Patent Publication Number: US-2006010059-A1

Title: Investment information providing system of which working display may be set by a user, and a method thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 365 (c) of International Application No. PCT/KR2003/002710, filed Dec. 11, 2003, designating the United States and claiming for the benefit of the earlier filing dates under 35 U.S.C. § 365 (b) of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-0078924 filed Dec. 11, 2002. International Application No. PCT/KR2003/002710 was published as WO 2004/053691. The International Application No. PCT/KR2003/002710 and the publication WO 2004/053691 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entiety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a technique of providing investment information on stocks, futures, options, bonds, foreign exchange, global financial markets, etc. through wire or wireless communication networks, and particularly to a system, a method and a recording medium thereof wherein a screen to display investment information can be freely configured by a user, and pieces of information displayed in each screen can be provided in order to be organically related to each other.  
     DEFINITIONS  
      Terms used herein will be defined as follows:  
      A “window” means a window which displays certain tasks or information, and can be divided into a plurality of display sections. A display section set within a window is referred to as a “sub-display section”. Further, a window can include another window.  
      A “main window” means a window is being activated by a current user.  
      An “investment category” or “category” in short means an item on investment information such as the current price of a share of stock, trading volume, financial statements, rate of change, etc.  
      A “sub-element” means investment information in a certain investment information category. For example, a sub-element with regard to the current price category of a certain stock means the investment information that indicates the current price of a share of the stock. The data value of a certain sub-element, generally, changes depending on time, and a certain data value is given at a certain time so that specific information can be presented to a user.  
     DESCRIPTION OF RELATED TECHNOLOGY  
      Recently, Internet users have been increasing dramatically due to the progress of information technology and computer, and techniques for providing information through communication networks become more diverse. Such progress of technology has affected investment information providing systems on stocks, futures, options, bonds, foreign currencies, etc., and now a technique by which many people can be provided with the investment information on current stock price, current situation of price change, etc. through communication networks without visiting any trading floor and place an order has been presented.  
      According to such conventional investment information providing system, the display format of every window to provide investment information is already fixed before provided. In other words, the entire display section of a window by which certain investment information is provided is fixed as one or more sub-display section(s) divided in order to display certain investment information categories according to the setting when designing the system.  
      For example, a window is divided into several sub-display sections, and each of the sub-display sections is designed to display the current price of a share of certain stock, daily/weekly/monthly price change, actual price, chart, etc. In this case, the sub-elements of categories not designed to be displayed in advance such as company information on a current issue, information on other issues, etc. cannot be displayed within the window. Further, according to such conventional investment information providing system, only the information from one of the markets of stocks, options, bonds, etc. is displayed on only one window, and the information from other markets may not be displayed on the same window.  
      Therefore, there is a problem that a user has to open a new window in order to see the sub-elements of a category other than the categories set in advance to display sub-elements in the sub-display sections included a main window. It is inconvenient that the user may have to work with several windows, and also the task with two or more windows occupies too many system resources of a computer on operating. Further, the processing speed of the computer can be decreased, some other tasks may not be performed promptly, or the system may be even stopped abnormally.  
      Moreover, according to such conventional investment information providing system, also there is a problem that irrelevant information is displayed because pieces of information displayed in a plurality of windows are not organically related to each other. That is, if two windows are displaying the current price and trading volume respectively, even though a user changes an interesting issue in one of the two windows, the other window still displays the information on the issue displayed as it is, and thus that causes a problem that a user undesirably sees information on different issues in two windows.  
      Further, in view of displaying information efficiently, since the properties of each sub-display section are still not diversified, standardized or subdivided, there is a problem that they cannot be diversified if standardized, and cannot be standardized if diversified.  
     SUMMARY  
      One aspect of the invention provides an investment information providing system and a method thereof wherein a user can set sub-display sections of a main window.  
      Another aspect of the invention provides an investment information providing system and a method thereof wherein a user can set investment information categories displayed on sub-display sections of a main window according to his or her preference.  
      A further aspect of the invention provides an investment information providing system and a method thereof for providing pieces of information of investment information categories being displayed so that they can be organically related to each other.  
      According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system for providing a user with investment information needed by the user, the investment information being displayed in a window capable of being set by the user according to the user&#39;s intention, includes a window creating module for creating at least one sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting in the window, the window created by the user or already having existed and assigned by the user, a window controlling module for controlling sub-elements related to each other in order to be synchronized with each other, the sub-elements assigned to be displayed in each the sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting and a display module for displaying the sub-element in the sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting.  
      According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method for providing a user with investment information needed by the user, the investment information being displayed in a window capable of being set by the user according to the user&#39;s intention, includes a first step of creating at least one sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting in the window, the window created by the user or already having existed and assigned by the user, a second step of controlling sub-elements related to each other in order to be synchronized with each other, the sub-elements assigned to be displayed in each the sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting and a third step of displaying the sub-element in the sub-display section according to the user&#39;s setting. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematically showing a usage example of an investment information providing system enabling a user to set a task screen.  
       FIG. 2  schematically shows an example of investment information categories in an embodiment.  
       FIG. 3  shows schematic block diagrams of an investment information providing system enabling a user to set a task screen according to an embodiment.  
       FIG. 4  schematically shows an example of the relation of sub-elements according to an embodiment.  
       FIG. 5   a  shows a window newly created by user&#39;s setting.  
       FIG. 5   b  shows an example of categories being selected by a user, one of which will be displayed in a main window.  
       FIG. 5   c  shows a first sub-display section created by user&#39;s setting.  
       FIG. 5   d  shows an example of categories being selected by a user to create a second sub-display section in a main window.  
       FIG. 5   e  shows two sub-display sections created by user&#39;s setting and arranged in the left and right halves of a main window.  
       FIG. 5   e  shows two sub-display sections created by user&#39;s setting and arranged in the upper and lower halves of a main window.  
       FIG. 6  shows an example of a window being displayed by an investment information providing system of an embodiment.  
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart showing a setting process for a task screen in an investment information providing method enabling a user to set a task screen according to a first embodiment.  
       FIG. 8  is a flowchart showing a process that sub-elements are displayed in a plurality of sub-display sections included in a window in an investment information providing method enabling a user to set a task screen according to an embodiment.  
       FIG. 9  is a schematic block diagram of an investment information providing system enabling a user to set a task screen according to a second embodiment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIEMENTS  
      Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to attached drawings.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematically showing a process that an investment information providing system provides investment information to users according to an embodiment. In the investment information providing system enabling a user to set a task screen (hereinafter, referred to as an “investment information providing system” in short), a user can create or assign a window according to his or her preference or need using his or her computer system  10 , and set a sub-display section in the window and categories about the investment information to be displayed in the sub-display section, etc. The investment information providing system  200 , according to the user&#39;s setting, receives and displays the investment information from an investment information source  40  through wire or wireless communication networks  30  using Internet, a wireless terminal, etc. Alternatively, it hands over the investment information received to the user&#39;s computer system  10  so that the information can be displayed.  
      Particularly, if a sub-element being displayed by a sub-display section in a window is changed into a different sub-element or another sub-element is added to it, the investment information providing system  200  enables a sub-element related to the changed or added sub-element to be automatically displayed even in other sub-display sections in the window. Therefore, even if a user uniquely set a plurality of sub-display sections included in a window according to his or her preference or need, investment information organically related to each other can be provided in the plurality of sub-display sections.  
      Next, referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 2  schematically shows an example of investment information categories provided to a user according to an embodiement. As shown in the drawing, current price, bid and asked, price rate of change, period-based stock price, current situation on buying and selling, trading volume, financial statements, financial analysis, sector index, period analysis, various charts by category, etc. can be used as the investment information categories. In addition to stock information, categories about the information on futures, options, bonds, foreign exchange, foreign markets, etc. can be provided to a user. Moreover, categories on two or more markets may be displayed in each of sub-display sections included in a window or in two or more windows respectively by the system  200 .  
      Next, referring to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 3  shows schematic block diagrams of an investment information providing system  200  according to an embodiment. As shown in the drawing, according to the embodiment, the investment information providing system  200  includes basic hardware such as a CPU  360  and software executed utilizing it, and further includes a window creating module  310 , a window controlling module  320 , a display module  330 , a user&#39;s setting controlling module  340 , and a data receiving module  350 . The modules are coupled to each other through a bus  380 .  
      The window creating module  310 , according to user&#39;s setting, creates a window to be displayed by the investment information providing system  200  and a sub-display section within the window. There is no limit on the number of the windows and the sub-display sections included in the windows created by the window creating module  310 . In other words, a user may set the system  200  to create two or more windows according to user&#39;s preference or set the number of sub-display sections included in each of the windows freely.  
      In addition, a user can set a plurality of windows to be displayed by the investment information providing system  200  without setting any sub-display section additionally. When a window is created, a user can freely set categories for each window and/or sub-display section. This will be described later.  
