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PMOD Database Functionality

DICOM Operations using a Database

If the database is configured, PMOD can save images and all other information types such as VOIs, transformations, kinetic modeling files etc. in the same manner as described for the DICOM objects:

A Save operation sends a request to the database containing all relevant meta-information about the data (patient name, study, series, data type, etc) and the data itself. The database server then saves the data into a directory structure and adds the access information into its tables.

When Load operations are performed, this access information is presented to the user in a way which allows to perform database searches, and if a data set is selected, it can be loaded into the PMOD tool using the internal access information.

Benefits of Using the Database

There are several benefits resulting from the use of the PMOD database:

Database Engines

The PMOD database functionality is based on an external SQL database engine. Two such databases are currently supported:

In this section it is assumed that the database engine is working properly.

Database Access Types

There are two different types of databases in PMOD:

  1. JDBC Databases: These are SQL databases to which PMOD communicates using the Java Data Base Connection (JDBC) interface. Typically, the JDBC Databases reside on the local machine. The user can create new JDBC databases from the PMOD configuration utility. If he wants, he can make them available to PMOD installations on different computers by a PMOD protocol called Transaction Server (TS, see below).
  2. Transaction Server Databases: These are SQL databases which are not directly accessed, but indirectly through a PMOD installation usually residing on a different computer. As the transaction server databases are managed by a different PMOD installation, they cannot be created or deleted, but only used for reading and writing.

The transaction server concept is most useful in an environment of multiple PMOD installations. On one of the PMOD installations, the PMOD JDBC databases are created. On the same system, the PMOD DICOM server is started, and saves the received images in one of the databases. All other PMOD installations access the databases just through the transaction server as illustrated below.

PMOD DICOM Database

Note: After the installation of Pmod3.6, the Pmod database and the DbSvr transaction server for publishing this database are available. The Pmod database contains various example data if the example database was selected for installation. This database resides within the PMOD installation directory. Please create a new database for your productive work which resides on a disk which is regularly backed up.

In This Chapter

Creation and Configuration of Databases

Setting up a Transaction Server to Publish a Database

User-Specific Database Preferences

Loading Data from Databases

Saving Data to Databases

Data Association

Administrative Tools