U.S. patent application number 11/418967 was filed with the patent office on 2006-11-09 for on-screen roller controlled price change.
This patent application is currently assigned to IntercontinentalExchange. Invention is credited to Edwin Marcial, David A. Rutt, Robert J. Sullivan.
Application Number | 20060253384 11/418967 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38668069 |
Filed Date | 2006-11-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060253384 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rutt; David A. ; et
al. |
November 9, 2006 |
On-screen roller controlled price change
Abstract
A system and method of providing control of prices in an on
screen window having a price held for further transactions on an
interface for traders of financial instruments. The interface
contains a display of products for trading and respective prices
for bids and offers. The user has a control device such as a
computer mouse with a roller control. Selection of a particular
product results in the display of the price of the product at the
instant time the product is selected. The price is held until a
confirming key or mouse stroke is received to initiate a trading
action such as placing a new order, killing an existing order or
hitting or lifting an order. The price can be altered by means of
the roller control.
Inventors: |
Rutt; David A.; (Tyrone,
GA) ; Sullivan; Robert J.; (Rowell, GA) ;
Marcial; Edwin; (Atlanta, GA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MAYER, BROWN, ROWE & MAW LLP
P.O. BOX 2828
CHICAGO
IL
60690-2828
US
|
Assignee: |
IntercontinentalExchange
|
Family ID: |
38668069 |
Appl. No.: |
11/418967 |
Filed: |
May 5, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11123614 |
May 6, 2005 |
|
|
|
11418967 |
May 5, 2006 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/37 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/06 20130101;
G06Q 40/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/037 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/00 20060101
G06Q040/00 |
Claims
1. A system for controlling a price in an electronic trading system
for products, the trading system including an exchange server
coupled to trading computers, the exchange server sending current
prices of products for bid or offer by users of the trading
computer and wherein the exchange server updates the current prices
based on bids or offers, the system including a computer program
having a user interface screen displayed on the trading computers
and a user input device having a roller control, the user input
device controlling a cursor which appears on the user interface
screen and system, said system comprising: a series of product
orders; a series of cells of prices offered for the product orders;
a series of cells of prices bid for the product orders; a single
click window which appears when the cursor is moved over any cell
in the series of cells of prices offered for the products or the
series of prices bid for the products; and wherein the single click
window displays the price in the cell at the moment the cursor
enters the cell and wherein the roller control allows a user to
change the price in the single click window.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the single click window shows the
quantity of the product related to the displayed price.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the user input device includes a
first button and the user may initiate an order at the displayed
price by pressing the first button.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the user may initiate a new
product order at the price displayed in the single click window by
activating the input device.
5. The system of claim 2 further comprising a display to select a
predetermined quantity for the quantity displayed in the lock
window.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the products are energy contracts
and energy derivatives.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the series of cells of product
orders, prices offered for the product orders, and prices bid for
the product orders are arranged in columns according to rows of
products.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the user input device includes a
first button and a second button wherein the user may initiate a
new product order of a predetermined quantity at the price
displayed in the single click window by actuating the first button
or initiate a new product order of a second predetermined quantity
at the price displayed in the single click window by activating the
second button.
Description
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/123,614, filed May 6, 2005.
This application claims priority to all such previous applications,
and all such applications are hereby incorporated by reference
herein in their entirety.
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to a system and method of varying
prices on screen in an electronic trading interface and more
specifically to a system and method for changing prices using a
roller device on a user computer control device.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[0003] Traditional trading of commodities, natural resources or
financial instruments such as stocks and bonds has taken place in
markets where traders offer various commodities at different
prices. Such trades were performed using hand signals and paper was
used to finalize the actual trading contract. With the advent of
computers, more complex and faster trades may be made by
integrating computing power. Additionally, the growth of the
Internet and other electronic communications systems has moved the
realm of trading beyond the trading floor. Finally, different
markets for non-traditional financial products such as energy have
been established.
