JP2005182179A - Image search system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image search system for efficiently searching medical images stored in a plurality of image storage servers. <P>SOLUTION: An operator operates an image viewer 3a to input the search conditions of image data to be searched, and to simultaneously designate a search destination group. The search destination group is selected from among image storage devices(image storage devices installed in another image viewer, image server and modality or the like) connected to the image viewer 3a. Also, the priority of the image storage devices(image storage devices installed in the other image viewer, image server and modality or the like) is set in the image viewer 3a, and when the same image data are searched, only the image data of the image storage device whose priority is the highest are displayed. The operator can obtain the target image data in a single search operation without considering the location of the image data or communication system(original communication 25 or DICOM communication 23). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image search system in which an image search device operated by a doctor or the like, for example, in a medical field searches for a desired image from a plurality of image generation devices or image storage devices connected to a network. .

  In the medical field, various medical diagnostic devices are provided, and in particular, image diagnosis is provided with a medical image generation device (modality) that acquires affected area data of a patient as a medical image. The modality is an apparatus such as CT (Computer Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), NM (Nuclear Medicine).

Each modality may register the acquired data in its own dedicated storage device or the like and simultaneously store it in the medical image storage server. When an image search is performed by a medical image search apparatus (image viewer), search processing must be performed for each medical image storage server, so that setting conditions for the search processing is complicated. Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which an integrated management server that manages the location of images stored in each image server is prepared separately, and the image viewer searches the integrated management server for an image.
JP 2002-245173 A

  In the above prior art, when the medical image viewer performs an image search, it is necessary to prepare a separate integrated management server for managing the location of the images stored in each image server. There was a problem of requiring space to put.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image search system that efficiently searches medical images stored in a plurality of image storage servers. .

  To achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a plurality of image storage devices for storing images generated by an image generation device, and these image storage devices and the image generation device connected to the network and stored in the image storage device. An image search system comprising an image search device for searching for a captured image, wherein the image search device is a target image storage device or image generator for searching for a desired image from the plurality of image storage devices Means for setting a search group of a device, means for setting a search condition for the desired image for the set search group, and an image storage device or an image generation device included in the set search group On the other hand, control means for searching the desired image based on a search condition is provided on the desired image.

  The image search device sets a priority for the image storage device in which the image is stored based on a data transfer speed of the image storage device, and the same image is duplicated based on the set priority. If the image is retrieved, the image stored in the image storage device is retrieved and displayed.

  In an image search system comprising a plurality of servers that store medical images generated by modalities, and an image viewer that is connected to these servers and modalities through a network and searches medical images stored in the servers according to predetermined search conditions The image viewer selects priority from the plurality of servers and modalities and sets a search destination group, and a priority based on data transfer rates between the plurality of servers and modalities included in the set search destination group. And a means for displaying a medical image stored in the modality and a plurality of servers having the highest priority set.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image retrieval system that efficiently retrieves medical images generated by a plurality of modalities and medical images stored in an image storage server.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image search system 1 according to the present embodiment.

(1. Configuration)
(1-1. Configuration of Image Search System 1)
The image search system 1 includes a plurality of image viewers 3a, 3b,..., A plurality of image servers via high-speed LAN networks 23 and 25 installed in one hospital (or may be connected outside the hospital). 5a, 5b,..., A plurality of modalities 7 (only one is shown in FIG. 1) are connected.

  The image viewers 3a, 3b,... In FIG. 1 are installed in each clinic, examination room, operating room, conference room, etc. in the hospital. The image viewers 3a, 3b,... Are operated by medical personnel such as doctors to extract medical image data of patients from a database and display them on a display device (CRT, liquid crystal screen, etc.) for comprehensive diagnosis. It is a device that makes it possible. Usually, one image viewer is provided with a plurality of display devices, and an operator displays a plurality of different images on the display device at the same time and uses them for diagnosis.

  The image viewers 3a, 3b,... Are a control unit such as a central processing unit, a plurality of display units such as a CRT and a liquid crystal device for displaying medical images, and an output unit such as a printer for printing medical images and search results. And a communication unit such as a modem connected to the networks 23 and 25, an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a storage unit such as an HDD. The storage unit will be described in detail later.

  A modality 7 in FIG. 1 is a medical diagnostic apparatus, and various apparatuses such as a computed tomography apparatus (CT), a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (MRI), a nuclear medicine apparatus (NM), and the like. is there. Each modality 7 may include a storage device that stores image data.

  The image servers 5a, 5b,... Store and manage medical image data acquired by the modality 7 described above. A plurality of image servers 5a, 5b,... May be installed in one hospital. The medical image data may be duplicated and the same medical image data may be stored in several places. For example, image data obtained by the modality 7 (for example, MRI) is stored in a storage device attached to the modality 7. Further, it is sent to and stored in the designated image servers 5a, 5b. Further, this image data is displayed and temporarily stored in the storage device of the image viewers 3a, 3b,... Used for diagnosis. Thus, the same image data may exist on a plurality of storage devices.

