Abstract:
A multivariable search system for the comparative analysis of financial products allows the user to enter a set of criteria of their choice with desired ranges and in addition, a weighting factor to be applied to the criteria. Mutual funds, for instance, may be searched according to desired rates of return, fund type categories, and assigned levels of weight or emphasis on different ones of the criteria. Search results may be returned in coded form, indicating which candidate products they match all of the selected criteria, and which ones generate the highest net score given the weighting and other factors. Searches may be revised or refined based on the presented results, or new searches may be performed. Hot linkable connections may be presented to transaction sites to carry out purchases, obtain prospectuses, or other activities relating to the mutual fund or other financial products returned.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to the field of electronic commerce, and more particularly to the dynamic, realtime comparison of financial products such as mutual funds. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The advent of electronic commerce has led to an increasingly sophisticated array of networked financial products and services, and consumer tools to access and analyze those products and services. Online shopping comparators, in which categories of consumer goods or services are sorted by price, are known. Reverse auction services, in which a consumer names a price and then a search engine attempts to match that price amongst participating vendors, are also known. In the realm of financial products and services, a host of Internet-based banking, mutual funds, and other financial tools have been deployed. 
   In the case of mutual funds, the subject product involves a set of performance numbers and other quantities which require more than a simple, one-field comparison on the basis of price. As a result, shopping for networked mutual fund products typically involves running a comparison engine in which a consumer wishing to invest in a mutual fund enters a set of predefined ranges for several variables fitting their needs, and pertaining to funds in the search set. For instance, the consumer may enter a request for comparison of funds whose 5-year average return is at least 20% with an expense load of no more than 1.5%. Conventional search engines will then access some type of database whose fields correspond to these predefined variables, and return only those mutual fund products matching the complete criteria set by the inquirer. 
   However, those types of comparison engines suffer from more than one drawback. For one, if a candidate mutual fund lacks one of the selected criteria but very satisfactorily meets all of the remainder, conventional search engines will omit that product from the presentation of search results. Moreover, while such engines permit a user to input ranges for different criteria, once they are entered those ranges are not weightable. That is, the user is not afforded the opportunity to create a sliding scale of importance to be applied to the various quantitative factors supported by the search engine, or to sort out results once hits are found based on variable weights. In addition, conventional search engines are not equipped to allow a user to re-search an existing collection of hits by adding, deleting or adjusting one or more criteria or weights on those criteria, to refine searches and focus in on products of particular interest. 
   Further, conventional search engines may be constrained in the input feeds they use, and not be able to obtain multiple feeds or frequent or realtime updates. More flexible and robust financial search technology is desirable. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention overcoming these and other drawbacks in the art relates to a system and method for dynamic, multivariable comparison of financial products which permits consumers to select, enter, and edit criteria of their choosing, and weight those criteria according to user objectives. Search results based on this multivariable comparison may be presented in a quantitative or hybrid quantitative/graphical form, and links to service sites for purchase of the products involved may be presented. The database or databases from which candidate funds or other products are drawn for comparison by the search engine may be updated frequently or in realtime, and the search criteria may involve more than purely quantitative data. For instance, a user may wish to restrict their search for a financial or other product to subsets within certain categories, such as growth funds within the universe of available mutual funds. The invention in one embodiment is reflected in the Fund Profiler™ product of the assignee of this application. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are referenced by like numerals. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a search engine architecture according to a first illustrative embodiment of the invention. 
       FIGS. 2(   a )– 2 ( y ) illustrate user interfaces and search logic for illustrative comparisons executed by the invention. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a flowchart of comparison processing according to the invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   The invention will be described with reference to an illustrative architecture shown in  FIG. 1 , in which a transaction server  106  communicates with a variety of database and other resources to coordinate the delivery of financial comparisons to a consumer at a client  118 . Client  118  is connected to the transaction server  106  via communications link  104 . 
