to the catheter tip, and thereby try to control the temperature and rate of tip cooling. It is unclear from the description in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,355 how or whether the operator is able to determine the tip temperature. If during the course of cryoablation, an arrhythmic signal continues to be detected by the electrode, the cryoablation may be curtailed and the catheter tip repositioned to cryoablate another section of tissue suspected of being the source of the arrhythmia.
The catheter described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,355 includes first and second concentric fluid flow passages adjacent the tip portion for the flow of cryogenic fluid. Accordingly, the flow passages of the catheter must be made of a rigid material such as stainless steel or other material capable of withstanding the high pressures and temperatures as low as -60.degree. C. associated with liquid-to-gas phase change in a cryogenic fluid. As a result, the catheter is necessarily less flexible and more difficult to maneuver than is desirable when advancing the catheter through the vascular system of a patient.
One of the drawbacks with the above-described method for treating cardiac arrhythmia is that it does not allow for precise control of the probe tip temperature. For example, in the cryoablation method described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,355, the temperature of the catheter tip is regulated by the amount of cryogenic fluid delivered to the catheter tip. Using this method, change in the temperature of the probe tip is gradual, and rapid and precise temperature adjustment to the probe tip over a broad range of temperatures is difficult to achieve. The inability to quickly adjust the probe tip temperature may result in some destruction of sections of heart tissue that are not responsible for the arrhythmia.
Although it is known that cooling the heart tissue can cause observable changes in the electrical activity of the heart, Hariman et al., "Cryothermal Mapping of the Sinus Node in Dogs: A Simple Method of Localizing Dominant and Latent Pacemakers," Cardiovascular Research, 1989, Vol. 23, pp. 231-238 and Gessman, "Localization and Mechanism of Ventricular Tachycardia by Ice-Mapping 1-Week After the Onset of Myocardial Infarction in Dogs," Circulation, Vol. 68, No. 3, September 1983, pp. 657-666, which are incorporated by reference herein, the present methods for treating arrhythmia, as described above, typically have not utilized cooling of the heart tissue for purposes of identifying the foci of the aberrant signals, but have used low-temperature cooling for ablation.

Apparatus and methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart


This invention relates to optically active compounds of Flubrocythrinate, their preparations and uses. The insecticidal and miticidal activities of the optically active compounds of the present invention are apparently higher than that of mixture racemic compounds, thus resulting in an increase in rate of utilization as well as a decrease in environmental pollution. Moreover, the process for the preparations of the insecticidal and miticidal agents of the present invention are quite simple, therefore they might have a wide-ranging applications.

A new compound of the following structural formula I has been disclosed in Chinese Patent NO. CN 91107318.3 (applicant: Shanghai Zhong Xi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) ##STR1##
The compound of formula I has the common name Flubrocythrinate, and its chemical name is .alpha.-cyano-3-(4-bromophenoxy) benzyl-2-(4-difluoromethoxyphenyl)-3-methylbutyrate.
Flubrocythrinate possesses relatively high insecticidal and miticidal activities and excellent efficacy in comparison with ordinary pyrethroidal pesticides known in prior art, Flubrocythrinate also shows low toxicities towards human and animals and low toxicities towards beneficial insects and animals, in other words, said compound possesses very high insecticidal and miticidal activities and selectivities.
The inventor of the present invention has made efforts in increasing the efficacy and decreasing the dosage of the compound described above. The inventor notes that there are two chiral carbons in the structure formula of compound I, it consists of four optically active isomers. The inventor found, that the efficacy illustrated by an insecticidal and miticidal agents using the racemic form of the compound I as the active ingredient is lower than that using a specific optically active isomer. The dosage of the racemic form of the compound I used is greater than that of a single optically active isomer used, therefore increasing the environmental pollution.

Optically active compound of flubrocythrinate, a process for preparing the same

Shanghai Zhongxi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.


