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CTP is a stand-alone program that provides all the processing features of a MIRC site for clinical trials in a highly configurable and extensible application. It connects to FieldCenter applications and can also connect to MIRC sites when necessary. CTP has the following key features:
To run the installer, the Java 1.7 (or better) JRE must be present on the system. Java 1.8 is recommended because earlier versions are being sunset by Oracle/Sun. Java and all its components are available through the Java website. Note that only the JRE is required, not the JDK. If you plan to run CTP as a Windows service or if you plan to use the Java Advanced Imaging ImageIO Tools (see below), then you must install the 32-bit Java, even on a 64-bit computer.
For convenience, it is recommended (but not required) that a folder called JavaPrograms be created in the root of the disk drive. The installer does not create this folder, but if it is present, the installer will very quickly find it and suggest installing CTP in a subdirectory of JavaPrograms. This is especially helpful when upgrading.
Certain CTP pipeline stages (FileStorageService, BasicFileStorageService, DicomDecompressor, and others) require that the Java Advanced Imaging ImageIO Tools be present on the system. If you already have the ImageIO Tools installed, note that it is critically important that version 1.1 of the ImageIO Tools be installed rather than version 1.0. Parenthetically, note that the Java Advanced Imaging component is not the same as the Java Advanced Imaging ImageIO Tools. Only the latter component is required. (Macintosh users should read ImageIO Tools for Macintosh in the Notes section.) When the CTP installer runs, it checks several parameters of the system and highlights ones that are not correct for the running of CTP. One such parameter is the version of the ImageIO Tools. The ImageIO Tools need not be present in order to run the installer, and they may be installed later if required, without having to re-install CTP.
Note also that the CTP installer includes the ImageIO Tools for Windows 32-bit Java only, so on such systems, you can skip the installation of the ImageIO Tools, but that will make the tools only available for CTP, not for other applications. If you are planning to install certain other RSNA DICOM tools (for example, DicomEditor), it is best to install the ImageIO Tools directly in Java using the installer provided in Java Advanced Imaging ImageIO Tools.
The default memory configuration is sufficient for all but the very largest sites. For sites with 2000 or more teaching file cases, the Maximum memory pool parameter should be increased to 500. For sites with more than 3000 cases, 750 is recommended. To change the memory configuration for the Windows service, see the article.
The Extensions directory parameter is intended for special applications in which third-party software is added into the system. One such application is the NCI's National Biomedical Image Archive (NBIA). Normal teaching file systems do not require this parameter.
Across the top of the dialog are several tabs providing access to information about the versions of the components, the system parameters in use by Java as the program runs, and any messages output by the program either directly or through its log file. These are only present as a convenience; they are not typically used in normal operation.
CTP has no user interface. When the program starts, it runs without intervention. Status and other information can be obtained through the program's integrated webserver. Accessing the server with no path information displays a page presenting buttons for each of the servlets.
When the program is first installed, two users are provided. One user, with the name admin and password password, is intended for general system administration. The other user, with the name king and password password, has the ability to shut down the server through the browser interface. Both users have the ability to create and modify users and assign privileges through the User Manager, but only a user with the shutdown privilege can grant the shutdown privilege to another user.
To stop the program, click the Stop button on the Launcher, or log in as a user with the shutdown privilege and click the Shutdown button on the main page. As a convenience, a user with the admin privilege can also shut the server down if the user's browser is running on the same computer as the server.
The program uses two configurable files: config.xml, which is located in the same directory as the program itself, and index.html, which is located in the server's ROOT directory. Both files are intended to be configured for the specific application. The installer does not overwrite these files when it runs; instead, it installs two example files: example-config.xml and example-index.html. When CTP starts, it looks to see if the non-example files are missing, and if so, it copies the example files into the non-example ones. This process allows upgrades to be done without losing any configuration work. After installing the program the first time, it should be run once in order to make the copies, and then the copies can be configured. Configuration is done by hand with any text editor (e.g., TextPad or NotePad). Care should be taken, especially with config.xml, to keep it well-formed. Opening it with a program like InternetExplorer will check it for errors.
To provide access to the status of the components, the application includes an HTTP server which serves files and provides servlet-like functionality. Files are served from a directory tree whose root is named ROOT. The ROOT directory contains a file, index.html, which provides buttons which link to several servlets providing information about the operation of the program. This file is intended to be configured with logos, additional links, etc., and upgrades do not overwrite it. The standard servlets are:
A plugin is a component that adds functionality to CTP outside the context of a pipeline. Plugins can add servlets to the server as well as provide capabilities that may be accessed by pipeline stages.
A pipeline is a manager that moves data objects through a sequence of processing stages. Each stage in the pipeline performs a specific function on one or more of the four basic object types supported by MIRC:
Each pipeline must contain at least one ImportService. Each pipeline stage may be provided access to a quarantine directory into which the stage places objects that it rejects, thus removing them from the pipeline and aborting further processing. Quarantine directories may be unique to each stage or shared with other stages. At the end of the pipeline, the manager calls the ImportService which provided the object to remove it from its queue.
A StorageService stores an object in a file system. It is not queued, and it therefore must complete before subsequent stages can proceed. A StorageService may return the current object or the stored object in response to a request for the output object, depending on its implementation.
An ExportService provides queued transmission to an external system via a defined protocol. Objects in the queue are full copies of the objects submitted; therefore, subsequent processing is not impeded if a queue is paused, and modifications made subsequently do not affect the queue entry, even if they occur before transmission. After entering an object in its queue, an ExportService returns immediately.
The CTP configuration is specified by an XML file called config.xml located in the same directory as the program. There can be one Server element specifying the port on which the HTTP server is to operate, and multiple Pipeline elements, each specifying the stages which comprise it. The name of the element defining a stage is irrelevant and can be chosen for readability; each stage in a pipeline is actually defined by its Java class, specified in the class attribute. Stages are loaded automatically when the program starts, and the loader tests the stage's class to determine what kind of stage it represents. It is possible to extend the application beyond the pre-defined stages available in the implementation as described in Extending CTP.
The following is an example of a simple configuration that might be used at an image acquisition site. It contains one pipeline which receives objects via the DICOM protocol, stores the objects locally, anonymizes them, and transmits them via HTTP (using secure sockets layer for encryption) to a principal investigator's site.
Note that because the storage service appears in the pipeline before the anonymizer, the objects which are stored contain the PHI which was originally received, and because the anonymizer appears before the export service, anonymized objects are exported.
The following is an example of a simple configuration that might be used at a principal investigator's site. It contains one pipeline which receives objects via the HTTP protocol, stores them, and exports them to a DICOM destination:
Note that in the example above, non-DICOM objects are stored in the StorageService, but they are not exported by the DicomExportService. Each pipeline stage is responsible for testing the class of the object which it receives and processing (or ignoring) the object accordingly.
Each pipeline stage class has a constructor that is called with its configuration element, making it possible for special processor implementations to be passed additional parameters from the configuration.
The application includes built-in, standard plugins to provide features that are required in some clinical trials. The sections below show all the configuration attributes recognized by the standard plugins. Note that the configuration element for a plugin always has the tag name Plugin.
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