diff --git a/docling/datamodel/base_models.py b/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
index 76827a1b..ca879131 100644
--- a/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
+++ b/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
@@ -262,3 +262,34 @@ class Page(BaseModel):
     @property
     def image(self) -> Optional[Image]:
         return self.get_image(scale=self._default_image_scale)
+
+
+## OpenAI API Request / Response Models ##
+
+class OpenAiChatMessage(BaseModel):
+    role: str
+    content: str
+
+
+class OpenAiResponseChoice(BaseModel):
+    index: int
+    message: OpenAiChatMessage
+    finish_reason: str
+
+
+class OpenAiResponseUsage(BaseModel):
+    prompt_tokens: int
+    completion_tokens: int
+    total_tokens: int
+
+
+class OpenAiApiResponse(BaseModel):
+    model_config = ConfigDict(
+        protected_namespaces=(),
+    )
+
+    id: str
+    model: Optional[str] = None  # returned by openai
+    choices: List[OpenAiResponseChoice]
+    created: int
+    usage: OpenAiResponseUsage
diff --git a/docling/models/picture_description_api_model.py b/docling/models/picture_description_api_model.py
index 6ef8a7fc..610a4f5b 100644
--- a/docling/models/picture_description_api_model.py
+++ b/docling/models/picture_description_api_model.py
@@ -1,12 +1,7 @@
-import base64
-import io
-import logging
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Iterable, List, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import Iterable, Optional, Type, Union
 
-import requests
 from PIL import Image
-from pydantic import BaseModel, ConfigDict
 
 from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import (
     AcceleratorOptions,
@@ -15,37 +10,7 @@ from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import (
 )
 from docling.exceptions import OperationNotAllowed
 from docling.models.picture_description_base_model import PictureDescriptionBaseModel
-
-_log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-class ChatMessage(BaseModel):
-    role: str
-    content: str
-
-
-class ResponseChoice(BaseModel):
-    index: int
-    message: ChatMessage
-    finish_reason: str
-
-
-class ResponseUsage(BaseModel):
-    prompt_tokens: int
-    completion_tokens: int
-    total_tokens: int
-
-
-class ApiResponse(BaseModel):
-    model_config = ConfigDict(
-        protected_namespaces=(),
-    )
-
-    id: str
-    model: Optional[str] = None  # returned by openai
-    choices: List[ResponseChoice]
-    created: int
-    usage: ResponseUsage
+from docling.utils.utils import openai_image_request
 
 
 class PictureDescriptionApiModel(PictureDescriptionBaseModel):
@@ -83,43 +48,11 @@ class PictureDescriptionApiModel(PictureDescriptionBaseModel):
         # Note: technically we could make a batch request here,
         # but not all APIs will allow for it. For example, vllm won't allow more than 1.
         for image in images:
-            img_io = io.BytesIO()
-            image.save(img_io, "PNG")
-            image_base64 = base64.b64encode(img_io.getvalue()).decode("utf-8")
-
-            messages = [
-                {
-                    "role": "user",
-                    "content": [
-                        {
-                            "type": "text",
-                            "text": self.options.prompt,
-                        },
-                        {
-                            "type": "image_url",
-                            "image_url": {
-                                "url": f"data:image/png;base64,{image_base64}"
-                            },
-                        },
-                    ],
-                }
-            ]
-
-            payload = {
-                "messages": messages,
-                **self.options.params,
-            }
-
-            r = requests.post(
-                str(self.options.url),
+            yield openai_image_request(
+                image=image,
+                prompt=self.options.prompt,
+                url=self.options.url,
+                timeout=self.options.headers,
                 headers=self.options.headers,
-                json=payload,
-                timeout=self.options.timeout,
+                **self.options.params,
             )
-            if not r.ok:
-                _log.error(f"Error calling the API. Reponse was {r.text}")
-            r.raise_for_status()
-
-            api_resp = ApiResponse.model_validate_json(r.text)
-            generated_text = api_resp.choices[0].message.content.strip()
-            yield generated_text
diff --git a/docling/utils/utils.py b/docling/utils/utils.py
index 1261f860..98c3e692 100644
--- a/docling/utils/utils.py
+++ b/docling/utils/utils.py
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
+import base64
 import hashlib
+import logging
 from io import BytesIO
 from itertools import islice
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import List, Union
 
 import requests
+from PIL import Image
 from tqdm import tqdm
 
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import OpenAiApiResponse
+
+_log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
 
 def chunkify(iterator, chunk_size):
     """Yield successive chunks of chunk_size from the iterable."""
@@ -63,3 +70,57 @@ def download_url_with_progress(url: str, progress: bool = False) -> BytesIO:
 
     buf.seek(0)
     return buf
+
+
+def openai_image_request(
+    image: Image.Image,
+    prompt: str,
+    url: str = "http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions",  # Default to ollama
+    apikey: str | None = None,
+    timeout: float = 20,
+    headers: dict[str, str] | None = None,
+    **params,
+) -> str:
+    img_io = BytesIO()
+    image.save(img_io, "PNG")
+    image_base64 = base64.b64encode(img_io.getvalue()).decode("utf-8")
+    messages = [
+        {
+            "role": "user",
+            "content": [
+                {
+                    "type": "image_url",
+                    "image_url": {
+                        "url": f"data:image/png;base64,{image_base64}"
+                    },
+                },
+                {
+                    "type": "text",
+                    "text": prompt,
+                },
+            ],
+        }
+    ]
+
+    payload = {
+        "messages": messages,
+        **params,
+    }
+
+    headers = headers or {}
+    if apikey is not None:
+        headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {apikey}"
+
+    r = requests.post(
+        str(url),
+        headers=headers,
+        json=payload,
+        timeout=timeout,
+    )
+    if not r.ok:
+        _log.error(f"Error calling the API. Response was {r.text}")
+    r.raise_for_status()
+
+    api_resp = OpenAiApiResponse.model_validate_json(r.text)
+    generated_text = api_resp.choices[0].message.content.strip()
+    return generated_text