US 5,339,392 A · Apparatus and method for creation of a user definable video displayed document showing changes in real time data

Abstract

A software program providing a facility for a user to compose a custom active document using tools provided by the program. The active document can be comprised of one or more sheets each of which is composed in a custom manner by the user and each of which can show real time data and the changes therein generated by any complex system. The user can select which real time data is to be displayed, where it is to be displayed and in what format and style it is to be displayed. The user can control the "look" of the active document through full control of the fonts, colors, pen etc. The user may also define alarm limits against which real time data updates are compared as well as scripts of commands to be performed in case an alarm limit is exceeded. Scripts of commands to be performed written by the user may also be invoked from a menu option. The tools provided for a financial analysis embodiment of the invention allow the user to layout each sheet of the active document with: quotes of prices, volume etc. on various financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, etc., tickers showing trade data, graphs over time of various values or superimposed graphs of changes over time of several real time data values, bar graphs of some aspect of a set of financial instruments, segments defined by the user of pages selected by the user of page-based financial services like telerate, and groups of real time data. "Buttons" can be programmed to perform any user defined script of actions. Metadata and style maps are used to offload some of the work of specifying the format of the displayed objects from the user to the machine itself.

Claims46

Dependent claims

An apparatus for transforming a blank display of a computer into an active document having one or more pages of user defined display showing at least the changing values of data the value of which may change over time, said display changing as the values of said data changes, comprising:

a computer for storing and executing one or more programs, and having a display;
at least one source of changeable data;
a data path coupling said computer to said at least one source of changeable data;
a communication program in execution on said computer for carrying out subject based addressing for receiving subscription requests specifying a subject on which data is desired and for mapping the subject of each said subscription request to the identity and/or location of one or more sources of data on that subject, and for automatically establishing at least one subscription communication path via said data path to at least one of said sources of data on each said subject such that the current value of said data on each said subject for which there is an active subscription and all updates thereto will be obtained and made available for display;
a dispatcher program in execution on said computer and coupled to said communication program and to said input devices for receiving requests from a user via one or more of said input devices to display on said computer one or more items of said changeable data generated by said source of changeable data, said requests for data specified only by subject, and for generating and sending to said communication program a subscription request for each said subject thereby causing retrieval by said communication program on a subscription basis only said requested items of changeable data and all updates thereto via said data path, and for making said retrieved data and all changes thereto available for display;
and
a document composition program in execution on said computer and coupled at least to said dispatcher program and to said computer display for accepting composition commands entered by a user via said dispatcher program, said compositions commands defining the desired content and appearance on said display of said active document and for receiving from said dispatcher program said changeable data retrieved by said communication program and displaying said changeable data on said display at the location and in the manner specified by said user through said composition commands such that the displayed values virtually instantaneously reflect changes in the value of said changeable data as said values change over time.

4 more elements

An apparatus for creating a displayed image on a display in the form of a custom active document showing changes in real time data, said active document useful in visualizing events in a system characterized by data output by one or more sources of real time data the value of which can charge over time, said apparatus operating in a computing environment including said sources of real time data, a computer having said display and one or more input devices, and coupled to said sources of real time changeable data by a data path and communication software in execution on said computer, said communication software for accessing selected data generated by said sources of real time data using a subscription paradigm where for any item of said real time data for which a subscription has been requested, the current value of said selected items of said real time data and all updates thereto is obtained until the subscription is cancelled, said communication software for transmitting the current value of said selected item of real time data and all updates thereto to said computer until the subscription to the corresponding said item of real time data is cancelled, and said environment including one or more operating system programs in execution on said computer for controlling at least some of those aspects of the processing of at said computer normally controlled by operating system programs, said apparatus comprising:

one or more computer programs in execution on said computer for providing a facility whereby a user can compose from a blank computer display a dynamically changeable display image comprising a document having one or more pages where each page has a user defined composition, format and layout and has displayed thereon one or more user defined display objects some or all of which may display real time data from system displayed at user defined locations thereon, said one or more programs further comprising:
a real time data acquisition and composition program in execution on said computer and coupled to said communication software for receiving user requests to display one or more specific items of said real time data and for requesting said communication software to create a communication channel across said data path for each of said one or more items of specified items of real time data through which a stream of the user requested data may flow back to said acquisition and composition program for each specified item of said real time data, and for receiving said one or more streams of said changeable real time data and for displaying on said computer display one or more layout tool icons each of which may be invoked by said user to request and display in a user specified style one or more items of selected real time data so as to enable said user to compose said active document on said display, said acquisition and composition program for automatically converting said requests of items of said real time data specified by said user through invocation of said layout tool icons into one or more subscription requests to said communication software, and for continuously receiving as said stream of data associated with each said selected item of real time data the the current value thereof and all updates thereto until said subscription is cancelled, said current value of each requested item of real time data and updates thereto being displayed in each of one or more user specified areas of said active document displayed on said computer display, such that the format, style and content of said display of said active document on said computer display may be composed and altered by said user;
and
input means coupled to said one or more input devices and said communication software for receiving input events comprising user composition commands and values of selected items of said real time data for which subscriptions exist and dispatching these events to said real time data acquisition and composition program for use in updating said displayed image of said document.

1 more element

An apparatus for transforming a blank image on a computer display into an image of a dynamically changeable document having one or more pages the content, composition and style of each page being user selectable in real time, said document for display of one or more items of data the value(s) of which change over time, comprising:

a collection of sources that output data items the value(s) of which change over time:
a computer means having a display and one or more input devices and coupled to said collection of sources for selectively accessing said data sources and retrieving the current values of selected data items and receiving updates to the values of said data items:
a program in execution on said computer means for receiving composition commands from a user regarding the desired content, composition and layout of each page in the display of said document defining the items of data to be displayed, and for automatically converting those composition commands into subscriptions for the value of any data item specified in said composition commands and all updates thereto, and for receiving any said requested data item and any updates thereto and displaying the value of said received data item on said computer display in the location and format specified by the user through said composition commands, and for continuing to update the displayed value of each item of displayed data until a command is received from said user indicating the user no longer wishes to view that particular item of data.

An apparatus for transforming a blank computer display into a display on a computer terminal of one or more items of data which can change over time in the form of electromagnetic signals which are displayed in a selectable format and location, comprising:

one or more sources publishing said data which can change over time;
a computer having a video display and an input device and coupled to said source of data by a data path;
a data path coupling said computer to said source of said data;
a communication program in execution on said computer for receiving subscription requests identifying a subject and for converting the subject of said request into a communication link to an appropriate source for data on the selected subject and for retrieving the current value of data published by said source on the selected subject and subsequent updates thereto;
a computer program in execution on said computer for driving said display and controlling said computer, said computer program comprising:
means for receiving requests for data on selected subjects and for issuing a subscription request for each said subject to said communication program;
and
composition means for receiving said requested data as electromagnetic signals from said communication program, and for virtually instantaneously displaying said data on said video display in a format and at a location which is selectable by said user through composition commands, and when updates to displayed data are received, for virtually instantaneously altering the display to display the new value of the data for which an update was received.

5 more elements

An apparatus for transforming a blank computer display of a computer into one or more pages of user defined video display showing the values of real time data from a source of real time changeable data, said real time data displayed on said computer display at one or more user defined locations on said computer display and in a user defined format, said computer having at least one input device and coupled to said source of real time changeable data by a data transfer path, comprising:

a dispatcher means in execution on said computer for receiving requests from a user via one or more of said input devices to display on said computer display one or more items of real time data generated by said source of real time data, and for causing said real time data to be retrieved via said data transfer path, and for making said retrieved real time data and all changes thereto available for display;
and
further comprising a document composition means in execution on said computer and coupled to said dispatcher means for accepting composition commands from a user which define the desired content and appearance on said computer display of a document which includes at least some of the real time data generated by said source, the displayed values of said displayed real time data changing as changes to items of real time data at said source occur, said document comprising one or more pages, each page comprised of an image on said display the data contentl layout and format of each said image being defined by said user through entry of said composition commands via one or more of said input devices, the content of some or all of said pages including user defined items of static data and/or selected items of said changeable real time data, said user specifying by entry of one or more composition commands which items of real time data are to be displayed, and what portion of said real time data to display if less than all portions of an item of real time data is to be displayed, and where and how said selected item or items of real time data is to be displayed, and for causing said dispatcher means to request and obtain any item of said real time data specified in any composition command and for receiving said real time data from said dispatcher program and displaying said data at the location and in the manner specified by said user through said composition commands, and for continuing to receive and display said real time data and updates thereto even while processing receipt of new composition commands;
and
means for storing the collection of said composition commands received by said document composition means as a document definition and for making said document definition available to be re-opened and displayed, and, upon re-opening of said document definition, for automatically causing said dispatcher program to obtain the current values for all the items of real time data specified by said composition commands and for displaying said current values in accordance with said composition commands stored in said document definition.

2 more elements

a collection of data sources for outputting data items, each of said data items comprised of one or more data components the value(s) of which can change over time, at least some of said data items being self-describing in that each data item is included within a data aggregate which is comprised of said data item and metadata which describes one or more of the following things about the data item:
the organization or format, representation or type, or element or field names for the data elements or fields making up said data item;
a computer having a display and one or more input devices and in coupled so as to be able to access said data sources and having a communication program in execution thereon to access said data sources and obtain the current values of specified data items and to receive updates to the values of said specified data items;
a program in execution on said computer for storing a plurality of style maps each of which defines a particular style of displaying particular types of data items, and for receiving composition commands from a user regarding the desired content, composition and layout of each page in the display of said document defining the item(s) of data to be displayed, and for automatically converting those composition commands into requests to said communication program to obtain the value(s) of all data item(s) specified in said composition commands, and for receiving the value(s) of said specified data item(s) and any updates thereto and displaying the value(s) of said received data item on said computer display in the location and format specified by the user through said composition commands, and for continuing to update the displayed value of each item of displayed data until a command is received from said user indicating the user no longer wishes to view that particular item of data, and for using said composition commands as a specification for selection of one or more style maps controlling the display style of one or more corresponding items of data, and for using said style map corresponding to each item of data selected by said user for display and the metadata from the corresponding data aggregates containing said selected data item(s) to control a process of selecting and formatting for display particular data components from the corresponding data aggregate(s) containing the selected data item(s) and to control and carry out the process of displaying said selected, formatted data components on said computer display.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Apparatus and method for creation of a user definable video displayed document showing changes in real time data

Life of this patent

Apparatus and method for creation of a user definable video displayed document showing changes in real time data

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims46