Network software for picture archiving and communications systems

Realization of the full potential of picture archiving and communications system in radiology requires a well-designed, flexible software architecture. The architecture must be well designed to accommodate the high volume and short response times required of the system. It must be flexible to allow the software to be layered upon a variety of existing technologies and easily migrated onto emerging technology. A software architecture for a prototype network was designed. This software was originally intended to support communications across an ACR-NEMA standard interface. However, it has been designed according to ISO/OSI and most of the layers are completely independent of the physical communications media. This implementation has demonstrated the benefits of adhering to a well-accepted standard. The authors are planning to migrate the software onto Ethernet and are looking toward ISDN