A method and apparatus for delaying or hastening the “lifespan” of a session in response to detecting (or causing) a session renewal. A “session,” refers to a particular user terminal's right of access to one or more communication channels to exchange data with the base station (and other devices/networks coupled thereto). A session renewal refers to an event or condition that delays the lapse/expiration of the session lifespan (i.e., extends the lifespan) or conversely, an event or condition that causes hastens the lapse of the session lifespan (i.e., causes an earlier lapse of the session). In one embodiment, a session represents the period of time in which a user terminal is registered with a base station and can thus access or attempt to access one or more wireless communication channels to exchange data with the base station. Therefore, a session “lifespan” represents a length of time subsequent to which, upon lapse of the lifespan, the session terminates and a remote user terminal must re-register with a base station to establish a session and to gain access to one or more wireless communication channels in which data may be exchanged between the user terminal and the base station.

Wireless communications systems are evolving to provide enhanced data services, such as portable wireless access to the Internet and other data services, including broadband services, to wireless users. However, as the number of users in such systems grows, the number of resources, and in particular, communication channels that are available, typically become increasingly scarce. For instance, in a mobile wireless communication system, the number of wireless communication channels (e.g., frequency, time, space, and/or code channels) that a particular base station can support for exchanging data or voice information with a remote mobile or stationary user terminal in a given geographical area is finite and limited. As such, if all users access the resources of a wireless communication to begin, for example, a data exchange session at the same time, over-contention may occur, resulting in network inefficiency (e.g., wasted bandwidth), relatively low per-user bandwidth and/or relatively high per-user latency.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that enables management of resources, such as channels available for wireless communication, to prevent the above-described and other drawbacks with prior systems.

Method and apparatus for resource management in a wireless data communication system


An identifying apparatus which can identify objects having electronic identification devices (EIDs). The identifying apparatus includes multiple EID readers positioned in a spaced apart relationship to define multiple pathways so that EIDs carried by the objects can pass in a single file through any one of the multiple pathways. Each EID reader is adapted to read any EID as the objects pass through any one of the pathways. Each EID carried by an object is recorded only once irrespective of the number of times an EID reader reads an EID.

Generally the only reliable system at present for the identification of multiple moving objects, such as livestock, with identifying means, typically electronic identification devices such as transponders, is to move the objects in a single file through a single pathway past a single reader. This system may obtain accurate results, however it has limitations and disadvantages, for example in relation to livestock, the livestock have to go though a single pathway, typically a race, in single file, thus causing the livestock to spend more time in the yards waiting to be identified which can cause the livestock to become stressed. Also higher labour costs are incurred with such as system as staff are required for long periods of time in order herd livestock through a single race.


A nasal cannula apparatus which includes one or more adjustment members which allow a wearer of the apparatus to retentively reposition the fluid supply tubing to a desired position of comfort. The ability to retentively reposition minimizes the dermal abrasion problems of the ears and other portions of the face experienced by the prolonged wearing of the nasal cannula apparatus encountered in the current art.

Nasal cannula apparatus provides the wearer with supplemental fluids, typically, but not exclusively, oxygen, to help compensate for reduced pulmonary function arising from such diseases as emphysema, severe bronchitis and other cardiopulmonary maladies caused by disease progression or trauma. In the relevant art, the nasal cannula are typically held in place by having one or more fluid supply tubes rest upon the upper surfaces of the ears and sides of the head adjacent to the ears as a means of support.
In many cases, the nasal cannula must be worn for prolonged periods of time which results in significant irritation, ulceration and possible microbial infection of the skin at the points of contact with the ears and sides of the head. Moreover, many of these unfortunate individuals require the supplemental fluids to be provided at all times for their very survival. As such, the wounds induced by the fluid supply tubes have little chance to heal.
An example of a very common nasal cannula arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,505 to Salter, et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The invention to Salter attempts to solve a significant contact irritation problem which occurs at the nostrils and upper lip of the wearer.
While the nostril area is more prone to irritation due to moisture, greater concentrations of invasive bacteria and friction transferred to the cannula by the wearer's head movements, this common arrangement transfers the contact irritation problem from the nostril area to portions of the ears and sides of the wearer's head and is therefore not a complete solution for those individuals requiring constant fluid supplementation or otherwise have skin sensitized to the plastics used to form the fluid supply tubes. Therefore, there is a need for a nasal cannula apparatus which is repositionable by the wearer to a more comfortable position about the head of the wearer.

