Storage management based on worklist

• US 20050096942A1
• Filed: 10/30/2003
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shachor, Gal
• Granted Patent: US 7,502,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0638 Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Systems and methods of storage management which are based on a worklist are described. The storage typically although not necessarily includes a faster access part and a slower access part. One of the described methods includes: examining a worklist which schedules at least one modality to perform at least one task; and ensuring that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to the at least one task to be performed by the at least one modality scheduled by the worklist. In one application the worklist conforms to a Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist.

Claims

1. A method of managing a storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, comprising:

examining a worklist which schedules at least one modality to perform at least one task; and

ensuring that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task to be performed by said at least one modality scheduled by said worklist.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said examining includes:

examining a task description of said at least one task, said task description included in said worklist

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said examining includes:

examining information about said at least one modality, said information about said at least one modality included in said worklist.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said at least one predetermined rules is tailored to at least one specific information consumer

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said ensuring includes:

transferring data from the slower access part of the storage to the faster access part of the storage.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said ensuring includes:

copying data from the slower access part of the storage to the faster access part of the storage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said ensuring includes:

ensuring that reference data which is deemed likely to be accessed is available in the faster access part of the storage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said ensuring includes:

ensuring that historical data which is deemed likely to be accessed is available in the faster access part of the storage.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said historical data is about a specific object on which said task is to be performed.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said object is a body part of a patient.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said worklist is a Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist and said modality is an image acquisition machine.

12. A method of managing a medical storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, comprising:

querying a Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist service and receiving data related to at least one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled at least one image acquisition machine to perform; and

ensuring that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled said at least one image acquisition machine to perform.

13. A system for storage management, comprising:

at least one modality configured to perform at least one task in accordance with a scheduling by at least one worklist;

a storage configured to store data, including a faster access part and a slower access part; and

a prefetcher configured to examine said at least one worklist and configured to ensure that at least some data deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task is present in said faster access part of said storage.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

at least one worklist generator configured to generate said at least one worklist.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

at least one information consumer configured to access data stored in said storage.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a communication protocol configured to allow communication among said at least one modality and said storage.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said communication protocol is in accordance with the Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said prefetcher is also configured to transfer or copy from said slower access part of said storage to said faster access part of said storage at least some data which is available only in said slower access part and which is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task

19. A system for medical storage management, comprising:

at least one image acquisition machine configured to perform at least one task in accordance with a scheduling by at least one Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist

a storage configured to store data, including a faster access part and a slower access part; and

a prefetcher configured to examine said at least one worklist and configured to ensure that at least some data deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task is present in said faster access part of said storage.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising

a hospital information system or radiology information system configured to generate said at least one DICOM modality worklist.

21. A system for prefetching, comprising:

a worklist examiner configured to examine a worklist and determine at least one type of data likely to be accessed, said at least one type of data being related to a task to be performed by a modality scheduled by said worklist;

a cross referencer configured to compare said at least one type of data with data stored for an entity identified for said task; and

a retriever configured to transfer or copy data stored for said identified entity which is of at least one of said types and is available only in a slower access part of a storage to a faster access part of said storage.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a rules storage configured to store at least one rule which allow said worklist examiner to determine said at least one type of data likely to be accessed.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

an internal database configured to save data from said worklist about said at least one task.

24. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps of managing a storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, comprising:

(a) examining a worklist which schedules at least one modality to perform at least one task; and

(b) ensuring that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task to be performed by said at least one modality scheduled by said worklist.

25. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein of managing a storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, the computer program product comprising:

computer readable program code for causing the computer to examine a worklist which schedules at least one modality to perform at least one task; and

computer readable program code for causing the computer to ensure that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task to be performed by said at least one modality scheduled by said worklist.

26. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps of managing a medical storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, comprising:

(a) querying a Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist service and receiving data related to at least one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled at least one image acquisition machine to perform; and

(b) ensuring that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at least one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled said at least one image acquisition machine to perform.

27. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein of managing a medical storage, wherein the storage includes a faster access part and a slower access part, the computer program product comprising:

computer readable program code for causing the computer to querying a Digital Image Communications in Medicine (DICOM) modality worklist service and receiving data related to at least one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled at least one image acquisition machine to perform; and

computer readable program code for causing the computer to ensure that in the faster access part there is available at least some data which based on at least one predetermined rule is deemed likely to be accessed in connection to said at leat one task which said DICOM modality worklist has scheduled said at least one image acquistion machine to perform.