Patenting the uses of the DICOM medical image standard

In a prior post, I described how the uses of standards can be patented, using DICOM as an example. DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is being actively promoted as a universal and exclusive standard for all medical images.

This blog examines one instance, in some detail, of a patent related to a common use of the DICOM standard.

U.S. Patent 6,725,231 is entitled "DICOM XML DTS/schema generator". This patent was filed March 27, 2001 by Jingkun H and Kwok Pun Lee and assigned to Philips Electronics. The patent was awarded on April 20, 2004.

The methods covered by a patent are enumerated in a list of patent claims. Claim 1 (of 15 claims) for this patent is:

"1. A method for mapping a DICOM specification into an XML document, comprising: mapping each entry of a DICOM table of the DICOM specification into a corresponding XML element of a plurality of XML elements, outputting each XML element of the plurality of XML elements to the XML document, in an output format that conforms to at least one of: an XML document-type-definition and an XML Schema. "

The reach of a patent is extended if it is awarded in both U.S. and International Patent Offices. The same application, has been awarded by the World Intellectual Property Organization, (WIPO), WO/2002/077896 DICOM XML DTS/schema generator.

Even after a patent has been awarded, it can sometimes be successfully argued, in court, that the claims are obvious or non-original and cannot be asserted against a user.

How do scientists demonstrate that an idea is original and non-obvious? They publish their work in a respected journal in their field of work. Journals are expected to reject submissions that are obvious or for which prior art (earlier publications) exist. For centuries, scientists have used publications as evidence of the validity, originality and scientific value of their work.

Jingkun H and Kwok Pun Lee published three original papers in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA), that are contemporary with their patent applications, and that describe methods related to their patents.

Zhao L, Lee KP, Hu J.
Generating XML schemas for DICOM structured reporting templates.
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2005 Jan-Feb;12(1):72-83.

Lee KP, Hu J.
XML Schema Representation of DICOM Structured Reporting.
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2003 Mar-Apr;10(2):213-23.

Tirado-Ramos A, Hu J, Lee KP.
Information object definition-based unified modeling language
representation of DICOM structured reporting: a case study of
transcoding DICOM to XML.
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2002 Jan-Feb;9(1):63-71.

These described steps exemplify the way that the uses of a standard were patented. As shown previously, many uses of the DICOM standard have been included in current patent applications.

Having multiple image standards provides users an "out" when one standard becomes excessively encumbered. As discussed in a prior post, there are times when using a specification, rather than a standard, facilitates the the free, unencumbered exchange of annotations and image binary data.

-Jules Berman

tags: DICOM, intellectual property, medical images, patents, specifications, standards

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My book, Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information was published in 2013 by Morgan Kaufmann.

I urge you to explore my book. Google books has prepared a generous preview of the book contents.

Searching patents related to DICOM

In yesterday's blog, I described how standards developers and standards users can search the USPTO (US Patent and trademark organization) for patents that might encumber a data standard.

As an example, let's look at some specific patents (issued or pending) related to DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).

A search for pending patents (patent applications) on the term ttl/DICOM pulls just those patent applications that have DICOM in their title. A second search (through the issued patent search engine available from the same site) would pull issued patents.

Here is the output for pending patents submitted since 2001 and containing DICOM in the title.

1	20070041647	Method for increasing the flexibility of DICOM tags management in application-specific integration
2	20060282447	Ndma db schema, dicom to relational schema translation, and xml to sql query transformation
3	20060259513	System and method to submit image requests to DICOM server
4	20060259463	System and method for the automatic generation of a query to a DICOM server
5	20060242268	Mobile radiology system with automated DICOM image transfer and PPS queue management
6	20060242148	System and method for integrating ancillary data in DICOM image files
7	20060239589	System and method for definition of DICOM header values
8	20060197968	Dicom print driver
9	20060064328	System and method for utilizing a DICOM structured report for workflow optimization
10	20060056680	3D volume construction from DICOM data
11	20050246629	Framework of validating dicom structured reporting documents using XSLT technology
12	20050237776	System and method for patient controlled communication of DICOM protected health information
13	20050031181	Method and system for analyzing bone conditions using DICOM compliant bone radiographic image
14	20040205563	Specifying DICOM semantic constraints in XML
15	20040025110	Precise UML modeling framework of the DICOM information model
16	20030149680	Methods and apparatus for streaming DICOM images through data element sources and sinks
17	20030101291	Application programming interface for provision of DICOM services
18	20020143824	DICOM to XML generator
19	20020143727	DICOM XML DTD/Schema generator
20	20020133373	Integration of radiology information into an application service provider DICOM image archive and/or web based viewer
21	20020052866	Methods and apparatus for streaming DICOM images through data element sources and sinks

