U.S. patent application number 12/233175 was filed with the patent office on 2009-03-19 for apparatuses, methods and systems for a high density financial asset information display.
Invention is credited to Stephen Richard Schonberg.
Application Number | 20090076981 12/233175 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40455622 |
Filed Date | 2009-03-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090076981 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schonberg; Stephen Richard |
March 19, 2009 |
APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET
INFORMATION DISPLAY
Abstract
The disclosure details the implementation of an APPARATUSES,
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION
DISPLAY. The disclosure teaches a High Density Financial Asset
Information Display which provides a high density, straightforward,
unified, compact, dynamic and comprehensive display interface that
presents users with a high volume of easy to understand financial
asset information including the current buy and sell prices, the
current price direction, the amount of time the asset pair is
traded at each price, and the change in price over multiple time
frames. The High Density Financial Asset Information Display is
dynamically updated with the latest financial information and is
formatted to convey relevant changes in the information of interest
in a way that is easily understood by users.
Inventors: |
Schonberg; Stephen Richard;
(Tenafly, NJ) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP
30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
NEW YORK
NY
10112
US
|
Family ID: |
40455622 |
Appl. No.: |
12/233175 |
Filed: |
September 18, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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60973387 |
Sep 18, 2007 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/36R |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/36.R |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/00 20060101
G06Q040/00 |
Claims
1. In memory, an interaction interface that is invokable by a
processor, comprising: instructions in the memory, wherein the
instructions are issuable by the processor to provide: a first
asset selection interface element for providing selection of an
initial financial asset class; a second asset selection interface
element for providing a set of financial asset selections
complementary to the first asset selection interface and selection
made thereof, whereby the set of complementary financial asset
selections are determined by checking a list of available asset
pairs; a display area showing asset pair information from
interaction selections made to the first and second asset selection
interface elements, wherein the asset pair information comprises:
an opening price of the asset pair for the day; a current price of
the asset pair; a high price of the asset pair for the day; a low
price of the asset pair for the day; a price range of the asset
pair for the day, wherein the price range of the asset pair for the
day is the range between the low price of the asset pair for the
day and the high price of the asset pair for the day; a high price
of the asset pair for the past ten minutes; a low price of the
asset pair for the past ten minutes; and a price range of the asset
pair for the past ten minutes, wherein the price range of the asset
pair is the range between the low price of the asset pair for the
past ten minutes and the high price of the asset pair for the past
ten minutes; an asset pair current buy and sell price indicator
element responsive to the asset pair information; an asset pair
sparkline velocity indicator element responsive to the asset pair
information; the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element
having an intensity trail, wherein the intensity trail includes a
place for the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element in a
position corresponding to the current price of the asset pair, a
region allowing the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element
to move within the price range of the asset pair for the day, a
region indicating the price range of the asset pair for the past
ten minutes lower than the current price with one color, and
another region indicating the price range of the asset pair for the
past ten minutes higher than the current price with a different
color; the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element having a
directionality, wherein the directionality is determined by using a
median price of the asset pair for the day and an exponential
moving average of the price of the asset pair over the past ten
minutes; an asset pair trade selection interface element engageable
to effect a trade on the asset pair; the asset pair sparkline
velocity indicator element pulsing to indicate a sudden spike in
the asset pair price; a time histogram indicator element for
indicating the amount of time the asset pair is traded at each
price; a daily price change indicator element for providing a
percentage change of the price of the asset pair on the day,
wherein the percentage change of the price of the asset pair on the
day is determined by subtracting the opening price from the current
price of the asset pair, and then dividing by the opening price of
the asset pair; and the daily price change indicator element
displayed as a title bar that is colored according to the
percentage change of the price of asset pair on the day.
2. In memory, an interaction interface that is invokable by a
processor, comprising: instructions in the memory, wherein the
instructions are issuable by the processor to provide: a first
asset selection interface element for providing selection of an
initial financial asset class; a second asset selection interface
element for providing a set of financial asset selections
complementary to the first asset selection interface and selection
made thereof, whereby the set of complementary financial asset
selections are determined by checking a list of available asset
pairs; a display area showing asset pair information from
interaction selections made to the first and second asset selection
interface elements, wherein the asset pair information comprises:
an opening price of the asset pair for a deployment relevant time
span; a current price of the asset pair; a high price of the asset
pair for the deployment relevant time span; a low price of the
asset pair for the deployment relevant time span; a price range of
the asset pair for the deployment relevant time span, wherein the
price range of the asset pair for the deployment relevant time span
is the range between the low price of the asset pair for the
deployment relevant time span and the high price of the asset pair
for the deployment relevant time span; a high price of the asset
pair for a secondary relevant time span; a low price of the asset
pair for the secondary relevant time span; and a price range of the
asset pair for the secondary relevant time span, wherein the price
range of the asset pair for the secondary relevant time span is the
range between the low price of the asset pair for the secondary
relevant time span and the high price of the asset pair for the
secondary relevant time span; an asset pair current buy and sell
price indicator element responsive to the asset pair information;
an asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element responsive to
the asset pair information; the asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element having an intensity trail, wherein the intensity
trail includes a place for the asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element in a position corresponding to the current price
of the asset pair, a region allowing the asset pair sparkline
velocity indicator element to move within the price range of the
asset pair for the last deployment relevant time span, a region
indicating the price range of the asset pair for the last secondary
relevant time span lower than the current price with one color, and
another region indicating the price range of the asset pair for the
last secondary relevant time span higher than the current price
with a different color; and the asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element having a directionality, wherein the
directionality is determined by using a median price of the asset
pair over the last deployment relevant time span and an exponential
moving average of the price of the asset pair over the last
secondary relevant time span.
3. The interaction interface of claim 2, further comprising an
asset pair trade selection interface element engageable to effect a
trade on the asset pair.
4. The interaction interface of claim 2, wherein the asset pair
sparkline velocity indicator element can start pulsing to indicate
a spike in the asset pair price.
5. The interaction interface of claim 2, further comprising a time
histogram indicator element for indicating the amount of time the
asset pair is traded at each price.
6. The interaction interface of claim 2, further comprising a price
change indicator element for the deployment relevant time span for
providing a percentage change of the price of the asset pair on the
deployment relevant time span, wherein the percentage change of the
price of the asset pair on the deployment relevant time span is
determined by subtracting the opening price from the current price
of the asset pair and then dividing by the opening price of the
asset pair.
7. The interaction interface of claim 6, wherein the price change
indicator element for the deployment relevant time span is
displayed as a title bar that is colored according to the
percentage change of price of the asset pair on the deployment
relevant time span.
8. The interaction interface of claim 2, wherein the deployment
relevant time span is one day.
9. The interaction interface of claim 2, wherein the secondary
relevant time span is ten minutes.
10. The interaction interface of claim 2, wherein the first asset
and second asset selection interface elements are engaged more than
once to provide selection for multiple asset pairs.
11. The interaction interface of claim 10, further comprising a
group creation interface element for creating groups that are
comprised of subsets of the selected asset pairs.
12. The interaction interface of claim 10, further comprising a
display view selection interface element for selecting a first
subset of the selected asset pairs to be presented on the display
area using a grid format, and a second subset of the selected asset
pairs to be presented on the display area using a list format.
13. The interaction interface of claim 2, further comprising a key
level selector indicator element for providing key price levels for
the asset pair including high and low price levels for different
time periods, various day-moving-averages, and asset pair price
forecasts.
14. A processor-implemented method to provide a high density
financial asset information display, comprising: receiving a user's
initial financial asset class selection; providing a set of second
financial asset selections complementary to the user's initial
asset class selection; receiving a user's second financial asset
class selection; retrieving historical asset pair information
associated with the user's first and second asset selections;
monitoring current asset pair information associated with the
user's first and second asset selections; determining display
element values from current and historical asset pair information;
creating a high density information display using the determined
display element values; presenting the high density information
display to the user; and updating the high density information
display based on changes in the determined display element
values.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determined display element
values include a current buy and sell price of said financial asset
pair, and an asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element having
an intensity trail, wherein the trail includes a place for the
asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element in a position
corresponding to the current price of the asset pair, a region
allowing the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator element to
move within the price range of the asset pair for a deployment
relevant time span, a region indicating the price range of the
asset pair for a last secondary relevant time span lower than the
current price with one color, and another region indicating the
price range of the asset pair for the last secondary relevant time
span higher than the current price with a different color.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determined display element
values include a coloring of a title bar according to the
percentage change of the price of the asset pair for the last
deployment relevant time span.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein the determined display element
values include a directionality for the asset pair sparkline
velocity indicator element according to a median price of the price
of the asset pair over the last deployment relevant time span and
an exponential moving average of the price of the asset pair over
the past secondary relevant time span.
19. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving a user's
asset pair trade selection.
20. The method of claim 14, wherein historical information
comprises of historical prices for the asset pair, historical
volumes for the asset pair, historical analyses for the asset pair,
and wherein current information comprises of a current price for
the asset pair, a current traded volume of the asset pair, a
current direction of the price of the asset, and up-to-date
analyses for the asset pair.
21. The method of claim 15, wherein the deployment relevant time
span is 1 day.
22. The method of claim 15, wherein the secondary relevant time
span is 10 minutes.
23. A computer readable medium encoded with processing instructions
for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for providing a
high density financial asset information display, the method
comprising: receiving a user's initial financial asset class
selection; providing a set of second financial asset selections
complementary to the user's initial asset class selection;
receiving a user's second financial asset class selection;
retrieving historical asset pair information associated with the
user's first and second asset selections; monitoring current asset
pair information associated with the user's first and second asset
selections; determining display element values from current and
historical asset pair information; creating a high density
information display using the determined display element values;
presenting the high density information display to the user; and
updating the high density information display based on changes in
the determined display element values.
24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the determined
display element values include a current buy and sell price of said
financial asset pair, and an asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element having an intensity trail, wherein the trail
includes a place for the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator
element in a position corresponding to the current price of the
asset pair, a region allowing the asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element to move within the price range of the asset pair
for a deployment relevant time span, a region indicating the price
range of the asset pair for a last secondary relevant time span
lower than the current price with one color, and another region
indicating the price range of the asset pair for the last secondary
relevant time span higher than the current price with a different
color.
25. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the determined
display element values include a coloring of a title bar according
to the percentage change of the price of the asset pair for the
last deployment relevant time span.
26. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the determined
display element values include a directionality for the asset pair
sparkline velocity indicator element according to a median price of
the price of the asset pair over the last deployment relevant time
span and an exponential moving average of the price of the asset
pair over the past secondary relevant time span.
27. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the processing
instructions are further configured for receiving a user's asset
pair trade selection.
28. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that historical
information comprises of historical prices for the asset pair,
historical volumes for the asset pair, historical analyses for the
asset pair, and wherein current information comprises of a current
price for the asset pair, a current traded volume of the asset
pair, a current direction of the price of the asset, and up-to-date
analyses for the asset pair.
29. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the deployment
relevant time span is 1 day.
30. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the
processing instructions are configured so that the secondary
relevant time span is 10 minutes.
31. An apparatus for a high density financial asset information
display, comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication
with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of
processing instructions directing the processor to: receive a
user's initial financial asset class selection; provide a set of
second financial asset selections complementary to the user's
initial asset class selection; receive a user's second financial
asset class selection; retrieve historical asset pair information
associated with the user's first and second asset selections;
monitor current asset pair information associated with the user's
first and second asset selections; determine display element values
from current and historical asset pair information; create a high
density information display using the determined display element
values; present the high density information display to the user;
and update the high density information display based on changes in
the determined display element values.
32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the determined display
element values include a current buy and sell price of said
financial asset pair, and an asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element having an intensity trail, wherein the trail
includes a place for the asset pair sparkline velocity indicator
element in a position corresponding to the current price of the
asset pair, a region allowing the asset pair sparkline velocity
indicator element to move within the price range of the asset pair
for a deployment relevant time span, a region indicating the price
range of the asset pair for a last secondary relevant time span
lower than the current price with one color, and another region
indicating the price range of the asset pair for the last secondary
relevant time span higher than the current price with a different
color.
33. The apparatus claim 31, wherein the determined display element
values include a coloring of a title bar according to the
percentage change of the price of the asset pair for the last
deployment relevant time span.
34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the determined display
element values include a directionality for the asset pair
sparkline velocity indicator element according to a median price of
the price of the asset pair over the last deployment relevant time
span and an exponential moving average of the price of the asset
pair over the past secondary relevant time span.
35. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising receiving a
user's asset pair trade selection.
36. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein historical information
comprises of historical prices for the asset pair, historical
volumes for the asset pair, historical analyses for the asset pair,
and wherein current information comprises of a current price for
the asset pair, a current traded volume of the asset pair, a
current direction of the price of the asset, and up-to-date
analyses for the asset pair.
37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the deployment relevant time
span is 1 day.
38. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the secondary relevant time
span is 10 minutes.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This disclosure describes inventive aspects of at least 2
distinct inventions, including:
[0002] a high density financial asset information display (with a
suggested Class/Subclass of 705/36);
[0003] a graphical user interface (with a suggested Class/Subclass
of 715/700);
[0004] The instant application details claims directed to a high
density financial asset information display (suggested
Class/Subclass of 705/36). However, in order to develop a reader's
understanding of the invention(s), the descriptions of the other
invention(s) have been compiled into a single disclosure to
illustrate and clarify how aspects of these inventions operate
independently, interoperate as between individual inventions,
and/or cooperate collectively. The disclosure goes on to further
describe the interrelations and synergies as between any of the
various inventions within the context of an overarching inventive
system; all of which is to further ensure compliance with 35 U.S.C.
.sctn. 112.
[0005] Furthermore, applicant hereby claims priority to under 35
USC .sctn. 19(e) for U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.
60/973,387 filed Sep. 18, 2007, entitled "APPARATUSES, METHODS AND
SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION DISPLAY,"
attorney docket no. 17209-078PV.
[0006] The entire contents of the aforementioned applications are
herein expressly incorporated by reference.
FIELD
[0007] The present disclosure is directed generally to apparatuses,
methods, and systems for user interfaces, and more particularly, to
apparatuses, methods and systems for a high density financial asset
information display (hereinafter "HD-FAID").
BACKGROUND
[0008] Existing interfaces for presenting financial information
includes the stock ticker, first utilizing paper tape and now
available in electronic format. The ticker provides financial asset
information. A ticker symbol identifies the stock (e.g., the
company name of the stock), and an indicated price per share of the
stock. Other information, such as whether the stock is trading
higher or lower than the previous day's closing and the change
amount (i.e., the difference in price from the previous day's
closing) may also be indicated. The above information may be
provided in financial sections/pages of newspapers and
websites.
SUMMARY
[0009] Current displays and user interfaces do not provide a high
density, straightforward, up-to-date, compact and comprehensive
display for viewing and managing financial asset information. The
conventional methods of supplying financial asset information is
stifling potential user efficiencies and productivity gains.
[0010] The disclosure teaches APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR
A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION DISPLAY (hereinafter
"HD-FAID"), which provides a high density, straightforward,
unified, compact, dynamic and comprehensive display interface that
presents users with a high volume of easy to understand financial
asset information. This information may include the current price
direction, the change in price over multiple time frames, the
traded volume at price of the selected financial asset, and/or the
like. The HD-FAID is dynamically updated with the latest financial
information and is formatted to convey relevant changes in the
information of interest in a way that is easily understood by
users.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The accompanying appendices and/or drawings illustrate
various non-limiting, example, inventive aspects in accordance with
the present disclosure:
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates aspects of interaction between various
entities associated with an implementation of one HD-FAID;
[0013] FIGS. 2 and 3, collectively, are of a logic flow diagram
illustrating a non-limiting example of an indicator to display
selection tracking for the HD-FAID;
[0014] FIGS. 4a-4b are logic flow diagrams illustrating
non-limiting examples of the computation of the HD-FAID's grid-view
display properties;
[0015] FIG. 5 is of a screen image diagram illustrating information
display aspects of a grid-view display of an embodiment of
APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET
INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0016] FIG. 6 is of a screen image diagram further illustrating
information display aspects of a grid-view display of an embodiment
of APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL
ASSET INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0017] FIG. 7 is of a logic flow diagram illustrating a
non-limiting example of an interactive currency pair selection
interface for APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY
FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0018] FIGS. 8a and 8b provide sequences of screen image diagrams
illustrating aspects of one non-limiting example embodiment of an
interactive currency pair selection interface for APPARATUSES,
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION
DISPLAY;
[0019] FIG. 9 is of a screen image diagram illustrating aspects of
a multi-group list-view display of another embodiment of
APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET
INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0020] FIGS. 10a-10d are of screen image diagrams illustrating
aspects of different embodiments for key level selector displays of
APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET
INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0021] FIGS. 11 and 12 provide screen image diagrams illustrating
further aspects of one non-limiting embodiment of APPARATUSES,
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION
DISPLAY;
[0022] FIGS. 13a-13e are of screen image diagrams illustrating
aspects of user environment preferences of one embodiment of
APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET
INFORMATION DISPLAY;
[0023] FIGS. 14a-14d are of screen image diagrams illustrating
aspects of placing orders for one embodiment of APPARATUSES,
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION
DISPLAY;
[0024] FIGS. 15a-15b are of a screen image diagrams illustrating
further aspects of one non-limiting embodiment of APPARATUSES,
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL ASSET INFORMATION
DISPLAY; and
[0025] FIG. 16 is of a block diagram illustrating one non-limiting
example embodiment of a high density financial asset information
display controller.
[0026] The leading number of each reference number within the
drawings indicates the figure in which that reference number is
introduced and/or detailed. As such, a detailed discussion of
reference number 101 would be found and/or introduced in FIG. 1.
Reference number 201 is introduced in FIG. 2, etc.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
HD-FAID
[0027] For the purpose of illustrating various inventive aspects of
the APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A HIGH DENSITY FINANCIAL
ASSET INFORMATION DISPLAY (hereinafter "HD-FAID"), the following
discussion includes the HD-FAID implemented in the context of
conveying foreign exchange information and data. However, it is to
be understood that this is a non-limiting implementation; there is
significant flexibility, scalability, and adaptability associated
with the HD-FAID. As such, there are a wide variety of possible
implementations of the HD-FAID that may be configured to meet the
needs of a variety of end users.
[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates various entities that interact with the
system according to one implementation of a HD-FAID 100. Generally,
a user 140 interacts with the HD-FAID 100 and HD-FAID database(s)
110 to create a user profile that may include his User_ID,
workspace ID, account type, account preferences, tracked financial
asset selections, i.e., foreign exchange currency pair selections,
and display preferences. In one embodiment, the HD-FAID database
110 may include several tables: a historical information table that
may include fields such as, but not limited to: historical prices,
historical analyses, and/or the like; a user table that may support
and/or track multiple entity accounts on an HD-FAID 100; a current
information table that may include fields such as, but not limited
to: current price, current volume, current direction, up-to-date
analyses, and/or the like; and a complementary currency pair table
that may store information about all available currency pairs.
[0029] Based on the user's financial asset selection, the HD-FAID
retrieves historical and current information associated with the
user's financial asset selection from the corresponding tables in
the HD-FAID database 110, and then uses the retrieved information,
along with the user's display preferences, to provide a high
density, straightforward, unified, compact, dynamic and
comprehensive display interface that presents the user with a high
volume of easy to understand financial asset information including
the current buy and sell prices, the current price direction, the
traded volume at price, and the change in price over multiple time
frames. The High Density Financial Asset Information Display is
dynamically updated with the latest financial information and is
formatted to convey relevant changes in the information of interest
in a way that is easily understood by users. The various entities
connected with the HD-FAID may be interconnected via communication
network 150.
[0030] FIGS. 2 and 3, collectively, are of a logic flow diagram
illustrating a non-limiting example of an indicator to display
selection tracking 202 for the HD-FAID. When a user 140 accesses
the HD-FAID, it performs a test 204 to determine if a user profile
exists in the user table of the HD-FAID database 110. If a user
profile does exist, then the HD-FAID creates and maintains a high
density financial asset information display 236. (See FIG. 3 for
additional details.) If, however, it is determined 204 that a user
profile does not exist in the user table of the HD-FAID database
110, then the HD-FAID creates a user profile 206. In one
embodiment, the user profile may include fields such as, but not
limited to: user_ID, account type, account preferences, workspace
ID, tracked financial assets, and/or the like. Subsequently, and
for each item selection 208, i.e., for each currency pair
selection, the HD-FAID stores the selected item in the user profile
230. (Details on one embodiment of the currency pair selection
interface are provided in FIGS. 7 and 8.) The HD-FAID determines
212 if the selected item is currently tracked, i.e., the HD-FAID
runs a profile check to determine whether a user selected the item
to track previously. If it is, then the item gets stored in the
user profile 230, and the HD-FAID creates and maintains a high
density financial asset information display 236. Otherwise, the
HD-FAID checks to see if the quantum set for the selected item is
updated 220, and if it is not, it obtains the necessary quantum
settings for the selected item 222, that may include the time
quantum used to refresh the display. The data stream tracking for
the selected item is then instantiated 224, the stream for the
selected item is stored 226, the cache is updated with the selected
item information 228, and the selection is stored in the user's
profile 230. Finally, the HD-FAID creates and maintains a high
density financial asset information display 236 as detailed in FIG.
