Key Attributes in the Request Identifier serve two purposes. They may be used as Matching Key Attributes and Return Key Attributes. Matching Key Attributes may be used for matching (criteria to be used in the C-FIND request to determine whether an entity matches the query). Return Key Attributes may be used to specify desired return Attributes (what elements in addition to the Matching Key Attributes have to be returned in the C-FIND response).

Matching Key Attributes may be of Type "required" (R) or "optional" (O). Return Key Attributes may be of Type 1, 1C, 2, 2C, 3 as defined in PS3.5.