Patent ID: 8799221

Claim:
A method for providing a shared archive in an interconnected content-addressable storage system, said method executing on one or more computing devices, said method comprising: receiving a first indication to store a first file containing first medical data and first related metadata in a content-addressable storage cloud from a first computer implemented application; parsing, using the one or more computing devices, first related metadata of the first file to produce first information, first information comprising at least one of the following: a portion of a DICOM header; patient name; doctor; time medical image was taken; and hospital; storing the first file in the content-addressable storage cloud; receiving a first identifier for locating the stored first file; storing the first information and first identifier in a shared archive and associating the first identifier and the first information with each other to facilitate searching of the shared archive; receiving a second indication to store a second file containing second medical data and second related metadata in the content-addressable storage cloud from a second computer-implemented application; parsing, using the one or more computing devices, second related metadata of the second file to produce second information, second information comprising at least one of the following: a portion of a DICOM header; patient name; doctor; time medical image was taken; and hospital; storing the second file in the content-addressable storage cloud; receiving a second identifier for locating the stored second file; storing the second information and second identifier in the shared archive and associating the second identifier and the second information with each other to facilitate searching of the shared archive; receiving a first query from a requestor for a first data item and related data from the shared archive, the related data comprising medical images that are not directly responsive to the first query; when the first information satisfies the first query related to the first data item and the second information fails to satisfy the first query related to the first data item: determining a second data item based at least in part on the first data item, wherein the first data item and the second data item are distinct, the second data item comprising at least one of the following: social security number; accession number; study number; serried number; patient identifier; and hospital number; and performing a second query for the second data item, thereby facilitating execution of the query requesting related data; and when the first information satisfies the first query related to the first data item and the second information satisfies the second query related to the second data item, responding to the requestor of the first query with information related to the first file and the second file.