Computer based multimedia medical database management system and user interface

• US 5,950,207 A
• Filed: 08/08/1997
• Issued: 09/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Merge Technologies Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Merge Technologies Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Gray, Michael J., Mortimore, William C., Simon, Dwight A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kulik, Paul V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Corrielus, Jean M.
• Application Number:
  US08/908,901
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/100
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A computer database for medical imaging stores and manipulates multimedia data from various sources and reduces misidentification of data. A unique identifier is generated and linked to each data object, preferably at the time the image is generated. A graphical representation of the identifier is incorporated into the image or text when displayed or printed. A detector may be used to read the representation, allowing the identifier to be read and identify the data.

Claims

1. A method of managing multimedia medical data, wherein the data are visually presentable in hard copy form, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object representative of the medical data;

assigning a first unique identifier to the data object; and

integrating a machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier into substantially all hard copies of the corresponding medical data represented by the data object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first unique identifier is assigned at approximately the same time the data object is generated.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the data object in a memory.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

machine reading the machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier integrated into one of the hard copies; and

retrieving the data object from the memory based on the read first unique identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of electronically transmitting the data object to a remote location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second data object; and

selecting portions of the first data object and the second data object to create a third data object comprising at least one of the selected portions.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second data object; and

assigning a second unique identifier to the second data object, wherein the first and second unique identifiers are related to facilitate correlation of the first and second data objects.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of assigning a third unique identifier to a group of data objects including the first data object and the second data object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the hard copy of the data is comprised of film.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the hard copy of the data is comprised of reflective paper.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first unique identifier is assigned based at least in part on information relating to the data object.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia medical data includes analog information, and further comprising the step of digitizing the analog information.

13. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

storing the data object in a memory at an address;

providing a directory containing the first unique identifier; and

linking the first unique identifier in the directory with the memory address of the data object.

14. The method of claim 13 further including the step of retrieving the data object from the corresponding address in the memory, and wherein the step of integrating the machine readable graphical representation includes the steps of:

generating the machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier;

modifying the data object by merging the machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier into a portion of the data object corresponding to a viewable portion of the hard copy; and

outputting the modified data object to a hard copy generator.

15. The method of claim 14, further including the step of storing the modified data object into the memory at the corresponding address.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier includes a gray scale component.

17. A method of managing multimedia medical data, wherein the data are visually presentable in hard copy form, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object including textual and pixel data components representative of the medical data;

assigning a first unique identifier to the pixel data component;

assigning a second unique identifier to the textual data component, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier to facilitate correlation of the textual data component to the pixel data component.

18. A method of managing multimedia medical data, wherein the data are visually presentable in hard copy form, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object representative of the medical data;

assigning a first unique identifier to the data object;

integrating a machine readable graphical representation of the first unique identifier into substantially all hard copies of the corresponding medical data represented by the data object;

scanning a hard copy of medical information;

creating a second data object based on the information; and

assigning a second unique identifier to the second data object based on the information.

19. A method of managing visually presentable multimedia information, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object representative of the information;

assigning a first unique identifier to the data object;

electronically storing the data object in a memory;

generating a hard copy of the information based on the data object;

incorporating a machine readable representation of the unique identifier into the hard copy;

machine reading the representation of the first unique identifier; and

identifying the data object in the memory corresponding to the information based on the read first unique identifier.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the unique identifier is assigned at approximately the same time the data object is generated.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of retrieving the data object from the memory based on the read first unique identifier.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second data object representative of a second information, wherein the first information is related to the second information;

assigning a second unique identifier to the second data object, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier for correlation of the first and second data objects; and

storing the second data object in the memory.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of electronically transmitting the data object to a remote location.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second data object; and

selecting portions of the first data object and the second data object to create a third data object comprising at least one of the selected portions.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second data object; and

assigning a second unique identifier to the second data object, wherein the first and second unique identifiers are related to facilitate correlation of the first and second data objects.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of assigning a third unique identifier to a group of data objects including the first data object and the second data object.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the hard copy of the data is comprised of film.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein the hard copy of the data is comprised of reflective paper.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein the first unique identifier is assigned based at least in part on information relating to the data object.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the information includes analog information, and wherein the generating step further comprises digitizing the analog information.

31. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of integrating the graphical representation includes the steps of:

providing a directory containing the first unique identifier; and

linking the first unique identifier in the directory with the location of the data object in the memory.

32. The method of claim 19, wherein the machine readable representation of the first unique identifier includes a gray scale component.

33. A method of managing visually presentable multimedia information, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object including textual and pixel components representative of the information;

assigning a first unique identifier to the pixel component;

assigning a second unique identifier to the textual component, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier to facilitate correlation of the textual component to the pixel component;

electronically storing the data object in a memory;

generating a hard copy of the information based on the data object;

incorporating a machine readable representation of one of the first and second unique identifiers into the hard copy;

machine reading the representation of the one unique identifier; and

identifying the data object in the memory corresponding to the information based on the read one unique identifier.

34. A method of managing visually presentable multimedia information, comprising the steps of:

generating a data object representative of the information;

assigning a unique identifier to the data object;

electronically storing the data object in a memory;

generating a hard copy of the information based on the data object;

incorporating a machine readable representation of the unique identifier into the hard copy;

machine reading the representation of the unique identifier; and

identifying the data object in the memory corresponding to the information based on the read unique identifier;

scanning a hard copy of a second information;

creating a second data object based on the second information; and

assigning a second unique identifier to the second data object based on the second information.

35. A management system for multimedia information comprising:

a plurality of information generating devices generating data objects in a plurality of formats;

a converter connected to at least one of the information generating devices for converting information into a format compatible with the formats of data objects generated by other information generating devices;

an indexer for assigning a unique identifier to each data object generated by the information generating devices; and

a hard copy generator for generating a hard copy of the information based on at least one of the data objects, wherein the hard copy generator automatically integrates a machine readable representation of the corresponding unique identifier into the hard copy.

36. The management system of claim 35, wherein the indexer assigns the unique identifier at approximately the same time the corresponding data object is generated.

37. The management system of claim 35, further comprising a memory for storing the data objects.

38. The management system of claim 37, further comprising a detector for reading the machine readable representation of the unique identifier integrated into the hard copy, wherein the memory provides the data object in response to the read unique identifier.

39. The management system of claim 35, wherein:

the converter generates a second data object related to the first data object; and

the indexer assigns a second unique identifier to the second data object, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier for correlation of the first and second data objects.

40. The management system of claim 35, further comprising a communications link for electronically transmitting the data object to a remote location.

41. The management system of claim 35, wherein the converter generates a second data object, and the management system further comprises an editor for selecting portions of the first data object and the second data object to create a third data object comprising at least one of the selected portions.

42. The management system of claim 35, wherein the indexer assigns a third unique identifier to a group of data objects including the first data object and the second data object.

43. The management system of claim 35, wherein the hard copy of the information is comprised of film.

44. The management system of claim 35, wherein the hard copy of the information is comprised of reflective paper.

45. The management system of claim 35, further comprising:

a scanner for scanning a hard copy of a second information and creating a second data object based on the second information; and

wherein the indexer assigns a second unique identifier to the second data object based on the second information.

46. The management system of claim 45, further comprising a second converter connected to the scanner for converting data from the scanner into a format compatible with the formats of data objects generated by other information generating devices.

47. The management system of claim 35, wherein the unique identifier is assigned based on information relating to the data object to uniquely identify the data object.

48. The management system of claim 35, wherein the information includes analog information, and further comprising a digitizer for digitizing the analog information.

49. The management system of claim 35, further comprising:

a memory for storing the data object at an address; and

a directory for storing the unique identifier, wherein the directory links the unique identifier in the directory with the memory address of the data object.

50. The management system of claim 35, wherein the machine readable representation of the unique identifier includes a gray scale component.

51. The management system of claim 35, wherein the multimedia information is in an electronic format corresponding to pixels.

52. The management system of claim 51 wherein the multimedia information is further in a hardcopy film format.

53. The management system of claim 51 wherein the multimedia information is further in a hardcopy paper format.

54. The management system of claim 51 wherein the multimedia information is further in an electronic format corresponding to ASCII text data.

55. The management system of claim 51 wherein the multimedia information is further in an analog video data format.

56. A management system for multimedia information comprising:

a plurality of information generating devices generating data objects in a plurality of formats;

a converter connected to at least one of the information generating devices for converting information into a format compatible with the formats of data objects generated by other information generating devices;

at least one generated data object including textual and pixel data components;

an indexer for assigning a first unique identifier to the pixel data component and a second unique identifier to the textual data component, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier to facilitate correlation of the textual data component to the pixel data component; and

a hard copy generator for generating a hard copy of the information based on at least one of the data objects, wherein the hard copy generator automatically integrates a machine readable representation of the corresponding unique identifier into the hard copy.

57. A database management system for a database of multimedia data objects generated by a plurality of data generating devices, wherein the data objects are visually presentable to a user in hard copy form, comprising:

an indexer associated with each of the data generating devices for assigning a unique identifier to each data object generated by the data generating devices; and

a hard copy generator for generating a hard copy of at least one of the data objects, wherein the hard copy generator includes a machine readable representation of the unique identifier in each hard copy.

58. The management system of claim 57, wherein each indexer assigns the unique identifier at approximately the same time the corresponding data object is generated.

59. The management system of claim 58, wherein at least one of the indexers includes a converter for converting data objects generated by the corresponding data generating device into a format compatible with each of the other data objects.

60. The management system of claim 57, further comprising a memory for storing the data objects.

61. The management system of claim 60, further comprising a detector for reading the representation of the unique identifier integrated into the hard copy, and wherein the memory provides the data object in response to the read unique identifier.

62. The management system of claim 57, wherein:

at least one of the data generating devices generates a first data object and the corresponding indexer assigns a first unique identifier to the first data object;

at least one of the data generating devices generates a second data object and the corresponding indexer assigns a second unique identifier to the second data object; and

the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier for correlation of the first and second data objects.

63. The management system of claim 57, further comprising a communications link for electronically transmitting data objects to a remote location.

64. The management system of claim 57, wherein at least one of the data generating devices generates a second data object, and the management system further comprises an editor for selecting portions of the first data object and the second data object to create a third data object comprising at least one of the selected portions.

65. The management system of claim 64, wherein at least one of the indexers assigns a third unique identifier to a group of data objects including the first data object and the second data object.

66. The management system of claim 57, wherein the hard copy of the data object is comprised of film.

67. The management system of claim 57, wherein the hard copy of the data object is comprised of reflective paper.

68. The management system of claim 57, further comprising:

a scanner for scanning a hard copy of information and creating a second data object based on the information; and

wherein the indexer corresponding to the second data object assigns a second unique identifier to the second data object based at least in part on the hard copy.

69. The management system of claim 68, further comprising a converter connected to the scanner for converting data from the scanner into a format compatible with the formats of data objects generated by other data generating devices.

70. The management system of claim 57, wherein the identifier is assigned based at least in part on information relating to the data object.

71. The management system of claim 57, wherein the data object includes analog data, and further comprising a digitizer for digitizing the analog data.

72. The management system of claim 57, further comprising:

a memory for storing each data object at an address; and

a directory for storing each unique identifier, wherein the directory links the unique identifier in the directory with the memory address of the corresponding data object.

73. The management system of claim 57, wherein the machine readable representation of the unique identifier includes a gray scale component.

74. A database management system for a database of multimedia data objects generated by a plurality of data generating devices, at least one of the data objects including textual and pixel data components, wherein the data objects are visually presentable to a user in hard copy form, comprising:

an indexer associated with each of the data generating devices for assigning a unique identifier to each data object generated by the data generating devices;

a hard copy generator for generating a hard copy of at least one of the data objects, wherein the hard copy generator includes a machine readable representation of the unique identifier in each hard copy;

the indexer corresponding to a data object including textual and pixel data components assigning a first unique identifier to the pixel data component and assigns a second unique identifier to the textual data component, wherein the second unique identifier is related to the first unique identifier to facilitate correlation of the textual data component to the pixel data component.