3.
[0031] As shown in FIG. 3, in order to create and maintain a high
density financial asset information display, the HD-FAID retrieves
the selection tracking from the user profile 310, along with the
user's display preferences 312 that may include a grid-view display
such as that of FIG. 5, a multi-group list-view display such as
that of FIG. 7, and/or the like. For each tracked widget in the
preferences, the HD-FAID instantiates tracking of the widget 316.
Subsequently, and for each widget instance, the widget obtains the
data store information for the item, (i.e., currency pair), from
the historical and current information tables of the HD-FAID
database 110 during 322. In one embodiment, a time-series database
in a back-end server may get a financial data feed from a standard
commercial source such as Reuters and then store the historical
information of all available currency pairs. The obtained
historical information may include historical open and close
prices, historical volume traded, historical analyses, and/or the
like. In one embodiment, upon receiving the data store information
values, the HD-FAID may store such values in an array, stack, or
heap and use them to compute display properties values used in the
widget display 324. In one non-limiting embodiment, the current
price for the currency pair is displayed on one tile of the
display, and the coloring of the title bar of this tile is computed
according to the price change of the currency pair on that day. If
the current price of the currency pair is equal to the open price
of that day, the coloring of the title bar would be gray; it is
higher than the open price, the coloring of the title bar would be
green; and if it is lower, the coloring would be red. Finally, the
HD-FAID updates the widget display information 326. It should be
noted that the tools used to display the widget may be implemented
in Flash, Javascript, Visual Basic, and/or the like. (See FIG. 4
for additional detail on how the HD-FAID may compute, in one
embodiment, some of the properties of a grid-view display such as
that of FIG. 5.) This widget display update is done for every
widget 328, and is periodically repeated after the elapse of a time
quantum 330. In one embodiment, this time quantum may be in the
order of seconds or less. In another embodiment, widgets do not
poll, instead they are instantiated as delegates; as delegates they
are updated in real time as soon as a cache, data stream, database,
and/or any other data store using the widget as a delegate target
are updated.
[0032] FIGS. 4a-4b show a subset of the display properties that the
HD-FAID may compute for each widget using the retrieved data 324,
when the user's display preference corresponds to a grid-view
display such as that of FIG. 5. As illustrated in FIG. 4a, the
computed properties may include the coloring of the title bar of
one tile on the grid-view display 412 according to the percentage
price change of the displayed currency pair on that day. For
example, the percentage price change of the displayed currency pair
on a day is calculated by subtracting the open price on that day
from the current price and then dividing by the open price. In one
embodiment, the coloring of the title bar according to the
percentage price change of the currency pair would be as follows:
grey if the percentage change is within -0.1% to +0.1%, light green
if it is within +0.1% to +1.5%, light red if it is within -0.1% to
-1.5%, dark green if it is higher than +1.5%, and dark red if it is
lower than -1.5%. The HD-FAID may further compute the position and
direction of a velocity element on a tile sparkline display 414,
the properties of a circle enclosing the velocity element on the
tile sparkline 416, and marks to indicate recent price retracing on
the tile sparkline 418. In one embodiment, such as that shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6, an arrow 511 is used to denote the velocity element.
This arrow is placed in a position on a sparkline tool 513
corresponding to the current price of the currency pair and is
allowed to move within a region corresponding to that day's price
range, i.e., between the low and high price of the currency pair
for the day. Further, if the current price is higher than the
moving average of the price of the currency pair in the last
minute, the arrow points in one direction, and otherwise it points
to the opposite direction. In one embodiment, if there are sudden
changes in the price of the currency pair, the circle enclosing the
arrow would be made to pulse. In one embodiment, pulsation may be
achieved by increasing and decreasing the size of the circle and
transparency element affecting a wake-like area around its
perimeter. FIG. 4b provides an alternative embodiment for the
computation of direction of the velocity element (arrow) and the
properties of the circle enclosing the velocity element. In one
implementation, the recent price retracing is indicated by
displaying the green wake price range for the currency pair over
the last 10 minutes (i.e., for prices that moved upwards towards
the current price) with a green color, and a red wake price range
over the last 10 minutes (i.e., for prices that moved downwards
towards the current price). Finally, other computed display
properties may include the placement of a time histogram on a tile
sparkline 420, to give some indication of the amount of time the
currency pair is traded at each price. In one implementation, the
daily price range is divided into 30 equal price ranges and thus
the time histogram will include 30 columns. Further, each histogram
column would be scaled so that the tallest column does not exceed
the number of pixels allotted to the time histogram section. FIGS.
5 and 6 are screen image diagrams providing details of grid-view
display implementations with at least the above properties. It is
to be understood that the rules used to compute the widget display
properties for each selected item, i.e., currency pair, may differ
in order to reflect price volatility for that item.
[0033] As discussed above, in a further HD-FAID embodiment, FIG. 4b
provides a logic flow diagram for the computation of direction of
the velocity element (arrow) and the properties of the circle
enclosing the velocity element. In determining the direction of the
arrow on the sparkline, the HD-FAID may calculate the median price
over the last Deployment Relevant Time Span, T1, 450. Depending on
the implementation and the volatility of the financial instrument
under question, the time span, T1, may be set to different values.
For example, in one implementation the time span, T1, may be set to
1 day, in another implementation T1 may be set to 1 hour, and in
further implementations T1 may be set to 20, 10, or 5 seconds. When
calculating the median price, the HD-FAID may first sort all the
prices by value over the last T1, and the median price would be set
equal to the price in the middle of the sorted prices. Once the
median price of the currency pair over T1 is computed, the HD-FAID
may compute the exponential moving average (EMA) over the last
Secondary Relevant Time Span, T2, 455. Depending on the
implementation and the desired sensitivity to price movements, T2
may be set to different values. For example, in one implementation
T2 may be set to 1 week, in other implementations T2 may be set to
1 day, and in further implementations T2 may be set to 20, 10, or 5
minutes. In determining the EMA, in one implementation the HD-FAID
may also use another time parameter, T3, that may take values of 1
hour, 30 minutes, 5 minutes, 60 seconds, 30 seconds or 10 seconds.
The HD-FAID may compute the EMA according to the following
formula:
E M A = t = 0 , , T 2 ( Price ( t ) * exp ( - t / T 3 ) ) t = 0 , ,
T 2 ( exp ( - t / T 3 ) ) ##EQU00001##
[0034] The time granularity used in the summations of the above
formula may be determined according to the set value for the time
span T2. For example, if T2 is set to 5 minutes, the time
granularity may be in the order of seconds and if T2 is set to 5
hours, the time granularity may be in the order of minutes. Once
the EMA is computed, the HD-FAID may compute "Delta", the
percentage change of the median price as compared to the EMA, 460
as follows:
Delta = ( median - E M A ) median ##EQU00002##
[0035] In one embodiment, once Delta is computed, the HD-FAID may
set two parameters 462, threshold percentage, X, and spike
percentage, Z, that may be used in determining the price direction
of the arrow and the properties of the circle enclosing the arrow.
Using the computed value for Delta and the two parameters X and Z,
the HD-FAID may then determine if Delta is greater than X 465. If
it is, the price direction of the arrow on the sparkline is up 468.
If Delta is not greater than X 465, the HD-FAID may determine if
Delta is less than -X 475. If it is, the price direction of the
arrow is down 478, and if it is not there is no change in the price
direction of the arrow. In one implementation, when the price
direction of the arrow is up a circle that may enclose the arrow
may be colored green and when the price direction of the arrow is
down, the circle that may enclose the arrow may be colored red.
Furthermore, when Delta is greater than X 465 and Delta is also
greater than Z 470, the circle enclosing the arrow would be made to
pulse to indicate an upward spike in price. On the other hand, when
Delta is less than -X 475 and Delta is also less than -Z 470, the
HD-FAID may indicate a downward spike in price by making the circle
enclosing the arrow to pulse. Depending on the implementation and
the price volatility of the observed financial instrument, the
HD-FAID may set the threshold and spike percentage values X and Z
at different levels. For example, in one implementation the HD-FAID
may set X to 0.05% and Z to 1%. In other implementations, X may be
set to 0.5%, 0.05%, 0.01%, 0.005%, 0.0025% or 0.001% and Z may be
set accordingly to 5%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.25% or 0.1%. It is to be
understood that depending on the actual HD-FAID implementation the
values for the threshold percentage X and the spike percentage Z
may be different than the provided values.
[0036] FIG. 5 is a screen image diagram illustrating information
display aspects of one non-limiting example embodiment of the
HD-FAID. As mentioned above, the HD-FAID provides a high density,
straightforward, unified, compact, dynamic and comprehensive
display interface that presents users with a high volume of easy to
understand financial asset information. The display shown in FIG. 5
provides a grid of information on currency spot prices 501a-501f
that belong to the "Majors" category 507a. Non-displayed categories
of currency pairs 507b-507d can be displayed by selecting the
appropriate tab. Further, other categories of currency pairs can be
added or created by selecting the "Add Group" tab 508 (see FIG. 13a
for more details) and/or the currency pair selector of FIG. 8.
Users may also select the multi-group list-view display (see FIG. 9
for additional detail) by selecting the appropriate button 503a,
instead of the grid-view display button 503b. In one embodiment,
the title bar (e.g., "USD MXN") of each tile on the grid is colored
according to the percentage price change of the currency pair on
that day (or in an alternative embodiment, change on that hour or
other specified time period). In a further embodiment, background
color of the tile may indicate the change in price over a shorter
period than the period indicated by the title bar. In this
embodiment, light green (e.g., 501b) indicates a moderate increase
in price while dark green (e.g., 501a) indicates a substantial
increase in price. Similarly, light red (e.g., 501e) indicates a
moderate decrease in price while dark red (e.g., 501d) indicates a
larger decrease in price. Depending on the implementation,
alternative coloring schemes may be employed. In one embodiment,
users may select their own color combinations so that the HD-FAID
provides customized and more meaningful information to each
individual user. Each tile also has a sparkline 505 that contains a
high density of market information associated with the displayed
currency pair (see FIG. 6 for additional details). For
non-displayed tiles 510a-510c, the coloring of the tiles may be set
to alert the user as to the "heat" or activity of the information
represented by the tile (e.g., dark green 510a indicating a
substantial increase in price on the day, dark red 510b indicating
a substantial decrease in price, and grey 510c indicating no
significant change in price). The computation of the coloring may
be done in a similar way to that described for FIG. 4. Furthermore,
the interface may allow users to execute a currency pair trade by
pressing the appropriate buy 520 or sell 521 buttons. In one
implementation, once a currency pair trade order is placed, the
HD-FAID initially processes the order and stores it using SecDB. In
a further implementation, users may be able to execute a currency
trade by double-clicking on either the displayed buy or sell price.
It should be noted that the buy and sell prices for each currency
pair may be different for different users. For example, for an
experienced user that performs significant currency volume trades
every month, there may be a smaller spread between the buy and sell
prices for each available currency pair.
[0037] FIG. 6 is a screen image diagram further illustrating
aspects of the HD-FAID. In one embodiment, the tile display
properties are computed as detailed in the discussion of FIG. 4. As
described in FIG. 5, the red coloring of the title bar 601
indicates that the USD MXN is down on the day, i.e., the current
price indicated by the arrow 607, (i.e., the sparkline velocity
element), is lower than the opening price 602a. In one
implementation, the opening price of the pair corresponds to the
price of the currency pair at 5 pm NY time of the previous day. In
further implementations, users may be able to adjust the opening
price to what would work better for them, e.g. a user in Japan may
set the opening price to be the price of the currency pair at 5 pm
Tokyo time of the previous day. Moving to the tile sparkline 505,
the display indicates that even though the price of the currency
pair is down, it had once been up on the day 602, i.e., the
absolute high price of the currency pair for the day is higher than
the opening price 602a. In 603, the sparkline shows that the
current price is also well off the absolute low. 604 shows the
pushing to retrace the downswing of the past 10 minutes. In some
embodiments, a marker may leave a trail to indicate past locations,
with the trail decaying over time. For example, if a price or other
indicator trails down, red marks may be left to the right side of
the marker, and if the price starts to come back green marks may be
left on the other side of the marker. In a further embodiment, the
marks could fade and eventually disappear as time passed. In one
embodiment, the marks may be computed as described in FIG. 4 by
comparing the current price of the currency pair to the price range
of the currency pair of the last 10 minutes, indicating the price
range of the last 10 minutes lower than the current price with a
red color, and the price range of the last 10 minutes higher than
the current price with a green color. The direction of the arrow on
the sparkline display 605 may be used to show the recent price
direction of the currency pair. As indicated by the directionality
of the arrow in FIG. 6, the recent price direction is higher. In
one embodiment, the recent price direction may be computed as
discussed in FIG. 4, by comparing the current price of the currency
pair to the moving average of the price over the last minute. The
bottom part of the sparkline 606 displays a time histogram of the
price of the currency pair for the day, and shows that the currency
pair has been traded most of the day in the current price range. If
there is a break past the recent high, the market did not really
spend much time above this range and may try to close the gap
higher. The circle enclosing the arrow 607 may, in some
embodiments, start pulsing if there is a sudden jump in the price
of the currency pair. In one embodiment, this may occur if the
magnitude of the percentage change of the price in the last minute
is above a threshold of 1%. In a further embodiment the directional
arrow may be tied to buy/sell buttons on the display. The circle in
FIG. 6 is not pulsing, and therefore indicates that the market is
progressing up (i.e., in the direction of the arrow), but does so
at a non-violent pace. In one embodiment, a user may place buy 610
and sell 612 widgets on the sparkline; such widgets would present
the user with a dialogue box 614 allowing them to place limit
orders specifying a transaction. In one embodiment, these points
may be set by clicking at points on the spark line and thereby
prepopulating the dialogue box with approximate prices; in such an
embodiment a pop-up menu may specify if the limit order is a buy or
sell. In another embodiment, the user may right-click on the spark
line specifying a buy/sell order before the dialogue box is
displayed. If the spark line pushed to these points, the specified
order would be placed automatically.
[0038] In one embodiment, FIG. 7 is of a logic flow diagram
illustrating a non-limiting example of an interactive currency pair
selection interface for the HD-FAID. When a user engages the
currency pair selector widget 720, the HD-FAID retrieves an initial
foreign currency lineup from the HD-FAID database 722, and
highlights, on the currency pair selector interface, all currencies
initially available to the user 724. (See, for example, the first
screen image diagram of FIG. 8b). If a user does not select one of
the highlighted items 726 and instead selects an alternative widget
728, like the key level selector widget of FIG. 10, the HD-FAID
closes the currency pair selector widget 730 and displays the
alternative widget. If, however, a user selects one of the
highlighted currencies 726, a query is sent to the HD-FAID database
using the first currency user selection 732 as a parameter to
select and retrieve the list of currencies complementary to this
first currency user selection 734. In one embodiment, currency
pairs may be stored in a currency pair table in the HD-FAID
database. Based on the retrieved list of complementary currencies,
the HD-FAID highlights all available complementary currencies 736
on the currency pair selection interface and makes the remaining
currencies unselectable 738. Finally, if a user decides to select a
second currency from the available, highlighted ones 740, the
HD-FAID closes the currency pair selector widget 742 and passes the
currency pair information to the grid-view display widget for
instantiation and display 746 (as discussed in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6).
If, on the other hand, the user chooses not to select a second
currency from the available ones 740, the HD-FAID closes the
currency pair selector widget 730 before the currency pair
selection is complete.
[0039] In one embodiment, FIG. 8a provides a sequence of screen
image diagrams illustrating one non-limiting example embodiment of
the currency pair selection interface for the HD-FAID. The first
screen image diagram 800a shows that the currency pair selection
interface can be invoked by clicking on the background of the tile
and then clicking on the "Change cross . . . " tab 800c. As shown
in the second screen image diagram 805a, the currency pair
selection interface 805c has four different categories of
currencies (Majors, EMEA, Asia, and LATAM). In one implementation,
the currencies in each row of the currency pair selection interface
805c may be first ordered by geographical and then by alphabetical
parameters. For example, in the second row of the currency pair
selection interface 805c the currencies are first ordered by
geographical parameters, i.e., currencies in Central and North
America, Oceania and Scandinavia, and then by alphabetical
parameters.
[0040] In another embodiment, FIG. 8b provides a sequence of screen
image diagrams detailing the properties of the interactive currency
pair selection interface and how it is used. As an example, the
first screen image diagram 810a displays a tile 810b for the GBP
USD currency pair, along with the currency pair selection interface
810c invoked to change the selection for the currency pair of tile
810b. All the currencies displayed on the currency pair selection
interface 810c that are unavailable to a user are grayed out, i.e.,
all the currencies in the LATAM group. In one embodiment, the
unavailable currencies might be unavailable for the day for all
users or unavailable in general for a particular user. In another
embodiment, the HD-FAID may store all available currency pairs for
a particular user in the form of an array or linked list in the
user profile. The second screen image diagram 820a shows that the
selection for the first currency of the newly selected pair is AUD,
which is highlighted. Based on this first currency selection, the
HD-FAID then looks up the array, linked list and/or other
appropriate data structure for all available currency pairs for the
user in the user profile in order to determine the available
currencies that are complementary to AUD. It should be noted that
multiple instances of the data structure may be maintained for
various clients so that each client may have selections made
available that are appropriate for that client; e.g., for novice
clients the number of pairings may be reduced, while more
experienced clients may have a greater number of options. See
Tables 1 and 2 for multiple and tiered examples of the data
structure currency pairings.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 An example of data structure currency
pairings ARS/USD CZK/EUR JPY/DKK PLN/EUR USD/NZD AUD/EUR CZK/USD
JPY/EUR PLN/USD ZAR/EUR BRL/USD DKK/EUR JPY/GBP SEK/EUR ZAR/USD
CAD/EUR DKK/GBP* JPY/SEK SEK/GBP CAD/USD DKK/USD JPY/USD SEK/NOK
CHF/EUR GBP/EUR MXN/USD SEK/USD CHF/GBP HKD/USD NOK/EUR SGD/USD
CHF/USD JPY/AUD NOK/GBP* USD/AUD CLP/USD JPY/CAD NOK/USD USD/EUR
COP/USD JPY/CHF PEN/USD USD/GBP
[0041] In the case displayed in diagram 820a, seven currencies
(EUR, USD, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, and NZD) are available, and all
other currencies are grayed out to indicate that they are
unavailable as complementary selections to AUD. The currency pair
selection interface 830c of the third screen image diagram 830a
shows that the user selects CAD among the available complementary
currencies. Once the second currency selection is made, the
currency selection interface disappears and information about the
newly selected currency pair, i.e., AUD CAD, gets displayed on the
tile 840b.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Another example of data structure currency
pairings. ARS/USD CZK/NZD* ILS/EUR KRW/JPY PLN/NZD* TRL/USD*
AUD/EUR CZK/USD ILS/USD KRW/USD PLN/USD TRY/EUR AUD/GBP DKK/CHF
INR/SGD MXN/CAD RUB/USD TRY/GBP AUD/GLD* DKK/EUR INR/USD MXN/CHF
SAR/USD* TRY/USD BRL/USD DKK/GBP JPY/AUD MXN/EUR SEK/AUD TWD/USD
CAD/AUD DKK/USD JPY/CAD MXN/GBP SEK/CAD* USD/AUD CAD/EUR EUR/GLD*
JPY/CHF MXN/USD SEK/CHF USD/EUR CAD/GBP GBP/EUR JPY/CNY* MYR/USD
SEK/EUR USD/GBP CAD/NZD HKD/AUD* JPY/CZK* NOK/AUD* SEK/GBP USD/GLD*
CAD/USD HKD/CAD JPY/DKK NOK/CAD SEK/NOK USD/NZD CHF/AUD HKD/CHF*
JPY/EUR NOK/CHF SEK/NZD USD/SIL* CHF/CAD HKD/EUR JPY/GBP NOK/EUR
SEK/SGD ZAR/AUD* CHF/EUR HKD/GBP JPY/HKD NOK/GBP SEK/USD ZAR/CAD
CHF/GBP HKD/NOK* JPY/MXN NOK/NZD SGD/AUD* ZAR/CHF* CHF/NZD HKD/NZD*
JPY/NOK NOK/USD SGD/CAD* ZAR/EUR CHF/USD HKD/PLN* JPY/NZD NZD/AUD
SGD/CHF* ZAR/GBP CLP/USD HKD/SEK* JPY/PHP NZD/EUR SGD/EUR ZAR/HKD*
CNY/USD HKD/SGD* JPY/PLN NZD/GBP SGD/GBP* ZAR/NZD* COP/USD HKD/USD
JPY/SEK PEN/USD SGD/NZD* ZAR/USD CZK/AUD* HUF/AUD* JPY/SGD PHP/USD
SGD/USD CZK/CAD* HUF/CHF JPY/THB* PLN/AUD* SKK/EUR CZK/CHF* HUF/EUR
JPY/TWD* PLN/CAD* SKK/USD* CZK/EUR HUF/GBP* JPY/USD PLN/CHF*
THB/EUR* CZK/GBP* HUF/USD JPY/ZAR PLN/EUR THB/GBP* CZK/HKD* IDR/USD
KRW/EUR PLN/GBP* THB/USD*
[0042] FIG. 9 is a screen image diagram illustrating aspects of a
multi-group list-view display for an embodiment of the HD-FAID. In
the diagram, four categories of currency pairs 910a-910d are
displayed, and in each category the currency pair (cross) 911, bid
price 912, ask price 913 are listed, along with the sparkline 914.