[0004] For example, one recent new trading exchange is the OTC
energy market. Traders in the OTC energy market typically agree to
prices and terms with another trading counter party for a
particular type of derivative in an energy product such as a
natural gas swap. This type of trade involves certain common terms
such as settlement and payment terms. The trade may be made
directly with a counter party, or by phone, or more recently, via
an electronic platform such as the Internet. Such trades are
recorded by the traders on their trade notebooks and trade data is
entered directly into their company's trade data capture computer
systems. These systems generate confirmation documents and summary
data relating to the trade.
[0005] Recently, automated systems such as the WebICE software
offered by Intercontinental Exchange of Atlanta, Ga. have become
available for OTC energy traders via the Internet. Rather than
using specialized software and hardware systems, trading is now
available with a personal computer capable of running a ubiquitous
web browser. The web based automated systems allow on screen
display of bid and offer details for products such as commodities,
natural resources, financial instruments and derivatives of the
same, and instant transmission of instructions via a mouse click of
bids and offers of such products. These systems utilize software
and secure network systems which are tied to a central market
computer.
[0006] Automated software such as WebICE allows a trader to send a
fill or execute request on an order as displayed on the computer
screen. A user will use a mouse and select a price to bid or offer
by clicking on a mouse button or using the keyboard. A user will
then move the mouse to a quantity field and select the quantity
with a mouse or keyboard. Finally, the user will initiate the order
via a mouse or keyboard button to initiate the trading with the
other parties through the market exchange server. New orders are
queued via an onscreen stack. However, with the speed of electronic
transmission, market data which establishes prices and quantities
outpaces the ability of humans to process the information and act
upon it. Thus, the multiple moves of the mouse in combination with
keystrokes may result in delays which result in distortions of the
actual price. More advanced software has integrated multiple steps
or keystrokes into one action which speeds the transaction.
[0007] For example in WebICE, if a trader wishes to send a fill
request on a displayed quantity and price, a single keyboard or
mouse interaction will allow a trader to initiate the fill request.
A problem arises if the underlying quantity or price changes in the
displayed screen. Because of hand/eye lag behind the computer
screen, the trader may end up sending a fill request to the
exchange with an unintended quantity or price which changed while
the trader activated the fill request on the software.
[0008] A similar problem arises in the case of establishing a new
order in a stack along with all other active orders in a contract.
This feature is important in order to help a trader manage orders.
If a trader wishes to send a new order request, a single keyboard
or mouse interaction will allow a trader to initiate the new order
request. However, if the underlying quantity or price changes in
the displayed stack, because of hand/eye lag behind the computer
screen, the trader may end up sending an order to the exchange with
an unintended quantity or price.
[0009] A further problem arises in a situation where a trader
desires to kill an order. Such an order will be in a stack
displayed on screen which shows a trader's own orders in the stack
along with all other active orders in a contract. If a trader
wishes to cancel/kill an order, a single keyboard or mouse
interaction will allow a trader to initiate the kill request.
However, if the underlying order moves in the displayed stack,
because of hand/eye lag behind the computer screen, the trader may
end up acting upon the wrong order.
[0010] Thus, there is a need for an on screen mechanism to lock a
price for electronic trade actions over a computer screen. There is
a further need for a price lock pop up window to lock a price in
the case of an initial selection for placing a new order. There is
also a need for a price lock mechanism to lock a price selected to
hit a specific order. There is also a need to provide an on screen
locking mechanism to preserve the quantity desired for trading
transactions. There is an additional need for a mechanism for a
user to make adjustments to a price on screen in a convenient and
easy manner.
[0011] Thus, there is also a need for an on screen mechanism to
enter a price for electronic trade actions over a computer screen
with a single click. There is a further need for a single click
over window to view a price in the case of an initial selection for
placing a new order. There is also a need for a single click
mechanism to enter a price selected to enter a specific order.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] These needs and others may be met by the present invention,
which has an aspect that is a system for controlling a price in an
electronic trading system for products, the trading system
including an exchange server coupled to trading computers. The
exchange server sends current prices of products for bid or offer
by users of the trading computer and the exchange server updates
the current prices based on bids or offers. The system further
included a computer program having a user interface screen
displayed on the trading computers and a user input device having a
roller control. The user input device controls a cursor which
appears on the user interface screen. The system further includes a
series of product orders; a series of cells of prices offered for
the product orders; a series of cells of prices bid for the product
orders; and a price lock window which appears when the cursor is
moved over any cell in the series of cells of prices offered for
the products or the series of prices bid for the products. In
addition, the price lock window displays the price in the cell at
the moment the cursor enters the cell and the roller control allows
a user to change the price in the price lock window.
