JP2021047899A - Image display system - Google Patents

Abstract

To make introduction possible at a low cost and to simplify maintenance management after introduction in an image display system.SOLUTION: A server includes a server side hardware processor which renders image data, generates an image for initial display, transmits the initial display image to a client terminal, and transmits the image data to the client terminal. When the image data is rendered to generate an image for initial display, image data is transmitted. The client terminal is provided with a client side hardware processor which displays the image for initial display received from the server, renders the image data received from the server, generates an image for client display and displays the same. An amount of data for the image for initial display is smaller than an amount of data for the image for client display.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to an image display system including a server that stores image data and a client terminal that is connected to the server and displays an image based on the image data.

Conventionally, a server and a network that are connected to imaging devices such as CR (Computed Radiography), CT (Computed Tomography), and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and store and manage image data of medical images captured using these are connected. An image display system is known that includes a client terminal that is connected to a server via a server and can display a medical image based on image data as needed.
In order to view a medical image based on the medical image data stored in the server on the client terminal, it is necessary to perform rendering on the server or the client terminal. In the past, rendering was often performed on either the server or the client terminal, but in recent years, an image display system has been proposed in which rendering by the server and rendering by the client terminal are switched as needed. See Patent Document 1).

Special Table 2015-534160

However, in the image display system that switches between rendering by the server and rendering by the client terminal as needed, the client terminal is also required to have a corresponding processing capacity, so that the client terminal is an expensive device such as a PC. There was a problem that the introduction cost of the system was high.
In addition, not only the server but also individual client terminals require continuous security measures and various maintenances, which causes a problem that maintenance is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can be introduced at low cost in an image display system that can switch between rendering by a server and rendering by a client terminal, and facilitates maintenance after introduction. The purpose is.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention
An image display system including a server that stores image data and a client terminal that is connected to the server via a network and has a display unit that displays an image based on the image data.
The server
A server-side control unit that renders the image data to generate an initial display image, transmits the initial display image to the client terminal, and transmits the image data to the client terminal is provided.
The client terminal
A client-side control unit is provided which displays the initial display image received from the server on the display unit, renders the image data received from the server to generate a client display image, and displays the image on the display unit. ,
The amount of data of the initial display image is smaller than the amount of data of the client display image.

According to the present invention, it can be introduced at low cost, and maintenance after introduction can be facilitated.

It is a schematic block diagram of the image display system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional configuration example of the server which comprises the image display system of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the functional configuration example of the client terminal which comprises the image display system of FIG. It is a ladder chart which shows the image display processing of this embodiment.

<First Embodiment>
Hereinafter, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

[Image display stem configuration]
First, the configuration of the image display system 1 in this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image display system 1 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image display system 1 of the present embodiment includes a server 2 and a client terminal 3.

The server 2 constitutes a medical image management system (Picture Archiving and Communication System: PACS). The server 2 is connected to a modality (for example, CR (Computed Radiography), CT (Computed Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), etc.) (not shown), and image data of a medical image obtained by photographing a patient with the modality. Can be received from the modality. Then, the server 2 can store the received image data and manage it for each patient.
The details of the server 2 will be described later.

The client terminal 3 is for displaying a medical image, and is used by users such as doctors, nurses, and home-visit caregivers in facilities such as hospitals, clinics, home-visit care establishments, and patients' homes undergoing home care. used. The client terminal 3 is connected to the server 2 via the communication network N and can communicate with each other. Although FIG. 1 shows an image display system 1 to which only one client terminal 3 is connected, a plurality of client terminals 3 may be connected to the image display system 1.
The details of the client terminal 3 will also be described later.

[Server configuration]
Next, the details of the server 2 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the server 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the server 2 includes a control unit 21, a communication unit 22, a RAM 23, a storage unit 24, and the like, and each unit 21 to 24 is connected by a bus 25.
The server 2 may be a cloud server provided in a cloud environment.
Further, by providing the server 2 with a display unit and an operation unit (not shown), an image management device capable of displaying medical images and performing various image processing may be configured even in the vicinity of the server 2.

