Patent Application
20220292604
The present inventions generally relate to a system for comparing data sets using heat maps, and more particularly relates to a system and a method for facilitating financial planning.
Financial planning is well-known and readily appreciated by those of skill in the art. Financial planning is generally done on either a monthly or yearly basis. Financial planning is done by comparing the previous year's financial data and the next year's financial data. Various software is available in the market to create a financial plan of the current and future financial state including cash flow, assets, and withdrawal plans.
This software generally includes static charts or graphs to display financial plans. A chart or graph is described in Wikipedia as a type of information graphic or graphic organizer that represents tabular numeric data and/or functions. Charts are often used to make it easier to understand large quantities of data and the relationship between different parts of the data.
Charts such as heat maps are also used to represent data. Heatmap is a graphical representation of data where values are depicted by color. Heat maps make it easy to visualize complex data and understand it at a glance. A heat map is an abstract representation of correspondence between two data sets. Heat maps are often employed to compare and analyze categorical data. The heat map consists of a rectangular tiling with each tile shaded on a color scale to represent the value of the corresponding element of the data matrix.
Identification of patterns formed via variations and clusters of data points in a heat map (e.g., often rendered as pixels of a digital image representation of the heat map) can reveal various correlations between data sets. The patterns formed in a heat map and the techniques for identifying such patterns are dependent on the type of data represented by the matrices and the manner in which the data is organized, filtered, and arranged.
The heat maps are generally static and showcase the pre-programmed data. However, none of the systems known in the art discloses dynamic heat maps used to compare data. Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method for facilitating financial planning utilizing dynamic heat maps. The system and the method should allow a user to set a variable threshold value to set a degree of difference.
In accordance with the teachings of the present inventions, a system for facilitating the financial planning of an objective is provided.
An object of the present inventions is to provide the system with a storage unit for storing a plurality of modules, a display unit for displaying the processed plurality of modules, a processing unit coupled to the storage unit, and the display unit for processing the plurality of modules. The plurality of modules includes a data input module, a data category display module, a threshold module, a slide module, and a heat map module.
Another object of the present inventions is to provide the heat map module with a color module to display the degree of difference with the intensity of the color. A red color to display the degree of difference for a negative value and a green color to display the degree of difference for a positive value. The color module displays variation in the intensity of the red or green color based on the degree of difference between the two financial data sets.
Another object of the present inventions is to provide the plurality of modules with a data distribution module to allow a user to input the financial data sets through graphs. Further, the data distribution module allows the user to modify the distribution of the financial data sets through graphs. Further, the data distribution module allows the user to modify the distribution of the financial data sets through the graphs and to use a previous year's data to define the distribution curve.
Another object of the present inventions is to provide a plurality of modules with a scenario module for allowing a user to input one or more scenarios related to the financial planning of the objective, and an adjustment module for allowing a user to adjust the scope of the financial data set displayed in correspondence with the values associated with an activity. The activity is associated with the pre-defined scenario.
While a number of features are described herein with respect to embodiments of the inventions; features described with respect to a given embodiment also may be employed in connection with other embodiments. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative embodiments of the inventions. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the inventions may be employed. Other objects, advantages, and novel features according to aspects of the inventions will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
The annexed drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, show various aspects of the inventions in which similar reference numerals are used to indicate the same or similar parts in the various views.
The present disclosure is now described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, each element with a reference number is similar to other elements with the same reference number independent of any letter designation following the reference number. In the text, a reference number with a specific letter designation following the reference number refers to the specific element with the number and letter designation and a reference number without a specific letter designation refers to all elements with the same reference number independent of any letter designation following the reference number in the drawings.
Examples of the storage unit 102 and the processing unit 106 include but not limited to include but are not limited to microprocessors, microcontrollers, controllers, SQL Server, Oracle Database, Sybase, Informix, a cloud server, a content providing server, and an application providing server, and MySQL. Examples of the display unit 104 include but are not limited to LED, OLED, computer screen, phone displays, LCD, and any other similar devices, etc.
