Interactive user interface for displaying supply chain information

• US 20050216861A1
• Filed: 03/25/2004
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Morgan Stanley Services Group Inc. (Morgan Stanley)
• Original Assignee: Morgan Stanley
• Inventors: Hurewitz, Barry Scott, Harvey, Vaughn Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 7,376,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/822
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

An interactive user interface is disclosed. According to various embodiments, the interface includes a first field and at least one additional field. The first field lists a focal item and the at least one additional field contains a listing of items related to the focal item. Certain of the related items in the at least one additional field include a hyperlink which, when activated by the user, causes the item corresponding to the activated hyperlink to become a new focal item listed in the first field, such that the at least one additional field transitions to list items related to the new focal item. The focal item may be, for example, an identifier corresponding to a company, and the at least one additional field may contain a listing of identifiers corresponding to companies that are customers, suppliers or competitors of the focal item company.

Claims

1. An interactive user interface, comprising:

a first field listing a focal item; and

at least one additional field containing a listing of items related to the focal item, wherein certain of the related items include a hyperlink which, when activated by the user, causes the item corresponding to the activated hyperlink to become a new focal item listed in the first field, such that the at least one additional field transitions to list items related to the new focal item.

2. The interactive user interface of claim 1, wherein certain of the related items in the additional field include indicia of the relation to the focal item.

3. The interactive user interface of claim 2, wherein the interface includes a focal item input field in which a user may input an identifier for a new focal item.

4. The interactive user interface of claim 2, wherein the indicia includes at least one of a graphical representation and a color-coded representation of the relation to the focal item.

5. The interactive user interface of claim 1, wherein the focal item includes an identifier for a company.

6. The interactive user interface of claim 5, wherein the focal item includes the stock trading ticker symbol of the company.

7. The interactive user interface of claim 5, wherein the listing of related items in a first additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are a supplier to the focal item.

8. The interactive user interface of claim 7, wherein the listing of related items in the first additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that receive a threshold percentage of their revenue through sales to the focal item.

9. The interactive user interface of claim 7, wherein the listing of related items in a second additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are a customer of the focal item.

10. The interactive user interface of claim 9, wherein the listing of related items in the second additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies from which the focal item receives a threshold percentage of its revenue.

11. The interactive user interface of claim 9, wherein the listing of related items in a third additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are competitors of the focal item.

12. The interactive user interface of claim 2, wherein certain of the related items include an associated mouseover such that, when a user maintains a cursor near the item for a sufficient time period, additional information about the item is presented to the user.

13. The interactive user interface of claim 2, wherein:

the focal item includes one of an identifier for a company and an indentifier of an economic indicator; and

the at least one additional field includes;

when the focal item is an identifier for a company, a listing of items identifying companies that are selected from the group consisting of customers, suppliers and competitors of the focal item; and

when the focal item is an identifier of an economic indicator, a listing of items identifying companies whose stock price is known to change with changes to the economic indicator.

14. An interactive user interface, comprising:

a first field listing a focal item, wherein the focal item includes an identifier for a company;

a second field containing a listing of items that are identifiers for companies that are a supplier to the focal item;

a third field containing a listing of items that are identifiers for companies that are a customer of the focal item; and

a fourth field containing a listing of items that are companies that are competitors of the focal item,

wherein certain of the items in the second, third and fourth fields include a hyperlink which, when activated by the user, causes the item corresponding to the activated hyperlink to become a new focal item listed in the first field, such that;

the second field transitions to list items that are identifiers for companies that are suppliers of the new focal item;

the third field transitions to list items that are identifiers for companies that are a customer of the new focal item; and

the fourth field transitions to list items that are identifiers for companies that are competitors of the new focal item.

15. The interactive user interface of claim 14, wherein certain of the related items in the second, third and fourth fields include an associated mouseover such that, when a user maintains a cursor near the item for a sufficient time period, additional information about the item is presented to the user.

16. The interactive user interface of claim 14, wherein certain of the related items in at least one of the second and third fields include indicia of the relation to the focal item.

