Patent ID: 7221972

Claim:
A medical diagnostic imaging system comprising: a storage device storing a protocol for performing a medical diagnostic procedure on the medical diagnostic imaging system, the protocol partitioned into at least a first stage and a second stage, the stages being different from one another; an input device; a protocol controller operative to transition to the first stage in response to no more than a first single input from the input device and transition from the first stage to the second stage in the protocol in response to no more than a second single input from the input device, the protocol controller operative to configure the medical diagnostic imaging system for the first stage and the second stage in the protocol; and a display controller operative to display a message prior to the protocol controller configuring the medical diagnostic imaging system for each of the first and second stages in the protocol, the message comprising an instruction for an operator to perform in advance of each of the first and second stages and for the operator to enter an input after performing the instruction, wherein the first single input and second single input are received to transition to each of the first and second stages, respectively.