System for extracting historical market information with condition and attributed windows

• US 5,414,838 A
• Filed: 06/11/1992
• Issued: 05/09/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Morningstar Commodity Data, Inc. (Morningstar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Morningstar Commodity Data, Inc. (Morningstar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kolton, Anthony D., Chimenti, Danette S., Gamboa, Ruben A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AMSBURY, WAYNE P
• Application Number:
  US07/897,622
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• Field of Search: 395/153, 395/159, 395/161, 395/600, 364/408
• US Class Current: 705/36.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A computerized data retrieval system, especially for commodity price information databases, having a windowing system which aids a user in creating and revising formal search language queries, a database searching engine responsive to such queries, means to generate and format results in both textual and graphic reports, and a capacity for echoing a formal search language query to a display in a near-natural language format for easy comprehension by the user as the query is constructed using the windowing system. The system has facilities for including domain knowledge in a query, such as market knowledge of calendar events, national holidays, triple-witching hours, and option contract expiration dates. The system has additional facilities that permit a user to include more fundamental domain knowledge, such as dates of political elections, date of issuance and value of company earning reports, the consumer price index, and so on. The near-natural language format of the query may be created and revised either through the windowing system or with a text editor.

Claims

1. A system for extracting historical market information identifying recurring trends relating to securities traded in a market, the system comprising:

a computer having a digital storage medium;

a computer data base operable with said computer for organizing historical market information according to attributes;

means for providing a first menu of attributes for presentation in a report;

means for providing a second menu for selecting a condition defining temporal fluctuations of the attributes;

means for selecting one or more attributes from said first menu providing a SHOW ATTRIBUTE query construction;

means for selecting one or more conditions from said second menu providing a WHEN CONDITION query construction;

means for limiting said WHEN CONDITION selecting means to a time interval during which said conditions are satisfied for a predetermined number of occurrences;

means for retrieving, according to said selected SHOW ATTRIBUTE-WHEN CONDITION query construction and said limiting means, the selected attributes of the computer data base for each point in history corresponding to the satisfaction of the selected conditions; and

means for generating, for each point in history according to the satisfaction of the selected conditions, a report presentation for each of the retrieved attributes, whereby a plurality of report presentations is generated, one for each point in history satisfying the selected conditions, allowing comparison among said plurality of report presentations for identifying recurring trends relating to the commodities traded in the market.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said limiting means comprises means for selecting the time interval from a third menu having predetermined time intervals.

3. A system in accordance with claim 2 wherein said first menu, said second menu and said third menu each embody a plurality of interrelated templates providing auto-sequencing for selecting attributes and conditions defining temporal fluctuations of the historical market information according to attributes.

4. A system in accordance with claim 3 further comprising means for generating a graphic presentation for each of the retrieved attributes whereby a plurality of graphic presentations is generated, one each for each point in history satisfying the selected conditions, allowing visual comparison among said plurality of graphic presentations for identifying recurring trends relating to the historical market information.

5. A system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said limiting means repeatedly limits said WHEN CONDITION selecting means to time intervals during which said conditions are satisfied for said predetermined number of occurrences.

6. A method for extracting historical market information identifying recurring trends relating to securities traded in a market, the method comprising the steps of:

organizing, in a computer data base, historical market information according to attributes, the attributes comprising;

market indicators, commodities, equities, transaction price, transaction volume, date, time and the like;

providing a first windowing system embodying click on menus of the attribute for presentation in a report;

providing a second windowing system providing click on menus of a plurality of interrelated templates providing auto-sequencing for selecting a condition defining temporal fluctuations of the attributes;

selecting one or more attributes from said first windowing system providing a SHOW ATTRIBUTE query construction;

selecting one or more conditions from said second windowing system providing a WHEN CONDITION query construction;

limiting said WHEN CONDITION selecting step to a time interval during which the conditions are satisfied for a predetermined number of occurrences;

retrieving, according to said selected SHOW ATTRIBUTE-WHEN CONDITION query constructions and said limiting step, the selected attributes from the computer data base for each point in history corresponding to the satisfaction of the condition; and

generating, for each point in history corresponding to the satisfaction of the selected conditions, a report presentation for each of the retrieved attributes, whereby a plurality of report presentations is generated, one each for each point in history satisfying the selected conditions, allowing comparison among said plurality of report presentations for identifying recurring trends relating to the commodities traded in the market.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6, further comprising the step of generating, for each point in history corresponding to the satisfaction of the selected conditions, a graphic presentation for each of the retrieved attributes whereby a plurality of graphic presentations is generated, one each for each point in history satisfying the selected conditions, allowing visual comparison among said plurality of graphic presentations for identifying recurring trends relating to the commodities traded in the market.