Digital image transmission independent of communication method

Many radiology departments wish to transmit images from one device to another for use with picture archiving and communications systems, referral, or research. Most methods of image transfer have depended on a high degree of hardware and software commonality between the sending and receiving locations. This paper describes a new method of transferring images in different formats, or parts of images, from one location to another. Communicating locations can have dissimilar equipment and different matrix sizes. The method allows for transmitting the images over any communication link using only characters, so it does not require that the communication system be able to handle binary data. It allows interfaces between a wide variety of different types of computer-based imaging equipment, without the need to develop specialized interfaces for each situation