Adjustable nasal cannula apparatus and method of use


A process for forming glass or glass ceramics is disclosed, wherein a glass ceramics form (12) is made from a starting glass by molding, which is transformed by a heat treatment into a keatite glass ceramic comprising predominantly keatite mixed crystals. With such a keatite glass ceramics form (12) formed bodies can be prepared from blank parts by sagging under gravity force at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the blank part (14) (FIG. 1).

The invention relates to a method for the forming of glass or glass ceramics, in particular for the preparation of mirror substrates, wherein a formed body is prepared from a blank by sagging under gravity force onto a mold.
The invention further relates to a method for preparing a mold suitable therefore.
From DE 199 38 811 A1 a method for the forming of glass ceramic parts is known according to which a blank is sagged under the influence of infrared irradiation, while possibly applying a vacuum or an excess pressure.
Such a forming method is suitable for forming a large number of blanks in three dimensions. Thus, e.g. trough-like or chamfer-like parts having a cross-section in circle segment form, rectangular, trapezoid or other form can be prepared.
The precision of the parts manufactured thereby naturally depends on the precision of the mold that is utilized. Up to now according to this method only mass-produced parts have been manufactured, while utilizing mostly metallic molds.
For the production of telescopes for scientific X-ray satellites up to now polished solid cylindric mirror shell substrates made of the glass ceramic ZERODUR® (glass ceramic, Schott Glas) have been utilized as projection optics. Due to the low reflectivity of all known materials for high-frequency X-rays at normal angle of incidence X-ray mirrors and X-ray telescopes are, preferably, operated at grazing incidence while taking advantage of the physical effect of total reflection. To this end two-piece telescopes for two reflexions are utilized, wherein the cylindric mirror shells have the specific forms of a parabola and a hyperbola which, according to Wolters, are particularly suited for such applications. For the telescopes of the scientific satellites ROSAT and CHANDRA polished solid cylindric mirror shell substrates of ZERODUR® (glass ceramic) were utilized as imaging optics. By contrast, for the X-ray satellite XMM-NEWTON galvanically produced nickel shells having a similar Wolters profile were utilized as mirror substrates. Up to now all X-ray satellites have applied conical solid cylindrical mirror substrates.
For the next generation of planned X-ray satellites (XEUS, CONSTELLATION-X) considerably larger telescopes are intended. Due to cost considerations such telescopes cannot be manufactured anymore as solid cylinders, but shall be composed of segmented mirror segments. Two different replicating methods for the mirror shells of these novel X-ray telescopes are currently intended to proceed from the single production of current X-ray mirrors to a line production and mass manufacturing for the planned satellites. Both methods utilize precision formed bodies of the glass ceramic ZERODUR® (glass ceramic), known as mandrels. The precision of the mandrel is transferred to the mirror shell segments by means of a nickel galvanic method (XEUS) or by means of duplicating utilizing an epoxy synthetic as an intermediate layer (CONSTELLATION-X). Both processes are performed at low temperatures below 100° C.
For the mentioned novel replicating processes for the manufacture of segmentized X-ray mirrors preformed glass substrates are necessary. This holds true for the planned project of NASA CONSTELLATION-X, as well as for the planned satellite of ESA XEUS, however, with respect to the latter only as an alternative technology for the favored galvanic method.
The mentioned mandrels of ZERODUR® (glass ceramic), are not suitable as molds for the manufacture of preformed glass substrates, since the operating range of ZERODUR® (glass ceramic), is 600° C. at the most, while already starting from 130° C. particular restrictions are present.
However, for a cost-effective molding of mirror substrates temperatures are necessary which, in part, are considerably above 600° C.
On the other hand, sintered ceramic molds cannot be manufactured in particular at large dimensions with the necessary form precision and precision (e.g. freeness from pores).
However, the manufacture of quartz molds is very expensive and restricted to smaller dimensions.
From EP 1,170,264 A1 it is basically known that glasses of the system Li2O—Al2O3—SiO2 can be transformed into glass ceramics (LAS glass ceramics) with high quartz mixed crystals and/or keatite mixed crystals as predominant crystal phases. These glass ceramics are prepared in various steps. After melting and hot forming usually the material is cooled below the glass transition temperature. Thereafter the base glass is transformed into a glass ceramic article by controlled crystallization. This ceramization is performed by an annealing process having several steps in which in the beginning nuclei are formed by nucleation at a temperature between 600 and 800° C., usually from TiO2 or ZrO2/TiO2 mixed crystals. Also SnO2 may take part in the nucleation. During a subsequent raise of temperature high quartz mixed crystals grow on these nuclei at a crystallization temperature of about 750 to 900° C. Herein the volume fraction between the crystalline high quartz mixed crystal phase and the glassy phase can be controlled in such a way that a coefficient of expansion of about 0 is reached. To this end normally a fraction of about 80% high quartz mixed crystals to about 20% residual glass is desired.
According to EP 1,170,264 A1 a short-time temperature increase up to 1100° C. or more is performed, whereby the glass ceramic is transformed into a ceramic having predominantly a keatite mixed crystal phase in the core and having a high quartz mixed crystal phase close to the surface.
However, the application of this glass ceramic disclosed herein is limited to cooking surfaces, cooking utensils, fire-proof glass etc.