   Communications link  104  may be, include or access any one or more of, for instance, the Internet, an intranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network) a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Local Network), or a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a frame relay connection, an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) connection, a synchronous optical connection, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection, a digital T1, T2, or E1 line, Digital Data Service (DDS) connection, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection, an Ethernet connection, an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line, a dial-up port such as a V.90, V.34, or V.34bis analog modem connection, a cable modem, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) connection, or FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Networks) or CDDI (Copper Distributed Data Interface) connections. 
   Communications link  104  may furthermore be, include or access any one or more of a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) link, a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) link, a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) link a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) link such as a cellular phone channel, a GPS (Global Positioning System) link, CDPD (cellular digital packet data), a RIM (Research in Motion, Limited) duplex paging type device, a Bluetooth radio link, or an IEEE 802.11-based radio frequency link. Communications link  104  may yet further be, include or access any one or more of an RS-232 serial connection, an IEEE-1394 (Firewire) connection, an IrDA (infrared) port, a SCSI (Small Computer Serial Interface) connection, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection or other wired or wireless, digital or analog interface or connection. 
   Client  118  itself may be or include, for instance, a personal computer running the Microsoft Windows™ 95, 98, Millenium, NT, or 2000, Unix, Linux, Solaris™, OS/2™, BeOS™, MacOS™, or other operating system or platform. Client  118  may include a microprocessor such as an Intel x86-based device, a Motorola 68K or PowerPC device, a MIPS, Hewlett Packard or Alpha RISC processor, a microcontroller or other general or special purpose device operating under a programmed control. Client  118  may furthermore include electronic memory such as RAM (random access memory), or EPROM (electronically programmable read only memory), storage such as hard drive, CDROM or rewritable CDROM or other magnetic, optical, or other media, and other associated components connected over an electronic bus, as will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art. Client  118  may also be a network-enabled appliance such as a WebTV™ unit, radio-enable Palm™ Pilot or similar unit, a set-top box, a game playing console such as Sony Playstation™ or Sega Dreamcast™, a browser-equipped cellular telephone, or other TCP/IP client or other device. 
   The transaction server  106  may be or include, for instance, a workstation running the Microsoft Windows™ NT™, Windows™ 2000, Unix, Linux, IBM AIX, Hewlett-Packard UX, Novell Netware™, Sun Microsystems Solaris™, OS/2™, BeOS™, Mach, Apache, OpenStep™, or other operating system or platform. Transaction server  106  includes or executes a search engine  116  capable of interrogating or querying a relational or other database source to execute user commands. In the illustrative embodiment, the transaction server  106  communicates via communications link  108  to a set of information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n . The information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n  may be or include, for instance, commercially available financial or other information sources, such as a feed on a realtime or batch basis from the Lipper™ financial network source. It will be appreciated that other information sources, singly or together, may communicate with transaction server  106  to serve as raw information for customized consumer inquiries. 
   Search engine  116  is configured to accept information from the sources  110   a  . . .  110   n  and interrogate the resulting information feed, in relational database or other format. In one implementation of the invention, the search engine  116  may advantageously be, include or access the commercially available Frictionless™ product available from Frictionless Commerce, Inc. Search engine  116  may also be, include or access other existing data storage or management, technology such as the Oracle™ relational database sold commercially by Oracle Corp. Other databases, such as Informix™, DB2 or other data storage or query formats or platforms, such as SQL may also be used, accessed or incorporated in the invention. 
   In the operation of the invention, the client  118  may present a consumer wishing to inquire about mutual fund or other products with a user interface  102  laying out a set of user-selectable criteria  120 , illustrated as criteria  1  . . . n. As illustrated in more detail in  FIGS. 2(   a )– 2 ( y ), the criteria  120  in general may include enumerated financial information such as average fund returns for 1, 5, 10 years or other applicable periods, expense loads, fund asset size, net asset value (NAV) fund type, minimum investment and other qualitative or quantitative categories of information. In addition, the user may be presented with user-definable weighting ranges on interface  102 . 
