A technique is provided for verifying network connectivity between a medical diagnostic system and a remote service facility. The remote service facility is contactable at will by the subscribing system to request service, information, technical assistance, and so forth, while the service facility may also contact the subscribing system for acquisition of data, transmission of service messages, protocols, and so forth. In the connectivity verification sequence, a subscribing system is selected by the service facility and a network connection is established. A message is transmitted to the system provoking software at the system to re-establish the network connection from the system side. Two-way connectivity is thereby verified. Mobile systems may be configured to contact the service facility at their own initiation, and exchange data for permitting the service facility to re-contact the mobile system. Failure modes may be identified at various locations in the connectivity network by identification of steps in the connectivity verification process where the process failed. Alerts or other action items may be generated as a result of detected connectivity problems.

A method for communicating data in a network environment is provided that includes receiving one or more packets for establishing a communication session in a network and determining which of the packets should be delayed. A selected one or more of the packets are delayed for a designated time interval in order to extend a roundtrip time (RTT) parameter associated with the selected packets. The selected packets are communicated after the time interval has expired.

A method includes generating a first set of commands for an imaging device. The first set of commands are associated with a first task to be performed by the imaging device. A second set of commands are generated for the imaging device during a second time interval that overlaps the first time interval. The second set of commands are associated with a second task to be performed by the imaging device. The first set of commands is transmitted to the imaging device during a third interval of time, and the second set of commands is transmitted to the imaging device during a fourth interval of time that does not overlap with the third interval of time.

An image transfer object is disclosed that provides the necessary mechanism to conduct a dynamic transfer operation. The image transfer object includes a static reference to dynamic data. The image data is "dynamic", in that the user may request additional views of the image. An image recipient computer receives the static reference to identify a source image on a server, and generates a first request, based on the static reference, for a view of the source image to the server. In response, the server transmits data to the image recipient computer. The image recipient computer displays the first view of the source image for viewing by the user. The user may then select a different portion of the source image, and/or a different resolution to designate a second view of the source image. The image recipient computer generates a second request to the image server for the second view, and the image server transmits additional data to generate the second view of the source image. Thereafter, the second view of the source image is displayed at the image recipient computer. A sender of the image may transmit a context for the image via e-mail or the recipient computer may download the image from a Web site. Techniques to configure the dynamic transfer object are also disclosed.

The present invention provides a medical image management system and method that uses a central data management system to centrally manage the storage and transmission of electronic records containing medical images between remotely located facilities. A polling system is provided with remotely located workstations or local workstations so that the remote or local workstations may request queued data to be delivered that is awaiting delivery in the central database management system. The remotely located workstation or local image workstation communicates with a remotely located central data management system via a remote interface over the internet. The central database management system maintains and update any changes in the IP address of a remote or local workstation, in a look up table. The central data management system may also, in addition, push data when received to the last known IP address in the look up table.