Implementation of a dynamic platform-independent DICOM-server

Hospital-wide image and patient data transfer within heterogeneous hard- an d software infrastructures can be facilitated by using standardized communi cation protocols and data formats such as digital imaging and communication s in medicine (DICOM). Each DICOM application entity (AE) usually provides a static and fixed set of services according to its functionality. However, certain security concepts, changing demands of medical users, or restricte d hardware capabilities may be more easily addressed by applications that d ynamically provide variable subsets of DICOM services. In a new approach, a n object-oriented DICOM server framework was developed that served as a bas is for assembling various DICOM applications. These applications may be set up dynamically to offer variable subsets of services at runtime, similar t o 'plug-ins'. The framework was designed and implemented in Java in order t o provide low-cost platform-independent solutions. As;In example, a DICOM s erver was implemented and tested in a clinical application providing access to Mfi and CT images through a Java/DICOM viewer. Data retrieval was optim ized by storing parts of the image acquisition and patient data into a rela tional database. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved .