A DATABASE MANAGER OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGES

In order to allow an efficient archiving and retrieval of biomedical i mages, PACS would include an image DBMS. As biomedical images have com plex structures we developed a specific DBMS over a relational one. Th e medical image database manager ensures a data description that takes into account data semantics so that consistency or existential constr aints may be verified. It provides a unique language to retrieve image s no matter what their storage format. It encompasses the queries of t he user which constitute a filter over associated data. The manager ca n handle changes in the environment of the image. We implemented a man ager prototype to show the validity of logical access possibilities. T he user need no longer know the structure of the image database to acc ess data. The logical access allows retrieval of images, whatever the architecture of the base. An automatic query construction consists of three functional levels including the interfaces towards the external environment which ensure a logical independence from the database, a q uery generator which creates the correspondence between the user's que ry and physical access queries, a dictionary which contains the struct ure of the image data and consistency constraints.