   That is, in the illustrative embodiment, the invention presents the user via interface  102  with not just sets of quantitative or qualitative fields, but also weighting module  124  to permit a set of a weighting ranges to allow the user to attach discretionary levels of importance to those various ranges, should they be present in candidate fund. The user may assign a set of weights to those selected data, for instance categorizing different features as “must have” for greatest weighting, or lesser degrees according in one implementation to a sliding, radio-button scale as illustrated in  FIG. 2(   g ). This means that a consumer at client  118  may receive a broad compilation of search results reflecting a collection of complex information, but sorted according to that user&#39;s particular needs. 
   For instance, one user may be looking for mutual fund products having the characteristics of at least a 15% average annualized return over the last five years, while being categorized conservatively as an income fund, and having an expense load of less than 1.5%. For that user and their comparison criteria, mutual fund products having those characteristics may be presented and sorted, while other mutual funds matching the quantitative criteria, but lacking the income fund category, may also be presented for completeness and flexibility. As illustrated in  FIGS. 2(   a )– 2 ( y ), the interface  102  of the invention may present the user with graphical result code  122  indicating the varying degree of match between the user&#39;s inputted criteria and the characteristics of the funds presented in the search results  112 . 
   Illustratively the interface  102  may present the user with a blue bar next to entries in the search results  112  whose degree of blueness or length of bar reflects how well candidate funds or other products meet all inputted criteria. The user may, therefore, immediately isolate the products which meet all stated criteria. However, the invention may also present the user with other graphical result codes  122 , such as a yellow bar, indicating that some but not all of criteria  120  were met. Nonetheless, a candidate fund marked with a yellow bar may generate a higher match score and receive a higher ordinal ranking if a given mutual fund product does not contain all stated criteria  120  of the search, however matches higher-weighted criteria to a particularly strong degree. 
   The resulting sort list in the search results  112  may thus present the user with a variety of matching funds, some meeting all criteria  120  while others may have fewer categorical matches but higher net match scores resulting from user-defined weighting. The weighting module  124  may store pre-assigned default values for different categories of the criteria  120 , but which the user may manipulate via interface  102  to adjust up or down. The user may similarly manipulate the interface  102  to create or access an investment profile  126  for that user for the purpose of pre-filling one or more different criteria  120 , for use during later sessions. 
   Once the user has entered or selected all criteria  120  at the client  118 , the criteria  120  are communicated to the transaction server  106  for entry into the search engine  116 . Search engine  116  obtains the criteria  120  for a relational or other query against the information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n  on a realtime or batch basis. Once the information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n  are interrogated the search engine  116  collects and transmits the search results  112  to the client  118  via communications link  104 . The search results  112  may satisfy the user in initial form, providing enough information to permit the user to make a transaction decision. In that regard and as illustrated for instance in  FIG. 2(   m ),  2 ( x ) and  2 ( y ), interface  102  may include a transaction link  128  permitting the user to reach a linkable Web or other site via a URL or other linking resource, to enter information, obtain a prospectus, perform a transaction or take other steps. 
   However, in the practice of the invention if the user wishes to revise or refine search results  112 , provision is made for search refinement through search modification module  114  accessible through the interface  102 . The search modification module  114  allows the user to execute editing functions to alter, delete, add, or otherwise manipulate the criteria  120  to re-execute or refine the search. 
   If the user chooses to revise the criteria  120 , they manipulate the interface  102  to enter different values, ranges, or weights for comparison against the information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n . In one embodiment, the search results  112  may be stored locally on the client  118  so that further refinements within the search results  112  themselves may be performed without the need to communicate over communications link  104  and other facilities. Conversely, if the user wishes to add to the criteria  120 , or to replace one or more of the criteria  120  with entirely new values, it may be necessary to communicate between communications link  104  and other resources to obtain new search results  112 . 
   A revised or refined search may produce new search results  112 , with recalculated and re-presented graphical results codes  122  indicating a new ordinal ranking of mutual funds or other products, again for instance using blue bars, yellow bars, or other icons or other graphical representations. It may be noted that the transmissions via communications link  104  or otherwise may be encrypted using PGP, SSL, 128-bit encryption or other security techniques. 