The control unit 21 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like, and comprehensively controls the processing operation of each unit of the server 2. Specifically, the CPU performs various processing programs stored in the storage unit 24 in response to various signals (for example, an image or data transmission request signal) received from the client terminal 3 received by the communication unit 22. It is read out, expanded in the RAM 23, and various processes are performed in cooperation with the program.

The communication unit 22 is configured by a network interface or the like, and transmits / receives data to / from an external device connected via a communication network N such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the Internet.

The RAM 23 forms a work area for temporarily storing various programs, input or output data, parameters, etc. read from the storage unit 24 in various processes executed and controlled by the control unit 21.

The storage unit 24 is composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a non-volatile memory of a semiconductor, or the like, and stores various processing programs, parameters, files, and the like necessary for executing the program. Specifically, a web server program for realizing the function as a web server that provides various web screens to the web browser, or a medical image that runs on the web server and is sent to the user of the client terminal 3 via the web browser. Web application programs to be provided are stored.

In addition, the storage unit 24 has a database for managing raw data (RAW data, image data) of medical images transmitted from a modality (not shown). For example, predetermined incidental information such as a patient name, an examination type, and a date is attached to the raw data, and each raw data can be identified.
The raw data handled by the image display system 1 according to the present embodiment includes one consisting of a single image data which is a single image and a plurality of dynamic images (a plurality of images which can be seen as a series of moving images by displaying them continuously). There is one that consists of a plurality of image data that becomes (the image of).

The server 2 configured in this way operates as follows by software processing in collaboration with the program stored in the control unit 21 and the storage unit 24.
For example, the control unit 21 has a function of rendering raw data of a medical image stored in the storage unit 24 to generate an initial display image and transmitting the image to the client terminal 3. The initial display image is an image converted into a format with a small amount of data so that the raw data obtained by shooting with modality can be quickly transmitted and viewed.

Further, the control unit 21 has a function of compressing the raw data of the medical image based on the image transmission condition received from the client terminal 3, and transmits the compressed or as-is raw data to the client terminal 3 in the background. Has the function of The data compression format is preferably a lossless compression format such as ZIP or JPEG2000, in which the original data and the data after compression / decompression completely match.

It is preferable that the raw data is transmitted and the raw data is rendered in parallel from the viewpoint of shortening the time until the image is displayed on the client terminal 3, but the raw data consists of a single piece of data. In some cases, there is no particular limitation on each execution period, and at least a part of each execution period may be executed so as to overlap, or raw data is transmitted after the raw data rendering is executed. May be executed.
On the other hand, in the case of raw data composed of a plurality of data, it is sufficient that at least a part of each execution period is overlapped. For example, after rendering the first data of a plurality of data contained in raw data, when rendering the second and subsequent data, the first data is transmitted. is there.

[Client terminal configuration]
Next, the details of the client terminal 3 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the client terminal 3.
As shown in FIG. 3, the client terminal 3 includes a control unit 31, a display unit 32, an operation unit 33, a communication unit 34, a RAM 35, and the like, and each unit 31 to 35 is connected by a bus 36. ..

In this embodiment, a zero client terminal is used as the client terminal 3. A zero client is an application that uses a terminal that does not have an OS or local storage and is distributed from a server to a client that does not leave any data (footprints) on the client terminal. A general means for realizing a zero client is an application realized on a browser by HTML5 + JavaScript (registered trademark).
It is preferable to use a portable mobile terminal as the client terminal 3.

The control unit 31 is composed of a CPU for a zero client and the like, and comprehensively controls the processing operation of each unit of the client terminal 3. Specifically, various display signals are transmitted to the display unit 32 by reading and executing the web application program stored in the storage unit 24 of the server 2 in response to the operation signal input from the operation unit 33. ..

The display unit 32 is configured to include a monitor such as an LCD, and displays various screens according to an instruction of a display signal input from the control unit 31. The display unit 32 is based on the display data of various web screens received from the server 2, for example, a list of raw data of medical images stored in the server 2 and a medical image based on the selected raw data (initial). Display image (display image, client display image).

The operation unit 33 is configured to include a pointing device such as a keyboard or mouse having various keys, or a touch panel laminated on the display unit 32, depending on the position of a key operation or mouse operation on the keyboard or a touch operation on the touch panel. The input operation signal is output to the control unit 31.

