Patent ID: 8407244

Claim:
A method for user-specified creation and management of consistent virtual packages of medical image files in an interconnected content-addressable storage system, said method executing on one or more computing devices, said method comprising: allowing a user to access a plurality of sources of medical image files; receiving an instruction from the user to create a virtual package of medical image files, drawn from one or more of the plurality of sources of medical image files, by grouping one or more image files together according to a grouping decision by the user; automatically producing the virtual package according to the instruction from the user by: obtaining the one or more image files from the interconnected content-addressable storage system; determining one or more queryable data items based on the one or more obtained image files; making a query for related data files based on the one or more queryable data items; receiving from the interconnected content-addressable storage system one or more related data files in response to the query; storing the one or more image files and the one or more related data files in the interconnected content-addressable storage system; and receiving one or more storage identifiers for the stored one or more image files and the stored one or more related data files, said virtual package comprising the one or more storage identifiers, said virtual package consistent such that the one or more image files and the one or more related data files do not change over time; and providing the user with the one or more storage identifiers for the virtual package.