[0013] In another embodiment, the system further includes a series
of product orders; a series of cells of prices offered for the
product orders; a series of cells of prices bid for the product
orders; and a single click order entry window which appears when
the cursor is moved over any cell in the series of cells of prices
offered for the products or the series of prices bid for the
products. In addition, the single click window displays the price
in the cell at the moment the cursor enters the cell and the roller
control allows a user to change the price in the single click order
entry window.
[0014] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general
description and the following detailed description are not limiting
but are intended to provide further explanation of the invention
claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute part of this specification, are included to illustrate
and provide a further understanding of the method and system of the
invention. Together with the description, the drawings serve to
explain the principles of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0015] These and further aspects and advantages of the invention
will be discussed more in detail hereinafter with reference to the
disclosure of preferred embodiments, and in particular with
reference to the appended Figures wherein:
[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system for
electronic trades of financial products;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading
system;
[0018] FIG. 3 is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading
system with the use of a price lock single click order entry to
enter a new order;
[0019] FIG. 4 is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading
system with the use of a price lock on a kill order;
[0020] FIG. 5 is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading
system with the use of a price lock on a hit or lift price;
[0021] FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a selection screen used to
activate the price lock feature;
[0022] FIGS. 7A-7C are screen shots of the user interface showing
the use of a roller on a mouse to change the price in the single
click window.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0023] While the present invention is capable of embodiment in
various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter
be described a presently preferred embodiment with the
understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an
exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the
invention to the specific embodiment illustrated.
[0024] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an electronic trading system
10 which is an example of a platform which uses the price lock
popup system of the present invention. The electronic trading
system 10 has an exchange server 12 which is provided by a trading
exchange such as the Intercontinental Exchange. The trading
exchange in this example offers trading in energy related contracts
and derivatives but it is to be understood that any type of
electronic trading exchange which allows trading of any contract
for any product with a degree of fungibility including commodities,
natural resources, and financial products of any nature (equities,
debt, index products, etc), together with financial derivatives of
the foregoing may use the principles discussed herein. The exchange
server 12 runs a matching engine software program 14 which provides
trading functions for receiving orders, price changes, order
cancellations, executing trades and sending data relating to
available products such as the market type, the quantity and price
of bids and offers, and notification of trades executed in the
products (in this example energy related contracts and derivatives)
traded over the exchange. The trades are recorded by the matching
engine software 14 and stored in a database 16.
[0025] The exchange server 12 is coupled via a network such as the
Internet 18 with trading computers such as computers 20, 22, 24 and
26. As will be explained, each of the computers 20, 22, 24 and 26
have a display and interface software 28 for the submission of
offers and bids in markets offered by the exchange server 12. The
interface software 28 also receives and displays market data
relating to various markets of interest to a trader or broker from
the exchange server 12. The interface software 28 thus serves as a
data interface having market data belonging to the exchange entity
which runs the exchange server 12. The market data is updated by
the exchange server 12 to provide current data to the computers
20-26. The market data is stored in a market database (not shown)
which is part of the exchange server 12. Of course, it is to be
understood that computers 20-26 are merely shown as examples and
there can be numerous computers which submit trade data to the
exchange server 12. It is also to be understood there may be
multiple servers and other computers which overall perform the
functions of the matching engine software 14, but for simplicity
only one server is represented in this example.
