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Oracle® Multimedia DICOM Developer's Guide
11g Release 2 (11.2)

Part Number E10778-03
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Glossary

anonymity document

An XML document that specifies the set of attributes to be made anonymous, and defines the actions required to make those attributes anonymous.

application conformance

The semantic consistency of DICOM content with regard to application-specific constraint rules, which can be stronger or weaker than rules in the DICOM standard. Administrators can define constraint documents to include user-defined rules that are specific to a particular organization.

configuration document

A unique document for each database instance that is applicable to all DICOM content stored in the database. Configuration documents are managed by the repository. Examples include private and standard dictionary documents, mapping documents, constraint documents, and preference documents.

conformance validation

The process of checking the conformance of DICOM content against a set of constraint documents that define rules with which to validate conformance. Oracle extends conformance validation to DICOM metadata documents as well.

constraint document

An XML document that defines a collection of rules to validate the conformance of DICOM content, according to the DICOM standard and other organization-wide guidelines. Constraint documents specify the relationships and semantic constraints of attributes that are not expressed by the DICOM metadata schema. Constraint documents are based on the SOP class specification defined in Part 3 of the DICOM standard. Administrators can define constraint documents to include user-defined rules that are specific to a particular organization.

constraint macro

A simplified definition of a complex constraint rule. Constraint macros can be defined as global macros, and follow the same predicate definition grammar as constraint rules. Constraint macros can include predicate operands, which can contain macro parameters that are replaced with parameter values when the macro is invoked. Constraint macros can also be recursive, which is useful when specifying validation requirements for hierarchical or recursive structured DICOM content.

constraint predicate

A definition of a condition that operates on individual attributes or sets of attributes in the DICOM content. A constraint predicate can be a logical statement, a relational statement that compares values, a function call evaluation that returns a Boolean type, or a reference to other predicate definitions. Predicate definitions are recursive.

constraint rule

A collection of rules to validate the conformance of DICOM content according to the DICOM standard. These rules are defined in constraint documents, which specify the relationships and semantic rules of attributes that are not expressed by the DICOM metadata schema. Administrators can define constraint documents to include user-defined rules that are specific to a particular organization.

data model repository

A set of collectively managed, user-configurable documents that defines the run-time behavior of Oracle Multimedia DICOM. Administrators can update the repository to configure Oracle Multimedia DICOM for a particular database instance.

DICOM

See Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM).

DICOM attribute tag

An encoded representation of the metadata within DICOM content that can be used with XML schemas. DICOM attribute tags include standard tags, which are supported by the DICOM standard, and user-defined private tags. DICOM attribute tags contain a group number and an element number.

DICOM conformance validator

A utility that checks the syntactical and semantic consistency of DICOM content in accordance with constraint rules specified in the data model repository.

DICOM content

Multiple standalone DICOM Information Objects that are structured and encoded as defined in Part 10 of the DICOM standard (commonly referred to as DICOM Part 10 files). For more information, see the DICOM standard on the NEMA Web site at

http://medical.nema.org/

DICOM data type

See value representation.

DICOM data type definition schema

An XML schema that defines the value representations (DICOM data types) provided in Part 5 of the DICOM standard. This data type definition schema is strongly coupled with the DICOM parser. It is designed by Oracle, the content is fixed, and it ships with Oracle Multimedia.

DICOM encoding rules

See transfer syntax.

DICOM image

Any DICOM content that can be decomposed into 2-D pixel arrays. Examples include a video segment, a volume scan, and a single-frame dental image.

DICOM metadata document

An XML document that contains the metadata, as encoded attributes, extracted from DICOM content. Oracle provides methods to build a metadata document from DICOM content. Each metadata schema requires a mapping document that defines how attributes from the DICOM content are to be mapped into an XML document that conforms to the schema. In addition, each metadata schema references the DICOM data type definition schema.

DICOM parser

A utility that extracts metadata from DICOM content into a structure in memory.

