Method and apparatus for virtual interactive medical imaging by multiple remotely-located users

A method of enabling a plurality of geographically distributed users to collaboratively view and manipulate images of an object, the method comprising:

• maintaining a data structure including data representing the object, the data structure including a plurality of variables shared by each of a plurality of remote processing systems, the data structure further including a plurality of models of the object, each model corresponding to a different image resolution;
• multicasting data to each of the remote processing systems based on the data structure to allow the image to be displayed on each of the remote processing systems, including dynamically selecting from the plurality of models;
• and
• coordinating transmission of user inputs and values of shared variables applied at each of the client systems to allow the image displayed on each of the client systems to be updated in real-time in response to user inputs applied at each other client system.

A method of enabling a plurality of geographically distributed users to collaboratively view and manipulate images of an object in real-time, the method comprising, at a server:

• maintaining a data structure including data representing the object, the data structure including a plurality of variables shared by each of a plurality of remote client systems, the data structure further including a plurality of models of the object, each model corresponding to a different image resolution;
• sequentially preparing a packet of each of a plurality of consecutive portions of the data representing the object for transmission to the remote client systems, based on the data structure, including selecting said models of the object according to display capabilities of the remote client systems;
• multicasting each packet that is ready for transmission to each of the remote client systems to allow each of the client systems to display the image of the object based on the packets;
• and
• coordinating transmission of user inputs applied at each of the client systems to allow the image displayed on each of the client systems to be updated in real-time in response to user inputs applied at each of the other client systems.

A method of enabling a plurality of geographically distributed users to collaboratively view and manipulate images of an object in real-time, the method comprising, at a server processing system:

• maintaining a data structure including data representing the object, the data structure including a plurality of properties of the object and variables shared by each of a plurality of remote client systems, the data structure further including a plurality of models of the object, each model representing an image of the object at a different resolution;
• setting a specified image size;
• sequentially preparing each of a plurality of consecutive portions of the data representing the object for transmission, based on the data structure, by
• compressing the portion using run length encoding until the portion reaches the specified image size,
• combining the compressed portion into a packet with information indicating a position of said portion within the image, and
• marking the packet as ready for transmission;
• sequentially multicasting each said packet that is ready for transmission to each of the remote client systems to allow each of the client systems to display an image of the object based on the packets;
• and
• coordinating transmission of user inputs applied at each of the client systems to allow the image displayed by each of the client systems to be updated in real-time in response to user inputs applied at each other client system, said coordinating including
• receiving values of said shared variables from each of the remote client systems, the values representing user inputs applied at each said remote client system, and
• using the values to update the data structure.

An apparatus for enabling a plurality of geographically distributed users to collaboratively view and manipulate images of an object, the method comprising:

• means for maintaining a data structure including data representing the object, the data structure including a plurality of variables shared by each of a plurality of remote processing systems, the data structure further including a plurality of models of the object, each model corresponding to a different image resolution;
• means for multicasting data to each of the remote processing systems based on the data structure to allow the image displayed on each of the remote processing systems, including dynamically selecting from the plurality of models;
• and
• means for coordinating transmission of user inputs applied at each of the client systems to allow the image displayed on each of the client systems to be updated in real-time in response to user inputs applied at each other client system.