1. A syringe device for delivering an osteogenic material to an interbody space between first and second adjacent vertebra of a patient, the device comprising:
(a) an elongate syringe barrel having a rigid portion and an internal lumen communicating with an open distal end, said open distal end receivable within an interbody space between first and second adjacent vertebra of a patient, the open distal end having a deflectable region, the deflectable region being flexible and having a marker, wherein in a direction extending toward said open distal end there is a tapered region of increasing diameter that begins at or just after a curved portion;
(b) a porous osteogenic material received in the lumen of said elongate syringe barrel and having a trailing end; said porous osteogenic material incorporating a liquid pharmaceutical composition comprising an osteogenic protein, said liquid pharmaceutical composition captured within pores of a porous carrier material; said porous carrier material further being compressible, wherein compression of the carrier material expels amounts of said liquid pharmaceutical composition out of said pores such that the liquid pharmaceutical composition escapes the porous carrier material;
(c) a plunger configured to move in the lumen and apply force to the trailing end of the porous osteogenic material to advance the material through the lumen of the syringe barrel, the plunger being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable region and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable region of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker that marks the bend portion; and wherein said syringe barrel, plunger and porous osteogenic material are configured wherein the porous osteogenic material is advanceable through the internal lumen with said plunger without substantial compression of the porous osteogenic material which thereby retains the liquid pharmaceutical composition.
2. The syringe device of claim 1, wherein said osteogenic protein is a bone morphogenic protein.
3. A syringe device useful for delivering a medical substance, the device comprising:
an elongate, needleless syringe barrel with a rigid portion and a distal barrel end having a deflectable region, the deflectable region being flexible and the distal end having a distal delivery opening, said syringe barrel having an internal lumen, wherein in a direction extending toward a distal open end there is a tapered region of increasing diameter that begins at or just after a curved portion;
a pushing element configured to advance in the lumen and having a leading end for contacting and advancing a medical substance through the lumen of the syringe barrel and out the distal delivery opening, the pushing element being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable region and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable region of the syringe barrel; and
an imagable marker on said syringe barrel at the deflectable region and said pushing element at the bend portion.
4. The syringe device of claim 3, wherein said imagable marker is a radiopaque marker.
5. The syringe device of claim 3, configured for delivery of an osteogenic material to an interbody space between first and second adjacent vertebra of a patient.
6. A syringe device useful for delivering a medical substance, the device comprising:
an elongate syringe barrel having an internal lumen, a proximal region and a distal region, the proximal region comprising a rigid portion, the distal region comprising a deflectable portion, the deflectable portion being flexible and having a marker, wherein in a direction extending toward a distal open end there is a tapered region of increasing diameter that begins at or just after a curved portion;
at least one element cooperable with said syringe barrel to selectively introduce and remove a curvature in at least a portion of said syringe barrel; and
a plunger configured to move within the lumen and advance a medical substance through the lumen of the syringe barrel, the plunger being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable portion and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable portion of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker to mark the bend portion.
7. The syringe device of claim 6, wherein said at least one element comprises a sheath.
8. The syringe device of claim 6, wherein said at least one element comprises a rod.
9. The syringe device of claim 8, wherein said syringe barrel includes a first lumen for delivery of the medical substance and a second lumen for receipt of the rod.
10. The syringe device of claim 9, wherein said syringe barrel has a straight configuration when in a relaxed condition.
11. The syringe device of claim 9, wherein said syringe barrel has a curved configuration when in a relaxed condition.
12. The syringe device of claim 10, wherein said rod has a curved configuration when in a relaxed condition.
13. The syringe device of claim 11, wherein the rod has a straight configuration when in a relaxed condition.
14. The syringe device of claim 7, wherein said sheath has a curved configuration when in a relaxed condition.
15. The syringe device of claim 7, wherein said sheath has a straight configuration when in a relaxed condition.
16. The syringe device of claim 14, wherein said syringe barrel has a straight configuration when in a relaxed condition.
17. The syringe device of claim 15, wherein said syringe barrel has a curved configuration when in a relaxed condition.
18. A syringe device useful for delivering a medical graft material susceptible to compression, comprising:
a syringe barrel including a proximal end and a distal end; said syringe barrel including at least a barrel segment configured for passage of the medical graft material, said barrel segment including an internal lumen terminating in a distal delivery opening, said internal lumen including at least a portion widening in a direction toward said distal delivery opening, and wherein the delivery opening has a delivery opening cross-sectional area at least as great as a minimum cross-sectional area of said barrel segment, the proximal end comprising a rigid portion, the distal end comprising at least one deflectable portion, the deflectable portion being flexible and having a marker, wherein the syringe barrel comprises threads; and
a plunger mechanism configured to move within the internal lumen and within said barrel segment and effective to transfer the medical material through said internal lumen and out of said delivery opening, the plunger mechanism being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable portion and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable portion of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker to mark the bend portion, wherein the plunger is configured to cooperate with the threads of the syringe barrel.