[0026] In this example, traders and brokers interface with the
exchange server 12 interfaces via computers such as the computer 20
with an Internet browser program 30 having the capability of
running Java, HTML and JavaScript. The user is thus presented with
a web interface displayed on the user computer 20 to perform the
various trading functions according to the interface software 28 or
API which is preferably implemented as a Java applet used in
conjunction with the web browser program. Of course, it is to be
understood that any of the other trading computers 22, 24 and 26
may also be capable of running the user interface via a web browser
program.
[0027] FIG. 2 is a screen print of a user interface 40 which is
generated by the interface program 28 on the computer 20 to allow
electronic trading by communication with the exchange server 12.
The computer 20 has a user input device such as a keyboard and a
mouse which has a right button, a left button and a roller between
the buttons. The user input device allows the user to traverse to
different areas of the user interface 40 via an on screen cursor
and activate different functions using the buttons and the roller.
The user interface 40 has an orders tab 42 which when selected
displays a screen showing order data which the user has access to.
The user interface 40 has a deal tab 44 which displays a screen
showing all trades which the user has access to. A number of user
defined portfolio tabs 46 are displayed in alignment with the
orders tab 42 and the deal tab 44. Each of the user defined
portfolio tabs 46 when selected displays a window with information
relating to markets which are bundled in the portfolio. In the
example in FIG. 2, a tab 48 representing a specific market
portfolio relating to a specific energy commodity (IPE Brent) has
been selected. A markets window 50 displays different energy
related contracts or derivatives being offered and bid on in rows
and has columns which include price, quantity and other data
obtained through the exchange server 12. A trade ticker window 52
is displayed below the market window 50 to show a continuous stream
of quotes for different markets.
[0028] The user interface 40 allows a trader to perform various
functions relating to markets traded in the exchange. The interface
40 allows a trader to view markets, bid and offer in markets for
products, and manage orders. The interface 40 also allows a trader
to create and modify portfolios of markets and produce different
reports.
[0029] The markets window 50 includes a menu bar 60 which includes
a hold on hit/lift selection 62, a re-link agents selection 64, a
history selection 66 and a formulas selection 68. The hold on hit
or lift selection 62 allows a trader to remove or lift all the
orders from a portfolio when one of the orders in the portfolio is
executed at the hit price. The re-link agents selection 64 allows a
trader to reestablish communications links to the data sources
available to the user. The history selection 66 allows a trader to
display via the formula selection only. The formulas selection 68
allows a trader to access the formulas model to apply formulas
generated on their own computer 20 to data from the exchange server
12 displayed by the user interface 50.
[0030] A function bar 70 has a kill all selection 72, an activate
all selection 74, a live only selection 76, a hold bids selection
78, a hold all selection 80 and a hold offers selection 82. The
kill all selection 72 allows a user to kill all orders. The
activate all selection 74 allows a user to activate all orders
which are being held at the exchange or at local Cache. The live
only selection 76 allows a user to display all products in the
market window 50 which have actual prices and hide the products
which do not. The hold bids selection 78 allows a user to hold the
bids for all products displayed in the market window 50. The hold
all selection 80 allows a user to hold all bids and offers. The
hold offers selection 82 allows a user to hold all offers.
[0031] The user interface 40 also has a number of global actions
including a view selection 92, an admin selection 94, a help
selection 96 and a logout selection 98. The view selection 92
displays a menu having the options of displaying other screens
available. The admin selection 94 allows a user to control the user
settings, control portfolios displayed and reset the markets which
are available for trading. The help selection 96 provides help
instruction screens and the logout selection 98 allows a user to
log off the program.
[0032] The markets window 50 has a series of cells organized in a
number of rows 100 which display products which are available from
the selected market portfolio. The markets window 50 also has a
series of cells organized in informational columns 102 which
contain information for each product. The informational columns 102
include a product name column 104, a hub column 106, a strip column
108, a sell action column 110, a bid quantity column 112, a bid
price column 114, an offer price column 116, a bid quantity column
118, a buy action column 120, a last column 122, a kill bid column
124, a working bid quantity column 126, a working bid price column
128, a working offer price column 130, a working offer quantity
column 132 and a kill offer column 134.