In another embodiment, a dot may be added to the sparkline to
indicate opening price for the currency pair for the day. In a
further embodiment, each currency pair label may also be colored
according to the percentage change on the price of the currency
pair on that day in a similar way to the coloring of the title bar
of each tile in FIG. 6. Users may select the grid view display of
FIG. 5 by pressing button 903b, instead of the multi-group
list-view display button 903a. In a further embodiment, some of the
selected currency pairs may be viewed using the grid-view display,
and the remaining ones using the list-view display.
[0043] FIGS. 10a and 10b are of screen image diagrams illustrating
aspects of different embodiments for key level selector displays of
the HD-FAID. Key level selector displays provide information about
the price movement of the currency pair over different time periods
and may be employed by users in deciding at which price to place a
buy or sell order for a currency pair. As will be seen later, the
HD-FAID provides multiple ways of instantiating a key level
selector display for a particular currency pair. In FIG. 10a, the
large box 1001 indicates the price range plus the next key price
level, like a reticle zooming in on its subject. The blue brackets
1002 zoom to the current day's range. The nearest levels above and
below the current price are in the smaller box 1003. Depending on
the implementation, fonts may be enlarged and/or bolded to impart a
sense of relevance, urgency, importance and take away from the
distraction of the rest of the table. Similarly, different types of
levels may be color coded as another visual cue. A cross-hair and
arrow 1004 may be utilized to show the current price with the
direction of the arrow indicating the direction of a recent move,
i.e., if the current price of the currency pair is higher than the
moving average of the price over the last minute, the arrow points
upwards; otherwise, it points downwards. Besides the high and low
level prices for different time periods, the display may also
contain different day-moving-averages (dma), such as 55-dma,
100-dma, and 200-dma, along with different forecast levels. The
different price levels are displayed in descending order. As
described above, in one implementation a time-series database in a
back-end server may have a financial data feed from a standard
commercial source such as Reuters and then store the historical
information of all available currency pairs for a particular
user.
[0044] FIG. 10b is of a screen image diagram of a further
embodiment of a key level selector display that contains very
similar information to FIG. 10a, but places emphasis on important
price levels in a different way. FIG. 10b also contains the current
buy and sell prices, a sparkline such as that of FIGS. 5, 6 and 9,
and uses a title bar coloring to indicate percentage change of
price on the day such as the one used in the grid-view display of
FIG. 5. FIG. 10c provides aspects of an implementation example of
how a key level selector display such as that of FIG. 10b may be
instantiated in a grid view display interface 1030. For example, if
a user is interested in looking at the key price levels of the
USD/JPY currency pair displayed in tile 1035, the user may be able
to press a key icon 1040 in order to instantiate a key level
selector display 1045. In one implementation, the HD-FAID may only
update in real time the price levels indicated by 1050 in order to
minimize the information exchange with the HD-FAID database. In
another implementation, a user may be able to enter a currency pair
trade by double clicking on the current mid level price 1055.
[0045] In a further implementation, such as that displayed in FIG.
10d, a user might decide to enter a USD/JPY currency pair trade by
employing the order interface tile 1060. If a user needs more
information about the key price levels for the USD/JPY pair, the
user may be able to press a key icon 1065 to instantiate the key
level selector display 1070. For example, the key level selector
display 1070 shows that the high price for the USD/JPY pair for
yesterday is 106.43, and the user may decide to enter a sell trade
for 1,000,000 at 106.34.
[0046] FIGS. 11 and 12 provide screen image diagrams illustrating
further aspects of one non-limiting embodiment of the HD-FAID. The
screen image diagram 1120a comprises of a grid view display as that
of FIG. 5, a Launch Bar display 1122, an OrderBook display 1124, an
FX blotter display 1126, and an FX Blog display 1128. As detailed
in screen image diagram 1130a, the Launch Bar 1122 may be used to
add a new workspace, rename or delete an existing workspace, and/or
minimize all open workspaces. The OrderBook display 1124 and FX
Blotter display 1126 may be used to display details for all the
user entered orders and executed trades respectively. In one
embodiment, another feature of the Launch Bar display 1122 are the
miniaturized workspaces 1129, that allow a user of the HD-FAID to
easily switch between the different available user workspaces by
clicking on the corresponding miniaturized workspace. The FX Blog
display 1128 is highly customizable and provides a list of
financial headlines from all the major news sources. In one
embodiment as displayed in FIG. 12, when a user clicks on a
headline 1236, ("Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Half Point;
Markets Soar"), a browser window 1238 opens up displaying the full
story in its original context.
[0047] FIGS. 13a-13e are of screen image diagrams illustrating
aspects of user environment preferences of one embodiment of the
HD-FAID. FIG. 13a shows that the Settings display window 1320 has
five tabs: a Currency Groups tab 1321, a Launch Bar tab 1322, a
Notification & Alerts tab 1323, an Execution tab 1324, and an
OrderBook tab 1325. When the Currency Groups tab 1321 is selected,
a user may add a new group by clicking on the green "+" icon 1330.
Further, a user may remove a group or currency pair by clicking on
the "x" icon beside the row where the item resides, and save the
changes made by clicking on button 1334.
[0048] In one embodiment, FIG. 13b displays the settings associated
with the selection of the Launch Bar tab 1322. A user may select
the Launch Bar 1122 to always be on top by checking the appropriate
box 1341. Further, a user may select 1347 the contents to view on
his FX Blog 1128 by checking the appropriate boxes of the news
sources. A user may also select the types of swaps 1344 and options
1345 that will be available on his HD-FAID for his selection(s)
1343 of currency groups.
[0049] In one embodiment, FIG. 13c displays the settings associated
with the selection of the Notification & Alerts tab 1323 of one
embodiment of the HD-FAID. A user may provide his office phone
number, mobile phone number, and/or other home alternate phone
number in order to receive trade and order notifications. Automated
emails 1342 may also be used to inform a user of his executed
trades and order recap. Finally, a user may use 1343 to configure
whether the system alerts received for his trade and order
notifications would be sticky or fade out after a specified time.
In another embodiment, FIG. 13d displays the settings associated
with the selection of the Execution tab 1323, and FIG. 13e displays
the setting associated with the selection of the OrderBook tab.
Some of the selection options of FIG. 13c described in this
paragraph are also available in the displays of FIGS. 13d and 13e.
Additional selections may include the order defaults 1362 that can
be used to specify default take profit and stop loss order types,
such as "At My Level (no slippage)" and "Market if Touched".
[0050] FIGS. 14a-14d are a sequence of screen image diagrams
illustrating aspects of placing currency orders for one embodiment
of the HD-FAID. FIG. 14a provides an example of a user interface
that may be employed in order to enter an order for a EUR/USD
currency pair. A user may look at the information provided in the
key level selector display 1415 before deciding what order to place
on the EUR/USD pair by using the "Order details" display 1410. For
example, a user may decide to enter a sell order for 50,000 EUR vs.
USD at a price of 1.6221. If the amount does not exceed the
personal limit of the user, the HD-FAID will accept the sell order
and display a notification 1420 on the "Order Details display 1410,
as shown in FIG. 14b. FIG. 14c is of a further embodiment of the
HD-FAID that may display the user entered trades for each currency
pair under the corresponding sell or buy buttons of the currency
pair tile. For example, as displayed in FIG. 14d, a user may click
on the number "21" under the sell button of the EUR/USD tile 1430
in order to see the details of the entered trade 1435, e.g., sell
50,000 EUR vs. USD at 1.6221. In one implementation, all the
HD-FAID currency pair trade notifications may be viewed in a
display window such as that of FIG. 14d that may be placed in the
corner of the HD-FAID display. The trade notification window may
provide information about entered and canceled trades, executed
trades, and trade notifications about unacceptable orders. In one
implementation, the currency pair trade notification display may
pop up on the HD-FAID every time a new event occurs, and in another
implementation the notification display may be displayed
continuously in a corner of the HD-FAID display and new events
would be displayed with a flashing color to alert the user.
[0051] FIGS. 15a-15b are of screen image diagrams illustrating
further aspects of one non-limiting embodiment of the HD-FAID. FIG.
15a shows a "Spot/Swap Ticket" window 1510 that may allow a user to
select spot or forward rates 1515 for a currency pair by clicking
on the quote button 1520. Once a spot/forward selection is made,
the corresponding buy 1530 and sell 1525 prices for the selections
will be displayed. For example, as shown in frame 1550 of FIG. 15b,
if a user selects a forward date 1515 of Jun. 10, 2008 the HD-FAID
would retrieve and display the forward buy 1530 and sell 1525 rates
for EUR vs. USD. In our example, the forward buy rate for EUR vs.
USD would be 1.5770 and the forward sell rate for EUR vs. USD would
be 1.5768. If a user decides to execute a spot or forward trade, an
indicator 1555 may be used by the HD-FAID to provide information
about the remaining time until order execution, e.g. indicator
showing 5 seconds remaining.
[0052] Frame 570 of FIG. 15b provides a further embodiment of the
HD-FAID that may be employed by a user to enter forward trades in
the grid view display environment. For example, a user may decide
to enter a forward trade for the GBP/USD currency pair displayed in
tile 1575. The user may enter the date of interest for the forward
trade for the GBP/USD pair by using calendar pop-up display 1580
that may be invoked by clicking calendar button 1585. In one
implementation, the relative difference between current and forward
rates may be displayed 1587 and 1588 under the current buy and sell
prices for the currency pair.
HD-FAID Controller
[0053] FIG. 16 of the present disclosure illustrates inventive
aspects of a HD-FAID controller 1601 in a block diagram. In this
embodiment, the HD-FAID controller 1601 may serve to aggregate,
process, store, search, serve, identify, instruct, generate, match,
and/or facilitate interactions with a computer through various
display and interface technologies, and/or other related data.
[0054] Typically, users, which may be people and/or other systems,
engage information technology systems (e.g., commonly computers) to
facilitate information processing. In turn, computers employ
processors to process information; such processors are often
referred to as central processing units (CPU). A common form of
processor is referred to as a microprocessor. CPUs use
communicative signals to enable various operations. Such
communicative signals may be stored and/or transmitted in batches
as program and/or data components facilitate desired operations.
These stored instruction code signals may engage the CPU circuit
components to perform desired operations. A common type of program
is a computer operating system, which, commonly, is executed by CPU
on a computer; the operating system enables and facilitates users
to access and operate computer information technology and
resources. Common resources employed in information technology
systems include: input and output mechanisms through which data may
pass into and out of a computer; memory storage into which data may
be saved; and processors by which information may be processed.
