Systems and methods for transferring medical image records using a prefferred transfer protocol

1. A method for transferring a medical image record, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices and from a client device of a first user, a query for the medical image record stored within a record storage system, the medical image record having a size, and one or more characteristics, each characteristic being a proxy for the size to suggest if the size the record is above a size threshold or below the size threshold;

selecting, by the one or more computing devices, a transfer protocol for transferring the medical image record from the record storage system based on at least a first characteristic of the one or more characteristics of the medical image record;

transferring, by the one or more computing devices, the medical image record using the transfer protocol; and

sending the medical image record to the client device of the first user for display;

wherein the transfer protocol is a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) messaging protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is above the size threshold; and

wherein the transfer protocol is a DICOM web services protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is below the size threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the record storage system comprises a picture archiving and communication system (PACS).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the medical image record comprises one or more Digital Imagining and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Service-Object Pair (SOP) Instances.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one characteristic comprises a number of DICOM SOP Instances.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transfer protocol is selected based at least in part on the number of DICOM SOP Instances.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one characteristic comprises an image type.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the image type is one of an X- ray CR type, a CT type, an MRI type, and an ultrasound type.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transfer protocol is selected based at least in part on the image type.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting comprises selecting one of a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection and a HyperText Transfer Protocol/HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTP/S) connection.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising caching the medical image record.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring one or more additional medical image records associated with the medical image record and caching the additional medical image records.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising querying the record storage system for at least one of the characteristics of the medical image record.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the transfer protocol is selected based on the at least one characteristic of the medical image record.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the one or more computing devices and from the client device of the first user, a unique identifier associated with the record storage system.

15. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive, by the one or more computing devices and from a client device of a first user, a query for a medical image record stored within a record storage system, the medical image record having a size, and one or more characteristics, each characteristic being a proxy for the size to suggest if the size the record is above a size threshold or below the size threshold;

select, by the one or more computing devices, a transfer protocol for transferring the medical image record from the record storage system based on at least a first characteristic of the one or more characteristics of the medical image record;

transfer, by the one or more computing devices, the medical image record using the transfer protocol; and

send the medical image record from the one or more computing devices to the client device of the first user for display;

wherein the transfer protocol is a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) messaging protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is above the size threshold; and

wherein the transfer protocol is a DICOM web services protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is below the size threshold.

16. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to:

receive, by the one or more computing devices and from a client device of a first user, a query for a medical image record stored within a record storage system, the medical image record having a size, and one or more characteristics, each characteristic being a proxy for the size to suggest if the size the record is above a size threshold or below the size threshold;

select, by the one or more computing devices, a transfer protocol for transferring the medical image record from the record storage system based on at least a first characteristic of the one or more characteristics of the medical image record;

transfer, by the one or more computing devices, the medical image record using the transfer protocol; and

send the medical image record from the one or more computing devices to the client device of the first user for display;

wherein the transfer protocol is a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) messaging protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is above the size threshold; and

wherein the transfer protocol is a DICOM web services protocol if the first characteristic suggests the size of the medical image record is below the size threshold.