Patent Application
20100223203
The invention relates to financial analysis systems and, more particularly, to financial analysis systems which receive data in real time from external sources and which manipulate and display that data in a variety of forms. As used herein, the term “real time” should be understood to include contemporaneous data, as well as data which may in fact be delayed for relatively brief intervals, e.g., on the order of twenty minutes or so. The invention is particularly applicable to the receipt, processing and display in real time of market information with respect to a portfolio of financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. For ease of explanation, the invention will be described with specific reference to stocks, but should be understood as being applicable to financial instruments in general.
An example of a financial analysis system that has found wide application by professional traders for portfolio and risk tracking analysis is the EXP™ Real-Time Analytics package that has been developed by the assignee of the present invention. This package offers sophisticated capabilities for applying econometric and financial analysis to various types of monetary instruments, including stocks, bonds, and currencies, among others. For example, parameter estimation, forecasting, classification, and hypothesis testing can readily be performed by the user with the aid of predefined functions incorporated into the system. Unique user-defined functions can readily be added by the user by means of the built-in programming language. A more detailed description of the preexisting EXPO™ system is set forth more fully in the manual of appendix A of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/567,449, entitled “Getting Started With Expo” which is incorporated herein by reference.
An important feature of financial analysis systems is the user interface. Menu selection of functions plays an important role in most such systems. This form of selection is nearly universal, but slows access to data or presentations when the user desires to switch data sources or views. Some systems allow limited rapid switching between selected elements by clicking a mouse, but none is known which employs this approach with entire portfolios of instruments. For example, in the EXPO™ system, a user that desires to obtain a Charts View of a particular stock can do so by entering the name or symbol of the stock in a window or by dragging the symbol for the stock onto an available chart window. When Charts Views of several stocks are desired, this process becomes time-consuming, especially when the user may wish to switch back and forth between numeric and Charts Views.
The EXPO™ Real-Time Analytics package has been found highly useful in the market, and has been adopted by a number of major brokerage houses and investment advisors, among others. However, like all good products, it can nonetheless be improved and the present invention does that.
In particular, in accordance with the present invention, I provide an improved interface that displays to the user a panel of selected information with respect to a portfolio of stocks. This panel, referred to herein as the Monitors View™ panel, displays in alpha-numeric form a limited amount of important data for a selected group of instruments, e.g., stocks. The data for the panel is presented in a number of windows, one for each stock, and typically includes the stock symbol, latest price, change from some prior price (e.g., the preceding day's close), and percentage change, among other items. The amount of data in a window of the panel depends on the width of the individual windows as selected by the user. In an exemplary instance described below, there are, for example, four windows placed side-by-side and several of these groups are arranged vertically as well, for a total of sixteen windows, each of which may display data for a different stock. The panel display and its associated menu and other function bars may occupy the entire screen, or only part of a screen, with a separate application such as word processing in the remainder.
The data in each window is updated in real time from sources selected by the user. These sources may comprise contract-services such as the Bloomberg® data feed, accessed through dial-up connection over a telephone line via a modem, or may comprise other sources accessible only over the Internet, e.g., Yahoo®, MSNBC®, etc. With the latter, the type and scope of data may be greatly expanded, and its cost may be greatly reduced.
Corresponding to the Monitors View™ panel, I have further provided a Charts View™ panel of similar form, but presenting data for the selected stocks in the form of charts. As was the case with the Monitors View™ panel, the size of each of the charts is determined by the number and arrangement of the individual windows of the panel. The data in the windows is a time-sequence of, for example, the price performance of a stock over a period of time, and is updated in real time as described hereinafter. Despite the fact that multiple charts are presented in this view, the user can perform a variety of functions and analyses on these charts as if only a single chart were being displayed. For example, moving averages may be added to any of the charts; ratios of one chart to another may be taken and displayed; etc.
A valuable feature of the present invention is the provision of means to rapidly switch between the Monitors View™ and Charts View™ panels. This is particularly important for professionals such as brokers and investment advisers who may closely track a group of stocks throughout the day and for whom the differing views serve different needs at various times throughout the day. In accordance with the present invention, this is accomplished by means of a single mouse click on an icon designated for that purpose. By this means, the user can instantly change between the differing views of a portfolio to examine the view he or she deems most appropriate for the moment.
