System and method for creating trade-related annotations in an electronic trading environment

• US 7,610,237 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Ziemkiewicz, Peter Francis, Strauss, Mark Leon
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell; James P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Hai
• Application Number:
  US10/260,644
• Time in Patent Office: 2,584 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705 38- 44
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A client terminal displays a trading screen interface and an annotation interface in relation to the trading screen interface. The annotation interface allows a trader to enter trade-related annotations in a quick and efficient manner or flag a predetermined time and input annotations to be associated with the flagged time a later time, while the trading screen interface allows the trader to make trades at the most favorable prices and in a speedy manner. The annotation interface may alternatively not be displayed and allow for audio input.

Claims

1. A method for recording annotations in an electronic trading environment, the method comprising:

receiving real time market data from an electronic exchange comprising a best bid price and a best ask price currently available for a tradeable object;

displaying a first graphical interface at a client terminal, wherein the first graphical interface displays the real time market data as the real time market data is being received from the electronic exchange;

providing a second graphical interface at the client terminal in relation to the first graphical interface, wherein the second graphical interface is used to record user annotations relative to the real time market data;

receiving a first command from a user input device in relation to the first graphical interface to flag a current time as the real time market data is being received and displayed in the first graphical interface;

responsive to receiving the first command, creating an incomplete annotation record that comprises the current time that was flagged;

displaying an indicator associated with the flagged time that is selectable by a user input device to open the incomplete annotation record;

receiving a second command to select the indicator from a user input device at a subsequent time to the flagged time to complete the incomplete annotation record;

responsive to the selection of the indicator by the second command, displaying the incomplete annotation record on the second graphical interface;

receiving user data corresponding to the flagged time for entry into the incomplete annotation record to create a completed annotation record; and

storing the user data associated with the annotation record.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the second graphical interface in relation to the first graphical interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user data comprises audio data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user data comprises text data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user data comprises a combination of audio and text data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user request to view the user data associated with the annotation record; and

providing the user data associated with the annotation record.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, if the user data comprises audio data, providing the user data comprises playing the audio data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the user data comprises displaying the user data via the second graphical interface.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a user request to view market data corresponding to the user data in the annotation record; and

displaying the market data via the second graphical interface, wherein the market data being displayed is associated with the flagged time in the annotation record.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an activation identifier associated with the second graphical interface, wherein the activation identifier is displayed in relation to the first graphical interface, and wherein the activation identifier is used to activate the second graphical interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activation identifier is displayed on the first graphical interface.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a user input selecting the activation identifier; and

displaying the second graphical interface responsive to receiving the user input selecting the activation identifier.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first graphical interface comprises a trading screen interface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second graphical interface comprises at least one pop-up window.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of icons via the second graphical interface, wherein the plurality of icons comprises a plurality of category icons to categorize user data into a plurality of categories.

16. A method for recording annotations in an electronic trading environment, the method comprising:

receiving real time market data from an electronic exchange comprising a best bid price and a best ask price currently available for a tradeable object;

displaying a trading screen interface, wherein the trading screen interface displays the real time market data as the real time market data is being received from the electronic exchange;

displaying an annotation interface in relation to the trading screen interface;

receiving a first command from a user input device in relation to the trading screen interface to flag a current time as the real time market data is being received and displayed in the trading screen interface;

responsive to receiving the first command, creating an incomplete annotation record that comprises the current time that was flagged;

displaying an indicator associated with the flagged time that is selectable by a user input device to open the incomplete annotation record;

receiving a second command to select the indicator from a user input device at a subsequent time to the flagged time to complete the incomplete annotation record;

responsive to the selection of the indicator by the second command, displaying the incomplete annotation record on the second graphical user interface;

receiving user data corresponding to the flagged time via the annotation interface for entry into the incomplete annotation record to create a completed annotation record; and

storing the user data in a database for storing annotations received via the annotation interface.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the user data is selected from a group consisting of (i) audio data, (ii) text data, and (iii) a combination of audio and text data.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

time-stamping the user data with a time corresponding to receipt of a first user input associated with the user data.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a user input to retrieve the user data;

retrieving the user data from the database; and

providing the user data via the annotation interface.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

displaying market data related to the user data via the annotation interface, wherein the market data corresponds to the flagged time associated with the user data.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

displaying an activation identifier in relation to the trading interface screen, wherein the activation identifier is used to activate the annotation interface.

22. A client terminal for recording annotations in an electronic trading environment, the client terminal comprising:

a trading application stored on a computer readable medium for displaying a trading screen interface and real time market data comprising a best bid price and a best ask price currently available for a tradeable object, wherein the real time market data is being displayed as it is being received from an electronic exchange; and

an annotation application stored on a computer readable medium for receiving a first command to flag a current time as the real time market data is being received and displayed in the trading screen interface, the annotation application further for providing an annotation interface, wherein the first command is received in relation to the trading screen interface, wherein upon receiving the first command, an incomplete annotation record that comprises the flagged time is created, wherein the annotation interface is used to receive user annotations subsequent to the flagged time upon receiving a second command to complete the incomplete annotation record.

23. The client terminal of claim 22, further comprising:

a database for storing the user annotations received via the annotation interface.

24. The client terminal of claim 22, wherein the annotation interface is further used to display user annotations upon receiving a user request.

25. The client terminal of claim 22, wherein the trading application is further configured to display an activation identifier in association with the trading application, wherein the activation identifier is used to activate the annotation interface.

26. The client terminal of claim 22, further comprising:

displaying the annotation interface in relation to the trading screen interface.

27. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored therein to cause the computer to carry out the method comprising:

receiving real time market data from an electronic exchange comprising a best bid price and a best ask price currently available for a tradeable object;

displaying a first graphical interface at a client terminal, wherein the first graphical interface displays the real time market data as the real time market data is being received from the electronic exchange;

providing a second graphical interface at the client terminal in relation to the first graphical interface, wherein the second graphical interface is used to record user annotations relative to the real time market data;

receiving a first command from a user input device in relation to the first graphical interface to flag a current time as the real time market data is being received and displayed in the first graphical interface;

responsive to receiving the first command, creating an incomplete annotation record that comprises the current time that was flagged;

displaying an indicator associated with the flagged time that is selectable by a user input device to open the incomplete annotation record;

receiving a second command to select the indicator from a user input device at a subsequent time to the flagged time to complete the incomplete annotation record;

responsive to the selection of the indicator by the second command, displaying the incomplete annotation record on the second graphical interface;

receiving user data corresponding to the flagged time for entry into the incomplete annotation record to create a completed annotation record; and

storing the user data associated with the annotation record.

28. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored therein to cause the computer to carry out the method comprising:

receiving real time market data from an electronic exchange comprising a best bid price and a best ask price currently available for a tradeable object;

displaying a trading screen interface, wherein the trading screen interface displays the real time market data as the real time market data is being received from the electronic exchange;

displaying an annotation interface in relation to the trading screen interface;

receiving a first command from a user input device in relation to the trading screen interface to flag a current time as the real time market data is being received and displayed in the trading screen interface;

responsive to receiving the first command, creating an incomplete annotation record that comprises the current time that was flagged;

displaying an indicator associated with the flagged time that is selectable by a user input device to open the incomplete annotation record;

receiving a second command to select the indicator from a user input device at a subsequent time to the flagged time to complete the incomplete annotation record;

responsive to the selection of the indicator by the second command, displaying the incomplete annotation record on the second graphical user interface;

receiving user data corresponding to the flagged time via the annotation interface for entry into the incomplete annotation record to create a completed annotation record; and

storing the user data in a database for storing annotations received via the annotation interface.