OpenIGTLink

IO algorithm for managing incoming (receiving) and outgoing (sending) connections using the OpenIGTLink protocol

Input

All OpenIGTLink connections require a connection partner (either server or client) to establish a TCP/IP connection. Outgoing connections furthermore require a stream for forwarding stream data via OpenIGTLink.

Output

For each OpenIGTLink connection, a stream element is added to the data widget.

Description

The algorithm allows to manage an arbitrary amount of OpenIGTLink connections. For creating a new connection, the following parameters need to be specified:

• Connection Name defines the name of the stream for subsequent identification.

• Operation Mode defines whether the connection should behave as Server or Client.

• CRC Check flag turns on CRC integrity checks of all incoming OpenIGTLink messages.

• Hostname can be an IP address or DNS-resolvable hostname to connect to (only for Client).

• Port sets the TCP/IP port to be used.

• Type defines both the connection direction and the data type expected. The connection direction can be either incoming (default) or outgoing (Output). Currently, image as well as tracking streams are supported.

A click on Create New adds the connection to the list of connections and also creates a stream instance, which is added to the data widget.

Note that no TCP/IP action is performed automatically. Instead, the context menu in the connection list has to be used. For Server connections, Start listening will open the specified port and listen to connecting clients. For Client connections, Connect will try to establish a connection with the specified host.

Incoming streams can directly be used, for instance for stream recording. Outgoing streams need to be linked to other streams in the data widget using Forward to OutStream.