DICOM Part 10 file

A standalone DICOM Information Object, which is constructed in accordance with the data structure and encoding definitions specified in Part 10 of the DICOM standard. For more information, see the DICOM standard on the NEMA Web site at

http://medical.nema.org/

DICOM standard

The dominant standard for radiology imaging and communication to which all major manufacturers conform. The DICOM standard is primarily developed and maintained by working groups of domain experts. A new version is usually published once a year. The standard is available worldwide from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Web site at

http://medical.nema.org/

DICOM value locator

A DICOM type that identifies an attribute in the DICOM content, either at the root level or from the root level down. Each level in the tree hierarchy is represented by a sublocator.

DICOM volume scan

A set of images gathered in a single imaging operation. These images can be stored as separate slices in multiple ORDDicom objects. Or, they can be stored as single ORDDicom multiframe objects.

DICOM XML encoder

A utility that converts the in-memory structure of the extracted DICOM attributes into an XML document.

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)

A medical imaging standard initiated by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) to enhance the connectivity of radiological devices.

image processor

A utility that includes Java Advanced Imaging (JAI). This utility provides support for operations such as producing thumbnail-size images and converting between DICOM and other supported image formats. When used with Oracle Multimedia DICOM methods, this utility supports import and export operations between the database and operating system files (external file storage).

information object

An object-oriented representation of a real world entity in DICOM. Examples include images and waveforms captured by imaging devices.

manifest document

An XML file that is created when exporting a set of configuration documents from a DICOM repository, and used when importing a set of configuration documents into a DICOM repository. For each configuration document within the set to be imported, the manifest document specifies the name of the configuration document, the document type, and the load order. The default manifest document is ordcmmft.xml. This document conforms to the registered XML schema ordcmmft.xsd.

mapped attribute

A part of a DICOM data element whose XML path is explicitly defined in a mapping document.

unmapped attribute

A part of a DICOM data element whose XML path is not explicitly defined in a mapping document.

mapping document

An XML document that defines how each attribute maps to a particular element of a DICOM XML metadata document. This document determines the structure of the extracted XML representation of the DICOM metadata.

metadata encoding

The process of encoding the extracted DICOM attributes into a DICOM metadata document.

metadata extraction

The process of extracting attributes from DICOM content.

metadata schema

The XML schema document that constrains the DICOM metadata document. This schema references the DICOM data type definition schema. Oracle supports customization of the metadata schema for each instance of the database. Oracle ships a default metadata schema with Oracle Multimedia. Administrators can update the default metadata schema and the corresponding mapping document to define a schema that is specific to the database instance.

nonscalar attribute

A property of DICOM value locators that exists when the last attribute tag in an array is specified as DICOM type SQ, OW, OB, OF, or UN.

Oracle interMedia

In Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1), the name Oracle interMedia was changed to Oracle Multimedia.

ORDDicom

Object relational type for DICOM format medical images and other data.

ORDDicom database object

A database object used to encapsulate DICOM content and extracted attributes. The database object has public member methods that permit the querying and processing of ORDDicom objects.

preference document

An XML document that defines a set of run-time parameters, such as specifying whether Oracle Multimedia DICOM skips invalid attributes and their values in the binary output of DICOM content when making a copy of DICOM content. Oracle ships a default preference document with Oracle Multimedia. Administrators can update the default preference document to change the run-time behavior. For example, administrators can specify whether to validate XML documents used in DICOM functions and procedures or cause attributes larger than a specified size to be omitted when encoding attributes into XML.

private attributes

A set of attributes defined by an organization and encoded in DICOM content according to the encoding rules set by that organization for those attributes. Private attributes can add modality-specific, manufacturer-specific, or site-specific information to DICOM content. Private attributes are not administered by the DICOM standard, and they are generally not known or used by any organization other than the one that defined the private attributes.

private dictionary document

A document that lists the private attributes in the data dictionary. A data dictionary can contain one or more private dictionary documents. Each private dictionary document contains the definitions for a set of private attributes and the UID of the organization that defined the private attributes. Private dictionary documents can be published by Oracle or a third party. DICOM administrators can add new private dictionary documents to the data dictionary as they become available. Private dictionary documents enable users to extend the standard dictionary document definitions by adding manufacturer-specific or enterprise-specific attributes to DICOM content. Private dictionary documents are constrained by private dictionary schemas.

