Patent ID: 7853621
Filing Date: 2010-12-14
Classification: G06F,G16H

Abstract:
1. A method of integrating Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) images into a database management system comprising: creating, in a memory, a database table with at least one table column of a database object type for at least one DICOM image object encapsulated with the database object type including at least one shared attribute and at least one application specific attribute that comprises a schema-bound XML representation of metadata associated with a corresponding DICOM image object; parsing, using at least a processor, the corresponding DICOM image object using a database stored procedure and generating the schema-bound XML representation of metadata associated with the corresponding DICOM image object where the schema-bound XML representation of metadata includes shared attribute elements organized hierarchically and allows the shared attribute elements to be addressed by a fixed path, and application specific attribute elements organized in a list according to a value representative of the application specific attribute elements and allows the application specific attribute elements to be addressed by an element tag; enabling bi-directional mapping of the schema-bound XML representation of metadata and the corresponding DICOM image object, where the schema-bound XML representation is convertible back into a syntactically valid DICOM image object using the bi-directional mapping; saving the metadata in the schema-bound XML representation of metadata associated with the corresponding DICOM image object; and inserting the database object in the at least one table column, of the database object type, of the table.