The following definitions are commonly used in this part of the Standard:

DICOM message service element (DIMSE) : the particular Application Service Element defined in this Part of the DICOM Standard.

DIMSE-C services: A subset of the DIMSE services that supports operations on Composite SOP Instances related to composite Information Object Definitions with peer DIMSE-service-users.

DIMSE-N services: a subset of the DIMSE services that supports operations and notifications on Normalized SOP Instances related to Normalized Information Object Definitions with peer DIMSE-service-users.

DIMSE-service-provider: an abstraction of the totality of those entities that provide DIMSE services to peer DIMSE-service-users.

DIMSE-service-user: that part of an application entity that makes use of the DICOM Message Service Element.

Invoking DIMSE-service-user: the DIMSE-service-user that invokes a DIMSE operation or notification.

Performing DIMSE-service-user: the DIMSE-service-user that performs a DIMSE operation or notification invoked by a peer DIMSE-service-user.