Data coercion

 

Data coercion rules insert, remove and modify values in DICOM attributes when the system first acquires the object. Rules are assigned globally or to a specific registered device. Coercion works for DICOM alpha-numeric attributes only. Multiple rules can exist for a single device, and are applied in the defined sequence.

 

Two sets of global coercion rules exist. The first rule set is the Preceding Global Coercion Rules and is applied before any device-specific rules are applied. The second set of rules is the Trailing Global Coercion Rules, applied after the device-specific rules. Global coercion rules use the same commands as the device-specific rules. They are configured in the Preceding Global Coercion Rules and Trailing Global Coercion Rules sections of the Devices page. To assure administrators know these rules exist, they appear in uneditable tables before and after device-specific coercion rules on the Edit Device page.

 

Device-specific coercion rules are available for registered DICOM devices. They get applied after preceding global coercion rules and before trailing global coercion rules. To define coercion rules, perform the following steps.

  1. From the Admin tab, click the Devices tab.

  2. If defining global coercion rules,

    1. Scroll to the Preceding Global Coercion Rules section or the Trailing Global Rules section.

    2. Define and save coercion rules as described below.

  3. If defining device-specific coercion rules,

    1. Find the device on the Devices table and click on the edit button, , to the left of the name.

    2. Scroll to the Data Coercion Rules section.

    3. Define and save coercion rules as described below.

To coerce data scanned into the server, create a self device and assign device-specific coercion rules to it.

 

Viewer coercion rules modify data loaded into a viewer session when it initializes. Viewer coercion rules are server-specific and get downloaded or re-downloaded to the viewer each time the user logs onto the server. The primary difference between server and viewer coercion is viewer coercion does not affect the original data stored on the server. The modified data exists in the viewer session only. When the viewer session terminates, the modified data ceases to exist. To define viewer coercion rules, perform the following steps.

  1. From the Admin tab, click the Devices tab.

  2. Scroll to the Viewer Global Data Coercion Rules section and enter save coercion rules.

  3. Click Save

To define coercion rules, perform the following steps.

  1. To see a list of available data coercion commands, click the Help button.

  2. Type the rules into the text box. Use the pulldown list and Add Tag button to select the attribute tag, if needed.

  3. Click Save.

Note: Data coercion rules do not propagate between servers.  If they are required on multiple eRAD PACS servers, you must make the change on each one.