19. The syringe device of claim 18, wherein said widening occurs in one or more steps along the length of said barrel.
20. The syringe device of claim 18, further comprising a funnel segment extending from said proximal end of said barrel.
21. The syringe device of claim 18, wherein said widening is continuous.
22. The syringe device of claim 18, configured for delivery of a medical substance to a spinal interbody space of a patient.
23. A syringe assembly useful for delivering an implant material, comprising:
a syringe barrel having an internal lumen, said barrel including a distal barrel end providing a distal delivery opening, and a proximal barrel end, said barrel further including an arcual portion proximal to said distal end, the proximal barrel end comprising a rigid portion, the distal barrel end comprising at least one deflectable portion, the deflectable portion being flexible and having a marker, wherein the syringe barrel comprises threads;
said lumen including one or more regions of increasing cross-sectional area extending in a direction toward said distal barrel end;
the delivery opening having a delivery opening cross-sectional area at least as great as a minimum cross-sectional area along the length of the syringe barrel; and
a material pushing element configured to move within the lumen and operable to move the material through said lumen toward the distal end of said barrel, the material pushing element being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable portion and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable portion of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker to mark the bend portion, wherein the plunger is configured to cooperate with the threads of the syringe barrel.
24. The syringe assembly of claim 23, further comprising a funnel segment configured for receipt of the implant material and extending from said proximal end of said barrel.
25. An apparatus useful for dispensing a medical material, comprising:
a syringe barrel having an internal lumen, said barrel including a receiving portion, a dispensing portion, and a central portion connecting said receiving portion and said dispensing portion, wherein said central portion has a rigid portion and said dispensing portion includes an arcual shape and at least one deflectable portion, the deflectable portion being flexible and having a marker, wherein the syringe barrel comprises threads and
a material moving element configured to move within the lumen and translatable within said barrel to move the material toward said dispensing portion, wherein said material moving element being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable portion and having a bend portion to travel within at least a part of said arcual shape of the dispensing portion and deflect the at least one deflectable portion of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker to mark the bend portion, wherein the plunger is configured to cooperate with the threads of the syringe barrel.
26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said material moving element includes one or more guides circumferentially disposed about said element to guide said material moving element through said internal chamber of said syringe barrel.
27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said receiving portion has a funnel shape with a cross-sectional diameter decreasing toward said central portion.
28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said lumen has one or more regions of increasing cross-sectional area.
29. The apparatus of claim 28 further comprising a sheath body, wherein one segment of the syringe barrel that flanks a bend portion is made of a material that is not deflectable by the sheath and the bend portion that is made of a material that is capable of deflection by the sheath body.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program that when executed by at least one processor performs motion estimation for an image array obtained from a current image in a sequence of video images, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
performing a first motion estimation process that searches for the image array in a reference image in the sequence of images (i) to identify a first motion vector that provides a first estimate of a motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image, and (ii) to obtain a first error estimate for the first estimate of the motion of the image array;
when the first error estimate is greater than a threshold value, performing a second different motion estimation process that searches for the image array in the reference image (i) to identify a second motion vector that provides a second estimate of the motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image, and (ii) to obtain a second error estimate for the second estimate of the motion of the image array;
when the second error estimate is greater than the threshold value, performing a third motion estimation process to obtain a third estimate of the motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image; and
encoding said current image based the motion of the image array.
2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for specifying the first estimate of the motion of the image array as a final estimate of the motion of the image array when the first error estimate is less than or equal to the threshold value.
3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for performing the first motion estimation process comprises sets of instructions for:
comparing the image array obtained from the current image with a set of different reference image arrays that are obtained from the reference image, wherein the image array obtained from the current image is a current-image array and each image array obtained from the reference image is a reference-image array;
identifying a particular reference-image array that is least different from the current-image array based on the comparison; and
identifying the first motion vector based on a position of the current-image array in the current image and a position of the particular reference-image array in the reference image.
4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for computing the first error estimate by aggregating an absolute value of a difference between corresponding image values in the current-image array and the particular reference-image array.
5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, wherein the set of instructions for comparing the current-image array and the set of different reference-image arrays comprises a set of instructions for aggregating an absolute value of a difference between corresponding image values in the current-image array and the particular reference-image array.
6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the image array specifies image values for a two-dimensional set of pixels in the current image.
7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of pixels is a macroblock that has a width of 16 pixels and a height of 16 pixels.
