3.4 Terms and Definitions

The following list includes DICOM Terms and Product Specific Terms and Definitions, that are used throughout this Conformance Statement

Term	Definition
Abstract Syntax	The information agreed to be exchanged between applications, generally equivalent to a Service/Object Pair (SOP) Class. Examples: Verification SOP Class, Modality Worklist Information Model Find SOP Class, Computed Radiography Image Storage SOP Class.
Application Entity (AE)	A representation of the external behavior of an application process in terms of DICOM Network Services, Web Services and/or media exchange capabilities implemented in one or more roles. A single device may have multiple Application Entities.
Application Entity Title (AET)	The externally known name of an Application Entity, used to identify a DICOM application to other DICOM applications on the network.
Application Context	The specification of the type of communication used between Application Entities. Example: DICOM network protocol.
Association	A network communication channel set up between Application Entities.
Attribute	A unit of information in an Information Object Definition; a Data Element identified by a tag. The information may be a complex data structure (Sequence), itself composed of lower-level data elements. Examples: Patient ID (0010,0020), Accession Number (0008,0050), Photometric Interpretation (0028,0004), Procedure Code Sequence (0008,1032).
Data Element	A unit of information as defined by a single entry in the data dictionary. An encoded Information Object Definition (IOD) Attribute that is composed of, at a minimum, three fields: a Data Element Tag, a Value Length, and a Value Field. For some specific Transfer Syntaxes, a Data Element also contains a VR Field where the Value Representation of that Data Element is specified explicitly
Information Object Definition (IOD)	The specified set of Attributes that comprise a type of data object; does not represent a specific instance of the data object, but rather a class of similar data objects that have the same properties. Examples: MR Image IOD, CT Image IOD, Print Job IOD. The Attributes within an IOD may be specified as Mandatory (Type 1), Required but possibly unknown (Type 2), or Optional (Type 3), and there may be conditions associated with the use of an Attribute (Types 1C and 2C).
Media Application Profile	The specification of DICOM information objects and encoding exchanged on removable media (e.g., CDs).
Module	A set of Attributes within an Information Object Definition that are logically related to each other. Example: Patient Module includes Patient's Name, Patient ID, Patient' Birth Date, and Patient's Sex.
Negotiation	First phase of Association establishment that allows Application Entities to agree on the types of data to be exchanged and how that data will be encoded.
Origin Server	Refers to the program that can originate authoritative responses to HTTP requests for a given Target Resource. The term "server" refers to any implementation that receives a web service request message from a user agent.
Presentation Context	The set of DICOM Network Services used over an Association, as negotiated between Application Entities; includes Abstract Syntaxes and Transfer Syntaxes.
Private SOP Class	A SOP Class that is not defined in the DICOM Standard but is published in an implementation's Conformance Statement.
Protocol Data Unit (PDU)	A packet (piece) of a DICOM message sent across the network. Devices must specify the maximum size packet they can receive for DICOM messages.
Security Profile	A set of mechanisms, such as encryption, user authentication, or digital signatures, used by an Application Entity to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability of exchanged DICOM data.
Service Class Provider (SCP)	Role of an Application Entity that provides a DICOM network service; typically, a server that performs operations requested by another Application Entity (Service Class User). Examples: Picture Archiving and Communication System (image storage SCP, and image query/retrieve SCP), Radiology Information System (modality worklist SCP).
Service Class User (SCU)	Role of an Application Entity that uses a DICOM Network Service; typically, a client. Examples: imaging modality (image storage SCU, and modality worklist SCU), imaging workstation (image query/retrieve SCU).
Service/Object Pair Class (SOP Class)	The specification of the network or media transfer (service) of a particular type of data (object) ; the fundamental unit of a DICOM interoperability specification. Examples: Ultrasound Image Storage Service, Basic Grayscale Print Management.
Service/Object Pair Instance (SOP Instance)	An information object; a specific occurrence of information exchanged in a SOP Class. E.g., a specific X-ray image.
Specialized SOP Class	A SOP Class that is derived from the Standard that is specialized by additional type 1, 1C, 2, 2C, or 3 Attributes, by enumeration of specific permitted Values for Attributes, or by enumeration of specific permitted Templates. The additional Attributes may either be drawn from the Data Dictionary in PS3.6 or may be Private Attributes.
Standard SOP Class	A SOP Class defined in the Standard, and that is implemented and used without any modifications.
Standard Extended SOP Class	A SOP Class that is defined in the standard, and that is extended by additional type 3 Attributes. The additional Attributes may either be drawn from the DICOM Data Dictionary in PS3.6 or may be Private Attributes.
Tag	A 32-bit identifier for a Data Element, represented as a pair of four-digit hexadecimal numbers, the "group" and the "element". If the "group" number is odd, the tag is for a private (manufacturer-specific) data element. Examples: (0010,0020) [Patient ID], (07FE,0010) [Pixel Data], (0019,0210) [private data element].
Transfer Syntax	The encoding used for exchange of DICOM information objects and messages. Examples: JPEG compressed (images), Little Endian Explicit Value Representation.
TLS-Secured Port	TCP port on which an implementation accepts TLS connections to exchange DICOM information.
Unique Identifier (UID)	A globally unique "dotted decimal" string that identifies a specific object or a class of objects; an ISO-8824 Object Identifier. Examples: Study Instance UID, SOP Class UID, SOP Instance UID.
User Agent	A client in a network protocol used in communications within a client-server distributed computing system. In particular, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) identifies the client software originating the request, using a user-agent header, even when the client is not operated by a user.
Value Representation (VR)	The format type of an individual DICOM data element, such as text, an integer, a person's name, or a code. DICOM information objects can be transmitted with either explicit identification of the type of each data element (Explicit VR), or without explicit identification (Implicit VR) ; with Implicit VR, the receiving application must use a DICOM data dictionary to look up the format of each data element.

Product Specific Terms and Definitions

The following list includes product specific definitions used throughout this Conformance Statement:

Term	Definition
Cloud	Refers to a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.
Cloud-Native	An approach in software development and deployment that takes full advantage of cloud computing principles and architectures. The infrastructure and software needed to run the system are hosted remotely on the cloud.
Web Application	A software application that is accessed and interacted with through a web browser over a network, typically the internet.
AdvaPACS Gateway	A software component of AdvaPACS that facilitates the connection between modalities and AdvaPACS within an institutions LAN.
AdvaPACS Cloud Gateway	A software component of AdvaPACS that facilitates the connection between modalities and AdvaPACS directly using mutual-TLS (mTLS).
Local AE	An Application Entity that will be provisioned on the target AdvaPACS Gateway or AdvaPACS Cloud Gateway.
Remote AE	An Application Entity that will interact with AdvaPACS.