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Hanging protocols (HPs) are a set of instructions that are used to position and manipulate images in the eUnity viewer. Users can create HPs that are available only for themselves, and administrators can create HPs for entire groups or for an entire site.
In eUnity, you create an HP by manually arranging series in the viewer and then "capturing" the viewer state as a new HP. In order to capture the viewer state, eUnity needs to be able to tell what it is looking at (i.e. what kind of study it is and what type of series is in what viewport). eUnity determines study type and series type using Study Selectors and Series Selectors.
Selectors take the manual work out of creating an HP. Instead of the HP author telling eUnity what series to put where, eUnity intelligently determines what is on the screen by comparing the study and series DICOM attributes against the HP selector library. The more robust your selector library, the less you have to manually edit the HP.
Study selectors
Study Selectors define what content will trigger a specific hanging protocol to be applied. These answer the question, what kind of study is it? eUnity comes with a broad set of Study Selectors (for example, the "CT" Study Selector which will match any kind of CT). It is up to administrators to define more specific Study Selectors for the site (for example, CT chest).
Series selectors
Series Selectors evaluate the DICOM attributes in a series to define what is unique about each series. Is it an AXIAL? An AXIAL T2? When you identify the unique pieces of information about a series, that series type can be consistently mapped to the desired location on the screen. The more detailed the selector, the more precise you can make the hanging protocol. eUnity comes with a basic set of Series Selectors (for example, view position is PA or AP). It is up to administrators to expand the Series Selector library with data that is specific to your site. For example, with a basic set of Series Selectors, the hanging protocol can perhaps identify that you have a CORONAL series in the upper-left viewport. If you have more detailed Series Selectors, the hanging protocol could identify that you have a CORONAL PD FAT-SAT in the upper-left viewport. With the more detailed selector, the next time the hanging protocol is applied, the CORONAL PD FAT-SAT series will be in the upper-left viewport instead of just any CORONAL series.
Display set
Display sets are the series in the study. Display sets are listed so that you know what series are available to be arranged in the viewer. Display sets identify the series that are available in the study by matching series selectors to the attributes in the series. If no series selectors are defined, the viewer creates display sets based on series descriptions. If no series descriptions are defined, the viewer creates display sets based on series number.
Presentation steps
Presentation steps are the views that you step through in a hanging protocol. For example, step one of a mammography hanging protocol may be to read the CC views (LCC, RCC) and step two is to read the MLO views (LMLO, RMLO) and step three may be to view all images with CAD markers turned on. Each of these states is captured as a presentation step.
Note on strict hanging of display sets
When display sets are mapped to viewports in a hanging protocol, you have the option to enable strict hanging. When strict hanging is enabled, if a study does not contain the display set that is defined for the view, the viewport will be left blank. When strict hanging is not enabled, the next available series will be shown in the viewport.
For information on enabling strict hanging for display sets, see Edit the Presentation Step view.
Putting it together
- Study selectors connect the study to the hanging protocol.
- Series selectors connect the series to the display set.
- Display sets are mapped to viewports as presentation steps.
Example
Dr. Smith wants to create a new HP that she will use to read MR studies of the brain. She opens a brain MR, sets the screen layout to 2 x 2, and then drags the series into the viewports. In the first step of the read, she wants to look at the SCOUT, AXIAL, SAGITTAL, CORONAL, in that order.
Dr. Smith drags each series to the desired viewport and clicks 
on the Hanging Protocol tab.
eUnity does the following:
- identifies the study type by comparing the study metadata to the study selectors: in this case, an MR study of the brain
- identifies the device type and number of screens: in this case, a web viewer with one monitor
- identifies the series types using series selectors: in this case, a SCOUT, AXIAL, SAGITTAL, CORONAL, AXIAL T1 FLAIR, and CORONAL T1 FLAIR
- maps the series to display sets: in this case a SCOUT, AXIAL, SAGITTAL, CORONAL, AXIAL T1 FLAIR, and CORONAL T1 FLAIR
- identifies the location of the series on the screen as a presentation step: In this case, the SCOUT: upper-left, AXIAL: upper right, SAGITTAL: lower-left, and CORONAL: lower-right, and AXIAL T1 FLAIR and CORONAL T1 FLAIR: not shown
In the next step of her read, Dr. Smith wants to look at the same kinds of images, but with reference lines turned on. Dr. Smith adds a new presentation step named "Reference Lines". In the Presentation step properties, she selects Reference lines and saves the presentation step.
- eUnity makes a new presentation step where the layout is the same, but the reference lines are on
In the next step, Dr. Smith wants to look at all of the FLAIR images. Dr. Smith adds a new presentation step named "FLAIR". In the viewer, she drags all of the FLAIR series onto the screen and then in the presentation step editing panel of the hanging protocol editor, she clicks Get Viewer State.
- eUnity creates a new presentation step where only the FLAIR series are shown on the screen.
Once finished, Dr. Smith saves the hanging protocol. Since she is not an administrator, it will be available only for her. The next time she opens an MR study of the brain, her MR - BRAIN hanging protocol will be automatically applied.
- When the study opens. the viewer shows the SCOUT, AXIAL, SAGITTAL, and CORONAL series, in that order.
- Clicking
on the Hanging Protocol tab moves to the next presentation step. The viewer shows the same series, but with reference lines on. - Clicking on the Hanging Protocol tab moves to the next presentation step. The viewer shows the FLAIR series.