Method and apparatus for managing a configurable display environment

1. A method for managing a medical imaging study display environment comprising:

receiving, from at least one display device coupled to a medical imaging workstation, display environment context data, wherein the display environment context data comprises display resolution;

extracting, by processing circuitry, metadata from a medical imaging study accessed by the medical imaging workstation, wherein the metadata describes one or more of the original capture resolution of the image, the file format of the image, the type of device used to capture the image, the date the image was captured, a patient associated with the captured image, a viewing orientation of the image, a particular anatomical part of the patient represented in the image, one or more diagnostic codes, or one or more procedure codes;

determining based at least in part on the metadata from the medical image study, image viewing context data, wherein the viewing context data comprises medical image resolution of at least one image stored in the medical image study;

determining, based on the display environment context data and the image viewing context data, whether a display environment of the medical imaging workstation complies with one or more rules for viewing the medical imaging study, wherein the rules relate at least in part to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image; and

in response to determining that the display environment of the medical imaging workstation does not comply with the one or more rules related to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image, providing for presentation of a pop-up notification comprising one or more interface controls prompting the user to accept one or more display configuration changes needed to comply with the one or more rules, and causing the display configuration changes to be implemented on the display device before providing for presentation of the medical imaging study.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an e-mail to an administrator notifying the administrator of the determination that the display environment does not comply with the one or more rules.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one display device is a graphics card or a monitor.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the display environment context data further comprises a color bit depth of the monitor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image viewing context data further comprises at least one of a medical imaging device type, an image orientation, or an original resolution of an image included in the medical imaging study.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more rules specify at least one of a minimum color bit depth, or a minimum display resolution.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating imaging workstation context data based on the display environment context data and the image viewing context data; and

transmitting the imaging workstation context data to a remote server for processing, wherein determining whether the display environment complies with the one or more rules is performed by the remote server.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the display environment context data or the image viewing context data is stored in a markup language format.

9. A medical imaging workstation for managing a medical imaging study display environment comprising:

display interface circuitry configured to:

obtain display environment context data from at least one display device coupled to the medical imaging workstation, wherein the display environment context data comprises display resolution; and

provide the display environment context data to context processing circuitry;

image display circuitry configured to:

obtain image viewing context data comprising medical image resolution of at least one image stored in the medical image study from a medical imaging application, the image viewing context data derived at least in part based on metadata associated with a medical imaging study accessed by the medical imaging workstation, wherein the metadata describes one or more of the original capture resolution of the image, the file format of the image, the type of device used to capture the image, the date the image was captured, a patient associated with the captured image, a viewing orientation of the image, a particular anatomical part of the patient represented in the image, one or more diagnostic codes, or one or more procedure codes; and

provide the image viewing context data to the context processing circuitry; the context processing circuitry, configured to:

receive the display environment context data and the image viewing context data;

determine rules relating at least in part to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image; and

in response to determining that the display environment of the medical imaging workstation does not comply with the one or more rules related to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image, provide for presentation of a pop-up notification comprising one or more interface controls prompting the user to accept one or more display configuration changes needed to comply with the one or more rules, and cause the display configuration changes to be implemented on the display device before providing for presentation of the medical imaging study.

10. The medical imaging workstation of claim 9 , further comprising the at least one display device.

11. The medical imaging workstation of claim 9 , wherein the context processing circuitry is further configured to:

transmit at least a portion of the image viewing context data and at least a portion of the display environment context data to rules engine provided by a server other than the medical imaging workstation; and

receive instructions from the rules engine to cause the display configuration changes to be implemented based at least in part on the at least a portion of the image viewing context data and the at least a portion of the display environment context data.

12. The medical imaging workstation of claim 9 , further comprising programmatically altering at least one configuration setting of the at least one display device to cause the display environment to comply with the one or more rules.

13. The medical imaging workstation of claim 9 , wherein the at least one display device is a graphics card or a monitor.

14. The medical imaging workstation of claim 9 , wherein the image viewing context data comprises at least one of a medical imaging device type, an image orientation, or an original resolution of an image included in the medical imaging study.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to configure an apparatus to:

receive, from at least one display device coupled to a medical imaging workstation, display environment context data, wherein the display environment context data comprises display resolution;

extract metadata from a medical imaging study accessed by the medical imaging workstation, wherein the metadata describes one or more of the original capture resolution of the image, the file format of the image, the type of device used to capture the image, the date the image was captured, a patient associated with the captured image, a viewing orientation of the image, a particular anatomical part of the patient represented in the image, one or more diagnostic codes, or one or more procedure codes;

determine based at least in part on the metadata from the medical image study, image viewing context data, wherein the viewing context data comprises medical image resolution of at least one image stored in the medical image study;

determine, based on the display environment context data and the image viewing context data, whether a display environment of the medical imaging workstation complies with one or more rules for viewing the medical imaging study, wherein the rules relate at least in part to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image; and

in response to determining that the display environment of the medical imaging workstation does not comply with the one or more rules related to a compatibility between the display resolution of the display device and the medical image resolution of the at least one image, providing for presentation of a pop-up notification comprising one or more interface controls prompting the user to accept one or more display configuration changes needed to comply with the one or more rules, and causing the display configuration changes to be implemented on the display device before providing for presentation of the medical imaging study.