Distributed computing environment for standards based multimedia healthcare systems.

Abstract

The Open Software Foundation (OSF) Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) is an integrated set of services that facilitates the construction, use and maintenance of distributed applications in a heterogeneous computing environment. The OSF DCE services include remote procedure calls, naming service, threads service, time service, and security service. Several OSF DCE toolkits are currently available from computer and software vendors. The Global Picture Archiving and Communication System (Global PACS) operates in a medical environment for managing digital images over a large geographical area. This dissertation presents an approach to developing a platform to support multimedia Global PACS applications using the OSF DCE services and toolkits. Dynamic sequences such as Ultrasound are retrieved from a scalable video service over a TCP/IP connection. The Comprehensive Chart and the Remote Consultation and Diagnosis system are multimedia Global PACS applications that demonstrate the utility of this approach. The Comprehensive Chart is a multimedia medical record browser that provides a comprehensive view of patient data. The user of the Comprehensive Chart is authenticated using DCE Security and can access the objects only allowed by the Access Control List. System resources locations are transparent to the user and are located using the DCE Directory Service. Patient data privacy is maintained during communication through the use of secure remote procedure calls. The Remote Consultation and Diagnosis system was developed under a National Science Foundation project headed by Dr. Ralph Martinez, University of Arizona. It allows medical experts at different geographical locations to view the same image and exchange synchronized voice and image annotation commands. The current version uses the DCE Directory Service to dynamically locate session participants. These participants are authenticated and they can access objects only allowed by access control lists. The DCE Time Service will hide time zone differences among participants, and support the timestamp mechanism for the synchronization of voice and image annotation commands. The use of the OSF DCE approach features an open architecture, heterogeneity, security, scalability, and technology independence. This approach can be used to develop general purpose multimedia delivery applications. Finally, this design and implementation provides the foundation for extending medical services to rural areas.