Method for the forming of glass or glass ceramics


An improved method of nuclear transfer involving the transplantation of differentiated donor cell nuclei into enucleated oocytes of a species different from the donor cell is provided. The resultant nuclear transfer units are useful for the production of isogenic embryonic stem cells, in particular human isogenic embryonic or stem cells. These embryonic or stem-like cells are useful for producing desired differentiated cells and for introduction, removal or modification, of desired genes, e.g., at specific sites of the genome of such cells by homologous recombination. These cells, which may contain a heterologous gene, are especially useful in cell transplantation therapies and for in vitro study of cell differentiation. Also, methods for improving nuclear transfer efficiency by genetically altering donor cells to inhibit apoptosis, select for a specific cell cycle and/or enhance embryonic growth and development are provided.

Methods for deriving embryonic stem (ES) cell lines in vitro from early pre-implantation mouse embryos are well known. (See, e.g., Evans et al., Nature, 29:154-156 (1981); Martin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 78:7634-7638 (1981)). ES cells can be passaged in an undifferentiated state, provided that a feeder layer of fibroblast cells (Evans et al., Id.) or a differentiation inhibiting source (Smith et al., Dev. Biol., 121:1-9 (1987)) is present.
ES cells have been previously reported to possess numerous applications. For example, it has been reported that ES cells can be used as an in vitro model for differentiation, especially for the study of genes that are involved in the regulation of early development. Mouse ES cells can give rise to germline chimeras when introduced into pre-implantation mouse embryos, thus demonstrating their pluripotency (Bradley et al., Nature, 309:255-256 (1984)).
In view of their ability to transfer their genome to the next generation, ES cells have potential utility for germline manipulation of livestock animals by using ES cells with or without a desired genetic modification. Moreover, in the case of livestock animals, e.g., ungulates, nuclei from like pre-implantation livestock embryos support the development of enucleated oocytes to term (Smith et al., Biol. Reprod., 40:1027-1035 (1989); and Keefer et al., Biol. Reprod., 50:935-939 (1994)). This is in contrast to nuclei from mouse embryos, which beyond the eight-cell stage after transfer reportedly do not support the development of enucleated oocytes (Cheong et al, Biol. Reprod., 48:958 (1993)). Therefore, ES cells from livestock animals are highly desirable because they may provide a potential source of totipotent donor nuclei, genetically manipulated or otherwise, for nuclear transfer procedures.
Some research groups have reported the isolation of purportedly pluripotent embryonic cell lines. For example, Notarianni et al., J. Reprod. Fert. Suppl., 43:255-260 (1991), report the establishment of purportedly stable, pluripotent cell lines from pig and sheep blastocysts which exhibit some morphological and growth characteristics similar to that of cells in primary cultures of inner cell masses isolated immunosurgically from sheep blastocysts. (Id.) Also, Notarianni et al., J. Reprod. Fert. Suppl., 41:51-56 (1990) discloses maintenance and differentiation in culture of putative pluripotential embryonic cell lines from pig blastocysts. Further, Gerfen et al., Anim. Biotech, 6(1):1-14 (1995) disclose the isolation of embryonic cell lines from porcine blastocysts. These cells are stably maintained in mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder layers without the use of conditioned medium. These cells reportedly differentiate into several different cell types during culture (Gerfen et al., Id.).
Further, Saito et al., Roux's Arch. Dev. Biol., 201:134-141 (1992) report bovine embryonic stem cell-like cell lines cultured which survived passages for three, but were lost after the fourth passage. Still further, Handyside et al., Roux's Arch. Dev. Biol., 196:185-190 (1987) disclose culturing of immunosurgically isolated inner cell masses of sheep embryos under conditions which allow for the isolation of mouse ES cell lines derived from mouse ICMs. Handyside et al. (1987) (Id.), report that under such conditions, the sheep ICMs attach, spread, and develop areas of both ES cell-like and endoderm-like cells, but that after prolonged culture only endoderm-like cells are evident. (Id.)
