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US-20260128157-A1 - RETRIEVING DICOM IMAGES

US20260128157A1US 20260128157 A1US20260128157 A1US 20260128157A1US-20260128157-A1

Abstract

The method of obtaining DICOM files may comprise receiving, by a processor, scanning data of a scannable graphic associated with an item, wherein the scannable graphic is associated with DICOM tag data; extracting, by the processor, the DICOM tag data from the scanning data; determining, by the processor, that the DICOM tag data is associated with a first DICOM file; identifying, by the processor, a user of the first DICOM file; retrieving, by the processor, the first DICOM file; searching, by the processor, for other DICOM files that are associated with at least one of the user or the first DICOM file; retrieving, by the processor, the other DICOM files; and sending, by the processor and to the user, the first DICOM file and the other DICOM files.

Inventors

  • John D. Hodgeman
  • WAYNE A. VASSELLO

Assignees

  • MyMedicalImages.com, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251219

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method comprising: acquiring first tag data extracted from a DICOM image, wherein the first tag data includes image identification data; receiving a selection associated with the DICOM image; receiving user authentication data; confirming an association between the user authentication data with first user data; searching for the DICOM image based on the image identification data; acquiring second tag data from the DICOM image, wherein the second tag data includes second user data; confirming an association between the first user data and the second user data; and retrieving the DICOM image, in response to the confirming the association between the user data and the user authentication data.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user data is stored user data within the DICOM image.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a request package for the DICOM image, wherein the request package includes the image identification data and the first user data.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the DICOM image, in response to the retrieving the DICOM image.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching for the DICOM image includes searching at least one of: one or more storage devices or one or more storage locations.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving other items associated with the DICOM image based on the image identification data associated with the DICOM image.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the other items are located in at least one of: one or more storage devices or are located in one or more storage locations.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the image identification data may be associated with at least one of folders, patient records, medial record numbers (MRN), patient identifiers, study identifiers, DICOM files or metadata.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the other items include at least one of an image, a record, a test, an app, a photo, or a webpage.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication data includes at least one of name, date of birth, social security number, patient identifier or hospital identifier.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving metadata associated with the DICOM image, based on the second tag data.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the DICOM image to a user via at least one of an email or text, that includes at least one of a link to an account of the user containing the DICOM image or an attachment containing the DICOM image.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising acquiring a scannable graphic associated with the DICOM image, wherein the scannable graphic is associated with the first tag data extracted from the DICOM image.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising processing the scannable graphic to obtain the first tag data.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the scannable graphic is displayed, in response to a request for the scannable graphic.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the scannable graphic is at least one of a QR code or a bar code.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising associating the DICOM image with the scannable graphic by incorporating DICOM image data into the scannable graphic.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the scannable graphic includes the scannable graphic overlaid over DICOM image data associated with the DICOM image.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the scannable graphic is incorporated into a separate window from a window that contains DICOM image data associated with the DICOM image.
  20. 20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the scannable graphic is incorporated into a pop-up window that is separate from a window that contains DICOM image data associated with the DICOM image.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S. application Ser. No. 18/614,123 filed Mar. 22, 2024 and entitled “RETRIEVING DICOM IMAGES.” The '123 application is a continuation of, claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S. application Ser. No. 18/467,892 filed Sep. 15, 2023, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,942,210 issued Mar. 26, 2024 and entitled “UNIVERSAL MEDICAL IMAGE REQUEST.” The '892 application is a continuation of, claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S. application Ser. No. 18/085,362 filed Dec. 20, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,798,679 issued Oct. 24, 2023 and entitled “UNIVERSAL MEDICAL IMAGE REQUEST.” The '362 application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Appl. No. 63/308,240 filed on Feb. 9, 2022 and entitled “UNIVERSAL MEDICAL IMAGE REQUEST.” The entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. FIELD This disclosure generally relates to requesting medical images, and more particularly, to scanning a graphic containing specified medical image DICOM tag data and other authentication data to initiate a request for a medical image. BACKGROUND Users (e.g., patients) may typically review their medical images with a physician as part of establishing a treatment plan and as part of the ongoing course of their treatment. The medical images are usually the result of a scan by a diagnostic device such as, for example, an X-ray device, CT scan, MRI scan, ultrasound scan, etc. This review of the images often occurs in the physician's office and the images are displayed on a monitor in the physician's office. After the review, if the user would like a copy of the images, the user needs to inform the physician, then the physician needs to inform his/her office staff. Unfortunately, such a process is often time-consuming, complicated and inefficient. After this request process (which can take days to weeks), the user is frequently asked to return to the physician's office in order to collect the images. The images are usually provided to the user on a compact disc (CD), and if the results include any type of audio, video or computer data, the results may be provided on a digital video disk (DVD). However, the CD typically contains the medical images in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format, so a specialized DICOM viewer is needed to view this format. The additional concern is that the industry standard for viewers does not support all computer operating systems. User demographics and other specifics about a medical image are typically contained in a metadata section of the medical image file, commonly referred to as the DICOM tags. These tags are easily readable if the file is opened with a software application such as a DICOM file viewer or other common medical industry software applications. However, such software applications are not often readily available to users and are frequently too difficult or cumbersome to install or access on a mobile device. Accordingly, to facilitate quick and secure exchanges of medical images between users and their physician, a need exists for a common means of obtaining specific points of data about an image. A need also exists for users to have an easier and more universal way to capture details about their medical images and to request access to those medical images. SUMMARY In various embodiments, the method may comprise receiving, by a processor, scanning data of a scannable graphic associated with an item, wherein the scannable graphic is associated with DICOM tag data; extracting, by the processor, the DICOM tag data from the scanning data; determining, by the processor, that the DICOM tag data is associated with a first DICOM file; identifying, by the processor, a user of the first DICOM file; retrieving, by the processor, the first DICOM file; searching, by the processor, for other DICOM files that are associated with at least one of the user or the first DICOM file; retrieving, by the processor, the other DICOM files; and sending, by the processor and to the user, the first DICOM file and the other DICOM files. In various embodiments, the other DICOM files may be located in one or more storage devices or are located in one or more storage locations. The method may further comprise associating, by the processor, the first DICOM file with the other DICOM files. The user may include at least one of a doctor, a patient, an administrator, a person associated with the first DICOM file or an entity associated with the first DICOM file. The item may be at least one of an image, a record, an app, a photo, or a webpage. The method may further comprise sending, by the processor, the first DICOM file into a storage system associated with the user. The scannable graphic may be a QR code. The retrieving the first DICOM file may be accomplished by an image retrieval system in communication with the processor. The first DICOM file m