Often information technology systems are used to collect data for
later retrieval, analysis, and manipulation, commonly, which is
facilitated through a database program. Information technology
systems provide interfaces that allow users to access and operate
various system components.
[0055] In one embodiment, the HD-FAID controller 1601 may be
connected to and/or communicate with entities such as, but not
limited to: one or more users from user input devices 1611;
peripheral devices 1612; a cryptographic processor device 1628;
and/or a communications network 1613.
[0056] Networks are commonly thought to comprise the
interconnection and interoperation of clients, servers, and
intermediary nodes in a graph topology. It should be noted that the
term "server" as used throughout this disclosure refers generally
to a computer, other device, program, or combination thereof that
processes and responds to the requests of remote users across a
communications network. Servers serve their information to
requesting "clients." The term "client" as used herein refers
generally to a computer, other device, program, or combination
thereof that is capable of processing and making requests and
obtaining and processing any responses from servers across a
communications network. A computer, other device, program, or
combination thereof that facilitates, processes information and
requests, and/or furthers the passage of information from a source
user to a destination user is commonly referred to as a "node."
Networks are generally thought to facilitate the transfer of
information from source points to destinations. A node specifically
tasked with furthering the passage of information from a source to
a destination is commonly called a "router." There are many forms
of networks such as Local Area Networks (LANs), Pico Networks, Wide
Area Networks (WANs), Wireless Networks (WLANs), etc. For example,
the Internet is generally accepted as being an interconnection of a
multitude of networks whereby remote clients and servers may access
and interoperate with one another.
[0057] The HD-FAID controller 1601 may be based on common computer
systems that may comprise, but are not limited to, components such
as: a computer systemization 1602 connected to memory 1629.
[0058] Computer Systemization
[0059] A computer systemization 1602 may comprise a clock 1630,
central processing unit (CPU) 1603, a read only memory (ROM) 1606,
a random access memory (RAM) 1605, and/or an interface bus 1607,
and most frequently, although not necessarily, are all
interconnected and/or communicating through a system bus 1604.
Optionally, the computer systemization may be connected to an
internal power source 1686. Optionally, a cryptographic processor
1626 may be connected to the system bus. The system clock typically
has a crystal oscillator and provides a base signal. The clock is
typically coupled to the system bus and various clock multipliers
that will increase or decrease the base operating frequency for
other components interconnected in the computer systemization. The
clock and various components in a computer systemization drive
signals embodying information throughout the system. Such
transmission and reception of signals embodying information
throughout a computer systemization may be commonly referred to as
communications. These communicative signals may further be
transmitted, received, and the cause of return and/or reply signal
communications beyond the instant computer systemization to:
communications networks, input devices, other computer
systemizations, peripheral devices, and/or the like. Of course, any
of the above components may be connected directly to one another,
connected to the CPU, and/or organized in numerous variations
employed as exemplified by various computer systems.
[0060] The CPU comprises at least one high-speed data processor
adequate to execute program components for executing user and/or
system-generated requests. The CPU may be a microprocessor such as
AMD's Athlon, Duron and/or Opteron; IBM and/or Motorola's PowerPC;
IBM's and Sony's Cell processor; Intel's Celeron, Itanium, Pentium,
Xeon, and/or XScale; and/or the like processor(s). The CPU
interacts with memory through signal passing through conductive
conduits to execute stored signal program code according to
conventional data processing techniques. Such signal passing
facilitates communication within the HD-FAID controller and beyond
through various interfaces. Should processing requirements dictate
a greater amount speed, parallel, mainframe and/or super-computer
architectures may similarly be employed. Alternatively, should
deployment requirements dictate greater portability, smaller
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) may be employed.
[0061] Power Source
[0062] The power source 1686 may be of any standard form for
powering small electronic circuit board devices such as the
following power cells: alkaline, lithium hydride, lithium ion,
lithium polymer, nickel cadmium, solar cells, and/or the like.
Other types of AC or DC power sources may be used as well. In the
case of solar cells, in one embodiment, the case provides an
aperture through which the solar cell may capture photonic energy.
The power cell 1686 is connected to at least one of the
interconnected subsequent components of the HD-FAID thereby
providing an electric current to all subsequent components. In one
example, the power source 1686 is connected to the system bus
component 1604. In an alternative embodiment, an outside power
source 1686 is provided through a connection across the I/O 1608
interface. For example, a USB and/or IEEE 1394 connection carries
both data and power across the connection and is therefore a
suitable source of power.
[0063] Interface Adapters
[0064] Interface bus(ses) 1607 may accept, connect, and/or
communicate to a number of interface adapters, conventionally
although not necessarily in the form of adapter cards, such as but
not limited to: input output interfaces (I/O) 1608, storage
interfaces 1609, network interfaces 1610, and/or the like.
Optionally, cryptographic processor interfaces 1627 similarly may
be connected to the interface bus. The interface bus provides for
the communications of interface adapters with one another as well
as with other components of the computer systemization. Interface
adapters are adapted for a compatible interface bus. Interface
adapters conventionally connect to the interface bus via a slot
architecture. Conventional slot architectures may be employed, such
as, but not limited to: Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Card Bus,
(Extended) Industry Standard Architecture ((E)ISA), Micro Channel
Architecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral Component Interconnect
(Extended) (PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA), and/or the like.
[0065] Storage interfaces 1609 may accept, communicate, and/or
connect to a number of storage devices such as, but not limited to:
storage devices 1614, removable disc devices, and/or the like.
Storage interfaces may employ connection protocols such as, but not
limited to: (Ultra) (Serial) Advanced Technology Attachment (Packet
Interface) ((Ultra) (Serial) ATA(PI)), (Enhanced) Integrated Drive
Electronics ((E)IDE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 1394, fiber channel, Small Computer Systems
Interface (SCSI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or the like.
[0066] Network interfaces 1610 may accept, communicate, and/or
connect to a communications network 1613. Through a communications
network 713, the HD-FAID controller is accessible through remote
clients 1633b (e.g., computers with web browsers) by users 1633a.
Network interfaces may employ connection protocols such as, but not
limited to: direct connect, Ethernet (thick, thin, twisted pair
10/100/1000 Base T, and/or the like), Token Ring, wireless
connection such as IEEE 802.11a-x, and/or the like. A
communications network may be any one and/or the combination of the
following: a direct interconnection; the Internet; a Local Area
Network (LAN); a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN); an Operating
Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI); a secured custom
connection; a Wide Area Network (WAN); a wireless network (e.g.,
employing protocols such as, but not limited to a Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP), I-mode, and/or the like); and/or the
like. A network interface may be regarded as a specialized form of
an input output interface. Further, multiple network interfaces
1610 may be used to engage with various communications network
types 1613. For example, multiple network interfaces may be
employed to allow for the communication over broadcast, multicast,
and/or unicast networks.
[0067] Input Output interfaces (I/O) 1608 may accept, communicate,
and/or connect to user input devices 1611, peripheral devices 1612,
cryptographic processor devices 1628, and/or the like. I/O may
employ connection protocols such as, but not limited to: Apple
Desktop Bus (ADB); Apple Desktop Connector (ADC); audio: analog,
digital, monaural, RCA, stereo, and/or the like; IEEE 11394a-b;
infrared; joystick; keyboard; midi; optical; PC AT; PS/2; parallel;
radio; serial; USB; video interface: BNC, coaxial, composite,
digital, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), RCA, RF antennae, S-Video,
VGA, and/or the like; wireless; and/or the like. A common output
device is a television set, which accepts signals from a video
interface. Also, a video display, which typically comprises a
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) based
monitor with an interface (e.g., DVI circuitry and cable) that
accepts signals from a video interface, may be used. The video
interface composites information generated by a computer
systemization and generates video signals based on the composited
information in a video memory frame. Typically, the video interface
provides the composited video information through a video
connection interface that accepts a video display interface (e.g.,
an RCA composite video connector accepting an RCA composite video
cable; a DVI connector accepting a DVI display cable, etc.).
[0068] User input devices 1611 may be card readers, dongles, finger
print readers, gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards,
mouse (mice), remote controls, retina readers, trackballs,
trackpads, and/or the like.
[0069] Peripheral devices 1612 may be connected and/or communicate
to I/O and/or other facilities of the like such as network
interfaces, storage interfaces, and/or the like. Peripheral devices
may be audio devices, cameras, dongles (e.g., for copy protection,
ensuring secure transactions with a digital signature, and/or the
like), external processors (for added functionality), goggles,
microphones, monitors, network interfaces, printers, scanners,
storage devices, video devices, video sources, visors, and/or the
like.
[0070] It should be noted that although user input devices and
peripheral devices may be employed, the HD-FAID controller may be
embodied as an embedded, dedicated, and/or monitor-less (i.e.,
headless) device, wherein access would be provided over a network
interface connection.
[0071] Cryptographic units such as, but not limited to,
microcontrollers, processors 1626, interfaces 1627, and/or devices
1628 may be attached, and/or communicate with the HD-FAID
controller. A MC68HC16 microcontroller, commonly manufactured by
Motorola Inc., may be used for and/or within cryptographic units.
Equivalent microcontrollers and/or processors may also be used. The
MC68HC16 microcontroller utilizes a 16-bit multiply-and-accumulate
instruction in the 16 MHz configuration and requires less than one
second to perform a 512-bit RSA private key operation.
Cryptographic units support the authentication of communications
from interacting agents, as well as allowing for anonymous
transactions. Cryptographic units may also be configured as part of
CPU. Other commercially available specialized cryptographic
processors include VLSI Technology's 33 MHz 6868 or Semaphore
Communications' 40 MHz Roadrunner 184.
[0072] Memory
[0073] Generally, any mechanization and/or embodiment allowing a
processor to affect the storage and/or retrieval of information is
regarded as memory 1629. However, memory is a fungible technology
and resource, thus, any number of memory embodiments may be
employed in lieu of or in concert with one another. It is to be
understood that the HD-FAID controller and/or a computer
systemization may employ various forms of memory 1629. For example,
a computer systemization may be configured wherein the
functionality of on-chip CPU memory (e.g., registers), RAM, ROM,
and any other storage devices are provided by a paper punch tape or
paper punch card mechanism; of course such an embodiment would
result in an extremely slow rate of operation. In a typical
configuration, memory 1629 will include ROM 1606, RAM 1605, and a
storage device 1614. A storage device 1614 may be any conventional
computer system storage. Storage devices may include a drum; a
(fixed and/or removable) magnetic disk drive; a magneto-optical
drive; an optical drive (i.e., CD ROM/RAM/Recordable (R),
ReWritable (RW), DVD R/RW, etc.); an array of devices (e.g.,
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)); and/or other devices
of the like. Thus, a computer systemization generally requires and
makes use of memory.