Recently, Cherny et al., Theriogenology, 41:175 (1994) reported purportedly pluripotent bovine primordial germ cell-derived cell lines maintained in long-term culture. These cells, after approximately seven days in culture, produced ES-like colonies that stain positive for alkaline phosphatase (AP), exhibited the ability to form embryoid bodies, and spontaneously differentiated into at least two different cell types. These cells also reportedly expressed mRNA for the transcription factors OCT4, OCT6 and HES1, a pattern of homeobox genes which is believed to be expressed by ES cells exclusively.
Also recently, Campbell et al., Nature, 380:64-68 (1996) reported the production of live lambs following nuclear transfer of cultured embryonic disc (ED) cells from day nine ovine embryos cultured under conditions which promote the isolation of ES cell lines in the mouse. The authors concluded based on their results that ED cells from day nine ovine embryos are totipotent by nuclear transfer and that totipotency is maintained in culture.
Van Stekelenburg-Hamers et al., Mol. Reprod. Dev., 40:444-454 (1995), reported the isolation and characterization of purportedly permanent cell lines from inner cell mass cells of bovine blastocysts. The authors isolated and cultured ICMs from 8 or 9 day bovine blastocysts under different conditions to determine which feeder cells and culture media are most efficient in supporting the attachment and outgrowth of bovine ICM cells. They concluded based on their results that the attachment and outgrowth of cultured ICM cells is enhanced by the use of STO (mouse fibroblast) feeder cells instead of bovine uterus epithelial cells) and by the use of charcoal-stripped serum (rather than normal serum) to supplement the culture medium. Van Stekelenburg et al reported, however, that their cell lines resembled epithelial cells more than pluripotent ICM cells. (Id.)
Still further, Smith et al., WO 94/24274, published Oct. 27, 1994, Evans et al, WO 90/03432, published Apr. 5, 1990, and Wheeler et al, WO 94/26889, published Nov. 24, 1994, report the isolation, selection and propagation of animal stem cells which purportedly may be used to obtain transgenic animals. Also, Evans et al., WO 90/03432, published on Apr. 5, 1990, reported the derivation of purportedly pluripotent embryonic stem cells derived from porcine and bovine species which assertedly are useful for the production of transgenic animals. Further, Wheeler et al, WO 94/26884, published Nov. 24, 1994, disclosed embryonic stem cells which are assertedly useful for the manufacture of chimeric and transgenic ungulates. Thus, based on the foregoing, it is evident that many groups have attempted to produce ES cell lines, e.g., because of their potential application in the production of cloned or transgenic embryos and in nuclear transplantation.
The use of ungulate ICM cells for nuclear transplantation has also been reported. For example, Collas et al., Mol. Reprod. Dev., 38:264-267 (1994) disclose nuclear transplantation of bovine ICMs by microinjection of the lysed donor cells into enucleated mature oocytes. The reference disclosed culturing of embryos in vitro for seven days to produce fifteen blastocysts which, upon transferral into bovine recipients, resulted in four pregnancies and two births. Also, Keefer et al., Biol. Reprod., 50:935-939 (1994), disclose the use of bovine ICM cells as donor nuclei in nuclear transfer procedures, to produce blastocysts which, upon transplantation into bovine recipients, resulted in several live offspring. Further, Sims et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 90:6143-6147 (1993), disclosed the production of calves by transfer of nuclei from short-term in vitro cultured bovine ICM cells into enucleated mature oocytes.
Also, the production of live lambs following nuclear transfer of cultured embryonic disc cells has been reported (Campbell et al., Nature, 380:64-68 (1996)). Still further, the use of bovine pluripotent embryonic cells in nuclear transfer and the production of chimeric fetuses have also been reported (Stice et al., Biol. Reprod., 54:100-110 (1996)); Collas et al, Mol. Reprod. Dev., 38:264-267 (1994).
Further, there have been previous attempts to produce cross species NT units (Wolfe et al., Theriogenology, 33:350 (1990). Specifically, bovine embryonic cells were fused with bison oocytes to produce some cross species NT units possibly having an inner cell mass. However, embryonic cells, not adult cells were used, as donor nuclei in the nuclear transfer procedure. The dogma has been that embryonic cells are more easily reprogrammed than adult cells. This dates back to earlier NT studies in the frog (review by DiBerardino, Differentiation, 17:17-30 (1980)). Also, this study involved very phylogenetically similar animals (cattle nuclei and bison oocytes). By contrast, previously when more diverse species were fused during NT (cattle nuclei into hamster oocytes), no inner cell mass structures were obtained. Further, it has never been previously reported that the inner cell mass cells from NT units could be used to form an ES cell-like colony that could be propagated.