If the word DICOM is in the title, it's a good bet that the patent will involve a method that uses the DICOM standard. The claims of such methods may possibly cover a user's intended uses of the standard. Had we simply done a search on the word "DICOM" without limiting the location of the search term to the title of the patent application, we would have retrieved 1144 patents from the USPTO patent application database. And these would just be those patents that are currently under review!

Notice that several of these methods seem to involve common tasks for informaticians who wish to tease out annotated data from a DICOM image and port the data and metadata into XML.

In the next blog, we'll look at one of the DICOM patents to determine the claims of the patent and the assignee of the patent.

-Jules Berman

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Science is not a collection of facts. Science is what facts teach us; what we can learn about our universe, and ourselves, by deductive thinking. From observations of the night sky, made without the aid of telescopes, we can deduce that the universe is expanding, that the universe is not infinitely old, and why black holes exist. Without resorting to experimentation or mathematical analysis, we can deduce that gravity is a curvature in space-time, that the particles that compose light have no mass, that there is a theoretical limit to the number of different elements in the universe, and that the earth is billions of years old. Likewise, simple observations on animals tell us much about the migration of continents, the evolutionary relationships among classes of animals, why the nuclei of cells contain our genetic material, why certain animals are long-lived, why the gestation period of humans is 9 months, and why some diseases are rare and other diseases are common. In “Armchair Science”, the reader is confronted with 129 scientific mysteries, in cosmology, particle physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. Beginning with simple observations, step-by-step analyses guide the reader toward solutions that are sometimes startling, and always entertaining. “Armchair Science” is written for general readers who are curious about science, and who want to sharpen their deductive skills.

Searching for U.S. patents that encumber a standard

The USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) has a website that permits searches of issued patents (database extends to 1790). A separate search engine finds patent applications currently under review by the USPTO.

If you are developing a standard and you wish to avoid including patented technology in the methods included in your standard,

or

if you have developed a standard and are interested in protecting your users against trivial or non-innovative patents attached to the uses of your standard,

or

if you are a standards user and wish to avoid using standards that are encumbered by patents,

or

if you are a standards user who has chosen a standard and wish to avoid infringement on a patent that encumbers the standard,

you will want to visit the USPTO patent search site.


Here is the web page at http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.html for a search of pending applications with the word "DICOM" in the title of the application.



Here is the returned web page:



In the next blog, I will use DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) as an example of a standard for which a user can conduct USPTO patent searches.

- Jules Berman

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My book, Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information was published in 2013 by Morgan Kaufmann.

I urge you to explore my book. Google books has prepared a generous preview of the book contents. If you like the book, please request your librarian to purchase a copy of this book for your library or reading room.

tags: big data, metadata, data preparation, data analytics, data repurposing, datamining, data mining, coercive standards, data standards, DICOM, embedded patents, intellectual property, patent search, sdo, specifications, standards development organizations, uspto

Protecting the basic uses of a Standard

Yesterday's post took an example from DICOM to describe how the uses of an existing standard can be patented. A standard, even if it is a free and open standard, has little value if the intended uses of the standard are encumbered by patents. This would mean, in effect, that the user community must license the standard for uses that are covered by patents (or risk infringeing on one or more patents).

