Patent ID: 7246742

Claim:
A method for distributing financial data in a communication system having a data source from which financial data is transmitted, a terminal node for receiving the financial data and displaying a content of the financial data, and plural intermediate nodes located between the data source and the terminal node for relaying the financial data, comprising: transmitting financial data from the data source to one of the plural intermediate nodes; adding to the financial data, at one of the plural intermediate nodes, a pair of time data and an entity identifier, the time data indicating a current time which is obtained from an internal timer of the one of the plural intermediate nodes and the entity identifier identifying the one of the plural intermediate nodes; transmitting the financial data from the one of the plural intermediate nodes to the terminal node directly or via one or more of the plural intermediate nodes; calculating, at the terminal node, a time period between a time indicated by the time data of the one of the plural intermediate nodes and a current time which is obtained from an internal timer of the terminal node; determining, at the terminal node, whether any critical delay in distribution of the financial data has occurred by comparing the calculated time period and a predetermined threshold time period; and notifying a user of the terminal node that the financial data is out of date when a determining means determines that the any critical delay in distribution of the financial data has occurred.