Bits Stored, Bits Allocated and High Bit?

[Aimevous]

Hi,

I am a bit confused over the 3 terms.

I don't exactly know the difference between Bits Stored and Bits Allocated.

From Part 5, Section 8 of the DICOM Standard, 2 terms are defined as the following:
Bits Stored - total number of the allocated bits that will be used to represent a Pixel Sample Value
High Bit - specifies where the high order bit of the Bits Stored is to be placed with respected to the Bits Allocated specification

My guess is that Bits Allocated will usually be 8, 16 or 32 (based on the image). But I can't can't quite make out what is bits stored.

Also, what is High Bit? I've tried searching on Google, Wikipedia and a bit on the documentation on Offis but I haven't really found anything that explains it (or I've missed it?)

Can anyone care to explain?

Thanks...

[Jörg Riesmeier]

Did you also read Annex D of Part 5? If not, you should definitely do.