Also, Collas et al (Id.), taught the use of granulosa cells (adult somatic cells) to produce bovine nuclear transfer embryos. However, unlike the present invention, these experiments did not involve cross-species nuclear transfer. Also, unlike the present invention ES-like cell colonies were not obtained.
Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,780, issued to James A. Thomson on Dec. 1, 1998, assigned to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, purports to disclose a purified preparation of primate embryonic stem cells that are (i) capable of proliferation in an in vitro culture for over one year; (ii) maintain a karyotype in which all chromosomes characteristic of the primate species are present and not noticeably altered through prolonged culture; (iii) maintains the potential to differentiate into derivatives of endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm tissues throughout culture; and (iv) will not differentiate when cultured on a fibroblast feeder layer. These cells were reportedly negative for the SSEA-1 marker, positive for the SEA-3 marker, positive for the SSEA-4 marker, express alkaline phosphatase activity, are pluripotent, and have karyotypes which include the presence of all the chromosomes characteristic of the primate species and in which none of the chromosomes are altered. Further, these cells are respectfully positive for the TRA-1-60, and TRA-1-81 markers. The cells purportedly differentiate into endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm cells when injected into a SCID mouse. Also, purported embryonic stem cell lines derived from human or primate blastocysts are discussed in Thomson et al., Science 282:1145-1147 and Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 92:7844-7848 (1995).
Thus, Thomson discloses what purportedly are non-human primate and human embryonic or stem-like cells and methods for their production. However, there still exists a significant need for methods for producing human embryonic or stem-like cells that are autologous to an intended transplant recipient given their significant therapeutic and diagnostic potential.
In this regard, numerous human diseases have been identified which may be treated by cell transplantation. For example, Parkinson's disease is caused by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantial nigra. Standard treatment for Parkinson's involves administration of L-DOPA, which temporarily ameliorates the loss of dopamine, but causes severe side effects and ultimately does not reverse the progress of the disease. A different approach to treating Parkinson's, which promises to have broad applicability to treatment of many brain diseases and central nervous system injury, involves transplantation of cells or tissues from fetal or neonatal animals into the adult brain. Fetal neurons from a variety of brain regions can be incorporated into the adult brain. Such grafts have been shown to alleviate experimentally induced behavioral deficits, including complex cognitive functions, in laboratory animals. Initial test results from human clinical trials have also been promising. However, supplies of human fetal cells or tissue obtained from miscarriages is very limited. Moreover, obtaining cells or tissues from aborted fetuses is highly controversial.
There is currently no available procedure for producing "fetal-like" cells from the patient. Further, allograft tissue is not readily available and both allograft and xenograft tissue are subject to graft rejection. Moreover, in some cases, it would be beneficial to make genetic modifications in cells or tissues before transplantation. However, many cells or tissues wherein such modification would be desirable do not divide well in culture and most types of genetic transformation require rapidly dividing cells.
There is therefore a clear need in the art for a supply of human embryonic or stem-like undifferentiated cells for use in transplants and cell and gene therapies.

Embryonic or stem-like cell lines produced by cross species nuclear transplantation and methods for enhancing embryonic development by genetic alteration of donor cells or by tissue culture conditions