Method and apparatus for configuring and monitoring a system unit in a medical diagnostic system

A system for configuring and monitoring a system unit in the medical diagnostic system, the system comprising:

• means for communicating characteristic information regarding operation of the system unit in the medical diagnostic system from the remote facility to the medical diagnostic system;
• means for configuring the medical diagnostic system in accordance with the characteristic information from the remote facility;
• means for communicating operation information of the system unit in the medical diagnostic system to the remote facility;
• and
• means for monitoring the operation information of the system unit in the medical diagnostic system.

An x-ray tube comprising:

• a vacuum vessel;
• an anode assembly disposed in the vacuum vessel and including a target;
• a cathode assembly disposed in the vacuum vessel at a distance from the anode assembly, the cathode assembly being configured to emit electrons which hit the target of the anode assembly and produce x-rays;
• a programmed digital processing circuit;
• and
• an interface coupled to the processing circuit and at least the cathode assembly generating a signal representative of the cathode assembly and its operation, wherein the digital processing circuit is configured to manipulate digital data representative of the cathode assembly.