SOP Class
Service-Object Pair Class
A SOP Class is a DICOM-defined pairing of an Information Object Definition — what the data represents — with a Service, meaning what can be done with it, such as the CT Image Storage SOP Class.
What SOP Class means in practice
The pairing is what makes DICOM support so specific and so checkable. A device does not simply "support DICOM"; it supports named SOP Classes, each identified by a unique identifier, and two devices interoperate on the intersection of their lists. The base definition sits in the information model, while the individual SOP Classes are specified across the service definitions.
Source
This definition follows NEMA PS3.3 §6.5 — SOP Class definition (individual classes in PS3.4), published by NEMA as part of the DICOM standard.
Related terms
C-STORE
C-STORE is the DICOM network service used to transfer a composite object — an image or similar instance — from one device to another, and it is the operation behind "sending a study" to a PACS.
Storage SCP
A Storage SCP is the role a device plays when it accepts incoming DICOM images, listening for C-STORE requests and storing what it receives — the role a PACS or an archiving viewer performs.
Patient, Study, Series and Instance
DICOM organises imaging data in a four-level hierarchy: a Patient has Studies (one imaging visit each), a Study has Series (one acquisition run each), and a Series has Instances (the individual images or objects).
DICOM
DICOM is the international standard that defines how medical images and their associated patient and acquisition data are formatted, stored and exchanged between imaging devices.