US 2006O197968A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2006/0197968 A1 VanNOstrand (43) Pub. Date: Sep. 7, 2006 (54) DICOM PRINT DRIVER Publication Classification (76) Inventor: S. Lance VanNostrand, Plano, TX (51) Int. Cl. (US) G06F 3/12 (2006.01) Correspondence Address: (52)52) U.S. Cl. ............................................................ 358/1.13 Pamela R. Crocker Patent Legal Staff Eastman Kodak Company 343 State Street (57) ABSTRACT Rochester, NY 14650-2201 (US) (21) Appl. No.: 11F355.432 A printing system includes a windows printing Subsystem 9 including an Application Programming Interface (API), and (22) Filed: Feb. 16, 2006 a printer driver. The printer driver is configured to receive an Related U.S. Application Data image from the windows printing Subsystem, render the .S. App image for printing, and send the rendered image to a Digital (60) Provisional application No. 60/657,571, filed on Mar. Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) 1, 2005. printer for printing. JO2 O6 512 APPLICATION pRINTER GRAPHICS J22 DLL 32O DEMMODE EMF 326 RENDERING PRINTER Ud DLL SPOOLER SYSTEM BTMAP DEVMODE 3.32 31 O PRINT PROCESSOR 334 BITMAP + DEMMODE EMF - TO DICOM CONVERTER 338 COMPUTER BOUNDARY DfCOM PROTOCOL 316 OCOM PRINTER Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 2 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 1 O2 MODALITY 12O AAPL/CATION V\ PROPRIETARY 1O6 INTERFACE 1O4 LAYOUT & /MAGE PROCESSING MODULE /N-122 PROPRIETARY 4:28: AP1 tos? INTERFACE 124 WINDOWS OS 110 5.35E. E. WINDOWS gas PRINTING AP/ 128 PRINTING 112 D/COM ARCH/TECTURE VN PROTOCOL 1 D/COM PROTOCOL COMPUTER HOST-BASED BOUNDARY PRINTER POSTSCRIPT PRINTER POSTSCRIPT FIG 2 PRINTER Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 4 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 "DH#12# 012 AJO1./NOW12/Od 99TZ OOZ Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 5 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 OO s 3O2 3O6 312 APPL/CA 77ON ARINTER 32O 322 g; PH/CS DEMMODE EMF 326 RENDERING PRINTER 3O4. U/ DLL SPOOLER 3O8 SYSTEM BITMAP - DEVMODE 3.32 31O PRINT PROCESSOR 334 B/7MAP -- DEMMODE 514 EMF - TO D/COM CONVERTER 338 COMPUTER BOUNDARY DICOM PROTOCOL 316 DICOM PRINTER FIG 5 Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 6 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 34O s 5O2 3O6 312 APPLICATION PRINTER GRAPH/CS 322 DLL 32O DEVMODE EMF 3.26 RENDERING PRINTER 3O4 U/ DLL SAOOLER 3O8 SYSTEM B/TMAP - DEVMODE 3.32 31 O PRINT PROCESSOR BITMAP DEVMODE 542 PORT MONITOR 3.36 3.38 COMPUTER BOUNDARY D/COM AROTOCOL DUMMY MED/CAL J44 /MAGE PRINTER FIG 6 Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 7 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 4OO FIELD NAME FIELD SIZE VALUE DATA TYPE DESCRIPTION IN BYTES KWPD STRING version 2 gigeoSHORT SEREVERSION NUMBER cows | 2 | | SHORTSiglio wolf wage UNSIGNED WHOLE IMAGE SHORT 2 BITS 2 UWSIGNED BITS USED PER ALLOCATED SHORT PIXEL. CAN CHANGE ON EACH IMAGE BITS USED 2 UWSIGNED SHORT PIXEL, DATA2 PV, OD, STRING MEDICAL GRAY SPACE LU SCALE IMAGES OW A PAGE MAY BE IN D/FFERENT PIXEL DATA SPACES. DRIVER WILL CONVERT TO TARGET SAACE. SOURCE X 2 UNSIGNED SOURCE ORIGIN SHORT RECTANGLE TO BE STRETCHED SOURCE Y 2 UNSIGNED SOURCE OR/GIN SHORT RECTANGLE TO BE STRETCHED SOURCE 2 UNSIGNED SOURCE WDTH SHORT RECTANGLE TO BE STRETCHED SOURCE UWSIGNED SOURCE HEIGHT SHORT RECTANGLE TO BE STRETCHED 24 FOR FUTURE USE Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 8 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 5OO 5O2 6 504 YES SWAP CCS AND Ros 5O6 ADD K MORE COLUMNS TO PRESERVE THE WPD HEADER 508 SET RWPD FRGS 51O. SET CWPD FC CS/3 512 /S REMAINDER OF CCS/3>O 2 OWPD CWPD + 1 TOTAL SIZE OF THE CONVERTED IMAGE IN WPD FORMAT IS CWPD - RWPD * 3 FIG 8 Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 9 of 10 US 2006/0197968A1 6OO 6O2 6 FOR EACH PIXEL IN ORIGINAL GRAYSCALE IMAGE, PART/TION THE BITS INTO 3 SECTIONS 6O4 SAVE EACH SECTION OF BITS INTO ONE OF THE RGB COMPOWENTS OF THE CORRESPONDING PIXEL IN THE 24-B/T BITMAP NOTIFY THE PRINTER DRIVER OF THE USAGE OF THE SPECIALLY FORMATTED 24-B/T BITMAP VIA AN ESCAPE SEQUENCE API DEFINED IN THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM BEFORE REWDERING THE SPECIALLY FORMA TTED 24-B/T B/TMAP TO THE PRINT JOB WTH ANY WINDOWS GD/ FUNCTIONS. 608 REFORMAT THE RENDERED 24-BIT RGB BITMAP BACK TO GRAYSCALE B/TMAP BY EXTRACTING THE BITS FROM EACH OF THE J RGB CHANNELS AND RECOMBINING THOSE BITS TO AN INTEGER IND/CATING THE PIXEL VALUE IN THE RESULTANT GRAYSCALE IMAGE 61O FIG 9 Patent Application Publication Sep. 7, 2006 Sheet 10 of 10 US 2006/O197968 A1 7OO 7O2 6 AT THE BEGINNING OF A PAGE, INITIALIZE THE IMAGE LIST TO EMPTY 7O4 AT THE BEGINNING OF A BAND, INITIALIZE THE CL/PPING RECTANGLE LIST TO EMPTY. 