The DICOM Service Configurator
The DICOM Service Configurator provides a user interface for setting the parameters in the trial.xml file. It also provides access to the DICOM Anonymizer Configurator. The DICOM Service Configurator is accessed by clicking the Update Configuration button in the DICOM Service column on the storage service's admin page.
1 Top-level Parameters
At the top of the DICOM Service Configurator window is a small table containing parameters that are apply to all the components of the DICOM Service.
If you want the DICOM Service to start automatically whenever the MIRC site is started, set the Autostart value to yes.
If you want all transmissions to be logged in the trial/logs directory under the root of the storage service, set the Log value to yes. Some trials require logs of all transmissions, so carefully consider this choice. The log is a comma-separated values file which can be opened with a spreadsheet program. If you are operating this DICOM service as an automatic teaching file generator, you probably should set this parameter to no.
If you want duplicate images (images with the same SOP Instance UIDs) to update previous versions, making the last image received the only one stored and referenced in the MIRCdocument, set the Allow overwrite value to yes. This is the way most trials are operated. If you want all images, even ones with duplicate SOP Instance UIDs, to be saved and referenced, set the value to no.
2 Central Remapper
In trials which use the central remapping feature of the DICOM Service and the FieldCenter application, the parameters are configured in the second table on the page. The remapper, whether local or central, uses a cipher to encrypt the PHI which is stored in its database. The remapper has a default encryption key which is normally used when the network on which the MIRC site is run is secure. This only provides security against casual access to the data. To use the default key, blank the External key file field. To specify a separate key and secure it against access, the absolute path (e.g., X:\keyfile.storage) to a key file is inserted in the field as described in The Remapper Key.
The UID root field specifies the UID root to be assigned to all remapped UIDs by the uid anonymizer function of the FieldCenter application that calls the central remapper.
The Base date field specifies the base date to be used in the offsetdate function.
The last four parameters of the table specify the parameters to be used in the ptid function.
3 DICOM Import Service
The DICOM Import Service is typically used for MIRCdocument generation for images received from local modalities. The two main applications are research dataset acquisition and teaching file creation. It is also possible to use this service for participation in a clinical trial where the principal investigator site is elsewhere on the internet, but the FieldCenter application is much more suited for this purpose and you are encouraged to use that application instead.
The third table on the page provides fields for specification of the Application Entity Title and port or the DICOM Storage SCP built into the DICOM Import Service. The AE Title and port should be unique on the system, so if you are running DICOM Services on multiple storage services on the computer, make sure that all the SCPs have unique values for both parameters.
The third table also allows you to enable or disable the DICOM anonymizer. This anonymizer only applies to objects received via the DICOM prototol from local modalities or PACS. Generally, in a MIRC site serving as the principal investigator's image receiver, images enter the system via the HTTP protocol from sites running the FieldCenter application at image acquisition sites on the internet. Thus, the setting of this parameter will not affect those images, which are typically anonymized by the FieldCenter application before transmission. For applications where images are obtained locally for research datasets or teaching files, the setting of this parameter is very important because it determines whether PHI is retained in images stored by the storage service.