Replication of Updates to DICOM Content

1 . A method of replicating a content update, comprising:

determining if metadata associated with the content update matches a previously registered metadata in a first system;

if a match is identified, determining if the content update contains a metadata differing from a previously stored metadata in the first system; and

if the content update is determined to contain a metadata differing from the previously stored metadata, replicating the content update to a second system.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata associated with the content update is a patient identifier.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein if the metadata associated with the content update fails to match a previously registered metadata, storing the content update in the first system and replicating the content update to the second system.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content update is a change to the previously stored metadata.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content update is a change to a previously stored metadata in the second system.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the replicating the content update comprises deleting the previously stored metadata.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the replicating the content update comprises deleting a previously stored metadata in the second system.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content update comprises a DICOM image.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the content update to the previously stored content includes a change to the DICOM image.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising replicating the changed DICOM image to the second system if a match is identified.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content update comprises a non-DICOM object.

12 . A method of metadata replication, comprising:

storing a content having metadata in a publisher device;

determining if the metadata includes an update to a previously stored metadata in the publisher device; and

if the metadata includes an update to the previously stored metadata, replicating the update to a subscriber device.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising replicating the content to the subscriber device if the update includes an update to a previously stored content.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the subscriber device is one of a plurality of subscriber devices connected to the publisher device.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising replicating the update metadata to each of the plurality of subscriber devices.

16 . A computing device with a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions to:

store a content having a metadata in a storage device;

determine if the metadata includes an update to a previously stored content;

if the metadata is determined to contain an update, replicate the update to a second computing device;

and

if the metadata is determined to be associated with a new content stored in the storage device, replicate the content to the second computing device.

17 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the content is a DICOM image object.

18 . The computing device of claim 16 , further comprising a computer instruction to package the update into a payload for replicating the update to the second computing device.

19 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the update includes a change to a metadata of the previously stored content.

20 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the update includes a change to at least one of a previously stored DICOM image and non-DICOM content.