A method and apparatus for archiving and distributing enhanced and unenhanced digital medical images

摘要

A method for distributing digital medical images comprising:providing an unenhanced digital medical image for storage on an image archive;providing an image archive for storage of said unenhanced digital medical image;providing an image server for distribution of said unenhanced digital medical image from said image archive;providing an image requesting system to request said unenhanced digital medical image stored in said image archive from said image server;providing a mechanism for said image server to determine the processing capabilities of said image requesting system; such thatif said processing capabilities of said image requesting system include enhancement processing, said image server retrieves said unenhanced digital medical image from said image archive and said image server transmits the said unenhanced digital medical image to said image requestingsystem; andif said processing capabilities of said image requesting system does not include enhancement processing, said image server retrieves said unenhanced digital medical image from said image archive, said image server performs image enhancement on said unenhanced digital medical image to produce an enhanced digital medical image and said image server transmits said enhanced digital medical image to said image requesting system.