      Next, the window controlling module  320  stores registration information on all sub-elements of an investment information category set to be displayed in a window or a sub-display section included in the window created by the user&#39;s setting, and assigns the sub-elements to be displayed in the window and/or sub-display section based on this. The registration information on the sub-elements to be displayed in the window or the sub-display section included in the window means information on the properties of the sub-elements to be displayed such as a list, size, etc. other than investment information itself which is a sub-element.  
      Particularly, the window controlling module  320  checks whether two or more sub-elements to be displayed in each sub-display section are related to each other. Then, when a sub-element being displayed in a sub-display section of a window is changed or another sub-element is added to it, the window controlling module  320  displays one or more sub-elements that are related to the changed or added sub-element also in other sub-display sections of on the same window. In other words, sub-elements related to each other in a plurality of sub-display sections of in a window are synchronously displayed.  
      Here, with respect to a criterion whether sub-elements are related to each other, for example, sub-elements may be considered to be related to each other if their issue names or issue codes are the same. For example, if a sub-display section of a window is displaying the current price of a plurality of stock issues and other sub-display sections of the window are displaying the trading volume of a plurality of stock issues, one sub-element having the current price of a stock of a company as its value and another sub-element having the trading volume of the company as its value are considered to be related to (or have a relation with) each other. The criteria for such relation may be set by an administrator of the investment information providing system  200  in advance.  
      Further, the window controlling module  320  may include a registration information storing module  322  for storing the registration information on sub-elements displayed in a sub-display section included in a window, and a sub-element controlling module  324  for assigning sub-elements to be displayed in a sub-display section.  
      Next, the display module  330  displays sub-elements assigned by the window controlling module  320  in an assigned sub-display section, among investment information received from the investment information source  40 .  
      Next, the user&#39;s setting controlling module  340  receives user&#39;s setting, and stores information on the window created based on the user&#39;s setting, sub-display section and/or category to be displayed therein. By the user&#39;s setting controlling module  340 , the investment information providing system  200  can perform its display operation as it is by referring to the user&#39;s setting already stored, even if it recovers from power-off.  
      The user&#39;s setting can be inputted in the following manner. A user creates or activates a window, then creates sub-display sections by dividing the window into two or more horizontal and/or vertical sections, and then selects a category desired to be displayed in each of the sub-display sections. Alternatively, a user can activate an additional window which provides a menu and/or interface for user&#39;s setting, and then input his or her setting using the window. The manner of inputting user&#39;s setting, however, is merely an optional matter in designing, and it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.  
      According to an embodiment, the user setting controlling module  340  includes a user&#39;s setting inputting module  342  for receiving user&#39;s setting, and a user&#39;s setting storing module  344  for storing the inputted user&#39;s setting.  
      The data receiving module  350  performs data communications through general wire or wireless communication networks, and receives investment information provided by the investment information source  40 .  
       FIG. 4  schematically shows an example of the relation of sub-elements according to an embodiement. S 1 E 1  to SmEn indicate the registration information of each sub-element. Here in SiEj, i indicates the i-th sub-display section included in a window, and j indicates the j-th sub-element to be displayed in the i-th sub-display section. In other words, SaEb represents that the b-th sub-element is displayed in the a-th sub-display section.  
      The sub-elements displayed in each sub-display section provide investment information for each issue of a category. For example, if the category of the sub-elements being displayed in the first sub-display section is the current price, S 1 E 1  to S 1 En provide the information on the current price for each issue. In addition, if the category of the sub-elements being displayed in the second sub-display section  420  is the trading volume, the sub-elements S 2 E 1  to S 2 Ep provide the information on the trading volume for each issue, and if the category of the sub-elements being displayed in the third sub-display section  430  is the financial statements, the sub-elements S 3 E 1  to S 3 Eq provide the information on the financial statements for each issue.  
      In this case, among the sub-elements being displayed in other sub-display sections, the sub-elements having, e.g. the information on the same issue as their values are considered to be related to each other. If a sub-element in one of the sub-display sections is changed into another one or a new sub-element is added to be displayed, sub-elements related to the changed or added sub-element are charged or added in the other display sections as well.  