repository

A library used to store documents that are applicable to all ORDDicom objects stored in a database instance. Administrators can access the repository and update the documents stored in it. Changes made to these documents change the outcome of the affected Oracle Multimedia DICOM methods and procedures. Examples of documents stored in the repository include mapping documents, data dictionary documents, and constraint documents. At run time, a specified method is used to query the repository to obtain the latest copy of these documents. For example, a DICOM administrator can update an attribute definition in a data dictionary document and change its data type from DA (date) to DT (date time). From that point forward, after setting to the new data model the parser interprets the attribute as an instance of the DT data type, and the metadata encoder encodes the attribute as DT in all future metadata documents.

scalar attribute

A property of DICOM value locators in an array of attribute tags for supported DICOM types.

schema validation

The process of using an XML schema definition to validate an XML document that is constrained by the schema. Schema validation enables users to confirm the correctness of data types, data formats, and data hierarchies. Schema validation applies to XML documents only. It does not apply to DICOM content.

service object pair (SOP)

The combination of services and information objects.

SOP class

A service object pair (SOP) class. This class is used to model a category of information object and a set of operations associated with that information object.

standard attributes

The set of attributes defined by the DICOM Standards Committee, which is published in Part 6 of the DICOM standard. Standard attributes can be modified or deprecated by the DICOM Standards Committee in the future. The number of standard attributes increases each year as the DICOM standard expands to include new areas of technology.

standard dictionary document

A document that lists the attributes defined by the DICOM standard. The DICOM standard dictionary document is converted from Part 6 of the DICOM standard. The DICOM Standards Committee expects to publish this document in XML format in the future. Oracle software releases include a copy of the standard dictionary document tied to a particular release of the DICOM standard. Administrators can update this standard dictionary document to reflect the most recent changes made by the DICOM Standards Committee.

standards conformance

The syntactical and semantic consistency of DICOM content with regard to the DICOM standard. The default constraint document that Oracle ships with Oracle Multimedia defines rules that enforce conformance with parts of the DICOM standard.

stored tag list document

An optional XML document that specifies the DICOM attributes to be extracted from the embedded DICOM content and stored in the XML metadata attribute of the ORDDicom object when the setProperties( ) method is called. Generally, stored tag list documents contain the attribute tags used in mapping and constraint documents.

transfer syntax

Encoding rules for medical imaging that specify how to encode DICOM content into a binary stream. These rules also specify how to compress the data content. Supported DICOM compression schemes (codecs) include RLE, JPEG, and JPEG2000.

UID definition document

An XML document that lists unique identifiers (UIDs) defined by the DICOM standard or a private organization. Rather than defining the DICOM content UIDs, UID definition documents contain a registry of standard UIDs that classify the DICOM content and express standard semantics.

unique identifier (UID)

A 64-byte, dot-concatenated, numeric string (similar to an IP address). The UID is based on an ISO object identifier (OID). It is commonly constructed with a root that uniquely identifies the organization producing the DICOM content, and a suffix that uniquely identifies the DICOM content within that organization.

value multiplicity

A constraint rule that specifies how many times the value of an attribute can be repeated. It is part of the standard attribute specification (defined in Part 6 of the DICOM standard).

value representation

The data type, as defined by the DICOM standard. The DICOM standard defines standard data types in Part 5. See the XML schema ordcmrdt.xsd (available in the ord/dicom/xml/xsd directory under <ORACLE_HOME>) for more information about the data types supported by Oracle Multimedia DICOM.

XML mapping document

An XML document used to define how to map DICOM attributes to elements in the DICOM metadata document. The XML mapping document is used by the metadata encoder to produce a DICOM metadata document. Because the metadata document is constrained by the metadata schema, the XML mapping document must match the metadata schema. Oracle Multimedia defines a default mapping document that coincides with the DICOM metadata schema. Administrators can update the mapping document and the corresponding metadata schema to define a schema that is specific to each database instance.