8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for specifying the second estimate of the motion of the image array as a final estimate of the motion of the image array when the second error estimate is less than or equal to the threshold value.
9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the motion estimation processes performs at least one search in at least one reference image to obtain the corresponding estimate of the motion of the image array.
10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the motion estimation processes are sorted from an expected fastest to an expected slowest, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for iteratively selecting each of the motion estimation processes according to the sorted order to obtain the corresponding estimate of the motion of the image array and to obtain the corresponding error estimate.
11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of instructions for performing the third motion estimation process comprises a set of instructions for obtaining a third error estimate for the third estimate of the motion of the image array, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for specifying the third estimate of the motion of the image array as a specified estimate of the motion of the image array when the third error estimate is less than or equal to the threshold value.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for selecting a lowest error estimate from each of the error estimates produced from performing each of the motion estimation processes as a selected estimate of the motion of the image array when none of the error estimates is less than or equal to the threshold value.
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program that when executed by at least one processor performs motion-estimation for an image array obtained from a current image in a sequence of video images, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
iteratively:
selecting a particular motion-estimation searching process from a list of at least three different motion-estimation searching processes that are sorted from an expected fastest to an expected slowest;
performing the particular motion-estimation searching process that searches for the image array in a reference image in the sequence of video images (i) to identify a motion vector that provides an estimate of a motion of the image array and (ii) to identify a motion-estimation error for the estimate of the motion of the image array, the iterative selecting and performing terminated when the identified motion-estimation error meets a same threshold; and
encoding said current image based the motion of the image array.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each particular motion-estimation searching process produces a motion estimation, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for defining a particular motion estimation that meets the same threshold as a specified estimate of a motion of a set of pixels in an image of the video.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions for selecting the particular motion-estimation searching process comprises a set of instructions for selecting, during each iteration, an expected-fastest motion-estimation searching process in the list that has not been selected.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the list of motion-estimation searching processes comprises a third motion-estimation searching process that is different from the first and second processes.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first motion-estimation searching process is designated as a faster process than the second motion-estimation searching process, and the second motion-estimation searching process is designated as a faster process than the third motion-estimation searching process.
18. A method of performing motion estimation for an image array obtained from a current image in a sequence of video images, the method comprising:
performing a first motion estimation process that searches for the image array in a reference image in the sequence of images (i) to identify a first motion vector that provides a first estimate of a motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image, and (ii) to obtain a first error estimate for the first estimate of the motion of the image array;
when the first error estimate is greater than a threshold value, performing a second different motion estimation process that searches for the image array in the reference image (i) to identify a second motion vector that provides a second estimate of the motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image, and (ii) to obtain a second error estimate for the second estimate of the motion of the image array;
when the second error estimate is greater than the threshold value, performing a third motion estimation process to obtain a third estimate of the motion of the image array between the current image and the reference image; and
encoding said current image based the motion of the image array.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first motion estimation process is designated as a faster process than the second motion estimation process, and the second motion estimation process is designated as a faster process than the third motion estimation process.
20. The method of claim 18 further comprising receiving a sorted list comprising a plurality of motion estimation processes, the sorted list comprising the first motion estimation process that, based on prior analysis, is expected to be a fastest process in the plurality of motion estimation processes and a last motion estimation process that, based on the prior analysis, is expected to be a slowest process in the plurality of motion estimation processes, wherein performing the motion estimation processes comprises iteratively performing one or more of the plurality of motion estimation processes according to the sorted list.
21. A method of performing motion-estimation for an image array obtained from a current image in a sequence of video images, the method comprising:
iteratively:
selecting a particular motion-estimation searching process from a list of at least three different motion-estimation searching processes that are sorted from an expected fastest to an expected slowest;
performing the particular motion-estimation searching process that searches for the image array in a reference image in the sequence of video images (i) to identify a motion vector that provides an estimate of a motion of the image array and (ii) to identify a motion-estimation error for the estimate of the motion of the image array, the iterative selecting and performing terminated when the identified motion-estimation error meets a same threshold; and
encoding said current image based the motion of the image array.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein each particular motion-estimation searching process produces a motion estimation, the method further comprising defining a particular motion estimation that meets the same threshold as a specified estimate of a motion of a set of pixels in an image of the video.
23. The method of claim 21, wherein selecting the particular motion-estimation searching process comprises selecting, during each iteration, an expected-fastest motion-estimation searching process in the list that has not been selected.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein the list of motion-estimation searching processes comprises a third motion-estimation searching process that is different from the first and second processes.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first motion-estimation searching process is designated as a faster process than the second motion-estimation searching process, and the second motion-estimation searching process is designated as a faster process than the third motion-estimation searching process.