A further valuable feature of the invention is the provision of rapid access to additional information with respect to the stocks in the panels. In particular, I have greatly enlarged the amount and type of information that is made available to the user, and facilitated rapid access to it. In accordance with the present invention, the user is provided the ability to rapidly access differing content, such as news, concerning a particular stock; a capsule summary of the stock; analysts' ratings of the stock; financial and other research done on the stock; message boards discussing the stock; and quotes on the stock from varying sources, among other possible items of data. In contrast to many prior systems, the added information need not all be provided from the same source, such as Bloomberg, as is commonly done. Rather, the user may designate one source for its news information, another for capsule summaries of the company underlying the stock, still another for analysts' ratings on the stock, etc. Once the initial designation is made, retrieval is transparent to the user.
Additionally, I have provided a further display that accommodates users' desire for fast access to information concerning stock prices even when the user is working in, and wishes to remain in, another application not necessarily related to financial analysis. This display, called herein the Market Bar view, is positioned on the screen at a location determined by the user and provides selected data on from one to several (e.g., ten) stocks selected by the user. The amount of data presented for each changes in inverse relation to the number of stocks selected for presentation. Thus, in one example, the user may select three stocks for continuous presentation on his or her screen as long as the screen is energized. As was the case with the Monitors View and Charts View panels, data concerning these stocks is updated in real time from sources selected by the user.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved interface for financial analysis systems.
Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved interface that enables presentation of significant information in various forms concerning a group of financial instruments.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improved interface that facilitates retrieval and display of data in financial analysis systems.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved interface for financial analysis systems that significantly expands the variety of types of data that may quickly be accessed from differing presentation views within the system.
Yet a further object of the invention is to enable rapid interchange between differing forms of data presentation in financial analysis systems.
The foregoing and other and further objects and features of the invention will be more readily understood on reference to the following detailed description of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 2A(1) and (2) is an illustration of assignment of data preferences in accordance with the invention;
The present invention is intended for use a part of a financial analysis system which operates on a local computer at which the user is located and which communicates with remote sources of data to provide real-time updating of data. The source data for the updates are typically located on a variety of separate computer systems linked through the telephone system to form a vast computer network. The most common such network is commonly known as “the Internet” or “the web”, and the invention will be described in that context, although it will be understood that it is not so limited and may be used with remote data sources of any type. Further, for ease of explanation, it is assumed that the user is operating the system with a mouse having a cursor to designate an item and a button which can be clicked to select it. It will be understood that other selectors such as keypads, digitizer tablets, and the like can be used instead.
Turning now specifically to
Below the main menu bar 14 is an icon bar 16 divided into a plurality of buttons 18 that can be activated by clicking on them. When activated, a block 18a establishes a new worksheet. A block 18b is used to quickly open previously stored files. A block 18c stores the current data view, while a block 18d prints the current data view. Block 18e provides access to a variety of differing charts that may be used to display the data of interest, while block 18f enables enlargement of selected areas of a chart. Blocks 18g define the intervals at which data from a time series will be shown on a chart, e.g., at 1, 5, 15, or 30 minute intervals. Typically a number of other intervals will be provided in addition or in replacement, such as 1-day, 1-week, etc.
Block 18h provides access to several aspects of the enhanced functionality provided by the present invention. In particular, block 18h provides for retrieval and presentation of various specific types of information when one of the buttons comprising this block is activated. Thus, news concerning a particular stock is retrieved and presented when the “News” button is activated; a brief summary of the underlying issuer is obtained when the “Capsule” button is activated; stock analysts ratings are obtained via the “Ratings” button; analysts research on a particular stock is quickly retrieved when the “Research” button is activated; bulletin board messages and other gossip is retrieved when the “Messages” button is activated; and quotes from various market makers are retrieved when the “Quote” button is activated. Each of these functions is selectable when a particular stock is identified as described more fully below.
A selector bar 20 provides a window 22 into which the user may enter a particular stock for viewing. Data concerning the stock will be displayed in the window identified at 26, here, window 1 (“W1”). The window in the data will be displayed may be changed by clicking on the indicator 26 and manually entering the window desired for displaying the data for the stock identified in window 22. A window scroll indicator 24 scrolls through a list of stocks available for selection, and the user may select one of the stocks from this list for display.
Icons 20a, 20b, and 20c on selector bar 20 enable rapid switching between differing panel views. Activating icon 20a by clicking on it causes the display of the Market Bar panel; activating icon 20b causes display of the Monitors View panel; and activating icon 20c causes display of the Markets View panel. These are described more fully below. The switching could also be performed through use of one of the Window's icons 12a, 12b, 12c.
