Patent ID: 8004516

Claim:
An image processing system using volume data comprising at least two nodes connected via a network which includes a client terminal, a state storing server, an image processing server and a data server, said image processing system being operative to: use said at least two nodes as the image processing server to perform an image processing task for the client terminal, the image processing task comprising at least one of: volume rendering and region segmentation processing; monitor satisfaction of a rendering parameter storing condition for storing a rendering parameter of the client terminal, said rendering parameter comprising information used to restore a processed image resulting from volume data being processed in the image processing task to generate said processed image; collect said rendering parameter of a task state of the client terminal and store the collected rendering parameter in the state storing server when said rendering parameter storing condition is satisfied; release at least one of said at least two nodes which were being used as the image processing server; read said rendering parameter which corresponds to the client terminal from the state storing server; restore said task state of the client terminal by using the read rendering parameter in a proxy node which is at least any one of said at least two nodes and a node which is newly added to said image processing system, wherein said proxy node is operative to select at least one image processing server from said node for restoring the task state of the client terminal, and wherein said proxy node is operative to inquire of said image processing server whether the image processing server holds volume data which can be used for restoring the task state of the client terminal so as to select said at least one image processing server; after said restore, send said restored task state to a combination of said at least two nodes as the image processing server, the combination being different from said at least one of said at least two nodes which was previously being used as the image processing server; and utilizing said rendering parameter for restoring said processed image on said proxy node to resume processing on said processed image to be performed on and after the time when said rendering parameter storing condition is satisfied.