Intelligent medical image management system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An image management system connected to receive messages from a plurality of image producing devices coupled to a network, the image management system comprising:
- a plurality of storage devices, each storage device having cost and operating characteristics which differ from the other storage devices;
means for receiving over the network from image producing devices messages which contain image data and metadata, said metadata containing information related to the image data and the image producing device;
a buffer for storing image data in a received message coupled to the means for receiving;
processor means coupled to the means for receiving to process metadata in a received message to determine in accordance with a stored rule which one of the plurality of storage devices should store the associated image data; and
archiving means responsive to the determination made by the processor means to transfer the image data in the buffer to said one storage device.
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Abstract
An image management system connects to a health care enterprise intranet and receives images from medical imaging devices located throughout the enterprise. The image management system also receives images, patient information and administrative information from PAC, RIS and HIS systems. The images are automatically archived in a number of storage devices having different cost and performance characteristics in accordance with a set of stored health care enterprise rules.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. An image management system connected to receive messages from a plurality of image producing devices coupled to a network, the image management system comprising:
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a plurality of storage devices, each storage device having cost and operating characteristics which differ from the other storage devices;
means for receiving over the network from image producing devices messages which contain image data and metadata, said metadata containing information related to the image data and the image producing device;
a buffer for storing image data in a received message coupled to the means for receiving;
processor means coupled to the means for receiving to process metadata in a received message to determine in accordance with a stored rule which one of the plurality of storage devices should store the associated image data; and
archiving means responsive to the determination made by the processor means to transfer the image data in the buffer to said one storage device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An image management system connected to receive messages which contain image data and associated metadata from an image producing device, which comprises:
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a plurality of storage devices, each storage device having cost and operating characteristics which differ from the other storage devices;
means connected to receive the messages;
processor means coupled to the means for receiving and being operable to examine metadata in received messages and parameters in a set of stored rules to determine in which of said plurality of storage devices the associated image data should be stored; and
means for storing the associated image data in the storage device determined by the processor means. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23)
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20. The image management system as recited in claim 20 in which the processor means is operable when selected rules are satisfied to produce a message indicating that the image data is to be transferred to another one of said storage devices at a later time, and in which the image management system also includes:
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a persistent messaging service coupled to the processor means and being operable to store said message to be acted upon at a later time; and
means for acting on the stored message at said later time to transfer said image data to said another one of said storage devices.
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24. A method for storing images produced by a plurality of medical imaging devices located in a health care enterprise, the steps comprising:
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a) electronically sending each image to an image management system along with associated metadata that includes information about the image;
b) storing a set of rules in the image management system which indicates how images for the health care enterprise are to be stored;
c) evaluating a stored rule by examining the metadata associated with each image received by the image management system;
d) storing the received image in a manner indicated by a rule which is evaluated as satisfied; and
e) storing the associated metadata in a database. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification