Patent ID: 8583449

Claim:
A method for performing network based load balancing of medical image data among a plurality of image archive resources by a network service deployed on a network element implemented on the network, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring, by the network service, a parameter associated with each of the plurality of image archive resources indicative of an available capacity of each of the plurality of image archive resources; receiving, by the network service, medical image data to be load balanced to a selected at least one of the plurality of image archive resources, the medical image having embedded therein instructions associated with a task to be performed by the selected at least one of the plurality of image archive resources in connection with processing the medical image data, the task being addressed to the at least one image archive resource for execution by the at least one image archive resource and being embedded within a DICOM message; extracting the instructions, by the network service, from the DICOM message, the instructions being associated with the task that is addressed to the at least one image archive resource for execution by the at least one image archive resource; determining from the instructions, by the network service, a level of complexity of the task that is addressed to the at least one image archive resource for execution by the at least one image archive resource; selecting, by the network service, at least one of the plurality of image archive resources to be used to perform the task in connection with processing the medical image data, the step of selecting using, as a selection function, the available capacity of each of the plurality of image archive resources and the level of complexity of the task that is to be performed by the selected at least one image archive resource; and transferring, by the network service, the medical image data to the selected one of the plurality of image archive resources.