[0033] The product name column 104 describes the name of the
product which in this example are energy products. FIG. 2 shows a
selection of a product line 140 which is Brent Crude Oil. The hub
column 106 describes the physical location of the product which is
the North Sea in this example. The strip column 108 is the time of
the delivery of the product which is June 2006 in this example. The
columns 104, 106 and 108 describe the contract being traded.
[0034] An expand option 136 and a shrink option 138 are provided in
the informational column 102. The expand option 136 allows a user
to view all of the current bids and offers for the selected product
row. The shrink option 138 hides the current bids and offers except
for the current best bid or offer.
[0035] FIG. 3 shows the user interface 40 of FIG. 2 with the single
click order entry feature. The sell column 110 indicates the action
that is available for the particular product for the user. The sell
column 110 for the example row 140 has been expanded to show the
action entries for each price offered. These action entries include
hit, sweep or X. The hit selection is assigned by the software to
determine whether the order may be hit, causing a trade to occur.
The sweep indication indicates that the user will take all orders
at the specified price in the bid price column 114 and may be
enabled by the user. The X indicates that the order which is owned
or controlled by the user will be killed if selected.
[0036] The sell quantity column 112 shows the quantity of product
units available for the sell column 110 and the bid column 114.
Together these columns 110, 112 and 114 describe the bid or buy
side. The bid column 114 shows the price that a market participant
is bidding for the product. As shown in the product row 140,
different bids at prices ranging from 6.494 to 6.490 have been made
for the quantity of 2500. The software arranges the bids from best
price to worst price.
[0037] The offer column 116 shows the offers to sell at the prices
shown. The quantity column 118 shows the quantity being offered.
The buy column 120 shows the action entries available for the user.
Together, the columns 116, 118 and 120 describe the offer or sell
side. The buy column 120 for the example row 140 has been expanded
to show the action entries for each price offered. These action
entries include lift, sweep or X. The lift selection is assigned by
the software to determine whether the order may be lifted or
bought. The sweep tag indicates that the user will take all orders
at a higher price and may be enabled by the user. The X indicates
that the order which is controlled by the user will be killed if
the option is selected using the mouse or keyboard.
[0038] Returning to FIG. 2, the last column 122 shows the last
traded price for the product. The columns 124-132 are a working
order area to show a trader's order. The kill column 124 signifies
that a user can kill the order by clicking on the displayed X in
the kill column 124 via the mouse. The quantity column 126 shows
the working quantity of the bid order and the bid column 128 shows
the price of the working bid. The offer column 130 shows the price
of the working offer and the offer quantity column 132 shows the
working quantity of the offer order. The offer kill column 134
shows an X which the trader can use to kill his own order. A pin
column 139 indicates if the product should be displayed when using
the live only feature 76 even if the product has no active bids or
offers or a last traded price.
[0039] The market window 50 and the user interface 40 may be used
by a trader to initiate a new order, kill or cancel an order or hit
or lift an order. Initiating a new order requires a user to place
the mouse pointer over the bid column 114 or the offer column 116
in the row of the product in the market. Initiating a kill order
requires a user to place the mouse pointer over sell column 110 or
the buy column 120 in the appropriate row of the product where an X
is displayed. Hitting or lifting an order requires a user to place
the mouse pointer over the sell column 110 or the buy column 120 in
the appropriate row of the product and select the hit or lift tab
that appears on the screen (not shown).
[0040] FIG. 3 shows the use of a single click order entry window
150 in initiating a new order using the user interface screen 40
shown in FIG. 2. The single click order entry window 150 is
displayed when the cursor enters a cell of the market window 50
containing an existing price in the bid column 114 signifying an
offer. The lock window 150 will display a quantity and price which
is shown in the bid column 114 at the moment the cursor enters any
of the cells for the product such as the product in row 140. The
lock window 150 also has a lock icon 152 which signifies that the
price lock is in effect. The quantity and price will be held in
memory and a user will activate the request for a new order at the
quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The lock window
150 remains on the user interface screen 40 and thus holds the
quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the cell. The
new order will be initiated at the current price and quantity
matching the price and quantity displayed in the lock window 150
when the user activates the request for the new order.
