Resource management in a multi-modality medical system

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to managing shared resources in a multi-modality medical system. A multi-modality medical system acquires, stores, processes, and displays data associated with a plurality of different medical modalities. Although different, independent modules within the medical system handle different modality workflows, such modules rely on common resources in the system. The method and systems described herein coordinate usage of the common resources, such as a display viewport, among the independent modality modules. For example, a token-based, locking scheme is utilized to exclusively assign a shared resource to a single modality component. This locking scheme prevents, for example, resource deadlocks from occurring during a patient procedure, thus enhancing patient safety. This scheme also ensures, for example, that one diagnostic step in a patient procedure is completed before a second diagnostic step is started, and that all workflow operations halt in the event of an error.