If the server has to be replaced, serviced, or modified, no modifications to clients are required, only Switchboard's configuration needs to be modified. If a server is replaced, Switchboard's configuration is updated with the new server's identity and subsequent communications from clients are forwarded to the new server.

Example Two

Switchboard may be used to connect two DICOM devices that have some incompatibility in their implementation of the DICOM protocol, such that certain protocol fields need to have their values provided or altered. The DICOM DIMSE message filtering services in Switchboard can handle the detection and modification of the appropriate fields without requiring modifications to either the DICOM SCU or SCP (client or server) devices.

Once the connection is functioning as desired, the service engineer can leave Switchboard in place or pursue permanent corrections to the offending device by consulting with the manufacturer.

Referring to the same diagram, Switchboard may also be used to alter the encoding (transfer syntax) of messages as they pass from one system to another. For example, a modality (client, SCU) sends Switchboard implicit-little endian syntax and Switchboard passes messages to a remote archive (server, SCP) using one of the various JPEG compression transfer syntaxes.

Example Three

The Switchboard may be used as a supplementary tool to assist in the migration of DICOM data from one archive to another that is using a 3rd party migration application. Typically, the Switchboard is placed between the source and destination archives and provides the ability to apply user-defined filters to the DICOM data sets as they are being migrated. Data set elements may be altered in real-time.

For example, tags may be added to the datasets: the Contributing Equipment Sequence could be set to record the original source archive for a data set, or tags may have their values dynamically modified, or unneeded tags could be removed. The Original Attributes Sequence may be automatically added or appended to preserve a record of any changes made.

Switchboard makes these DICOM connectivity problems go away

• Frustrated trying to add new DICOM devices to your network?
• Aggravated because you have a DICOM tag that needs to be changed before your PACS will accept the data?
• Struggling trying to log or monitor your DICOM connections?
• Discouraged that your modality or PACS won’t support compression and you need it today?
• Under pressure to route certain devices based on their hostname or AE-Title?
• Irritated that you need to move data from a private DICOM tag to a public DICOM tag so your PACS can use it?
• Exasperated that your network sniffer is dropping packets?
• Overwhelmed by needing to log all the DICOM network traffic, not just yours?

Routing, Filtering & Monitoring Options

• Alter DICOM message elements in real-time, "fixing" selected DIMSE messages, using configurable filters.
• Route DICOM Messages and select filter sets based on hostname or AE Titles by using custom mapping rules.
• Record all dataset modifications in the appropriate DICOM Sequence, all automatically.
• Add, delete, or modify DICOM elements on the fly. Regular expression matching filters select and alter dataset elements in complex ways.
• Look up modifications to apply from a text-based list.
• Alter the transfer syntax encoding to provide capabilities not supported by one host, e.g., convert a dataset from ELE to JPEG-lossless compression.
• Capture all messages by actively participating in the DICOM association – all completely immune to packet dropping.
• Monitor what you need - just the connection of interest.
• Control and monitor remotely using web-based GUIs.
• Re-package PDUs into different sizes, if required.
• Configure your log verbosity: association setup, ACSE PDUs, DIMSE reads/writes, PDU contents - summary or a full hexadecimal byte dump - and TCP/IP transactions.
• Dual modes: Transparent vs. Filtering with logging.
• Display associations and network activity in real-time.