[0074] Component Collection
[0075] The memory 1629 may contain a collection of program and/or
database components and/or data such as, but not limited to:
operating system component(s) 1615 (operating system); information
server component(s) 1616 (information server); user interface
component(s) 1617 (user interface); Web browser component(s) 1618
(Web browser); database(s) 1619; mail server component(s) 1621;
mail client component(s) 1622; cryptographic server component(s)
1620 (cryptographic server); the HD-FAID component(s) 1635; and/or
the like (i.e., collectively a component collection). These
components may be stored and accessed from the storage devices
and/or from storage devices accessible through an interface bus.
Although non-conventional program components such as those in the
component collection, typically, are stored in a local storage
device 1614, they may also be loaded and/or stored in memory such
as: peripheral devices, RAM, remote storage facilities through a
communications network, ROM, various forms of memory, and/or the
like.
[0076] Operating System
[0077] The operating system component 1615 is an executable program
component facilitating the operation of the HD-FAID controller.
Typically, the operating system facilitates access of I/O, network
interfaces, peripheral devices, storage devices, and/or the like.
The operating system may be a highly fault tolerant, scalable, and
secure system such as: Apple Macintosh OS X (Server); AT&T Plan
9; Be OS; Unix and Unix-like system distributions (such as
AT&T's UNIX; Berkley Software Distribution (BSD) variations
such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and/or the like; Linux
distributions such as Red Hat, Ubuntu, and/or the like); and/or the
like operating systems. However, more limited and/or less secure
operating systems also may be employed such as Apple Macintosh OS,
IBM OS/2, Microsoft DOS, Microsoft Windows
2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/Vista/XP (Server), Palm OS,
and/or the like. An operating system may communicate to and/or with
other components in a component collection, including itself,
and/or the like. Most frequently, the operating system communicates
with other program components, user interfaces, and/or the like.
For example, the operating system may contain, communicate,
generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user,
and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses. The
operating system, once executed by the CPU, may enable the
interaction with communications networks, data, I/O, peripheral
devices, program components, memory, user input devices, and/or the
like. The operating system may provide communications protocols
that allow the HD-FAID controller to communicate with other
entities through a communications network 1613. Various
communication protocols may be used by the HD-FAID controller as a
subcarrier transport mechanism for interaction, such as, but not
limited to: multicast, TCP/IP, UDP, unicast, and/or the like.
[0078] Information Server
[0079] An information server component 1616 is a stored program
component that is executed by a CPU. The information server may be
a conventional Internet information server such as, but not limited
to Apache Software Foundation's Apache, Microsoft's Internet
Information Server, and/or the like. The information server may
allow for the execution of program components through facilities
such as Active Server Page (ASP), ActiveX, (ANSI) (Objective-) C
(++), C# and/or .NET, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, Java,
JavaScript, Practical Extraction Report Language (PERL), Hypertext
Pre-Processor (PHP), pipes, Python, WebObjects, and/or the like.
The information server may support secure communications protocols
such as, but not limited to, File Transfer Protocol (FTP);
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); Secure Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), messaging protocols
(e.g., America Online (AOL) Instant Messenger (AIM), Application
Exchange (APEX), ICQ, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Microsoft Network
(MSN) Messenger Service, Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol
(PRIM), Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP), SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence
Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), open XML-based Extensible Messaging
and Presence Protocol (XMPP) (i.e., Jabber or Open Mobile
Alliance's (OMA's) Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)),
Yahoo! Instant Messenger Service, and/or the like. The information
server provides results in the form of Web pages to Web browsers,
and allows for the manipulated generation of the Web pages through
interaction with other program components. After a Domain Name
System (DNS) resolution portion of an HTTP request is resolved to a
particular information server, the information server resolves
requests for information at specified locations on the HD-FAID
controller based on the remainder of the HTTP request. For example,
a request such as http://123.124.125.126/myInformation.html might
have the IP portion of the request "123.124.125.126" resolved by a
DNS server to an information server at that IP address; that
information server might in turn further parse the http request for
the "/myInformation.html" portion of the request and resolve it to
a location in memory containing the information
"myInformation.html." Additionally, other information serving
protocols may be employed across various ports, e.g., FTP
communications across port 21, and/or the like. An information
server may communicate to and/or with other components in a
component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the
like. Most frequently, the information server communicates with the
HD-FAID database 1619, operating systems, other program components,
user interfaces, Web browsers, and/or the like.
[0080] Access to the HD-FAID database may be achieved through a
number of database bridge mechanisms such as through scripting
languages as enumerated below (e.g., CGI) and through
inter-application communication channels as enumerated below (e.g.,
CORBA, WebObjects, etc.). Any data requests through a Web browser
are parsed through the bridge mechanism into appropriate grammars
as required by the HD-FAID. In one embodiment, the information
server would provide a Web form accessible by a Web browser.
Entries made into supplied fields in the Web form are tagged as
having been entered into the particular fields, and parsed as such.
The entered terms are then passed along with the field tags, which
act to instruct the parser to generate queries directed to
appropriate tables and/or fields. In one embodiment, the parser may
generate queries in standard SQL by instantiating a search string
with the proper join/select commands based on the tagged text
entries, wherein the resulting command is provided over the bridge
mechanism to the HD-FAID as a query. Upon generating query results
from the query, the results are passed over the bridge mechanism,
and may be parsed for formatting and generation of a new results
Web page by the bridge mechanism. Such a new results Web page is
then provided to the information server, which may supply it to the
requesting Web browser.
[0081] Also, an information server may contain, communicate,
generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user,
and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.
[0082] User Interface
[0083] The function of computer interfaces in some respects is
similar to automobile operation interfaces. Automobile operation
interface elements such as steering wheels, gearshifts, and
speedometers facilitate the access, operation, and display of
automobile resources, functionality, and status. Computer
interaction interface elements such as check boxes, cursors, menus,
scrollers, and windows (collectively and commonly referred to as
widgets) similarly facilitate the access, operation, and display of
data and computer hardware and operating system resources,
functionality, and status. Operation interfaces are commonly called
user interfaces. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) such as the Apple
Macintosh Operating System's Aqua, IBM's OS/2, Microsoft's Windows
2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/Vista (i.e., Aero)/XP, or
Unix's X-Windows (e.g., which may include additional Unix graphic
interface libraries and layers such as K Desktop Environment (KDE),
mythTV and GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME)), provide a
baseline and means of accessing and displaying information
graphically to users.
[0084] A user interface component 1617 is a stored program
component that is executed by a CPU. The user interface may be a
conventional graphic user interface as provided by, with, and/or
atop operating systems and/or operating environments such as
already discussed. The user interface may allow for the display,
execution, interaction, manipulation, and/or operation of program
components and/or system facilities through textual and/or
graphical facilities. The user interface provides a facility
through which users may affect, interact, and/or operate a computer
system. A user interface may communicate to and/or with other
components in a component collection, including itself, and/or
facilities of the like. Most frequently, the user interface
communicates with operating systems, other program components,
and/or the like. The user interface may contain, communicate,
generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user,
and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.
[0085] Web Browser
[0086] A Web browser component 1618 is a stored program component
that is executed by a CPU. The Web browser may be a conventional
hypertext viewing application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer
or Netscape Navigator. Secure Web browsing may be supplied with 128
bit (or greater) encryption by way of HTTPS, SSL, and/or the like.
Some Web browsers allow for the execution of program components
through facilities such as Java, JavaScript, ActiveX, web browser
plug-in APIs (e.g., FireFox, Safari Plug-in, and/or the like APIs),
and/or the like. Web browsers and like information access tools may
be integrated into PDAs, cellular telephones, and/or other mobile
devices. A Web browser may communicate to and/or with other
components in a component collection, including itself, and/or
facilities of the like. Most frequently, the Web browser
communicates with information servers, operating systems,
integrated program components (e.g., plug-ins), and/or the like;
e.g., it may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide
program component, system, user, and/or data communications,
requests, and/or responses. Of course, in place of a Web browser
and information server, a combined application may be developed to
perform similar functions of both. The combined application would
similarly affect the obtaining and the provision of information to
users, user agents, and/or the like from the HD-FAID enabled nodes.
The combined application may be nugatory on systems employing
standard Web browsers.
[0087] Mail Server
[0088] A mail server component 1621 is a stored program component
that is executed by a CPU 1603. The mail server may be a
conventional Internet mail server such as, but not limited to
sendmail, Microsoft Exchange, and/or the like. The mail server may
allow for the execution of program components through facilities
such as ASP, ActiveX, (ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or NET,
CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, PERL, PHP, pipes, Python,
WebObjects, and/or the like. The mail server may support
communications protocols such as, but not limited to: Internet
message access protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming
Interface (MAPI)/Microsoft Exchange, post office protocol (POP3),
simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and/or the like. The mail
server can route, forward, and process incoming and outgoing mail
messages that have been sent, relayed and/or otherwise traversing
through and/or to the HD-FAID.
[0089] Access to the HD-FAID mail may be achieved through a number
of APIs offered by the individual Web server components and/or the
operating system.
[0090] Also, a mail server may contain, communicate, generate,
obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or data
communications, requests, information, and/or responses.
[0091] Mail Client
[0092] A mail client component 1622 is a stored program component
that is executed by a CPU 1603. The mail client may be a
conventional mail viewing application such as Apple Mail, Microsoft
Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla,
Thunderbird, and/or the like. Mail clients may support a number of
transfer protocols, such as: IMAP, Microsoft Exchange, POP3, SMTP,
and/or the like. A mail client may communicate to and/or with other
components in a component collection, including itself, and/or
facilities of the like. Most frequently, the mail client
communicates with mail servers, operating systems, other mail
clients, and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate,
generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user,
and/or data communications, requests, information, and/or
responses. Generally, the mail client provides a facility to
compose and transmit electronic mail messages.