[0041] A right price lock quantity window 154 and a left price lock
quantity window 156 are also displayed above the market window 50
which show two different default quantities. Thus pressing the left
button on the mouse will activate the request at the predetermined
quantity displayed in the left price lock quantity window 154 and
pressing the right button will activate the request at the
predetermined quantity displayed in right price lock quantity
window 156. Of course other keys on the keyboard may activate the
request at the quantity and price stated in the price lock window
150.
[0042] FIG. 4 shows the use of a price lock window 160 in
initiating a kill order using the user interface screen 40 shown in
FIG. 2. The floating lock window 160 is displayed when the cursor
enters the cell of the market window 50 containing an X in the sell
column 110 or the buy column 120 signifying that the order belongs
to the user. The lock window 160 will contain a quantity and price
which is present at the moment the cursor enters the cell. The
quantity and price will be held in memory and a user will kill the
order at the quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The
lock window 160 remains on the user interface screen 40 and thus
holds the quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the
cell. The kill order will only be initiated if the current price
and quantity match the price and quantity displayed in the lock
window 160 when the user activates the kill order. Of course it is
to be understood that other keys such as those on the keyboard may
activate the kill.
[0043] FIG. 5 shows the use of a price lock window 170 in hitting
or lifting an order using the user interface screen 40 shown in
FIG. 3. The floating lock window 170 is displayed when the cursor
enters the cell of the market window 50 containing a hit tag in the
sell column 110 or a lift tag in the buy column 120. The lock
window 170 will contain a quantity and price which is present at
the moment the cursor enters the cell. The quantity and price will
be held in memory and a user will activate the request to hit at
the quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The lock
window 170 remains on the user interface screen 40 and thus holds
the quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the cell.
The hit or lift order will only be initiated if the current price
and quantity match the price and quantity displayed in the lock
window 170 when the user activates the hit or lift order. Of course
it is to be understood that other keys such as those on the
keyboard may activate the request.
[0044] The settings for the price lock windows displayed in FIGS.
3-5 are established in a options screen 180 as shown in FIG. 6. The
options screen 180 is accessed via the admin selection 94 in the
user interface 40 in FIG. 2. The options screen 180 has a number of
settings tabs 182 including a pre-confirms tab 184. Selecting the
pre-confirms tab 184 allows the use of the price lock windows in
FIGS. 3-5 via an OTC price lock selection 186 and a futures price
lock selection 188.
[0045] FIGS. 7A-7C are screen shots of another feature of the
single click order entry window as explained in FIG. 3. The
standard features of the trading program are identical between
FIGS. 3 and 5 and like elements are assigned like numbers. It is to
be understood that the price lock window may be used in any variety
of functions as explained in FIGS. 3-5 above. FIG. 7A shows a
modified single click window 150 which is displayed whenever the
cursor is moved over a bid in the column 114. The single click
window displays the price and quantity as shown in FIG. 7A. The
quantity displayed is that which is preset in the quantity fields
154 and 156. As in the previous screens, by clicking the right
button on the mouse, the right quantity in field 154 is bid to buy,
and by clicking the left button on the computer mouse, the left
quantity in field 156 will be bid to buy. The roller which is
typically between the left and right buttons on a mouse may also be
used to adjust the price. When a user rotates the roller in one
direction, the price displayed in the single click window will
increase in set increments. For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the
price in the single click window 150 has increased by 0.001 due to
rotating the roller forward. Rotating the roller in the opposite
direction will result in the price displayed in the price lock
window decreasing in set increments as shown in FIG. 7C which shows
the price in the price lock window 150 has decreased by 0.001. The
new price will be the one bid at the set quantity depending on
pressing the left or right mouse button. The price increments
depend on the market type which is selected. The roller control may
control the price in the single click order entry window and in any
of the uses which are described above.
[0046] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variations can be made in the method and system
of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope
of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not limited by the
foregoing descriptions but is intended to cover all modifications
and variations that come within the scope of the spirit of the
invention and the claims that follow.
* * * * *