Remote cine viewing of medical images on a zero-client application

• US 9,635,074 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2016
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: Merge Healthcare Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Lingley, William A. N.
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US15/146,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20160248827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 356 Days
• Field of Search: 709231, 709203, 709208, 709206, 709219, 709223, 709207, 709201, 709224, 709225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2350/00 Solving problems of bandwidth in display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• 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 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods for remotely viewing medical images on a client device having a zero-client web application with a buffering module. The zero-client web application receives an image series selection from a user and receives corresponding series details from a web server. The zero-client web application generates an off-screen image array according to the series details. The buffering module outputs image requests based on the series details to a web server. The web server is in communication with a medical image database storing images in a non-web browser compatible format (e.g., DICOM). The buffering module then populates the off-screen image array with converted medical images received from the web server. The zero-client web application further includes an on-screen image and a display module. The display module sequentially sets converted medical images of the off-screen array as the on-screen image to stream the converted medical images.

Claims

1. A method of streaming medical images on a remote device using a zero-client web application, the method comprising:

receiving, from a web server, medical images;

populating an off-screen image array with the medical images received from the web server;

receiving, by the zero-client web application, a requested frame rate;

determining a bandwidth of a connection between the zero-client web application and the web server;

determining a second frame rate based on the bandwidth; and

during a buffering stage, streaming the medical images, using the off-screen image array, at a frame rate that is the lower of the requested frame rate and the second frame rate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

determining that the buffering stage is complete;

and

streaming the medical images at the requested frame rate based on determining that the buffering stage is complete.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending image requests to the web server based on an image series selection, wherein the medical images received from the web server are provided by the web server in response to the image requests;

determining that the web server has completed sending the medical images in response to the image requests that were based on the image series selection; and

streaming the medical images at the requested frame rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein streaming the medical images comprises:

setting a first medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as an on-screen image to display the first medical image;

setting a next medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to display the next medical image in place of the first medical image; and

sequentially setting subsequent medical images of the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to stream the medical images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein setting the next medical image from the off-screen image array as the on-screen image includes setting a src attribute of the on-screen image to a src attribute of the next medical image.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising

obtaining viewer parameters including a window size that indicates a size of a display window of the zero-client web application;

and

outputting the viewer parameters to the web server,

wherein the medical images received from the web server have been formatted by the web server according to the viewing parameters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second frame rate comprises:

determining an amount of time elapsed to download a first amount of medical images,

determining a sustainable frame rate based on the amount of time elapsed, and

selecting the second frame rate to be a percentage of the sustainable frame rate.

8. A client device for remotely streaming medical images, the client device comprising:

a zero-client web application;

a communication interface enabling communications between the zero-client web application and a web server;

a display;

a processor coupled to the display and the communication interface, the processor configured to execute the zero-client web application to;

receive, from a web server, medical images;

populate an off-screen image array with the medical images received from the web server;

receive a requested frame rate;

determine a bandwidth of the communications between the zero-client web application and the web server;

determine a second frame rate based on the bandwidth; and

during a buffering stage, stream the medical images, using the off-screen image array, at a frame rate that is the lower of the requested frame rate and the second frame rate.

9. The client device of claim 8, the processor further configured to:

determine that the buffering stage is complete; and

stream the medical images at the requested frame rate based on determining that the buffering stage is complete.

10. The client device of claim 8, the processor further configured to:

send image requests to the web server based on an image series selection, wherein the medical images received from the web server are provided by the web server in response to the image requests;

determine that the web server has completed sending the medical images in response to the image requests that were based on the image series selection; and

stream the medical images at the requested frame rate.

11. The client device of claim 8, wherein the processor configured to stream the medical images further comprises the processor configured to:

set a first medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as an on-screen image to display the first medical image;

set a next medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to display the next medical image in place of the first medical image; and

sequentially set subsequent medical images of the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to stream the medical images.

12. The client device of claim 11, wherein, to set the next medical image from the off-screen image array as the on-screen image, the processor is configured to set a src attribute of the on-screen image to a src attribute of the next medical image.

13. The client device of claim 8, the processor further configured to

obtain viewer parameters including a window size that indicates a size of a display window of the zero-client web application;

and

output the viewer parameters to the web server,

wherein the medical images received from the web server have been formatted by the web server according to the viewing parameters.

14. The client device of claim 8, wherein, to determine the second frame rate, the processor is further configured to:

determine an amount of time elapsed to download a first amount of medical images, and

determining a sustainable frame rate based on the amount of time elapsed, and

selecting the second frame rate to be a percentage of the sustainable frame rate.

15. A method of streaming medical images on a remote device using a zero-client web application, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor executing the zero-client web application, medical images from a web server;

populating, in a buffering stage, an off-screen image array with the medical images received from the web server;

streaming the medical images, using the off-screen image array, at a first frame rate during the buffering stage, the first frame rate selected based on a bandwidth of a connection between the zero-client web application and the web server;

determining that the buffering stage has ended; and

streaming the medical images, using the off-screen image array, at a second frame rate in response to determining that the buffering stage has ended.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining that the buffering stage has ended comprises:

determining that all medical images for an image series selection have been received from the web server.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein streaming the medical images comprises:

setting a first medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as an on-screen image to display the first medical image;

setting a next medical image of the medical images within the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to display the next medical image in place of the first medical image; and

sequentially setting subsequent medical images of the off-screen image array as the on-screen image to stream the medical images.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein setting the next medical image from the off-screen image array as the on-screen image includes setting a src attribute of the on-screen image to a src attribute of the next medical image.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising

obtaining viewer parameters including a window size that indicates a size of a display window of the zero-client web application;

and

outputting the viewer parameters to the web server,

wherein the medical images received from the web server have been formatted by the web server according to the viewing parameters.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the first frame rate based on a bandwidth of the connection between the zero-client web application and the web server comprises:

determining an amount of time elapsed to download a first amount of medical images, and

determining the first frame rate based on the amount of time elapsed.