Information delivery system and method including on-line entitlements

• US 5,864,871 A
• Filed: 01/28/1997
• Issued: 01/26/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources Unlimited Company (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Multex Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Karaev, Isaak, Mahoney, John J., Baird, George, Blazek, Paul, Kitain, Eduard, Tousignant, James M., McCarthy, Mary Ellen
• Primary Examiner(s): AMSBURY, WAYNE P
• Application Number:
  US08/789,768
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/10, 707/9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• 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

Abstract

An integrated computer-implemented corporate information delivery system. A database stores research reports produced by and received electronically from brokerage firms. The database also stores corporate information about a number of corporations. Each item of corporate information is produced by and received electronically from one of the corporations about that corporation. Authorization information ("entitlements") specifies who is authorized to access each research report or item of corporate information. An entitlement subsystem allows the contributor of the research report or item of corporate information to dynamically change, on-line, the entitlement status of any or all users/subscribers. A research delivery module allows a user to submit a query and receive query results listing research reports and corporate information satisfying the query and that the user is authorized to access. A corporate register module outputs corporate information, the corporate information output according to a common format. The corporate information may be distributed via the Internet.

Claims

1. An integrated computer-implemented information delivery system, comprising:

a first database for storing research reports produced by and received electronically from brokerage firms, each research report having associated authorization information specifying who is authorized to access the research report;

a second database for storing a plurality of corporate information about a plurality of corporations, each item of corporate information produced by and received from one of the plurality of corporations about said corporation, each item of corporate information having associated authorization information specifying who is authorized to access the item of corporate information;

a research delivery module coupled to the first database and the second database, the research delivery module having a bulletin board user interface displaying to a user recently received research reports that said user is authorized to access and corporate information and having a query user interface allowing a user to submit a query and receive query results listing research reports and corporate information satisfying the query and that the user is authorized to access;

a corporate register module coupled to the second database for outputting corporate information, the corporate information output for display according to a common format; and

an on-line entitlement subsystem coupled to the first database for selecting at least one research report associated with a particular brokerage firm from the plurality of research reports as electronically specified by the particular brokerage firm and for modifying in real time the authorization information associated with the at least one selected research report in accordance with instructions electronically provided by the particular brokerage firm from a remote location.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the entitlement subsystem is coupled to the second database, the entitlement subsystem additionally for selecting at least one item of corporate information associated with a particular corporation from the plurality of corporate information as electronically specified by the particular corporation and for modifying in real time the authorization information associated with the at least one selected item of corporate information in accordance with instructions electronically provided by the particular corporation.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the corporate information is formatted according to a hypertext markup language and includes hypertext links to related information.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the corporate information is formatted according to a hypertext markup language and when displayed in the corporate register module includes hypertext links to said corporation'"'"'s Internet site.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the research reports are formatted according to a page description format.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the research delivery module includes a display module for reading and displaying documents in a page description format.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the query results are selectable hyperlinks causing a selected research report to be displayed according to the research delivery module and causing a selected item of corporate information to be displayed according to the corporate register module.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an on-line report subsystem, connected to the first database, for selecting at least one research report associated with a particular brokerage firm from the plurality of research reports as electronically specified by the particular brokerage firm and for generating a report listing at least some of the authorization information associated with the at least one selected research report in accordance with instructions electronically provided by the particular brokerage firm.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the on-line report subsystem is further connected to the second database, the report subsystem additionally for selecting at least one item of corporate information associated with a particular corporation from the plurality of corporate information as electronically specified by the particular corporation and for generating a report listing at least some of the authorization information associated with the at least one selected item of corporate information in accordance with instructions electronically provided by the particular corporation.

10. An integrated computer-implemented corporate information delivery system, comprising:

a database for storing (a) a plurality of research reports produced by and received electronically from brokerage firms, each of the research reports having associated authorization information specifying who is authorized to access the research report, and (b) a plurality of corporate information about a plurality of corporations, each item of corporate information produced by and received electronically from one of the plurality of corporations about said corporation, each item of corporate information having associated authorization information specifying who is authorized to access the item of corporate information;

a research delivery module coupled to the database, the research delivery module allowing a user to submit a query and receive query results listing research reports and corporate information satisfying the query and that the user is authorized to access;

a corporate register module coupled to the database for outputting corporate information, the corporate information output according to a common format; and

an on-line entitlement subsystem coupled to the database for selecting at least one research report associated with a particular brokerage firm from the plurality of research reports as specified by the particular brokerage firm and for modifying the authorization information associated with the at least one selected research report in accordance with instructions provided electronically by the particular brokerage firm from a remote location.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the entitlement subsystem is additionally for selecting at least one item of corporate information associated with a particular corporation from the plurality of corporation information as specified by the particular corporation and for modifying the authorization information associated with the at least one selected item of corporate information in accordance with instructions electronically provided by the particular corporation.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the corporate information is formatted according to a hypertext markup language and includes hypertext links to related information.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the corporate information is formatted according to a hypertext markup language and when displayed according to the corporate register module include s hypertext links to said corporation'"'"'s Internet site.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the research reports are formatted according to a page description format.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the research delivery module includes a display module for reading and displaying research documents in a page description format.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the query results are selectable hyperlinks when selected by a user causing a selected research report to be displayed according to the research delivery module and causing a selected item of corporate information to be displayed according to the corporate register module.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the corporate register module includes a hypertext link to the research delivery module.

18. A system for dynamically creating hypertext links in hypertext pages based upon an entitlement of a user accessing the hypertext page, comprising:

a database of entitlement information specifying entitlements of a plurality of users;

a hypertext page in electronic form, the hypertext page including at least one specification of an entitlable hypertext link, the entitlable hypertext link specifying a plurality of possible links as a function of entitlement information;

an on-line entitlement subsystem, connected to the database of entitlement information, for modifying entitlements of at least one of the plurality of users in real time in accordance with instructions provided electronically from a remote workstation;

a browser for displaying the hypertext page at a user computer;

a server for receiving a request for a second hypertext page from a user upon selection of the entitlable hypertext link by the user;

means for obtaining a user identification for the user;

means for determining the entitlements of the user as a function of the user identification by accessing the database of entitlement information;

means for routing the user to a second hypertext page according to the entitlement information and one of the plurality of possible links.

19. A method for the electronic distribution of corporate information and research reports in a timely, reliable and secure manner, comprising the steps of:

electronically receiving research reports produced by a plurality of brokerage firms including authorization information specifying who is authorized to access each of said research reports;

storing the research reports and authorization information in a database;

electronically receiving at least one entitlement modification instruction from a particular brokerage firm of the plurality of brokerage firms;

modifying the authorization information associated with at least one research report associated with the particular brokerage firm in accordance with the received at least one entitlement modification instruction; and

receiving items of corporate information about a plurality of corporations, each item of corporate information produced by a corporation about said corporation and associated with authorization information specifying who is authorized to access said item of corporate information;

storing the items of corporate information in the database;

receiving a query from a user; and

outputting query results to the query listing research reports and items of corporate information satisfying the query and that the user is authorized to access.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

enabling the user to select an item of corporation information;

accessing the database to obtain the selected item of corporate information; and

outputting the selected item of corporate information.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of outputting the selected item of corporate information further comprises the step of displaying the item of corporation information according to a common format.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of storing the items of corporate information further comprises the step of storing the items of corporate information formatted according to a hypertext markup language and includes hypertext links to related information.

23. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

electronically receiving at least one entitlement modification from a particular corporation of the plurality of corporations; and

modifying the authorization information associated with at least one item of corporation information associated with the particular corporation in accordance with the at least one entitlement modification instruction received from the particular corporation.