Messaging Infrastructure Layer

HL7 Messaging Infrastrtcure Layer

Messaging Infrastructure Layer is responsible for the HL7 messages transfer following the rules as specified by the HL7 applications and the healthcare business environment. When referring to the OSI reference model, Messaging Infrastructure Layer includes communication layers 5 (session), 6 (presentation), and 7 (application). It includes two main concepts that are defined as follows:

• Messaging Adapter: these components are responsible for the configuration of the underlying Messaging Protocol and the creation of the Messaging Protocol envelopes. Messaging Adapters represent the main interface from the HL7 Application Layer and the Messaging Protocol used to facilitate the tranfer of the messages.
• Messaging Protocol: controls, facilitates and manages the message transfer. The Messaging Protocols are generally off-the-shelf implementations that have no knowledge of the specific payload being transported or the HL7 domain. Examples include Web Services, ebMS, MLLP. The Messaging Protocol in the Messaging Infrastructure Layer uses what is also refered to as the application and session protocols (OSI notation) or application level transports (OASIS notation), which includes communication protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, SOAP, and JMS.