Each computer program instruction is interchangeably used as a module throughout the ‘detailed description of drawings’. The plurality of modules 108 includes a data input module 110, a data category display module 112, a threshold module 114, a slider module 116, and a heat map module 118. The data input module 110 receives at least one category and a plurality of financial data set associated with each category.
The data category display module 112 is coupled to the data input module 110 for displaying at least two sets of the financial data sets associated with the category. The data input module 110 and the data category display module 112 are explained in detail in conjunction with
The threshold module 114 stores a threshold value associated with each category. The threshold value is a degree of difference between the two financial data sets. The slider module 116 allows a user to move the slider to control the threshold value. The threshold module 114 and the slider module 116 are explained in detail in conjunction with
The heat map module 118 is coupled to the slider module 116 for displaying the degree of difference between the two financial data sets based on the threshold value selected through the slider module. The heat map module 118 is explained in detail in conjunction with
Alternatively, the data may be input directly into the cells by the users. The data relates to at least one category and plurality of financial data set associated with each category. Examples of the financial data set and the category are explained in detail in conjunction with
For exemplary purposes, as shown in
It would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many possible variations, such as a circular sider or a diagonal slider, of the slider module 116 may be envisioned without deviating from the scope of the present inventions. The slider module 116 is coupled with the threshold module 114.
The threshold module (114, shown in
For exemplary purposes, the degree of difference between two financial data sets to be shown as:
In another embodiment of the present inventions, the heat map module 118 further includes a color module 502 to display the degree of difference with the intensity of the color. For an exemplary embodiment, a Dark Green color indicates that the difference is higher positive values, light green color indicates that the difference is a lower positive value; the dark red color indicates that the difference is a higher negative value and the light red color indicates that the difference is a lower negative value.
It would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various color schemes and intensity levels may be envisioned without deviating from the scope of the present inventions.
The data distribution module 602 receives input of data through pre-defined graphs 604. The user is able to select one graph that matches the financial data set. Further, the user is able to modify/distribute the graph to adjust the financial data set according to their requirements in real-time. It would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various types of graphs may be envisioned such as linear, bar chart, pie chart, curve graphs, etc. without deviating from the scope of the present invention.
The scenario module 802 allows the user to input one or more scenarios related to the financial planning of the objective. Examples of the scenarios include but are not limited to ‘moderate market downturn’. The adjustment module 804 for allowing the user to adjust the scope of the financial data set displayed in correspondence with the values associated with an activity 808.
The activity 808 is associated with the pre-defined scenario. Examples of the activity 808 include but are not limited to staff reduction, investment re-allocation, new program roll-out, etc. The activity 808 suggests possible adjustments to adjust the scope of the financial data set.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention though not shown in FIGURES, a method for facilitating the financial planning of an objective. The method comprises the steps (algorithm) defined in the system (100, shown in
It should be appreciated that many of the elements discussed in this specification may be implemented in a hardware circuit(s), a circuitry executing software code or instructions that are encoded within computer-readable media accessible to the circuitry, or a combination of a hardware circuit(s) and a circuitry or control block of an integrated circuit executing machine-readable code encoded within a computer-readable media. As such, the term circuit, module, server, application, or other equivalent description of an element as used throughout this specification is, unless otherwise indicated, intended to encompass a hardware circuit (whether discrete elements or an integrated circuit block), a circuitry or control block executing code encoded in a computer-readable media, or a combination of a hardware circuit(s) and a circuitry and/or control block executing such code.
All ranges and ratio limits disclosed in the specification and claims may be combined in any manner. Unless specifically stated otherwise, references to “a,” “an,” and/or “the” may include one or more than one, and that reference to an item in the singular may also include the item in the plural.
Although the inventions have been shown and described with respect to a certain embodiment or embodiments, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above-described elements (components, assemblies, devices, compositions, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such elements are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any element which performs the specified function of the described element (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiment or embodiments of the inventions. In addition, while a particular feature of the inventions may have been described above with respect to only one or more of several illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other embodiments, as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.
The present invention is a continuation in part of a U.S. application Ser. No. 17/199,128 filed on Mar. 11, 2021, the entire contents of this application are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17199128 | Mar 2021 | US |
| Child | 17734182 | US |