  The networks 23 and 25 are high-speed LANs using optical fibers or the like. However, as a network communication method, a method using a medical imaging communication protocol (DICOM: Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) (DICOM communication network 23) as a standard protocol for communicating medical images in particular, and a medical device manufacturer's original Both methods using the communication method (original communication network 25) can be used.

(1-2. Communication method and storage device)
The DICOM communication network 23 in FIG. 1 connects medical devices by different manufacturers inside and outside the hospital, a medical image server 5, different types of modalities 7, a plurality of image viewers 3 and the like to each other via a network, thereby providing images and examination information. Data transmission. On the other hand, the unique communication network 25 in FIG. 1 is a manufacturer-dedicated communication method used between medical devices and data servers by the same medical device manufacturer. In general, the data transmission speed of the original communication network 25 is faster than that of the DICOM communication network 23.

  All medical devices, image viewers 3a and 3b, image servers 5a and 5b, and modalities 7 (indicating a plurality of types and a plurality of medical diagnostic apparatuses) shown in FIG. 1 are connected by a DICOM communication network 23, and images and examination information are displayed. Data transmission is possible. Further, since the image viewers 3a and 3b and the image server 5b are manufactured by the same manufacturer, for example, they are connected by the original communication network 25 and can transmit data at a higher speed than the DICOM communication network 23.

  FIG. 1 shows the structure of a storage device included in each medical device. The image viewer 3a includes a hard disk drive (HDD) 27a as a storage unit or the RAID device 35 shown in FIG.

  RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) is a technology that uses a plurality of HDDs to improve reliability and performance, and is introduced in places where reliability is required, such as in the medical field. For example, the RAID device 35 shown in FIG. 2 is a system in which a parity HDD 39 is prepared separately from the data disks such as the HDD 37-1, the HDD 37-2,..., And when one unit fails and data cannot be read, The remaining parity HDD 39 is characterized in that the data of the failed HDD can be restored.

  The “HDD” shown in FIG. 1 means “HDD” or “RAID device”. That is, the HDD 27a of the image viewer 3a, the HDD 27b of the image viewer 3b, the HDD 29a of the image server 5a, the HDD 29b of the image server 5b, and the HDD 31 of the modality 7 mean “HDD” or “RAID device”.

  The image servers 5a and 5b in FIG. 1 include library devices 33a and 33b, respectively, in addition to the HDD. The library device 33 is a device that stores data in a plurality of data disks, tape cartridges, etc. for data backup, and can store a large amount of data.

(2. Processing procedure)
Next, the processing procedure of the image search system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 to 8. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the image search system 1 according to the present embodiment, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a search condition setting and instruction screen, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a search destination group, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a destination priority, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a search result display, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an image display designation screen.

  For example, the operator who is a medical worker operates the image viewer 3a to set search conditions for images to be searched (step 1001). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the display screen 41 includes input items such as a patient ID 43, an examination date 45, an examination site 47, a modality 49, and a search destination group 51.

  Although not shown in FIG. 4, items such as a patient name, a reception number, a requesting department, and a requesting doctor name may be provided as other search setting items. Furthermore, it may be set to search for a part of the name that matches, or the reception number may be set to a range such as “100 to 120”, or “12 *”. As such, it may be set so that a wild card search can be performed with an asterisk.

  In addition, as a search condition setting method, a plurality of different items can be set with an AND condition or an OR condition. For example, it can be set under the condition that the patient ID 43 is “009” and the modality 49 is “MR”.

  The items of the modality 49 are MR (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), CT (Computed Tomography), DR (Digital Radiography): NM (Nuclear Medicine: Nuclear). Medicine) ... can be specified and entered.

  The search destination group 51 can be arbitrarily set and registered by the operator. For example, FIG. 5 shows a registered search destination group 51. In FIG. 5, “all image servers”, “image viewer”, and “all” are set as the search destination group 51, and the search destination 61 and the communication method 63 are displayed, respectively. In the search condition setting screen of FIG. If “1” of 59 is designated, a search can be performed for all image servers.

  Here, for example, it is assumed that the search destination group 51 is set to “all” and that “Hitachi” is included as part of the name as a search condition.

  When the search conditions are set and the operator clicks the “search” button 53 on the display screen 41 in FIG. 4 to specify the search conditions (step 1002), the image viewer 3a executes the search process (step 1003). The image viewer 3a searches the set search destination regardless of the difference in communication protocol including original communication or DICOM communication.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing priorities for searching for images when the same image exists in different image management devices or different storage drive devices in the course of search processing execution. A priority 69 is set for the image management device name 65 and the storage drive device 67. The priority can be changed and set by the operator. The priority set in the image viewer 3a may be different from the priority set in another image viewer. For example, a high priority is set for a storage device capable of high-speed data communication such as a high-speed network and a high-speed HDD.

  In FIG. 6, priority 1 is the self-image viewer, priority 2 is the HDD or RAID device of the image server connected by original communication, priority 3 is the other image viewer, and priority 4 is the image server connected by DICOM communication. It is set like HDD or RAID apparatus, and priority 1 is the highest priority.

  When there are a plurality of devices with the same priority, for example, when there are three other image viewers with priority 3, the device with the fast response speed is given priority.

  The image viewer 3a searches the data for the search destination group 51 “all” under the condition that a part of the name includes “Hitachi”, and when the same data is obtained from different image management apparatuses, the image viewer 3a of FIG. The search result is edited in accordance with the priority 69 (step 1004). During the editing, only the data stored in the image management device 65 and the storage drive device 67 having the highest priority 69 is searched.

  Next, the image viewer 3a displays the search result on the display unit (step 1005). FIG. 7 is a screen displaying the search result. The search result display unit 57 displays four search results that match the search condition, here four. ID 43, patient name 71, examination date 45, modality 49 that acquired image data, examination region 47, image location 73, etc. are displayed. The four items displayed here are each image data stored in the image location 73 having the highest priority 69, and the image data having the lower priority 69 are removed in the process of the search result editing step 1004. .

  It is assumed that the operator confirms the display of the search result and displays, for example, image data of “Hitachi Taro”. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, a search result portion of “Hitachi Taro” is selected 75 and an “image display” button 55 is clicked to designate image display (step 1006).

  The image data designated for image display is displayed on the display unit of the image viewer 3a (step 1007). The operator can display a plurality of image data at the same time and perform a comprehensive diagnosis of the patient's symptoms while performing comparative examination.

(3. Effects, etc.)
As described above, in this embodiment, when an operator of an image viewer such as a doctor searches for image data, the target image data can be efficiently searched by one operation without being aware of the image location. effective.

  Also, as a result of the search, in order to prevent the same image data from being searched and displayed repeatedly, in this embodiment, the priority is set and only the highest priority is searched, so accurate image data is searched at high speed. It is possible.

  In addition, by arbitrarily setting a search group and narrowing down the search range, it is possible to search for target image data faster and more efficiently. Conversely, even if the number of search image storage devices in the search group is increased and the same image data may be stored redundantly, the search function based on the above priority setting and the response speed are faster. The preferential search function makes it possible to search for necessary image data without significantly reducing the search speed.

  In addition, since image data reference destinations such as servers and modalities are determined according to priority, high-speed image search is possible.

  The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea disclosed in the present application, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  The present invention is not limited to retrieval of medical image data, and any other image data, product data, personal data, or the like that performs data retrieval is included in the technical scope of the present invention.

A configuration example of the medical image search system 1 is shown. The figure which shows the structure of the RAID apparatus of HDD of FIG. Flow chart of image search system 1 Diagram showing search condition setting and instruction screen Figure showing an example of a search destination group Figure showing search destination priority Figure showing search result display Figure showing the image display specification screen

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ......... Image search system 3a, 3b ......... Image viewer 5a, 5b ......... Image server 7 ......... Modality 23 ......... DICOM communication network 25 ...... Original communication network 27a, 27b, 29a, 29b, 31, 37-1, 37-2, 37-3 .... HDD
33a, 33b ......... Library device 35 ......... RAID device 39 ......... Parity HDD
41 ……… Display screen 43 ……… Patient ID
45 ……… Examination date 47 ……… Examination site 49 ……… Modality 51 ……… Search destination group 53 ……… Search button 55 ……… Image display button 57 ……… Search result display section 59 ……… No .
61 ... …… Search destination 61 ... …… Search destination 63 ……… Communication method 65 ……… Image management device name 67 ……… Storage drive device 69 ……… Priority 71 ……… Name 73 ……… Image location 75 ………… Image display designation

Claims (5)

A plurality of image storage devices that store images generated by the image generation device, and these image storage devices and an image search device that is connected to the image generation device via a network and searches for images stored in the image storage device. In the image search system
The image search device includes:
Means for setting a search group of target image storage devices or image generation devices for searching for a desired image from the plurality of image storage devices;
Means for setting a search condition for the desired image for the set search group;
Control means for searching the desired image based on a search condition for the image storage device or the image generating device included in the set search group;
An image search system comprising: The image search system according to claim 1,
The image search device sets a priority for the image storage device in which the image is stored based on a data transfer speed of the image storage device, and the same image is duplicated based on the set priority. In the case of searching, the image searching system for searching for and displaying the image stored in the image storage device.   The image search system according to claim 1, wherein the image is a medical image. An image search system comprising a plurality of servers that store medical images generated by modalities, and an image viewer that is connected to these servers and modalities through a network and searches medical images stored in the servers according to a predetermined search condition. ,
The image viewer
Means for setting a search destination group by selecting from the plurality of servers and modalities;
Means for setting priorities based on data transfer rates of a plurality of servers and modalities included in the set search destination group;
Means for displaying medical images stored in a plurality of servers and modalities having the highest priority set;
An image search system comprising:   The program for functioning a computer as an image search device in any one of Claims 1-4.

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