7O6 FOR EACH STRETCH BLT CALL IN THE CURRENT BAND ON AN IMAGE IN WPD GRAYSCALE FORMAT, ADD AN ENTRY TO THE CLIPPING RECTANGLE LIST. IF IT IS A NEW IMAGE ENCOUNTERED, RESCALE THE IMAGE AND SAVE IT IN THE IMAGE LIST. 708 PASS EVERYTHING ELSE BACK TO UNIDRV FOR ITS DEFAULT RENDERING. 71O A T THE END OF THE CURRENT AAGE THE DRIVER BUILDS A 1-UP IMAGE BASED ON THE PRINTERS CAPABILITY 712 CLEAN UP THE CLIPPING RECTANGLE LIST AT THE END OF THE CURRENT BAND. 714 FIG. IO US 2006/O 197968 A1 Sep. 7, 2006 DCOM PRINT DRIVER printer driver can print both medical images and medical data to a DICOM printer from Windows applications. The CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED DICOM printer driver can print grayscale images up to APPLICATIONS 16-bits and also perform bilinear and cubic scaling, which 0001. This application claims priority from U.S. Provi are not possible with standard Windows drivers. sional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/657,571 entitled “DICOM WINDOWS PRINT DRIVER'', filed Mar. 1, BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference. 0009 FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodi FIELD OF THE INVENTION ment of a prior art printing system. 0002 The present invention relates generally to the field 0010 FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodi of medical printers, and more specifically to a WindowsTM ment of a printing system according to the present invention. driver for printing to Digital Imaging and Communications 0011 FIG. 3 is a table defining the functionality of in Medicine (DICOM) printers. printing components. 0012 FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating another BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION embodiment of a printing system. 0003 Health care organizations transfer medical infor mation from one location to another. The medical informa 0013 FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another tion can include medical images and medical data. Typically, embodiment of a printing system. the printing of medical images and the printing of medical 0014 FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating another data (i.e., office/consumer type printing) are performed embodiment of a printing system. using different protocols. In addition, the medical images and medical data are often printed to different types of 0015 FIG. 7 is a table illustrating one embodiment of a printers. windows print driver (WPD) header structure. 0004 Medical images are intended to be of high quality 0016 FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodi to provide predictable output for diagnostics purposes. Hos ment of a method for determining the size of an image in pitals typically print medical images in large Volumes and grayscale format. desire fast turn-around. As such, many medical image print 0017 FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating another ers are of high printing quality, are capable of printing at embodiment of a method for passing grayscale data through high Volumes, and therefore are expensive. To ensure high the standard Windows printing API. quality printouts and device inter-operability, the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) pro 0018 FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodi tocol has become an industry standard for medical image ment of a method for rescaling an image. printing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE 0005. In contrast, office applications do not require diag INVENTION nostics-quality printouts. Due to the proliferation of the Microsoft Windows Operating System, printer manufactur 0019 FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodi ers targeting office and consumer markets provide printer ment of a prior art printing system 100. Printing system 100 drivers for various versions of the Windows Operating includes modality application 102, layout and image pro System. Microsoft implemented the standard printing sub cessing module 106, Digital Imaging and Communications system and the associated Application Programming Inter in Medicine (DICOM) module 110, and DICOM printer 114. face (API). Any Windows application can print to any Modality application 102 is communicatively coupled to Windows compatible printer, regardless of the manufacturer layout and image processing module 106 through propri and model of the printer, by using the standard printing etary interface 104. Layout and image processing module APIs. Although standard, the Windows Printing APIs are 106 is communicatively coupled to DICOM module 110 different for 9x, NT, Win2K, and XP versions of Windows. through proprietary interface 108. DICOM module 110 is communicatively coupled to DICOM printer 114 through 0006. As such, there is a need for a Windows driver to DICOM protocol communication path 112. Modality appli enable printing to a DICOM printer using the standard cation 102, layout and image processing module 106, and printing Subsystem and the associated printing APIs.