Synchronization of acquisition across multiple modalities in a single study (e.g., angiography and electrocardiography) requires either a shared trigger, or a shared clock. A Synchronization Module within the Frame of Reference Information Entity specifies the synchronization mechanism. A common temporal environment used by multiple equipment is identified by a shared Synchronization Frame of Reference UID. How this UID is determined and distributed to the participating equipment is outside the scope of the Standard.

The method used for time synchronization of equipment clocks is implementation or site specific, and therefore outside the scope of this proposal. If required, standard time distribution protocols are available (e.g., NTP, IRIG, GPS).

An informative description of time distribution methods can be found at: http://web.archive.org/web/20001001065227/http://www.bancomm.com/cntpApp.htm

A second method of synchronizing acquisitions is to utilize a common reference channel (temporal fiducial), which is recorded in the data acquired from the several equipment units participating in a study, and/or that is used to trigger synchronized data acquisitions. For instance, the "X-ray on" pulse train that triggers the acquisition of frames for an X-ray angiographic SOP Instance can be recorded as a waveform channel in a simultaneously acquired hemodynamic waveform SOP Instance, and can be used to align the different object instances. Associated with this Supplement are proposed coded entry channel identifiers to specifically support this synchronization mechanism (DICOM Terminology Mapping Resource Context Group ID 3090).