Market information machine
First Claim
1. A computerized data retrieval system comprising:
- a data base containing information defining the fluctuation of commodity prices over time in combination with additional information designating the date of occurrence of events;
a windowing user search request creation and revision system embodying a formal search language that permits the definition of search requests in their entirety by means of windowing templates, that includes a facility for ANDing and ORing search request portions together, and that includes a facility for limiting any search request to commodity price information dated proximate in time to at least one said designated event;
search execution means for performing search requests formulated through the use of said windowing system;
report generation means for generating reports presenting the results of searches executed by said search execution means; and
echo means connected to receive search request defining information from said windowing system for echoing a search request formulated with said windowing system to the user in the form of a near-natural-language search request while the user is formulating said search request using said windowing system.
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Accused Products
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.
176 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A computerized data retrieval system comprising:
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a data base containing information defining the fluctuation of commodity prices over time in combination with additional information designating the date of occurrence of events; a windowing user search request creation and revision system embodying a formal search language that permits the definition of search requests in their entirety by means of windowing templates, that includes a facility for ANDing and ORing search request portions together, and that includes a facility for limiting any search request to commodity price information dated proximate in time to at least one said designated event; search execution means for performing search requests formulated through the use of said windowing system; report generation means for generating reports presenting the results of searches executed by said search execution means; and echo means connected to receive search request defining information from said windowing system for echoing a search request formulated with said windowing system to the user in the form of a near-natural-language search request while the user is formulating said search request using said windowing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for assisting a user in formulating a search request preparatory to retrieving information from a data base containing multiple sets of information values, with each set containing multiple values corresponding to different times and/or dates, and also containing at least one other set of information defining the dates of occurrence of events, comprising the steps of:
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displaying a series of templates to the user to guide the user through the process of formulating an information retrieval search request; accepting from the user information defining selections made by the user when presented with said templates; using said selection-defining information provided by the user as a guide, formulating and displaying to the user near-natural-language search requests accurately stating the search the user has formulated so far; displaying templates to the user that permit the user to combine multiple search request portions using AND and/or OR logical operators; displaying templates to the user that permit a portion of any search request to be qualified to retrieve information dated proximate to at least one of said events; and when a search request is completely formulated, converting it into a form suitable for presentation to a search execution engine. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification