Medical image capture system and method

• US 20020073429A1
• Filed: 10/09/2001
• Published: 06/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agfa Healthcare Corporation (Agfa-Gevaert N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Heartlab Holding Company Inc.
• Inventors: Beane, John A., Heminger, Larry J., Stone, Robert M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,257,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

As patient video images are captured in a lab, they are converted into an uncompressed data set and stored locally on a hospital site server, where they are immediately viewable by diagnosticians in the hospital. The hospital site server generates a plurality of compressed data sets for use by the Internet Data Center. Additionally, the uncompressed data set and a plurality of compressed data sets are stored permanently on a centralized Internet Data Center, from which they can be searched out and displayed by any client device running web-browser software. A client is provided with immediate access to the uncompressed images when pausing and requesting the images of interest from the server. The patient video images are automatically delivered to any authorized Clinical Research Organizations, they are delivered back to the treating hospital when the patient returns for subsequent visits, and are viewable through in-hospital viewing stations over a private high-speed network.

Claims

1. A system for processing patient video image data, comprising:

a Hospital Site Server for capturing and storing said patient video image data;

an Internet Data Center in communication with said Hospital Site Server for storing said patient video image data, wherein the Internet Data Center comprises a server for and providing access to said patient video images; and

a web-based client for receiving said patient video image data from said Internet Data Center.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said Hospital Site Server comprises at least one Acquisition Station linked to the Hospital Site Server.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said Acquisition Station further comprises a camera for collecting said patient video image.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said Hospital Site Server comprises instructions for converting said patient video images into a plurality of compressed video images.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said Internet Data Center further comprises at least one digital computer configured as a web server, a multi-media server, a database server, and a backup data system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said backup data system comprises at least one storage facility for storing said patient video image data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said multi-media server comprises instructions for receiving said patient video image data from said backup data system and delivering it to a web-based client as streaming media.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said web-based client is a device running web-browser software and is configured to receive said patient video image data via the Internet.

9. A system for capturing and delivering patient video image data to a remote viewing station, comprising:

a camera for capturing patient video images, said camera configured to transmit said patient video images to an acquisition station;

said acquisition station comprising instructions for receiving patient demographic information

a hospital site server comprising a storage component for storing said patient video images and said patient demographic information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said hospital site server is further configured to deliver said patient file to an internet data center.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said hospital site server is linked to a review station for displaying said patient video images.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein said hospital site server comprises instructions for compressing said patient video image file into a plurality of compressed image files of varying compression ratios.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said site server is configured to create a thumbnail image of said patient video, wherein said thumbnail image is derived from a median frame in said patient video.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said image backup data system is configured to retrieve a specified patient file upon request.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising instructions for receiving the patient video image file upon selection of the thumbnail image by a user.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a multi-media server in communication with said image backup data system, wherein said multi-media server is configured to detect a web client'"'"'s bandwidth and select a compressed patient video image file based on the client'"'"'s bandwidth.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the compressed multi-media file is an MPEG encoded file.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the uncompressed video frames are retrieved from a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) file.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of uncompressed video frames is 5 to 10 video frames.

17. A method for displaying a compressed multi-media file and retrieving lossless frames of interest, comprising:

displaying a compressed multi-media file in a viewer;

detecting when a selected frame of video in said view has been selected;

retrieving a plurality of uncompressed video frames immediately before and immediately after the selected frame; and

displaying the plurality of uncompressed video frames.

21. A method for displaying a multi-media file to a client computer comprising:

calculating said client'"'"'s effective bandwidth;

determining how many frames of a multi-media file must be skipped in order to render the entire file without waiting for a subsequent frame to download;

reordering frames of said multi-media file such that the file is downloaded sequentially; and

delivering and repeatedly displaying said file until all frames of the file are downloaded and displayed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the multi-media file is a video file.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the frames are reordered so that 5 to 10 frames of video are skipped until the end of the multi-media file is reached.