Product/service hierarchy database for market competition and investment analysis

• US 6,338,067 B1
• Filed: 03/02/1999
• Issued: 01/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: FactSet Research Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Sector Data LLC
• Inventors: Baker, David N., Shum, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/260,389
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 717/8, 704/9, 706/55, 707/1-5, 707/100-104, 707/200-205, 707/3, 707/4, 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/513, 705/26-29, 705/34-37, 705/40, 705/20, 705/23, 705/402, 705/30, 705/404, 705/408, 705/410, 709/201, 709/219, 709/213, 709/217, 709/224, 709/250, 709/252
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A product hierarchy database organizes company market performance and stock investment information by the products and services produced and offered by each competitor. The companies that produce each product/service are relationally linked to each of their products/services through records. An investment information service includes the product/service hierarchy database and makes it accessible to investor and analyst subscribers through a query system across the Internet. Data entry personnel continually load qualitative and quantitative information about companies and their products/services through a product hierarchy generator connected to the product/service hierarchy database. Subscribers can punch-through to query individual data items, and they can find out what relationships exist between all the important aspects of the companies and the products/services being tracked. The invention also provides for the creation of an index and corresponding index value for every product or service type in the database, which consists of a composite of all companies in a product or service area and whose index value can be measured and compared against any other product or service type index value.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a database management module providing for the storage and organization of information related to particular commercial companies and products/services;

a plurality of product/service records in said database management module each having a product/service description field and a parent product/service identification field that links all such product/service records together in a product/service hierarchy;

a plurality of company product/service records in said database management module, each having a company product/service description field for linking each said particular commercial company to its corresponding product/service hierarchy records; and

a plurality of company records in said database management module having a company description field for linking each said commercial company to its corresponding product/service records;

wherein said database management module loads information about an individual company'"'"'s products/services by brandname or tradename in a separate record, each company'"'"'s product/service record is linked or related to its general company information record, and each company that produces a product or provides a service in a product/service hierarchy is associated to that product'"'"'s/service'"'"'s level in the product/service hierarchy through a company product/service record; and

if a company does not have a tradename or brandname for its product/service, a data entry field is therefore left blank at a data entry stage and an identifier (ID) is nevertheless automatically assigned so such company can still be linked or associated to a product/service level in a corresponding product/service hierarchy.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a query module for displaying systematically, searching, and comparing all said commercial companies and any peer groups, based upon products manufactured or services performed anywhere within an industry, sector, sub-sector, or group as defined by said hierarchy.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for creation of an index and corresponding index value for every product or service type in said database which consists of a composite of all companies in that product or service area and whose index value can be measured and compared against any other product or service type index value.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said information related to particular commercial companies and products/services is selectively parsed and placed upon input to said database management module into separate data fields for each item.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

any redundant product/service records may be attached at many, bottom node levels in the product/service hierarchy, and a company can have one of its products/services attached at multiple, lowest product/service levels in the product/service hierarchy, and each said commercial company may have an unrestricted number of product/service records.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

said product/service records and hierarchy formation are specialized for particular industries, sectors, sub-sectors, or groups with data entry fields generic to a particular commercial industry.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module relates an individual company to some other company or entity for any number of reasons, and a two-way database association is implemented by linking two separate records to the general company record through a many-to-many relationship.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module records any geographic dispersion of revenues and manufacturing for each individual company.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module attaches any revenue-percentage figures to every one of said commercial company'"'"'s products/services, and a data field is included to store such percentage of revenue a company generates for each product/service at any hierarchy level.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module attaches an end-user market record to a company market record and a company record for each one of said commercial company‘

s’

products/services at any hierarchy level.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module makes end user markets and/or revenues an association to both said commercial company‘

s’

products/services as well as to said product hierarchy, and such information can be attached at any level in said product/service hierarchy for a company.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management associates multiple end-user markets to one product level for a company, and a list of any end-user markets is loaded in to a reference or code record where consistency can be maintained and duplicate entries that may be spelled slightly differently can be eliminated.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module identifies any regulatory agencies that affect a company in a regulatory-agency record, such that any one regulatory agency can be associated to an unlimited number of said commercial companies, and each said commercial company can have an unlimited number of agencies related to it.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module loads any information regarding each said commercial company'"'"'s management team and directors in a single-record structure, which is then related to said company record.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module associates each said commercial company with certain generic business strategies and such strategies are loaded in a separate record.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said database management module associates a product/service market trend to any and every said product/service record in said product/service hierarchy, and said product/service market trend is loaded in a reference record, and such that when associating a trend to a product/service, said product/service must be selected from said reference record.

17. A database system, comprising:

a quantitative information module into which facts about a plurality of particular companies are loaded and can be accessed;

a qualitative module with a company database record having a relational database linkage and access to the quantitative information module, and further comprising database records for individual ones of said particular companies that includes location, market, stock exchange, company management, and company business strategy information records each with independent relational database linkages to said company database record; and

a product/service hierarchy with a company products/services database record having a relational database linkage and access to said company database record, and further comprising a product/service record with a field that describes a parent product/service record;

wherein said product/service hierarchy loading information about an individual company'"'"'s products/services, by brandname or tradename in a separate record, each company'"'"'s product/service record is linked or related to a general company information record, and each company that produces a product or provides a service in a product/service hierarchy is associated to that product'"'"'s/service'"'"'s level in the product/service hierarchy through a company product/service record; and

if a company does not have a tradename or brandname for its product/service, a data entry field is therefore left blank at a data entry stage and an identifier (ID) is nevertheless automatically assigned so such company can still be linked or associated to a product/service level in a corresponding hierarchy.

18. The database system of claim 17, wherein:

said product/service hierarchy further comprises a stage-of-development record with a relational-database linkage to said company product/service record.

19. The database system of claim 17, further comprising:

a pricing module having a company securities record with a relational database linkage and access to said company database record, and further comprising database records for individual ones of said particular companies that includes security types, splits, and prices records with a relational database linkage to said company securities record.

20. The database system of claim 17, further comprising:

a subscriber registration module providing for an enrollment and a verification of investor network-clients over an Internet connection that thereafter engage in a query of the qualitative module.