   An illustrative example of a comparison session will be described with reference to  FIGS. 2(   a ) and  2 ( z ) in more detail. As shown in  FIG. 2(   a ), the user interface  102  may present the user with a login screen. The user then may be presented with a selection screen as shown in  FIG. 2(   b ) to select the profiling function of the invention. As shown in  FIGS. 2(   c )– 2 ( e ), the user may then be presented with a description of the service along with instructions on how to proceed with invoking a comparison session. The user may then be presented with an option to either select a predefined search profile, illustratively a set of investment objectives rated between very aggressive and very conservative, and a custom profile selection permitting individual criteria selection, as shown in  FIG. 2(   f ). 
   If the user elects to set up a custom profile, then as shown in  FIG. 2(   g ) the set of criteria  120  may be presented along with the weighting module  124  in the form of selectable radio buttons to arrange their desired complex of criteria. As shown in  FIGS. 2(   h ) and  2 ( i ), the user may drill down into individual ones of the criteria  120  for range selection and explanations of the pertinent data. Once the desired ranges and weights are input or selected for all of the criteria  120 , the entire set of search criteria are communicated to the transaction server  106 . The search engine  116  then interrogates the information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n , and returns search results  112  illustrated in  FIGS. 2(   j )– 2 ( l ). As shown for instance in  FIGS. 2(   j )– 2 ( l ), the graphical result code  122  for each entry within the search results  112  may be included along with quantitative and other information to permit the user to compare and evaluate different products coinciding with their needs. As shown in  FIG. 2(   m ), a transaction link  128  may be presented, in this case illustratively a request for a financial prospectus. 
   As illustrated in  FIGS. 2(   n )– 2 ( y ), once the transaction server  106  returns the search results  112  to the client  118 , the user may drill down through the search results  112  in order to view more information about particular funds, sort the results, alter one or more of the criteria  120  and generally manipulate the user interface  102  to refine and explore the search results  112 . As illustrated in  FIG. 2(   y ), another possibility for the transaction link  128  is as a link to a purchase site for individual funds or other products, depending on the search results  112 , the user&#39;s existing account and other factors. 
   Overall processing of mutual fund comparative profiles according to the invention is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . In step  302 , processing begins. In step  304 , a user logs in at client  118 , and the login may include authentication processing if desired. In step  306 , either criteria  120  to be newly entered or pre-filled criteria if investment profile  126  is activated are presented via the interface  102 . In step  308 , the user selects or inputs the criteria  120  they wish to apply to the search, along with any weights via the weighting module  124 . In step  310 , the user&#39;s entered search information is communicated via communications link  104  to the transaction server  106 . 
   In step  312 , the search engine  116  communicates with the information sources  110   a  . . .  110   n  to interrogate those sources for matches to the user&#39;s search criteria  120 . In step  314 , search results  112  are communicated to the client  118  and presented to the user, which may include for example graphical result code  122 , numerical data, ordinal rankings, advertising, or other information. In step  316  a revised search is executed using search modification module  114 , if desired. In step  318 , linking to a transaction site via a transaction link  128  is executed if the user so desires. In step  320 , the search results  112  and other information may be stored on client  118 , transaction server  106  or elsewhere if desired. In step  322 , processing ends. 
   The foregoing description of the system and method for dynamic multivariable comparisons according to the invention is illustrated, and variations in configuration and implementation will occur to persons skilled in the art. For example, while search results  112  have been described as being visually presented on interface  112  of client  118 , search results and related information could be communicated audibly using text-to-speech or other conversion software for delivery via telephone, pager, or other communication mode. Similarly, while the search action has been described as taking place on a single transaction server  106 , a variety of distributed architectures could be used to carry out searching and processing on different resources remotely or locally, depending on architecture. The scope of the invention is accordingly intended to be limited only by the following claims.