DICOMOutput node

Use a DICOMOutput node to receive DICOM XML messages, combine the metadata from DICOM XML messages with the pixel data stored in the file system by the DICOMInput node, and send the resulting DICOM image to an SCP.

Purpose
Using this node in a message flow
Activity log entries
Configuring the DICOMOutput node
Terminals and properties

Purpose

The DICOMOutput node is a Service Class User (SCU) node for the Storage service class. The node takes metadata from a DICOM XML message, combines the metadata with the scanned image (pixel data) (and any other attributes not in the DICOM XML message) from the file system. The scanned image must be copied to the file system by using the DICOMInput node. The result is sent to a Service Class Provider (SCP) application, for example a DICOM Picture Archiving System (PACS) by using the DICOM C-STORE command.

The DICOMOutput node is contained in the Healthcare drawer of the message flow node palette, and is represented in the IBM® Integration Toolkit by the following icon:

Using this node in a message flow

The DICOMOutput node receives DICOM XML messages on its input terminal. The DICOM XML message is recombined with the scanned image (pixel data) that is stored in the file system by the DICOMInput node and the resulting DICOM image is sent to a destination SCP. The destination SCP is configured using node properties and this configuration cannot be overridden in the local environment. The same DICOM image can be sent multiple times to the same destination SCP. The destination SCP can check the SOP identifier, which uniquely identifies the DICOM image, to determine whether the DICOM image has already been received.

If a DICOM image transfer succeeds, then the DICOM XML message is propagated to the output terminal of the DICOMOutput node for further processing in the message flow. If a DICOM image transfer fails, then an error is produced.

The process of combining the metadata from the DICOM XML message with the scanned image (pixel data) is called encoding. The node configuration includes options for you to change the encoding of a DICOM image. Therefore the encoding of a DICOM image received by a DICOMInput node can be different from the encoding of the DICOM image that is sent to a destination application.

The DICOM standard requires two application entities to be identified when they connect. Identification is achieved using an Application Entity Title (AET), which is a text string of up to 16 characters. The DICOMOutput node must be configured with its own AET and also the AET for the SCP to which it connects. The DICOMOutput node does not connect unless the AET of the destination SCP exactly matches the value that is configured in the DICOMOutput node. Connection to the destination SCP is established when a message arrives at the input terminal of the DICOMOutput node. If the connection cannot be established, an error is produced.

Note: The DICOMOutput node does not maintain connections from one message transfer to another.

Storage Commit: You can configure the DICOMOutput node to request storage commit response messages from the destination SCP to which it sends DICOM images. The DICOMOutput node can be configured with a port on which to receive these asynchronous response messages. If the port is not configured, the node does not request storage commit responses. If the port is configured, the node does not propagate messages to its output terminal until the storage commit response messages are received. You can also configure a timeout that defines the maximum time to wait for the storage commit response message. If a response is not received within this time, an error is produced.

Processing directory: You configure the DICOMOutput node with a directory on the file system for processing DICOM images (recombining the metadata in the XML message with the pixel data). This directory is specified in the Processing directory node property. This directory cannot be used by any other node unless you are using a multi-instance configuration. In a multi-instance configuration, the same message flow is configured on both the active and passive broker. Only one message flow is active at any time and the shared file system directory provides the state for the passive DICOMOutput node when the message flow is activated.

Message schema: A single schema is used to describe all the DICOM XML messages that are sent and received by the DICOM nodes. However, only one of the complex types that are defined in the schema is used to structure each type of message. The DICOM complex type is used to define the DICOM XML messages that arrive at the input terminal, and that are sent from the DICOMOutput node output terminal.; For more information about the schema, see DICOM message schema.

DICOM transactions: The DICOMOutput node processing runs within the active transaction for the thread that processes the DICOM image. If an error occurs, the DICOMOutput node produces an error. Depending on the exception handling logic in the containing message flow, the error might cause the current transaction to be rolled back.

Activity log entries

The following table details the activity log entries that are written by the DICOMOutput node, where the following names are used in the examples:

BROKERAE is the name of the DICOMOutput application entity.
REMOTEAE is the name of the remote application entity.
hostname:2222 is the host name and port number of the remote application entity.

Condition	Description	Type	Example	Recommendations
Start send	A DICOM image is being prepared for sending to a remote application entity. Note: Sending a DICOM image is known in DICOM as a C-STORE command.	Information BIP12068	`Starting DICOM C-STORE operation (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)` The DICOM image Object Identifier (OID) is logged in the `FILENAME` field in the activity log.	No action is required.
End send	The DICOM image was successfully sent to a remote application entity. If storage commit is enabled, then this activity log entry signals that the requested storage commit response message was received.	Information BIP12068	`Finished DICOM C-STORE operation (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)` The DICOM image OID is logged in the `FILENAME` field in the activity log.	No action is required.
Send failed	A DICOM send failed (C-STORE command). An error is produced by the DICOMOutput node.	Error BIP12070	`Failed DICOM C-STORE operation (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)` The DICOM image OID is logged in the `FILENAME` field in the activity log.	Check network connectivity between the broker and the remote SCP. Check the type of data that is being transferred (SOP class and transfer syntax) is compatible with the remote SCP. Check the application entity names and port numbers match exactly with the remote SCP. Check the remote SCP is online and ready to accept connections and data transfers. Check the error details for more information about the error.
Start send storage commit request	The DICOMOutput node is sending a storage commit request message to the remote SCP.	Information BIP12068	`Sending storage commit request message (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)`	No action is required.
End send storage commit request	The storage commit request message was successfully sent to the remote SCP.	Information BIP12068	`Finished sending storage commit request message (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)`	No action is required.
Send storage commit request failed	The DICOMOutput node could not send a storage commit request message to the remote SCP.	Error BIP12070	`Failed to send storage commit request message (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)`	Check network connectivity between the broker and the remote SCP. Check that the remote application supports the storage commit SOP class. Check that the application entity names and port numbers exactly match with the remote SCP. Check that the remote SCP is online and ready to accept connections and data transfers. Check the error details for more information about the error.
Send storage commit request timed out	The storage commit response message was not received by the DICOMOutput node within the configured time limit.	Error BIP12070	`Timed out waiting for storage commit response message (BROKERAE,REMOTEAE,hostname:2222)`	Check network connectivity between IBM Integration Bus and the remote SCP. Check the remote application supports the storage commit SOP class. Check the application entity names and port numbers match exactly with the remote SCP. Check the remote SCP is online and ready to accept connections and data transfers. Check the error details for more information about the error.
Archive DICOM image	A DICOM image is being archived by the DICOMOutput node	Information BIP12068	`Archiving DICOM instance from DICOMOutput node (BROKERAE)` The DICOM image OID is logged in the `FILENAME` field in the activity log.	No action is required.
Delete DICOM image	A DICOM image is being deleted from the DICOMOutput archive	Information BIP12068	`Deleting DICOM instance from DICOMOutput node archive (BROKERAE)` The DICOM image OID is logged in the `FILENAME` field in the activity log.	No action is required.

Configuring the DICOMOutput node

When you have added an instance of a DICOMOutput node into a message flow, you can configure it.

All mandatory properties for which you must enter a value (properties that do not have a default value defined) are marked with an asterisk.

Terminals and properties

The DICOMOutput node terminals are described in the following table.

Terminal	Description
In	The input terminal that accepts a message for processing by the node.
Out	The output terminal to which the message is routed if the image has been transferred successfully to the destination SCP.

The following tables describe the node properties. The column headed M indicates whether the property is mandatory (marked with an asterisk if you must enter a value when no default is defined); the column headed C indicates whether the property is configurable (you can change the value when you add the message flow to the broker archive (BAR) file to deploy it).

The Description properties for the DICOMOutput node are described in the following table.

Property	M	C	Default	Description
Node name	Yes	No	DICOMOutput	The name of the node.
Short description	No	No		A brief description of the node.
Long description	No	No		Text that describes the purpose of the node in the message flow.

The Basic properties for the DICOMOutput node are described in the following table.

Property	M	C	Default	Description
Connection details	Yes	Yes	localhost:2222	The host name and port for the application entity SCP to which the node connects.
Application entity title (AET)	Yes	Yes	BROKERAE	The name for this DICOM SCU endpoint. A text string of up to 16 characters that allows application entities to be identified when they connect.
Processing directory	Yes	Yes	Output	A file system directory that the node can use to process outgoing DICOM images. This directory must be unique for this node. Note: If the node property is a relative directory name, for example, Output, then it is appended to the IBM Integration Bus work path to get an absolute directory. If the node property contains an absolute directory name, for example, C:\DICOM\Output), then it is used directly as the file system location.
Remote application entity title (AET)	Yes	Yes	REMOTEAE	The name of the DICOM SCP endpoint to which the node connects.
Archive DICOM images this many hours after they are sent	Yes	Yes	72	DICOM images are moved from the processing directory into a subdirectory named Archive after this many hours.
Delete DICOM images this many hours after they are archived	Yes	Yes	72	DICOM images are deleted from the Archive subdirectory this many hours after they are archived.

The Advanced properties for the DICOMOutput node are described in the following table.

Property	M	C	Default	Description
Connection timeout (seconds)	Yes	Yes	60	The length of time, in seconds, that the node waits for a connection to the SCP.
Operation priority (LOW, NORMAL, HIGH)	Yes	Yes	NORMAL	The priority for the transfer of the image to the SCP. It is not mandatory that the receiving application acts on this priority.
Encode sequences with explicit length	No	Yes	Not selected	Specifies whether sequences in the DICOM image are encoded with an explicit length.
Encode sequence items with explicit length	No	Yes	Not selected	Specifies whether sequence items in the DICOM image are encoded with an explicit length.
Include group length attributes	No	Yes	Not selected	Specifies whether groups of DICOM attributes have a specified length.
Encode empty sequences with explicit length	No	Yes	Selected	Specifies whether empty sequences in the DICOM image are encoded with an explicit length.
Encode empty sequence items with explicit length	No	Yes	Selected	Specifies whether empty sequence items in the DICOM image are encoded with an explicit length.

The Storage Commit properties for the DICOMOutput node are described in the following table.

Property	M	C	Default	Description
Maximum wait time for storage commit responses (seconds)	No	Yes	60	The maximum time to wait for storage commit response messages. If a response is not received in this time period, the node produces an error.
Receive storage commit responses on port	No	Yes	2223	The port that receives storage commit response messages. If this field is blank, the node does not request storage commit response messages.

Last updated : 2015-12-07 16:17:40

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