Figure 2.

Image transfer. The scanner initiates routine image transfers. DICOM does not specify the behavior of the scanner device; the scanner may begin sending images whenever it is ready. This may be done automatically as individual images are completed during a scan procedure, or it may be done at some later time after all images of a procedure have been acquired and the scanner operator has initiated the transfer by activating a “send images” key on the scanner console. When the scanner is ready to send, it sends images one by one to the workstation. The scanner initiates a DICOM communications session (called an “association”) with the workstation for the transfer of each image. Various details are negotiated during association establishment, so that the workstation can prepare to handle the image that it is about to receive.