A panel of windows 28 provide the specific data display for the stocks selected to comprise the particular display. For purposes of illustration, twelve windows 28 are shown, of which eleven are occupied. Each window provides certain basic information concerning the stock it is displaying. For example, considering window 28, there is indicated at 28a the name of the window and the stock it is displaying (e.g., W1:NDX for the NASDAQ Exchange Index); at 28b the latest value of the index (or, in the case of a stock, the price of the stock); at 28c the change in value or price from a prior reference point (e.g., the prior day's closing); and at 28d the percentage change in value or price. The amount of data presented in each individual window 28 is dependent on the width allowed for each window, and thus on the number and placement of windows as selected by the user. If, for example, the windows 28 in
As noted above, the financial analysis system in which the display 10 is presented is connected to one or more sources of data, typically to several different sources. Thus, a first source provides the current price information for display in the windows 28. This source may also provide the price change and percentage change data, or these may be calculated by the system itself from data stored in a cache internal to the system after its retrieval from the first source. Additionally, the same or other sources provide data for the buttons 18h. Thus, a user who desires further, more detailed information on one of the stocks displayed on display 10 first clicks on the window designator for a particular one of the stocks displayed (e.g., “W4:MSFT”) to select that stock, and then clicks on one of the buttons 18h to obtain further detailed information in one of the categories designated in 18h, e.g., “News”, “Capsule”, etc. Each of these buttons, when activated by clicking, causes the financial analysis system to activate a web browser on the user's computer if it is not already activated, and to provide to the browser a URL that takes the user directly to the source of the desired information in accordance with selections previously made by the user. In accordance with the invention, the URL is constructed or assembled in part from syntactic data specific to the given data source to be utilized and stored in the interface system, and in part from data specific to the stock selected for further data or information reporting. The browser transmits this URL onto the Internet and fetches the requested data for display on the user's display. In the event that the user has not previously selected a specific source for the particular item of data (e.g., “News”), the financial analysis system supplies a default source.
As noted above, the sources to which the browser is directed by the Instant Data buttons 18h is determined in the first instance by the user who may select among all sources available to him or her for any of the data requests. Thus, the user may designate Yahoo® as the source for each of the items associated with the Instant Data buttons; or may mix them in any manner desired, e.g., choosing Yahoo® as the data source for “News”; MSNBC® as the source for “Capsule” summaries; and so forth. These sources may all be on the Internet; may all be on some other network; may all be available only by point-to-point connection; or may be accessed through a combination of sources. In any event the data is made instantly accessible to the user in real time without time-consuming access procedures on his or her part and without distraction from focusing on the data being presented.
As will be noted from the above, unlike typical financial analysis systems which obtain data only from restricted or subscription sources such as Bloomberg®, the present system enables use of widely available data sources which are offered over the Internet free of charge. Thus, the tools of a financial analysis package such as EXPO® can be accessed by users who do not have, or for whom it is not practical to contract for, access to Bloomberg® and other financial and business data sources.
Turning now to
For each chart, the wide array of functionality previously provided by the underlying financial analysis system is available for application to the data on the respective charts even when presented in collective or portfolio form such as in
Further, as was the case in connection with the display of
In accordance with a further feature of the present invention, the user can quickly switch between the various panels provided herein, i.e., the Monitors View panel, the Charts View panel, and the market Bar panel by clicking on a single one of buttons provided therefor, i.e., buttons 20a-20c in
Turning now to
The displays of
The user may select the number of subdivisions of the bar 70, up to some maximum number of subdivisions, e.g., ten. In accordance with the present invention, the larger the number of subdivisions the less the amount of information presented in each, and vice versa. Thus in
From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an improved interface for financial analysis systems that facilitates real time monitoring of market conditions for a portfolio of stocks. The interface presents three different panels, at the selection of the user, providing different forms or views of data with respect to a selected portfolio of stocks or other financial instruments. The user can rapidly cycle among these by activating (clicking on) an icon that brings the user directly to the desired panel. Further, the user can quickly retrieve additional data for a given stock from any of a wide variety of sources selectable by him or her simply by activating (e.g., clicking on) an Instant Data button. Thus, the extent, type and time of data presentation is in full control of the user.
It should be understood that the foregoing description is illustrative only and of a preferred embodiment. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the described embodiment herein, and that various changes and adaptations may be made to it without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.
This Application for U.S. Patent is a continuation of U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 09/567,449 filed on May 8, 2000 by James Kemp Smith and entitled “Financial Analysis System Interface”, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09567449 | May 2000 | US |
| Child | 12781701 | US |
