DICOM Standard Browser

1. Each Item of a Sequence of Items is a Data Set. Thus, individual Sequence Items may incorporate their own Digital Signatures in addition to any Digital Signatures added to the Data Set in which the Sequence appears.

2. The inclusion of this Macro in Sequence Items, other than as specified in this Part of the Standard, may be specified in an application-defined Standard Extended SOP Class or Private SOP Class (see PS3.2).

The Data Elements Signed Attribute shall list the Tags of the Data Elements that are included in the MAC calculation. The Tags listed shall reference Data Elements at the same level as the Mac Parameters Sequence (4FFE,0001) Data Element in which the Data Elements Signed Attribute appears. Tags included in Data Elements Signed shall be listed in the order in which they appear within the Data Set.

The following Data Elements shall not be included either implicitly or explicitly in the list of Tags in Data Elements Signed, nor included as part of the MAC calculation:

If any of the Data Element Tags in the list refer to a Sequence of Items, then the Tags of all Data Elements within all Items of that Sequence shall be implicitly included in the list of Data Elements Signed, except those disallowed above. This implicit list shall also include the Item Tag (FFFE,E000) Data Elements that separate the Sequence Items and the Sequence Delimitation Item (FFFE,E0DD).

Note

It is possible to sign individual Items within a Sequence by including the Digital Signatures Macro in that Sequence Item. In fact, this is a highly desirable feature, particular when used in the context of reports. The Digital Signatures Macro is applied at the Data Set level, and Sequences of Items are merely Data Sets embedded within a larger Data Set. Essentially, the Digital Signatures Macro may be applied recursively.

An example of nesting Digital Signatures within Data Elements is illustrated in Figure C.12-1.

Figure C.12-1. Example of Nesting Digital Signatures (Informative)

In this example, there is main signature covering the pixel data and a few other Data Elements, plus two individually signed Items within a Sequence.

For Data Elements with a VR OB (e. g. pixel data) that have an undefined length (i.e., the data is encapsulated as described in PS3.5), the Item Data Element Tags that separate the fragments shall implicitly be included in the list of Data Elements Signed (i.e., a Data Element with a VR of OB is encoded in the same fashion as a Sequence of Items).

To generate the MAC, Data Elements referenced either explicitly or implicitly by the Tags in the Data Elements Signed (0400,0020) list shall be encoded using the Transfer Syntax identified by the MAC Calculation Transfer Syntax UID (0400,0010) of the MAC Parameters Sequence (0400,0010) Item where the Data Elements Signed (0400,0020) Attribute appears. Data shall be formed into a byte stream and presented to the algorithm specified by MAC Algorithm (0400,0015) for computation of the MAC according to the following rules:

For all Data Elements except those with a VR of SQ or with a VR of OB with an undefined length, all Data Element fields, including the Tag, the VR, the reserved field (if any), the Value Length, and the Value, shall be placed into the byte stream in the order encountered.

For Data Elements with a VR of SQ or with a VR of OB with an undefined length, the Tag, the VR, and the reserved field are placed into the byte stream. The Value Length shall not be included. This is followed by each Item Tag in the order encountered, without including the Value Length, followed by the contents of the Value for that Item. In the case of an Item within a Data Element whose VR is SQ, these rules are applied recursively to all of the Data Elements within the Value of that Item. After all the Items have been incorporate into the byte stream, a Sequence Delimitation Item Tag (FFFE,E0DD) shall be added to the byte stream presented to the MAC Algorithm, regardless of whether or not it was originally present.

After the fields of all the Data Elements in the Data Elements Signed list have been placed into the byte stream presented to the MAC Algorithm according to the above rules, all of the Data Elements within the Digital Signatures Sequence Item except the Certificate of Signer (0400,0115), Signature (0400,0120), Certified Timestamp Type (0400,0305), and Certified Timestamp (0400,0310) shall also be encoded according to the above rules, and presented to the MAC algorithm (i.e., the Attributes of the Digital Signature Sequence Item for this particular Digital Signature are also implicitly included in the list of Data Elements Signed, except as noted above).

The resulting MAC code after processing this byte stream by the MAC Algorithm is then encrypted as specified in the Certificate of Signer and placed in the Value of the Signature Data Element.

Table C.12.1.1.3.1.2-1 lists the Defined Terms for MAC Algorithm (0400,0015).

To generate a certified timestamp, the Value of the Signature (0400,0120) Attribute is transmitted to a third party, as specified by the protocol referred to by the Certified Timestamp Type (0400,0305) Attribute. The third party then generates and returns a certified timestamp in the form specified by that protocol. The certified timestamp returned by the third party is encoded as a stream of bytes in the Certified Timestamp Attribute.

1. The Transfer Syntax used in the MAC calculation may differ from the Transfer Syntax used to exchange the Data Set.

2. Digital Signatures require explicit VR in order to calculate the MAC. An Application Entity that receives a Data Set with an implicit VR Transfer Syntax may not be able to verify Digital Signatures that include Private Data Elements or Data Elements unknown to that Application Entity. This also true of any Data Elements whose VR is UN. Without knowledge of the Value Representation, the receiving Application Entity would be unable to perform proper byte swapping or be able to properly parse Sequences in order to generate a MAC.

3. If more than one entity signs, each Digital Signature would appear in its own Digital Signatures Sequence Item. The Digital Signatures may or may not share the same MAC Parameters Sequence Item.

4. The notion of a notary public (i.e., someone who verifies the identity of the signer) for Digital Signatures is partially filled by the authority that issued the Certificate of Signer.