Technology
Our transfer technology is no magic. It's just easy to mistake it for magic.
VivoNet is the transfer technology in Digital Medics’ PACS, which places lossless radiological images anywhere at your disposal. By using VivoNet, it is possible to store very large high-resolution data sets, as well as to edit and distribute them, even under poor network conditions. Digital Medics developed three technologies that finally make it possible to master the avalanche of data produced by modern digital imaging devices – progressive transfer, entropy encoding and fine-granular repriorization.
Streamed, Compressed, Demand-Driven
Streamed
Archived image data is stored exclusively in a special multi-scale format. This format was developed specifically for radiological images using the mathematical process of wavelet transformation. This displays the image in a range of different resolutions. The sum of these resolutions comprises the original image.
The advantage of this display is improved compression. Additionally, it makes it possible to concurrently transfer the resolution levels from the archive to any given workstation. Immediately after a study is called up, the lowest resolution of the desired dataset is available and is loaded step-by-step until the full resolution is reached.
Furthermore, the maximum resolution level can be set individually for different types of workstations: radiologists usually are equipped with dedicated diagnostic workstations with 2-5 megapixel (MP) dual monitor systems, while a ward may be equipped only with a 1 MP display to save costs.
VivoNet can therefore be set to load only 80% of the dataset on lower-end computers while loading the full resolution on dedicated radiological workstations. This way, it is no longer necessary to store multiple copies and resolutions in the archive as it was commonly the case with systems of the previous generation.
Compressed
The compression now works on displaying the image by using a multi-scale format, which makes for more efficient compression rates. This way, the implemented entropy encoding reduces the data size by a factor of 6 without any loss of information.
This is noticeable not just in increased archive capacity, but especially in the reduction of network traffic – so that transfers across the network are also accelerated by a factor of 6. It’s this reduction that allows VivoNet to provide images in full resolution even to a low-performance PC in the ward.
With VivoNet, the quality of the display is limited only by the resolution of the monitor. Should you see the need to add more high-end workstations after introducing a PACS, you don’t have to buy additional licenses or workstations – you can simply replace the old monitor with a new high-end consumer model. You can therefore always modify your workflows cheaply and easily.
Demand-Driven
Not all image series for a study are relevant for the current diagnosis. If the series is sent in a fixed order anyway, the doctor has to wait for irrelevant data to load before finally getting to the interesting images. This situation is at best annoying – and in an emergency it can cause critical life-threatening delays.
Since only the user has the knowledge to decide what the proper order for a current image transfer should be, then he or she should have it under control. To do this, Digital Medics added a dynamic “traffic shaping” system.
When a study is requested, an overview of all other series is sent parallel to the first series. If the user selects any other series during the transfer, the bandwidth for the current transfer is limited and the selected series is given priority. Even within a series, VivoNet increased transfer priority for the currently viewed image. You control all of this transparently, just by scrolling through the image stack.