17. The interactive user interface of claim 16 wherein the indicia includes at least one of a graphical representation and a color-coded representation of the relation to the focal item.

18. The interactive user interface of claim 14, wherein the interface includes a focal item input field in which a user may input an identifier for a new focal item.

19. A system for providing an interactive user interface to a user, the system comprising:

a server for serving a document containing the interactive user interface via a network to the user, the interactive user interface including;

a first field listing a focal item; and

at least one additional field containing a listing of items related to the focal item, wherein certain of the related items include a hyperlink which, when activated by the user, causes the item corresponding to the activated hyperlink to become a new focal item listed in the first field, such that the at least one additional field transitions to list items related to the new focal item; and

a database in communication with the server for storing data about the items.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising an alert engine in communication with the database for sending an alert message via the network to the user.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein certain of the related items in the at least one additional field include indicia of the relation to the focal item.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the indicia include at least one of a graphical representation and a color-coded representation of the relation to the focal item.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the focal item includes an identifier for a company.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the focal item includes the stock trading ticker symbol of the company.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the listing of related items in a first additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are a supplier to the focal item.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the listing of related items in the first additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that receive a threshold percentage of their revenue through sales to the focal item.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the listing of related items in a second additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are a customer of the focal item.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the listing of related items in the second additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies from which the focal item receives a threshold percentage of its revenue.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the listing of related items in a third additional field includes a listing of items identifying companies that are competitors of the focal item.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the listing for certain of the related items includes an associated mouseover such that, when a user maintains a cursor near the item for a sufficient time period, additional information about the listing is presented to the user.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the focal item includes one of an identifier for a company and an indentifier of an economic indicator; and

the at least one additional field includes;

when the focal item is an identifier for a company, a listing of items identifying companies that are selected from the group consisting of customers, suppliers and competitors of the focal item; and

when the focal item is an identifier of an economic indicator, a listing of items identifying companies whose stock price is known to change with changes to the economic indicator.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the document further includes a focal item input field in which a user may input an identifier for a new focal item.

33. A method of presenting data in an interactive user interface, comprising:

displaying a first page including;

a focal item in a first field;

a listing of items related to the focal item in at least one additional field, wherein certain of the related items include a hyperlink; and

displaying a second page, when one of the hyperlinks of the first page is activated, wherein the second page includes;

the item corresponding to the activated hyperlink in the first field as a new focal item; and

a listing of new items related to the new focal item in the at least one additional field, wherein certain of the new related items in the second page include a hyperlink.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein certain of the related items in the additional fields in the first page include indicia of the relation to the focal item.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the indicia include at least one of a graphical representation and a color-coded representation of the relation to the focal item.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the focal item in the first page includes an identifier for a company.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the focal item in the first page includes the stock trading ticker symbol of the company.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the listing of related items in a first additional field in the first page includes a listing of companies that are a supplier to the focal item.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the listing of related items in the first additional field in the first page includes a listing of items identifying companies that receive a threshold percentage of their revenue through sales to the focal item.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the listing of related items in a second additional field in the first page includes a listing of items identifying companies that are a customer of the focal item.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the listing of related items in the second additional field in the first page includes a listing of items identifying companies from which the focal item receives a threshold percentage of its revenue.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the listing of related items in a third additional field in the first page includes a listing of items identifying companies that are competitors of the focal item.

43. The method of claim 33, wherein the listing for certain of the related items in the first page include an associated mouseover such that, when a user maintains a cursor near the item for a sufficient time period, additional information about the item is presented to the user.

44. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the focal item on the first page includes one of an identifier for a company and an identifier of an economic indicator; and

the at least one additional field on the first page includes;

when the focal item is an identifier for a company, a listing of items identifying companies that are selected from the group consisting of customers, suppliers and competitors of the focal item; and

when the focal item is an identifier of an economic indicator, a listing of items identifying companies whose stock price is known to change with changes to the economic indicator.

45. The method of claim 33, wherein each of the first and second pages further include a focal item input field in which a user may input an identifier for a new focal item.