Asset communication format within a computer network

• US 7,640,171 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2001
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyland Switzerland, Sarl
• Original Assignee: Acuo Technologies, LLC (Kofax Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kingsbury, Dale Philip, Romatoski, Jeffrey Allen, Gendron, David Pierre, Sitka, Larry Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; C. Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Porter; Rachel L
• Application Number:
  US09/911,846
• Publication Number:
  US 20020028007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,080 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/26 Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A communication format and protocol is described for routing and storage “asset” within a computer network. The assets conform to a format in which a first data structure that stores asset meta information to control routing of the asset through a medical imaging network. A second data structure that stores medical imaging information received from a medical imaging modality. A third data structure that stores pixel data received from the medical imaging modality. A fourth data structure that stores patch data that includes modifications to the medical imaging information. A fifth data structure that stores error detection and correction information.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having a storage asset therein comprising:

a first data structure that stores asset meta information to control routing of the asset through a medical imaging network;

a second data structure that stores medical imaging information received from a medical imaging modality;

a third data structure that stores pixel data received from the medical imaging modality;

a fourth data structure that stores patch data that includes modifications to the medical imaging information; and

a fifth data structure that stores error detection and correction information.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the medical imaging information includes patient information, session information, study information and image information.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the medical imaging information includes Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) tags and messages.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, a fourth data structure that stores thumbnail data generated from the pixel data.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the thumbnail data includes a low-resolution version of the pixel data and is generated by a router within the medical imaging network.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the patch data includes, for each modification, a revision history having a date, a time, and an operator associated the respective modification.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the error detection and correction information comprises a cyclical redundancy check (CRC).

8. A method comprising:

storing routing information mapping destinations to routes within a network;

receiving a storage asset comprising;

(i) asset meta information, (ii) original medical imaging information received from a medical imaging modality, and (iii) patch data that includes modifications to the medical imaging information;

selecting a route from the routing information based on the asset meta information; and

forwarding the storage asset according to the selected route.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the storage asset further comprises pixel data received from the medical imaging modality.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the storage asset further comprises error detection and correction information.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing a set of routing rules;

comparing a portion of the medical imaging data or a portion of the patch data to the set of routing rules; and

selecting the route from the routing information based at least on a result of the comparison.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage asset further comprises thumbnail data generated from the pixel data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the thumbnail data includes a low-resolution version of the pixel data and is generated by a router within the medical imaging network.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the patch data includes, for each modification, a revision history having a date, a time, and an operator associated the respective modification.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the asset meta information comprises a target Application Entity Name (AEName), and further wherein storing routing information comprises storing routing information mapping AENames to routes within the medical imaging network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting a route from the routing information comprises comparing an AEName within the storage to the AEName within the routing information.

17. The method of claim 15, further including:

updating the medical imaging information based on the patch data to form a corrected medical imaging information; and

displaying the corrected medical imaging information on a diagnostic view station.

18. A router comprising:

a computer-readable medium storing routing information mapping destinations to routes within a medical imaging network; and

a routing module to route a storage asset comprising;

(i) asset meta information, (ii) original medical imaging information received from a medical imaging modality, and (iii) patch data that includes modifications to the medical imaging information, wherein the routing module selects a route based on the asset meta information and the routing information.

19. The router of claim 18, wherein the asset meta information comprises a target Application Entity Name (AEName), and further wherein the routing information maps AENames to routes within the medical imaging network.