This document pertains to the field of health informatics. Within that field it addresses the exchange of digital images, and information related to the production and management of those images, between both medical imaging equipment and systems concerned with the management and communication of that information.
This document is intended to facilitate interoperability of medical imaging equipment by specifying:
- A set of protocols to be followed by devices claiming conformance to the standard.
- The syntax and semantics of commands and associated information data models that ensure effective communication between implementations of the standard.
- Information that must be supplied with an implementation for which conformance to the standard is claimed.
This document does not specify:
- The implementation details of any features of the standard on a device for which conformance is claimed.
- The overall set of features and functions to be expected from a system implemented by integrating a group of devices each claiming conformance to the standard.
- A testing/validation procedure to assess an implementation's conformance to the standard.
Within health informatics, both medical imaging equipment and systems concerned with the management and communication of medical image data may require to interoperate with other systems in other areas of health informatics; these other areas and systems are, however, outside the scope of this document.