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

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. 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.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said document composition program includes means for storing said active document as one or more data records in said computer, and upon receiving a command to redisplay said active document from user via said one or more input devices, for displaying the most current value of each item of changeable data previously specified by said user when said active document was composed immediately upon redisplaying said active document.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for storing as a document definition data defining the content, layout and format of each page of said active document excluding the actual values of said changeable data but including the user specification of which items of said changeable data are to be requested and which portions of said changeable data are to be displayed and how and where said portions are to be displayed, and for providing a facility whereby said active document definition may be recalled and displayed with the current values of the changeable data specified in said active document definition being automatically obtained by said communication program by renewal of all subscription requests and renewal of all subscriptions on subjects previously specified by the user and recorded in said active document definition.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said composition program comprises means for creating in response to said composition commands instances of different classes of active objects which display on a display either real-time, changeable data generated by said source of changeable data or fixed, alphanumeric data entered by the user via said one or more of said input devices, each said active object for displaying data in accordance with an associated style map which defines the portion of said data to be displayed and defining where and how said data is to be display, each said active object having an associated data object storing data for storing an internal computer data representation of one or more data fields which together all the possible data which is available for display on the subject which resulted in retrieval of data and creation of said active object, said style map including a human readable specification of which data fields are to be displayed and which specifies said user's choices regarding selected display characteristics, each said active object also having an associated:

display object stored in said computer which encapsulates the data and executable instructions for said computer required to display the contents of the data object in the style specified by the user,

event trigger stored in said computer specifying the conditions under which the user desires additional processing by said computer to occur on this particular active object, typical event triggers being alarm limits, and

event script stored in said computer comprising a sequence of one or more commands to execute upon the occurrence of an event trigger.

5. 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.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes means for displaying changes in real time data selected for display in said active document simultaneously while said layout tool icons are being used to compose and alter the image of said active document, said layout and composition process occurring at any time without interrupting the flow of updates for any said real time data currently displayed on said document, and wherein said acquisition and composition program includes first means for displaying on said computer display a layout tool which may be invoked by a user such that one or more areas of said displayed image of said active document may be programmed to show the most current value of one or more user defined items of real time data which have values which change over time as well as showing the the changing value(s) over time of said one or more user designated items of real time data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said first means comprises means for displaying the most current value of said real time data and a user defined number of prior values of said real time data versus time as a graph.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program further comprises alarm limit setting means coupled to said first means for displaying a tool which may be invoked by a user to display on any said graph up to two active trend line alarm limits, typically upper and lower limits against which the most current value of said changeable real time data depicted on each said user defined graph may be compared, and for comparing each new updated value received for an item of real time data to the corresponding trend line alarm limits for the corresponding graph, and if an alarm limit established by an active trend line is equalled or exceeded, for generating an alert signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program further comprises script means for coupling a script of user defined commands to any said alarm limit such that when said alarm limit is equalled or exceeded, said user defined sequence of commands is automatically executed by said computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for scaling each axis of said graph separately.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for displaying the numeric values on each axis of said graph for any particular point on the graph representing the value of a selected item of real time data at a particular time for any particular point on said graph which has been selected.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for causing automatic rescaling of the time axis for any graph wherein one of the axes has been user defined to show time.

13. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for displaying a tool whereby a user may graphically designate a trend line by defining any two points on the desired trend line.

14. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for allowing a user to enlarge the displayed view of any portion designated by a user of any said graph.

15. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first means includes means for displaying as a graph at least two items of said real time data and for displaying the values of said two items of real time data against the same two axes.

16. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes second means for displaying a layout tool which may be invoked by a user such that one or more areas of said display image of said active document may be programmed to show only the most current value of one or more user defined items of real time data.

17. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes third means for displaying a layout tool which may be invoked by a user such that one or more areas of said active document being composed on said computer display may be programmed to display the dynamically changeable value or values of real time data contained in one or more user designated portions of one or more user designated pages of data from a user designated, page-oriented financial information service.

18. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes fourth means for displaying a layout tool which may be invoked by a user whereby a plurality of pages of said active document may be composed by said user on a computer display, each page having a user defined layout comprising any number of items of user defined text displayed at user defined locations and displayed in user defined style on each page, and the value or values of any number of user specified items of real time data displayed in user designated locations and displayed in user defined style thereon.

19. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes:

alarm limit setting means for displaying a tool which may be invoked by a user so as to establish one or more alarm limits which are associated with one or more items of said real time data, and wherein said real time data includes updated values which arrive from time to time, each said alarm limit being compared with any incoming updated value of a corresponding item of real time data, and said alarm limit setting means also for setting an alert status when any one of said alarm limits is exceeded; and

script means coupled to said alarm limit setting means for, upon detection of said an alert status for any particular alarm limit, causing one or more user defined sequences of events to occur.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said script means comprises means for recognizing and carrying out in any user designated sequence commands for at least some of the following functions:

selection of active objects;

editing selected active objects;

moving and resizing of selected active objects;

moving between pages of said dynamically changeable displayed image of said active document;

editing a selected page of said dynamically changeable displayed image of said active document;

causing audible signals, or for causing a command of another program such as an operating system program to be executed or for pausing a user designated amount of time; and

controlling the display of the computing environment such as by displaying or not displaying the available tool icons for creating and editing said pages of said dynamically changeable displayed image of said active document or displaying or not displaying alignment aids for layout of said pages of said dynamically changeable image of said active document such as grid lines.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said script means further comprises means for providing a tool whereby a user may enter new commands which are available for execution during a user defined script of actions.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said script means includes means for selectively changing the format of said displayed image of said document when an alarm limit is exceeded.

23. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program further comprises fifth means for displaying a tool icon which may be invoked by a user to locate at one or more user defined locations on said user defined display image of said active document one or more quote active objects, each said quote active object for receiving and displaying the current price for a user designated financial issue at said designated location of said active document.

24. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program further comprises:

sixth means for displaying a layout tool which may be invoked by the user to program one or more button active objects at user definable locations on said dynamically changeable display image of said document composed by said user, and

further comprising seventh means coupled to one or more of said button active objects for causing to occur a specific user defined sequence of events associated with each button active object when the corresponding button active is selected.

25. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes means for creating an active object for each said user designated item of real time data displayed within said active document, each said active object having an associated list of properties and an associated list of operations which can be invoked by a user via said one or more input devices to change the values of various properties of said active object.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said computer in said environment has a memory and wherein each said active object is represented in said memory by a data record containing the values for each said property in said list of properties and a pointer to a library of programs for execution on said computer and which carry out the operations associated with said active object when invoked.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein each said active object comprises:

a data object record in said memory for storing the internal computer representation of a set of data items pertinent to a particular item displayed on said document;

a style map record in said memory for storing style data specifying particular ones of the data items stored in said data object which are displayed and where these data items are displayed and the format of the display;

screen rendering means for rendering information on said display;

a display object means for storing a representation of the data from said data object record specified by said style map record and for sending said extracted data and one or more appropriate rendering commands based upon said style data to said screen rendering means such that said display is rendered with said data stored by said display object in accordance with said style data;

means for storing user defined event trigger condition data specifying the conditions for data stored in said data object record under which said user desires further action to occur; and

means coupled to said means for storing event trigger condition data, for storing one or more scripts of actions programmed by said user and associated with one or more events said actions of each script to be carried out by said computer in a sequence programmed by said user if a condition specified in the corresponding event trigger occurs.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 further comprising means for receiving data updates for a corresponding item of real time data, and for updating the corresponding real time data with its new the update value and storing the updated value in said display object means in accordance with said style data stored in said style map record, and for comparing any updated values for said real time data to any event trigger condition data stored in said means for storing event trigger condition data, and for displaying any special effects on said display according to said style data if any event trigger condition has been satisfied by an update to a corresponding item of real time data.

29. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising means for displaying a tool which may be invoked by a user to display on said document table tool objects displaying useful reference information such as the names of commonly used pages of page oriented services or securities.

30. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said real time data acquisition and composition program includes means for displaying a menu of universal commands which can be invoked by a user to edit or manipulate any pages or any active objects displayed on any page of said dynamically changeable displayed image of said document, and for displaying a pop-up menu of commands associated with any command selected by a user from said menu of universal commands.

31. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising means for highlighting the display of data that has changed.

32. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising means for displaying a text layout tool which may be invoked by a user such that one or more areas on said displayed image of said document, the positions of which may be selected by said user, may have displayed therein text information supplied by said user through one or more of said input devices.

33. The apparatus of claim 1 or 5 or 6 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 8 or 23 or 24 or 27 or 28 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 20 further comprising one or more other computers coupled to said data path, and publishing means in execution on said one or more computers and publishing changeable data organized in a page format, said composition program further comprising a page fragment tool means for displaying on said computer display a tool or icon which can be invoked by said user such that said user can cause to be displayed only a selectable portion of a particular page of said page format data by designating any portion of any page of said changeable page format data.

34. 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.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein said program in execution includes a script processor program which causes said computer to execute a script comprised of a series of commands selected by said user when a predetermined trigger condition programmed by said user occurs.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein said program in execution includes means for displaying icons which, when selected by said user using an input device, set a trigger condition and for linking the trigger condition associated with each said icon to a corresponding script such that when said icon is selected, said script of commands is executed by said computer.

37. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein said program in execution includes means for setting alarm limits for the value of any user selected item of real time data, the value of said alarm limit being selectable by said user, and for setting a predetermined trigger condition associated with each said alarm limit when said alarm limit is equalled or exceeded by the value of the corresponding item of real time data, and for selectively linking each said trigger condition to a corresponding script.

38. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein said program in execution includes means for displaying any user selected item of real time data as a graph showing at least the current value of said item of real time data plotted against any other variable such as time.

39. 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.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein said composition means comprises tool means for receiving composition data defining the desired type and location of a visual manifestation of each item of said incoming, changeable, real time data, and for rendering said video in accordance with said composition data using the corresponding items of changeable real time data so as to create one or more pages of said changeable real time data displayed in the desired format, thereby allowing a user to create one or more displayed pages of said changeable real time data, each page of which may be composed by a user so as to have a particular theme or utility to said user.

41. The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said tool means of said composition means includes means for providing a facility to change the composition of any said displayed page of data at any time more or less information is desired about an item of data on said display or any time a new item of data is to be displayed, said tool means including means to issue a subscription request to obtain any new item of data as one or more electromagnetic signals.

42. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein said composition means is also for creating one or more pages of data which can change over time, each of said pages having the same appearance on said computer display when viewed by a user as said page had when composed on said computer display using said composition means.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein said data path is a network or other data exchange media, and wherein said communication means carries out an appropriate communication protocol to obtain the requested data via said network or other data exchange media, and wherein said composition means receives said data as electromagnetic signals via said network or other data exchange media.

44. 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.

45. 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 data sources which output items of data the value(s) of which change over time;

a computer having a display and one or more input devices and coupled so as to be able to access said data sources and receive said data items output thereby and updates to the values of said data items;

a program in execution on said computer for receiving, at any time, 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 requests for the value of any data item specified in said composition commands, and for receiving, at any time, 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, at any time, to update the displayed value of each item of displayed data until a command is received from said user indicati