The communication unit 34 is configured by a network interface or the like, and transmits / receives data to / from an external device connected via a communication network N such as LAN, WAN, or the Internet. The communication unit 34 may perform wireless communication using a mobile phone line or the like, and transmit / receive data to / from an external device connected via the communication network N.

The client terminal 3 configured in this way performs the following operations by processing by the control unit 31.
For example, the control unit 31 of the client terminal 3 has a function of displaying the initial display image received from the server 2 on the display unit 32.
Further, the control unit 31 has a function of pooling the received raw data in the memory of the browser.
Further, the client terminal 3 has a function of rendering pooled raw data to generate a client display image and displaying it on the display unit 32.

[Operation in image display system]
Next, the operation of the image display system 1 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a ladder chart showing an image display process executed when a medical image is displayed on the client terminal 3 in the image display system 1.

First, when the user inputs an instruction to display a predetermined medical image on the display unit 32 via the operation unit 33 of the client terminal 3, the client terminal 3 receives the initial display image corresponding to the input instruction. The transmission request signal is transmitted to the server 2 (step S1).
In addition, the "instruction to display the medical image" referred to here specifically means the patient name and the patient name desired by the user from the list screen in which the patient name, the examination type, etc. displayed on the display unit 32 are displayed in a list. / Or to specify the inspection type. As a result, one raw data is specified from the plurality of raw data stored in the storage unit 24 in the server 2.

When the server 2 receives the transmission request signal of the initial display image from the client terminal 3, the server 2 calls the corresponding raw data from the storage unit 24, renders the raw data, and generates the initial display image (step S2). ..
When the rendering is completed, the server 2 transmits the initial display image to the client terminal 3 (step S3).

When the client terminal 3 receives the initial display image from the server 2, it displays it on the display unit 32 (step S4). As described above, the initial display image has a smaller amount of data than the original raw data and can be transmitted faster than the raw data, so that the initial display on the client terminal 3 can be performed quickly.
After displaying the initial display image, the client terminal 3 transmits a raw data transmission request signal to the server 2 to the server 2 (step S7).

The client terminal 3 confirms its own browser environment (step S5) between the processing of step S1 and the processing of step S4, and based on the confirmed contents, the transmission conditions of raw data. And the pool condition in the client terminal 3 is determined (step S6).
Specifically, the browser environment is specifically confirmed, for example, the amount of memory that can be used by the browser, the processing speed of the CPU of the control unit 31, the communication speed of the network N, and the like.
Further, the transmission conditions include, for example, whether or not to compress raw data, the compression format when compressing, the transmission speed from the server 2 to the client terminal 3, and the like.

For example, when it is determined that the image processing capacity of the client terminal 3 is relatively high, the raw data is compressed, and the image processing capacity of the client terminal 3 is low, but if the communication speed of the communication network N is fast, the raw data is compressed. Make a decision to send the data as it is without compressing it. In this way, since raw data is transmitted in consideration of the browser environment, it is possible to adopt a zero client.
The determined transmission conditions may be transmitted to the server 2 as soon as they are determined, or may be transmitted together with the raw data transmission request.
Further, here, the processes of steps S5 and S6 are performed by the client terminal 3, but these processes may be performed by the server 2.

When the server 2 receives the raw data transmission request signal, the server 2 confirms the transmission condition and the pool condition received from the client terminal 3, and compresses the raw data as necessary (step S8). The raw data is transmitted to the client terminal 3 in the background (step S9). By doing so, raw data is transmitted in parallel with the initial display on the client terminal 3. Therefore, the time from the initial display to the completion of transmission of raw data can be shortened.
Note that the server 2 renders the raw data in the middle of transmission (transmission is not completed).
While receiving raw data, the client terminal 3 displays on the display unit 32, for example, a progress bar, to notify the user how far the data reception has progressed or that the data reception has been completed. I do.

Further, when the raw data transmitted from the server 2 is compressed, the client terminal 3 sequentially expands the raw data and pools the raw data in the memory (step S10). Then, when the reception and development of the raw data are completed, the raw data is rendered to generate an image for client display (step S11). At this time, the rendering performed by the server 2 is stopped. By doing so, the load on the server 2 can be reduced.
After rendering the raw data, the generated client display image is displayed on the display unit 32. After the raw data that is the source of the client display image has been transmitted to the client terminal 3, the client terminal 3 performs image processing such as enlargement, reduction, and gradation without sending it back to the server 2 each time. Is possible.

