JPH03182967A - Picture storage communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the hardware constitution of a work station by outputting respective pictures of reversible compression and non-reversible compression stored in storage means to the work station after irreversible extension in a data base. CONSTITUTION:The pictures from a medical diagnosis device 1, which are reversibly compressed by a compression means 5, are sequentially stored in a storage means 6. When the pictures stored in the storage means 6 become inactive or when they become full, a part of them are reversibly compressed as they are in accordance with the control operation of a selection means 8 and the remaining are reversibly extended and are irreversibly compressed by an extension means 12. Then, they are stored in a storage means 7 after a compression means 13 non-reversibly compresses them. When there is a read request from the work station 3, an extension means 10 or 11 reversibly extends or irreversibly extends the pictures and they are outputted to the work station. Thus, hardware for reversible extension and irreversible extension in the work station, which is conventionally required, can be eliminated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention manages images sequentially obtained by medical diagnostic equipment such as an X-ray CT device and an MHI device in a database, and uses this database to The present invention relates to an image storage and communication system that sequentially reads managed images and displays them on a workstation, and particularly relates to improvements in image storage and transfer functions in a database.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in an example of this type of image storage and communication system, each time an image is obtained by a medical diagnostic device, the obtained image is reversibly compressed and transferred to a database, where it is reversibly compressed. Images are stored sequentially on a magnetic disk. As long as the image stored on this magnetic disk is active, it is called up to the workstation as needed and displayed.

When the images stored on the magnetic disk become inert,
After all the images that have become inactive are reversibly expanded, they are irreversibly compressed and stored on the optical disc.

The images stored on this optical disk are also read out to the workstation and displayed as needed.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In such a conventional case, since the image is output from the database to the workstation in a compressed state, each workstation has to reversibly decompress and irreversibly decompress the received compressed image. hardware is required to do so.

Therefore, there are problems in that processing becomes complicated and large-scale hardware is required at each workstation.

Furthermore, if the workstation is configured with hardware for either reversible decompression or irreversible decompression, it will not be possible to decompress either the reversibly compressed image or the irreversibly compressed image, making it difficult to reproduce the image. There was a problem that sometimes it was not possible to do so.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an image storage and communication system that can eliminate the need for hardware for reversible decompression and irreversible decompression in workstations. It's about doing.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention manages images sequentially obtained by a medical diagnostic device in a database, and manages the images managed in this database. In an image archiving and communication system that sequentially reads out images and displays them on a workstation, images sequentially obtained by the medical diagnostic device are reversibly compressed and stored in the database, and some of the images that were later reversibly compressed are stored in the database. storage means in which images are irreversibly compressed after being reversibly decompressed and stored; and when reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images stored in this storage means are sequentially read out, the images are reversibly decompressed or irreversibly decompressed. and data decompression means for decompressing each of the reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images stored in the storage means, when an image read request is issued from the workstation to the database, by the data decompression means. After that, the information is transferred to the workstation.

(Operation) With the configuration according to the present invention, after each of the reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images stored in the storage means in the database is reversibly expanded or irreversibly expanded by the data decompression means, the data is processed from the database. Since the data is output to the station, it is possible to eliminate the need for hardware for reversible decompression and irreversible decompression within the workstation, which was conventionally required.

Therefore, the hardware configuration of the workstation can be simplified.

Furthermore, there is no need for reversible decompression or hardware for reversible decompression in the workstation, and it is sufficient to simply display the decompressed image when it is received from the database, making the workstation easy to construct.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a system wiring diagram showing the functional configuration of an image archiving and communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The image storage and communication system of the first embodiment includes a database (DB) 2 that manages images sequentially obtained by a medical diagnostic device 1 such as an X-ray CT device and an MRI device, and images managed by this database 2. This system configuration includes a workstation (WS) 3 that sequentially reads and displays the data.

The medical diagnostic apparatus 1 includes a first compression means 5 that reversibly compresses an original image 4 reconstructed by photographing a subject. Note that the first compression means 5 may be omitted here, and the first compression means 5 may be provided inside the database 2.