      In one embodiment, the sub-elements displayed in the first, second and third sub-display sections are related to the sub-element displayed in the fourth sub-display section. For example, if S 1 E 1 , S 1 E 2  and S 1 E 3  of the first sub-display section  410 , S 2 E 1 , S 2 E 2  and S 2 E 3  of the second sub-display section  420 , and S 3 E 1 , S 3 E 2  and S 3 E 3  of the third sub-display section  430  have investment information on semiconductor sector issues, and the sub-element S 4 E 1  may have the semiconductor sector index as its data value. Then, all of the sub-elements S 1 E 1 , S 1 E 2 , S 1 E 3 , S 2 E 1 , S 2 E 2 , S 2 E 3 , S 3 E 1 , S 3 E 2  and S 3 E 3  in the first to third sub-display sections are related to the sub-element S 4 E 1  in the fourth sub-display section.  
      In this case, due to the information properties, even if one of the sub-elements S 1 E 1 , S 1 E 2 , S 1 E 3 , S 2 E 1 , S 2 E 2 , S 2 E 3 , S 3 E 1 , S 3 E 2  and S 3 E 3  in the first to third sub-display sections is changed into a sub-element having the investment information on a different issue included in the same sector as its data value, the sub-element S 4 E 1  in the fourth sub-display section is not changed. And that is also the same if a sub-element having the investment information on a different issue in the same sector is added to one of the first to third sub-display sections.  
      Meanwhile, each sub-display section may include two or more categories and sub-elements included in each of the categories. In addition, a sub-element in a sub-display section of a window may not be related to a sub-element of another sub-display section. In this case, even if there is a change of sub-element in a sub-display section, unrelated sub-elements are not charged.  
       FIGS. 5   a  to  5   f  schematically show an example of the process of setting a window and sub-display sections by the investment information providing system  200 . As shown in  FIG. 5   a , a new window can be created by an instruction of a user. Also, the window may be one already exiting. Since the widow is being activated by a user, it is referred to as a main window.  
      Next, as shown in  FIG. 5   b , when a user gives an instruction within a display section of the main window by, e.g. right-clicking his or her mouse, a selection listing  510  for selection from category groups of investment information is displayed over the main window. The user locates his or her mouse cursor over one of the category groups, and then a selection listing  520  for selection from categories included therein is displayed.  
      When the user selects each one of the category groups and categories, as shown in  FIG. 5   c , a first sub-display section is created. With such process repeated, as shown in  FIGS. 5   d  and  5   e , a new sub-display section is created.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 5   e  and  5   f , the arrangement of the created sub-display sections depends on user&#39;s preference. In addition, the size of the created window and sub-display section can also be adjusted according to user&#39;s selection, and it should be noted that a variable font whose size changes corresponding to the size of the window and sub-display section and a fixed font whose size is fixed regardless of the size may be used.  
      The selection listing  520  for selection may be independent of the seletion listing  510 . The selection listings  510  and  520  for selection may be automatically provided when user&#39;s mouse cursor is placed at a certain position or a window is created. In addition to right-clicking, they can be displayed so that a user can select categories. And, it should be noted that before a sub-display section is created by user&#39;s selection, a function of a preview may be provided so as to check sub-display sections to be created, screen configuration of categories, and how sub-elements is displayed.  
      In another embodiment, a user may select a category to be displayed in each section after he or she divides a window into sub-display sections. Also in this case, how a window is divided, or how many sub-display sections are set is user&#39;s choice.  
      In addition, even though a sub-display section is already formed in an area of a window, a new sub-display section can be formed in the same area. In this case, one or more sub-display sections have been set on top of the other sub-display section(s) with a tag. Here, by selecting the tag, the underlying sub-display section can be activated and displayed while the previously displayed sub-display section is put under the activated sub-display section with a tag.  
      On a window being displayed in a format predetermined by the investment information providing system  200 , a user can input or change his or her setting by drag-and-drop. The manner of inputting or changing user&#39;s setting is also not limited the above examples.  
       FIG. 6  shows an example of a window being displayed by the investment information providing system  200  of an embodiment. In  FIG. 6 , it appears that a user has devided the window into three sub-display sections, and sets them to display sub-elements included in the categories “interesting issue”, “company information” and “sector information”. As shown in the drawing, the user has set a sub-display section  610  displaying the sub-elements included in the category “interest issue” to occupy the left half of the window.  
      The sub-display section  610  of the interesting issue display “issue name”, “current price”, “comparison”, “volume”, etc. In the illustrated example, when a user clicks on one of the categories such as “bid and asked”, “remaining volume”, “balance”, etc., the sub-elements included in the category are set to be displayed in a tag  612  form.  
      In addition, the user arranges a sub-display section  620  for displaying the information on the category “company information” at the upper right of the window. The user selects “company summary”, “fund change”, “financial statements”, “financial analysis”, “technical analysis”, etc. as attached categories for the sub-elements to be displayed in the sub-display section  620 , and sets each category in a tag  622  form so that the corresponding sub-elements can be displayed in an attached section  624  when it is selected.  
      Further, the user arranges a sub-display section  630  for displaying the information on the category “sector information” at the lower right of the window. The user selects “sector index”, “all sectors”, “sector issue”, “sector analysis”, “investor”, etc. as attached categories for the sub-elements to be displayed in the sub-display section  630 , and sets each category in a tag  632  form so that the corresponding sub-elements can be displayed in an attached section  632  when it is selected.  
      In the window, if the user selects one of the sub-elements being displayed in the sub-display section  610  for “interesting issue”, the company information on the issue selected by the user is displayed in the sub-display section  620  for “company information”, and the sector information on the sector in which the selected issue is included is displayed in the sub-display section  630  for “sector information”.  
      Next, referring to  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 7  is a flowchart showing a setting process for a task screen in an investment information providing method enabling a user to set a task screen according to an embodiment. First, a user gives an instruction to create a new window or selects one of already created windows so as to input his or her setting (step S 702 ).  
      Then, the user divides the created or selected window into several ones according to his or her preference or need in order to create a plurality of sub-display sections, and assigns desired categories to the sub-display sections (step S 704 ).  
      Then, the registration information on every sub-element to be displayed in each sub-display section included in the window is stored (step S 706 ).  
      Then, the registration information on the window, sub-display sections and categories of each sub-display section set in the steps S 702  to S 706  is stored as user&#39;s setting (step S 708 ).  
      The process through the steps cannot be performed only when a user inputs his or her setting for the first time, but when he or she changes his or her setting, or when he or she adds new setting.  
      Referring to  FIG. 8 ,  FIG. 8  is a flowchart showing a process that sub-elements are displayed in a window including a plurality of sub-display sections according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
      First, the sub-elements selected to be displayed are received (step S 802 ), and the received sub-elements are displayed in an assigned sub-displayed section (step S 804 ).  
      Then, whether sub-elements other than ones being displayed are requested from a user or the investment information providing system  200  is judged (step S 806 ). If there is no request as a result, the steps S 802  and S 804  are repeated.  
      On the other hand, there is a request for other sub-elements as a result of judgment in the step S 806 , the requested sub-elements are received and displayed in the assigned sub-display section (step S 808 ).  
      Then, whether any of sub-elements to be displayed in other display sections in the window is related to the requested sub-elements is judged (step S 810 ). As a result of judgment, if there is a sub-element having a relation, the investment information providing system  200  displays the sub-element having a relation an assigned sub-display section (step S 812 ). Meanwhile, if any related sub-element is not received or retrieved, the existing sub-elements are preferably kept being displayed.  
      In the meantime, if there is no sub-element having a relation as a result of judgment in the step S 810 , the investment information providing system  200  returns to a predetermined step to perform the next operation or wait.  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 8 , the process is shown in the case that a user requests other sub-elements while the assigned sub-elements are being displayed in a plurality of sub-display section included in one window. In another embodiment, however, the already assigned sub-elements might not exist like when the system  200  starts to operate for the first time after user&#39;s setting. In this case, the system  200  may operate from the step S 808  of requesting sub-elements by a user without the steps S 802 , S 804  and S 806 ,  
       FIG. 9  is a schematic block diagram of an investment information providing system  200  enabling a user to set a task screen according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 9 , investment information providing system  200  further includes a database establishing module  970  and a database  980 .  
      The database establishing module  970  establishes the database  380  for sub-elements received from the investment information source  40 . Unlike in other embodiments, where the sub-elements assigned to be displayed by a user are displayed by retrieving them from the investment information source  40 , in this embodiment the sub-elements assigned to be displayed are displayed by retrieving them from the database  380 .  
      In one embodiment, a user sets two or more windows and sub-display sections. Further, in another embodiment, each of a plurality of sub-display sections of a window created or assigned by a user may have properties as a window. In this case, the window controlling module controls a plurality of windows in the above manner. Although the present invention has been described by way of exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that those skilled in the art might make many changes and substitutions without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention which is defined only by the appended claims.  
      According to present invention, a user can be accommodated as he or she can freely set a window, sub-display sections and categories in sub-display sections when provided with investment information.  
      In addition, according to present invention, a user can be accommodated as he or she can be provided with pieces of information organically related to each other on issues set by him or her.  
      In addition, according to present invention, since a user can be provided with pieces of information organically related to each other on issues set by him or her, the number of windows can be reduced, thereby taking the burden of a system off.