INSTANCE LEVEL METADATA POPULATION OF A PACS DATABASE

1 . A system for populating a target database with metadata for use in accessing medical image data, the system comprising:

an electronic processor communicatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the electronic processor, cause the electronic processor to:

in response to a trigger event, query an archive database via a communication interface for instance level metadata of a plurality of image studies based on at least one query rule;

store the instance level metadata of the plurality of image studies received from the archive database in the target database;

based on an image study for a patient requested through an image viewer and at least one relevancy rule, determine a set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database for the plurality of image studies; and

display information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database without downloading image data for each image included in the set of other image studies to the target database.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event includes at least one selected from a group consisting of an order message, an admission message, and a scheduling event.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event includes a receipt of a new image study for the patient.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event includes a manual trigger.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to, in response to receiving a second trigger event, apply at least one priority rule to prioritize the trigger event and the second trigger event.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event includes an opening of the image study of the patient within the image viewer.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one query rule queries the archive database for all image studies for the patient.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one query rule queries the archive database based on at least one preference.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one query rule is developed using machine learning and queries a plurality of archive databases including the archive database.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instance level metadata includes series level metadata.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to query the archive database via the communication interface for series level metadata of the plurality of image studies in response to the trigger event and store the series level metadata in the target database, and wherein the electronic processor is configured to determine the set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database for the plurality of image studies and is configured to display the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is configured to display the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database by displaying instance level metadata for at least one image study included in the set of other image studies.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is configured to display the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database by generating a thumbnail for at least one image study included in the set of other image studies based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database and image data stored in the archive database and displaying the thumbnail within the image viewer.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to receive a selection of the thumbnail via the image viewer and return to the image viewer a pointer to at least one image stored in the archive database.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is configured to display the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database by grouping images included in at least one image study included in the set of other image studies into a series of images and displaying a representation of the series of images within the image viewer for selection by a user.

16 . A method of populating a target database with metadata for use in accessing medical image data, the method comprising:

in response to a trigger event, querying, with an electronic processor, an archive database via a communication interface for instance level metadata of a plurality of image studies based on at least one query rule;

storing, with the electronic processor, the instance level metadata of the plurality of image studies received from the archive database in the target database;

based on an image study for a patient requested through an image viewer and at least one relevancy rule, determining a set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database for the plurality of image studies; and

displaying information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata stored in the target database without downloading image data for each image included in the set of other image studies to the target database.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein querying the archive database in response to the trigger event includes querying the archive database in response to receipt of at least one selected from a group consisting of an order message, an admission message, a new image study for the patient, a scheduling event, a manual trigger, and an opening of the image study of the patient within the image viewer.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising querying the archive database via the communication interface for series level metadata of the plurality of image studies in response to the trigger event and storing the series level metadata in the target database, and wherein determining the set of other image studies for the patient includes determining the set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database for the plurality of image studies and wherein displaying the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer includes displaying the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database.

19 . Non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by an electronic processor, perform a set of functions, the set of functions comprising:

in response to a trigger event, querying an archive database via a communication interface for instance level metadata and series level metadata of a plurality of image studies based on at least one query rule;

storing the instance level metadata and the series level metadata of the plurality of image studies received from the archive database in a target database;

based on an image study for a patient requested through an image viewer and at least one relevancy rule, determining a set of other image studies for the patient based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database for the plurality of image studies; and

displaying information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database without downloading image data for each image included in the set of other image studies to the target database.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein displaying the information regarding the set of other image studies for the patient within the image viewer based on the instance level metadata and the series level metadata stored in the target database includes grouping images included in at least one image study included in the set of other image studies into a series of images and displaying a representation of the series of images within the image viewer for selection by a user.