The database 2 includes a first storage means 6 consisting of a hard disk device (HD), a second storage means 7 consisting of an optical disk device (OD), and first and second storage means 6, 7.
a selection means 8 interposed between them, a third storage means consisting of an HD, and a first decompression means 10 for reversibly decompressing compressed images from the first storage means 6 and the third storage means 9; A second decompression means 11 is provided for irreversibly decompressing compressed images from the second storage means 7 and the third storage means 9.

In this database 2, images reversibly compressed by the first compression means 5 from the medical diagnostic apparatus 1 are sequentially stored in the first recording means 6.

The second storage means 7 is configured to control the control operation of the selection means 8 when the image stored in the first storage means 6 becomes inactive or when the first storage means 6 becomes full. Accordingly, the image stored in the first storage means 6 is written.

The selection means 8 selects which images to leave reversibly compressed among the images of the inert data using a preset or predetermined algorithm, or selects conditions selected by an appropriate operation based on the operator's judgment. The control operation is performed below. When the image stored in the first storage means 6 becomes inactive, a part of the inactive data is transferred from the first storage means 6 to the second storage means 7 while being reversibly compressed. At the same time, all the remaining inactive data is transferred to the third
It is reversibly expanded by the expansion means 12 of the second compression means 13.
The data is transferred after being irreversibly compressed.

Images for inactive data stored in the second storage means 7 by such a transfer means 8 are transferred to the workstation 3.
When there is a read request from , the data is sent to the first decompression means 10 or the second decompression means 11 via the third storage means 9, or directly to the second decompression means 11. .

Further, the image stored in the first storage means 6 before becoming inactive is sent to the first decompression means 1o when there is a read request from the workstation 3.

Therefore, in the delta base 2, the first storage means 6.
When the reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images stored in the second storage means 7 and the third storage means 9 are sequentially read out, they are reversibly expanded by the first decompression means 10 and then After being irreversibly expanded by the expansion means 11, the data is outputted from the database 2 to the station 3. And workstation 3
, the image received from the database 2 after being reversibly expanded or irreversibly expanded is displayed as the original image 14.

Next, the flow of processing for the system configuration described according to FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2.

The image generated by the medical diagnostic device 1 is transferred to the first
It is reversibly compressed by the compression means 5, transferred to the database 2, and stored in the first storage means 6 (step 20).
1). When the first storage means 6 is readable in this state (Yes at step 202), the reversibly compressed image stored in the first storage means 6 can be read out to the workstation 3 (step 203). For example, when the image stored in the first storage means 6 is in a state before it becomes inactive (step 204 negative), or when the first storage means 6 is in a state before it becomes full ( Step 205 (No), if there is a read request from the workstation 3 (Step 206 Yes), the reversibly compressed data is read from the first storage means 6 to the workstation 3 (Steps 202 and 203).
).

However, if the image stored in the first storage means 6 becomes inactive (step 204 affirmative) or the first storage means 6 becomes full (step 205 affirmative), the control action of the selection means 8 Accordingly, since images with small image matrices and images with a small number of images generated by the modality (medical diagnostic equipment) are to be selected for reversible compression by the selection means 8 (Yes at step 207), the second is stored in the storage means 7 (step 2o8). On the other hand,
Since large image matrices such as line images are not selected (No in step 207), the second decompression means 12
After being reversibly expanded by (step 209) and irreversibly compressed by the second compression means 13 (step 210),
It is stored in the second storage means 7 (step 208).

At this time, there are two methods for reading out images in the second storage means 7 at the workstation 3. This first method predicts the image to be read out in advance and stores it in the third storage means 9 (step 211 negative, step 21
2) From there, the data is transferred to the workstation 3 while being reversibly decompressed by the first decompressing means 10 or irreversibly decompressing by the second decompressing means 11 (step 21).
3). Another method is to directly transfer the image in the second storage means to the workstation 3 while irreversibly decompressing it by the second decompressing means 11 (step 211 affirmative, step 21
3).