[0093] Cryptographic Server
[0094] A cryptographic server component 1620 is a stored program
component that is executed by a CPU 1603, cryptographic processor
1626, cryptographic processor interface 1627, cryptographic
processor device 1628, and/or the like. Cryptographic processor
interfaces will allow for expedition of encryption and/or
decryption requests by the cryptographic component; however, the
cryptographic component, alternatively, may run on a conventional
CPU. The cryptographic component allows for the encryption and/or
decryption of provided data. The cryptographic component allows for
both symmetric and asymmetric (e.g., Pretty Good Protection (PGP))
encryption and/or decryption. The cryptographic component may
employ cryptographic techniques such as, but not limited to:
digital certificates (e.g., X.509 authentication framework),
digital signatures, dual signatures, enveloping, password access
protection, public key management, and/or the like. The
cryptographic component will facilitate numerous (encryption and/or
decryption) security protocols such as, but not limited to:
checksum, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Elliptical Curve
Encryption (ECC), International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA),
Message Digest 5 (MD5, which is a one way hash function),
passwords, Rivest Cipher (RC5), Rijndael, RSA (which is an Internet
encryption and authentication system that uses an algorithm
developed in 1977 by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman),
Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Secure
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), and/or the like. Employing
such encryption security protocols, the HD-FAID may encrypt all
incoming and/or outgoing communications and may serve as node
within a virtual private network (VPN) with a wider communications
network. The cryptographic component facilitates the process of
"security authorization" whereby access to a resource is inhibited
by a security protocol wherein the cryptographic component effects
authorized access to the secured resource. In addition, the
cryptographic component may provide unique identifiers of content,
e.g., employing and MD5 hash to obtain a unique signature for an
digital audio file. A cryptographic component may communicate to
and/or with other components in a component collection, including
itself, and/or facilities of the like. The cryptographic component
supports encryption schemes allowing for the secure transmission of
information across a communications network to enable the HD-FAID
component to engage in secure transactions if so desired. The
cryptographic component facilitates the secure accessing of
resources on the HD-FAID and facilitates the access of secured
resources on remote systems; i.e., it may act as a client and/or
server of secured resources. Most frequently, the cryptographic
component communicates with information servers, operating systems,
other program components, and/or the like. The cryptographic
component may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or
provide program component, system, user, and/or data
communications, requests, and/or responses.
[0095] The HD-FAID Database
[0096] The HD-FAID database component 1619 may be embodied in a
database and its stored data. The database is a stored program
component, which is executed by the CPU; the stored program
component portion configuring the CPU to process the stored data.
The database may be a conventional, fault tolerant, relational,
scalable, secure database such as Oracle or Sybase. Relational
databases are an extension of a flat file. Relational databases
consist of a series of related tables. The tables are
interconnected via a key field. Use of the key field allows the
combination of the tables by indexing against the key field; i.e.,
the key fields act as dimensional pivot points for combining
information from various tables. Relationships generally identify
links maintained between tables by matching primary keys. Primary
keys represent fields that uniquely identify the rows of a table in
a relational database. More precisely, they uniquely identify rows
of a table on the "one" side of a one-to-many relationship.
[0097] Alternatively, the HD-FAID database may be implemented using
various standard data-structures, such as an array, hash, (linked)
list, struct, structured text file (e.g., XML), table, and/or the
like. Such data-structures may be stored in memory and/or in
(structured) files. In another alternative, an object-oriented
database may be used, such as Frontier, ObjectStore, Poet, Zope,
and/or the like. Object databases can include a number of object
collections that are grouped and/or linked together by common
attributes; they may be related to other object collections by some
common attributes. Object-oriented databases perform similarly to
relational databases with the exception that objects are not just
pieces of data but may have other types of functionality
encapsulated within a given object. If the HD-FAID database is
implemented as a data-structure, the use of the HD-FAID database
1619 may be integrated into another component such as the HD-FAID
component 1635. Also, the database may be implemented as a mix of
data structures, objects, and relational structures. Databases may
be consolidated and/or distributed in countless variations through
standard data processing techniques. Portions of databases, e.g.,
tables, may be exported and/or imported and thus decentralized
and/or integrated.
[0098] In one embodiment, the database component 1619 includes
several tables 1619a-d. A historical information table 1619a
includes fields such as, but not limited to: an Asset_ID, a Data
source ID, historical open and close prices, volume traded,
historical analyses, and/or the like. A user table 1619b may
include fields such as, but not limited to: User_ID, workspace ID,
account type, account preferences, tracked assets, and/or the like.
A current information table 1619c includes fields such as, but not
limited to: Asset_ID, current price, current volume, current
direction, up-to-date analyses, and/or the like. Finally, a
complementary currencies table 1619d includes fields such as, but
not limited to: available currency pairs, Asset_IDs, asset_ID
links, and/or the like.
[0099] In one embodiment, the HD-FAID database may interact with
other database systems. For example, employing a distributed
database system, queries and data access by search navigator
component may treat the combination of the HD-FAID database, an
integrated data security layer database as a single database
entity.
[0100] In one embodiment, user programs may contain various user
interface primitives, which may serve to update the HD-FAID. Also,
various accounts may require custom database tables depending upon
the environments and the types of clients the HD-FAID may need to
serve. It should be noted that any unique fields may be designated
as a key field throughout. In an alternative embodiment, these
tables have been decentralized into their own databases and their
respective database controllers (i.e., individual database
controllers for each of the above tables). Employing standard data
processing techniques, one may further distribute the databases
over several computer systemizations and/or storage devices.
Similarly, configurations of the decentralized database controllers
may be varied by consolidating and/or distributing the various
database components 1619a-e. The HD-FAID may be configured to keep
track of various settings, inputs, and parameters via database
controllers.
[0101] The HD-FAID database may communicate to and/or with other
components in a component collection, including itself, and/or
facilities of the like. Most frequently, the HD-FAID database
communicates with the HD-FAID component, other program components,
and/or the like. The database may contain, retain, and provide
information regarding other nodes and data.
[0102] The HD-FAIDs
[0103] The HD-FAID component 1635 is a stored program component
that is executed by a CPU. In one embodiment, the HD-FAID component
incorporates any and/or all combinations of the aspects of the
HD-FAID that was discussed in the previous figures. As such, the
HD-FAID affects accessing, obtaining and the provision of
information, services, transactions, and/or the like across various
communications networks.
[0104] The HD-FAID component enables the retrieval, monitoring,
analysis, output of dense data streams and/or the like.
[0105] The HD-FAID component enabling access of information between
nodes may be developed by employing standard development tools and
languages such as, but not limited to: Apache components, Assembly,
ActiveX, binary executables, (ANSI) (Objective) C (++), C# and/or
NET, database adapters, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, mapping
tools, procedural and object oriented development tools, PERL, PHP,
Python, shell scripts, SQL commands, web application server
extensions, WebObjects, and/or the like. In one embodiment, the
HD-FAID server employs a cryptographic server to encrypt and
decrypt communications. The HD-FAID component may communicate to
and/or with other components in a component collection, including
itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the HD-FAID
component communicates with the HD-FAID database, operating
systems, other program components, and/or the like. The HD-FAID may
contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program
component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests,
and/or responses.
[0106] Distributed HD-FAIDs
[0107] The structure and/or operation of any of the HD-FAID node
controller components may be combined, consolidated, and/or
distributed in any number of ways to facilitate development and/or
deployment. Similarly, the component collection may be combined in
any number of ways to facilitate deployment and/or development. To
accomplish this, one may integrate the components into a common
code base or in a facility that can dynamically load the components
on demand in an integrated fashion.
[0108] The component collection may be consolidated and/or
distributed in countless variations through standard data
processing and/or development techniques. Multiple instances of any
one of the program components in the program component collection
may be instantiated on a single node, and/or across numerous nodes
to improve performance through load-balancing and/or
data-processing techniques. Furthermore, single instances may also
be distributed across multiple controllers and/or storage devices;
e.g., databases. All program component instances and controllers
working in concert may do so through standard data processing
communication techniques.
[0109] The configuration of the HD-FAID controller will depend on
the context of system deployment. Factors such as, but not limited
to, the budget, capacity, location, and/or use of the underlying
hardware resources may affect deployment requirements and
configuration. Regardless of if the configuration results in more
consolidated and/or integrated program components, results in a
more distributed series of program components, and/or results in
some combination between a consolidated and distributed
configuration, data may be communicated, obtained, and/or provided.
Instances of components consolidated into a common code base from
the program component collection may communicate, obtain, and/or
provide data. This may be accomplished through intra-application
data processing communication techniques such as, but not limited
to: data referencing (e.g., pointers), internal messaging, object
instance variable communication, shared memory space, variable
passing, and/or the like.
[0110] If component collection components are discrete, separate,
and/or external to one another, then communicating, obtaining,
and/or providing data with and/or to other component components may
be accomplished through inter-application data processing
communication techniques such as, but not limited to: Application
Program Interfaces (API) information passage; (distributed)
Component Object Model ((D)COM), (Distributed) Object Linking and
Embedding ((D)OLE), and/or the like), Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (CORBA), local and remote application program
interfaces Jini, Remote Method Invocation (RMI), process pipes,
shared files, and/or the like. Messages sent between discrete
component components for inter-application communication or within
memory spaces of a singular component for intra-application
communication may be facilitated through the creation and parsing
of a grammar. A grammar may be developed by using standard
development tools such as lex, yacc, XML, and/or the like, which
allow for grammar generation and parsing functionality, which in
turn may form the basis of communication messages within and
between components. Again, the configuration will depend upon the
context of system deployment.
[0111] The entirety of this disclosure (including the Cover Page,
Title, Headings, Field, Background, Summary, Brief Description of
the Drawings, Detailed Description, Claims, Abstract, Figures, and
otherwise) shows by way of illustration various embodiments in
which the claimed inventions may be practiced. The advantages and
features of the disclosure are of a representative sample of
embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are
presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimed
principles. It should be understood that they are not
representative of all claimed inventions. As such, certain aspects
of the disclosure have not been discussed herein. That alternate
embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portion of
the invention or that further undescribed alternate embodiments may
be available for a portion is not to be considered a disclaimer of
those alternate embodiments. It will be appreciated that many of
those undescribed embodiments incorporate the same principles of
the invention and others are equivalent. Thus, it is to be
understood that other embodiments may be utilized and functional,
logical, organizational, structural and/or topological
modifications may be made without departing from the scope and/or
spirit of the disclosure. As such, all examples and/or embodiments
are deemed to be non-limiting throughout this disclosure. Also, no
inference should be drawn regarding those embodiments discussed
herein relative to those not discussed herein other than it is as
such for purposes of reducing space and repetition. For instance,
it is to be understood that the logical and/or topological
structure of any combination of any program components (a component
collection), other components and/or any present feature sets as
described in the figures and/or throughout are not limited to a
fixed operating order and/or arrangement, but rather, any disclosed
order is exemplary and all equivalents, regardless of order, are
contemplated by the disclosure. Furthermore, it is to be understood
that such features are not limited to serial execution, but rather,
any number of threads, processes, services, servers, and/or the
like that may execute asynchronously, concurrently, in parallel,
simultaneously, synchronously, and/or the like are contemplated by
the disclosure. As such, some of these features may be mutually
contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneously present in a
single embodiment. Similarly, some features are applicable to one
aspect of the invention, and inapplicable to others. In addition,
the disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed.
Applicant reserves all rights in those presently unclaimed
inventions including the right to claim such inventions, file
additional applications, continuations, continuations in part,
divisions, and/or the like thereof. As such, it should be
understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functional,
features, logical, organizational, structural, topological, and/or
other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered
limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims or
limitations on equivalents to the claims.
* * * * *
References