ANNOUNCEMENT

Version 3.4.1 of the OFFIS DCMTK (DICOM ToolKit) software is now available
for public release.  This release includes the following main changes 
over the previous version (Version 3.4.0):

- The DICOM data dictionary has been re-worked based on the 1999 edition of 
  the DICOM standard, the latest supplements and correction proposals (CP 
  package 6).

- The speed of network transmission has increased significantly, in 
  particular for small transfers like C-FIND. By default a 32K socket 
  buffer is now used and the Nagle algorithm is switched off.

- The grayscale calibration routines in the dcmimgle module have been
  extended to support both the DICOM Grayscale Standard Display Function
  and the CIE LAB display function.

- The dcmpstat module has been reworked to implement the final version of
  the Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State Supplement.

- An implementation of a DICOM Basic Grayscale Print Management SCU 
  supporting the Presentation LUT SOP Class has been added to the dcmpstat 
  module.

- The imagectn and ctndisp applications have been adapted to the common   
  command line scheme introduced in version 3.4.0.

- Experimental library support for redirecting error messages into a memory 
  stream instead of printing them to stdout/stderr has been implemented 
  (for GUI applications).

- Experimental support for the Patient/Study Only Query/Retrieve model has 
  been added to the imagectn application.

- Many bug fixes and minor improvements - See the dcmtk/CHANGES file for 
  more details.


This version of the OFFIS DCMTK contains the C++ source code that is 
required to compile the DICOMscope 2.0 software (as exhibited at RSNA 
InfoRAD 1999) from source. However, the Java2 source code, which is also 
required by DICOMscope 2.0, is distributed separately.


Many people have contributed to this new release of DCMTK, appearing here 
in alphabetical order. Thank you very much for your support!
  Andreas Barth <Andreas.Barth@medical.bruker.de>
  Andy Hewett <hewett@medigration.de>
  David Lappen <dlappen@iname.com>
  Markus Mertens <markus@bifurc.uni-muenster.de>
  Gilles Mevel <Gilles.Mevel@etiam.com>
  Sebastian Meyer <meyer@mevis.de>

OFFIS staff who have worked on this release are:
  Marco Eichelberg <Eichelberg@OFFIS.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
  Joerg Riesmeier <Riesmeier@OFFIS.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
  Andreas Thiel <Andreas.Thiel@Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
  
The DCMTK software can be downloaded via:
  http://www.offis.uni-oldenburg.de/projekte/dicom/


Kuratorium OFFIS eV, Oldenburg, Germany, 2000-03-10