In either of these two methods, the image is expanded within the database 2 by the first expansion means 10 or the second expansion means 11 and displayed as the original image 14 on the workstation 3.

According to the first embodiment, reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images managed in the database 12 are processed by the first decompressing means 10 and the second decompressing means 11 in the database 2. While being decompressed, the workstation 3 can display the original image 14 by simply performing processing to display the decompressed image in the database 2.

Therefore, the workstation 3 does not require hardware for reversibly and irreversibly decompressing images, and the workstation 3 is therefore easy to construct.

FIG. 3 is a system wiring diagram showing the functional configuration of an image storage system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

This second embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in the arrangement relationship between the first decompression means 10, the second decompression means 11, and the third storage means 9. That is, this second
In the embodiment, the first stretching means 10 and the second stretching means 1
A third storage means 9 is provided on the subsequent stage side of 1. and,
The other parts are provided in the same way as the parts shown in FIG.

2. Therefore, the first storage means 6. The second storage means 7° selection means 8 functions in the same manner as in the first embodiment, but when an image reading request is issued from the workstation 3 to the database 2, the selection means 8 operates as shown in the flowchart in FIG. This is the process flow.

In FIG. 4, steps 401 to 408 correspond to steps 201 to 208 in FIG. 2, and images corresponding to inactive data are stored in the second storage means 7.

At this time, when reading out images in the second storage means 7 at the workstation 3, there are two methods in this second embodiment as well. In this method, an image to be read out is predicted in advance, and while being reversibly expanded by the first expansion means 10,
Alternatively, the data is irreversibly expanded by the second expansion means 11 (step 411 negative, step 412), stored in the third storage means (step 413), and then transferred to the workstation 3 (step 414). Another method is the second
The image in the storage means 7 is irreversibly expanded by the second expansion means 11 and transferred directly to the workstation 3 (step 411 affirmative, step 415).

In either of these two methods, the image is decompressed in the database 2 by the first decompressing means 10 or the second decompressing means 11, and the workstation 3
It will be displayed as the original image 14. Therefore, the workstation 3 does not require hardware for reversibly and irreversibly decompressing images, and the workstation 3 is therefore easy to construct.

In addition, in each of the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the first compression means 5 was provided in the medical diagnostic device 1, but the medical diagnostic device 1
The first compression means 5 may be provided on the network between the database 2 and the database 2. Further, in the database 2, the first storage means 6 and the third storage means 9
may be physically the same. Furthermore, the buffer memory that constitutes the first storage means 6 and the third storage means 9 is not limited to a hard disk, but any large-capacity, high-speed memory can be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the image storage and communication system of the present invention performs work from the database after reversibly decompressing or irreversibly decompressing each reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed image stored in the storage means in the database. Since the decompressed image is output to the station, the hardware configuration for reversible decompression and irreversible decompression in the workstation is simple and easy to construct.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system wiring diagram showing the functional configuration of an image archiving and communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a system wiring diagram showing the functional configuration of the image storage communication system of the second embodiment to which the present invention is applied.
The figure is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the second embodiment of the present invention. 1... Medical diagnostic device 2... Database 3... Workstation 5... First compression means 6... First storage means 7... Second storage means 8... Selection Means 9...Third storage means 10...First expansion means 11...Second expansion means

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an image archiving and communication system that manages images sequentially obtained by a medical diagnostic device in a database, and sequentially reads out the images managed in this database and displays them on a workstation, the database includes: A storage means in which sequentially obtained images are reversibly compressed and stored, and some of the reversibly compressed images are reversibly decompressed and then irreversibly compressed and stored; data decompression means for reversibly decompressing or irreversibly decompressing each reversibly compressed image and irreversibly compressed image when the image is sequentially read out; when an image read request is issued from the workstation to the database; An image archiving and communication system characterized in that the reversibly compressed and irreversibly compressed images stored in the storage means are decompressed by the data decompression means and then transferred to the workstation.