What can SDOs (Standards Development Organizations) do to prevent this problem? I am not a lawyer, and cannot give legal advice, but I would suggest that the following approach is sensible:

When the standard is being developed, the SDO should think about all the intended uses for the standard and publish a document (as an SDO white paper or as a journal publication) that describes, in detail, the ways that the standard can be used, supplying source code, instructions, sample implementations, user commentary, citations to relevant publications in the field, etc. This would help create prior art for the described uses of the patent. When the SDO provides public documentation for the common, expected uses of the standard, it would make it difficult for someone to come along and claim the those methods in a patent.

Also, SDOs should be prepared to work with their Patent Office to explain how patent applications related to their standard may be preceded by scientific art or may provide no new or non-obvious functionality to the standard. As described in an earlier post, the USPTO recognizes that software patents are a difficult area and has a program to seek guidance from the software community.

Suppose an inventor conceives of a totally new use of an existing standard and develops a patentable process or application for this new use. How would an SDO defend the standard in this case. Well, there might not be any defense. After all, if someone really comes up with a novel use for a standard that has a real-world application, why shouldn't their intellectual property be covered by a patent? The problem for SDOs comes from patents that cover customary, expected uses of a patent. SDOs with nothing in place to protect the basic uses of the standard have not done their job very well.

-Jules Berman

---

My book, Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information was published in 2013 by Morgan Kaufmann.

I urge you to explore my book. Google books has prepared a generous preview of the book contents. If you like the book, please request your librarian to purchase a copy of this book for your library or reading room.

tags: big data, metadata, data preparation, data analytics, data repurposing, datamining, data mining

The uses of free standards can be patented

In a prior post, I described several ways in which data standards can become encumbered with intellectual property. One of these involves patenting the way that a standard is used. Even when a patent is free, there is nothing to stop an inventor from patenting uses for the standard.

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) exemplifies a standard that has a patented use. DICOM is a widely used image standard for radiologic images. Currently, there is an effort to have all medical specialties adopt DICOM as the exclusive format for all medical images.

U.S. Patent 6725231 , issued Apr 20, 2004, to Jingkun Hu and Kwok Pun Lee and assigned to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., has the following claim.

"1. A method for mapping a DICOM specification into an XML document, comprising: mapping each entry of a DICOM table of the DICOM specification into a corresponding XML element of a plurality of XML elements,outputting each XML element of the plurality of XML elements to the XML document, in an output format that conforms to at least one of: an XML document-type-definition and an XML Schema."

A similar patent by the same parties sits at the European Patent Office (EPO).

Informaticians will note that teasing the data elements from a data object and porting them into XML is the bread-and-butter of modern informatics. A patent claim that covers this basic use of DICOM may be highly problematic.

SDOs(Standards Development Organizations) cannot stop inventors from patenting new and useful applications of their standards. However, there are easy ways for SDOs to reduce the risk of inventors patenting the common, expected uses of their standards. These will be described in a future post.

-Jules Berman tags: biomedical informatics, converting to xml, data standards, DICOM, embedded patents, european patent office, medical images, patent claims, radiology images, sdo, uspto, xml, science

---

Science is not a collection of facts. Science is what facts teach us; what we can learn about our universe, and ourselves, by deductive thinking. From observations of the night sky, made without the aid of telescopes, we can deduce that the universe is expanding, that the universe is not infinitely old, and why black holes exist. Without resorting to experimentation or mathematical analysis, we can deduce that gravity is a curvature in space-time, that the particles that compose light have no mass, that there is a theoretical limit to the number of different elements in the universe, and that the earth is billions of years old. Likewise, simple observations on animals tell us much about the migration of continents, the evolutionary relationships among classes of animals, why the nuclei of cells contain our genetic material, why certain animals are long-lived, why the gestation period of humans is 9 months, and why some diseases are rare and other diseases are common. In “Armchair Science”, the reader is confronted with 129 scientific mysteries, in cosmology, particle physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. Beginning with simple observations, step-by-step analyses guide the reader toward solutions that are sometimes startling, and always entertaining. “Armchair Science” is written for general readers who are curious about science, and who want to sharpen their deductive skills.