As described above, in the image display system 1 of the present embodiment, the client terminal 3 uses a zero client. Since the zero client does not have a CPU or local storage and does not have an OS, it can be introduced at low cost. In addition, high security can be maintained and maintenance is easy.
Further, since the image display system 1 quickly displays the initial display image rendered by the server 2 first, and then displays the client display image obtained by rendering the raw data on the client terminal 3, the client terminal 3 It is possible to prevent the situation in which the image cannot be viewed for a long time after the image display instruction is given.

Further, as compared with the case where a PC or the like is used as a client terminal, the memory that can be used may be limited in the zero client, but in the image display system 1, the server 2 or the client terminal 3 sets the browser environment of the client terminal 3. After confirming, the server 2 determines the conditions for transmitting image data to the client terminal and the conditions for pooling image data on the client terminal 3 based on the confirmation result. You can also send raw data.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The same configuration and operation as in the first embodiment will not be described.

The image display system 1 of the first embodiment automatically switches and executes the rendering of raw data from the server 2 to the client terminal 3 based on the completion of transmitting the raw data from the server 2 to the client terminal 3. However, the image display system 1 of the present embodiment manually performs this switching. Therefore, some of the functions of the server 2 and the client terminal 3 of the present embodiment are different from those of the first embodiment.

Specifically, the client terminal 3 of the present embodiment determines whether to render the raw data on the server 2 or the client terminal 2 after the reception of the raw data is completed based on the operation of the operation unit 33. It is possible to select and send the result to the server 2. The timing of selection is arbitrary.
Therefore, the client terminal 3 executes the rendering of the received raw data only when the rendering by the client terminal is selected.

On the other hand, when the selection result received from the client terminal 3 is the rendering by the server 2, the server 2 continues to perform the rendering on the server 2, and when the selection result is the rendering by the client terminal 3. , Finish the rendering that was done until then.

1 Image display system 2 Server 21 Control unit 22 Communication unit 23 RAM
24 Storage unit 25 Bus 3 Client terminal 31 Control unit 32 Display unit 33 Operation unit 34 Communication unit 35 RAM
36 Bus N Communication Network

Claims (12)

An image display system including a server that stores image data and a client terminal that is connected to the server via a network and has a display unit that displays an image based on the image data.
The server
A server-side control unit that renders the image data to generate an initial display image, transmits the initial display image to the client terminal, and transmits the image data to the client terminal is provided.
The client terminal
A client-side control unit is provided which displays the initial display image received from the server on the display unit, renders the image data received from the server to generate a client display image, and displays the image on the display unit. ,
An image display system characterized in that the amount of data of the initial display image is smaller than the amount of data of the client display image. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the server executes rendering of the image data and transmission of the image data so that at least a part of each execution period overlaps. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal displays the initial display image during execution of rendering of the image data by the client-side control unit. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the server-side control unit executes rendering of the image data until the transmission is completed. The first aspect of claim 1, wherein the client terminal executes rendering of the image data by switching the rendering from the server-side control unit to the client-side control unit after transmission by the server-side control unit. Image display system. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal is a zero client terminal. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal receives the image data in the background. The client terminal is characterized in that the rendering of the image data is automatically switched from the server side control unit to the client side control unit based on the server side control unit having completed transmitting the image data. The image display system according to claim 5. The client-side control unit selects switching between the client-side control unit and the server-side control unit based on a user operation based on the fact that the server-side control unit has completed transmitting the image data. The image display system according to claim 5. The client-side control unit confirms its own browser environment and
Based on the confirmation result, the transmission condition of the image data from the server to the client terminal is determined, and the determination result is transmitted to the server.
The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the server-side control unit transmits the image data in a manner corresponding to a determination result received from the client-side control unit. The server-side control unit compresses the image data before transmitting the image data according to the determination result received from the client-side control unit.
The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the client-side control unit expands the compressed image data at the time of reception. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the client-side control unit notifies the reception status of the image data from the server.

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