United States Patent [191
`Gutterman et al.
`
`llllllIlllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllll
`5,297,031
`Mar. 22, 1994
`
`US005297031A
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`[54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORDER
`MANAGEMENT BY MARKET BROKERS
`[7 5] Inventors: Burton J. Gutterman, Glencoe; John
`J. Brogan, Palatine; Thomas Palenik,
`Oak Forest; Dolores Panek, St.
`.
`Charles; Shirley Wu, Roselle, all of
`I11.
`[73] Assignee: Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago, Ill.
`[21] Appl. No.: 489,196
`[22] Filed:
`Mar. 6, 1990
`[51] Int. Cl.5
`.......... .. cosr 15/20
`[52] US. Cl. ..................... .. 364/408; 364/406
`[58] Field of Search ...................... .. 364/408, 412, 406
`[56]
`References Cited
`ILS. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`4,677,552 6/1987 Sibley, Jr. ......................... .. 364/408
`4,760,527 7/ 1988 Sidley ..... ..
`364/412
`4,903,201 2/1990 Wagner .......... ..
`364/408
`4,942,616 7/1990 Linstroth et al.
`.. 364/408
`4,980,826 12/1990 Wagner
`364/408
`5,038,284 8/1991 Kramer
`.. 364/408
`5,101,353 3/1992 Lupien et a1. ..................... .. 364/408
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`“Unisys introduces PC-based quotation system for
`stockbrokers at Securities Industry trade show in New
`York”, Feb. 10, 1988, article from Dialog File 649-
`Newswire ASAP ®.
`“GTE Telenet and Reveal Software Inc. have cooper
`ated in developing a complete broker’s workstation
`software package”, Jan. 22, 1985, article from Diaglog
`File 649-Newswire ASAP ®.
`Bucken, M. “Stock traders ponder Make or Buy
`choice”, Software Magazine, vol. 9, No. 15, Dec. 1989,
`75-77. (abstract of article).
`Mazzella, D. P. “Workstations for ?nancial services
`professionals”, Wall Street Computer Review, vol. 3, No.
`8, May 1986, 51-58 (abstract of article).
`Nathans, L. “Can computers help Merrill take posses
`sion of the ?eld?”, Wall Street Computer Review, vol. 3,
`No. 5, Feb. 1986, 35-39 (abstract of article).
`“Software alliance unveils system to help banks trade
`securities”, American Banker, Nov. 17, 1987, 14 (ab
`stract of article).
`
`“StarLAN chosen to link Hutton branches”, PC Week,
`May 12, 1987, c241, (abstract of article).
`“Unisys: Unisys broadens commitment to securities
`industry with snapnet back office administrative sys
`tem”, Nov. 7, 1989, article from Diaglog File 6l0-Busi
`nesswire.
`Lyons, D. J. "Brokers tuning in to intelligent worksta
`tions”, PC Week, vol. 4, Oct. 6, 1987, 187.
`“Stratus to use Apollo’s network computing system to
`link workstations, OLTP computers", Apr. 26, 1988,
`article from Diaglog File 6l0-Businesswire.
`“SAEF 2. Product Overview,” (date unknown).
`I. Schmerken, “How Computer Assisted Trading is
`Making the Toronto Stock Exchange Purr,” Wall Street
`Computer Review, (Dec. 1987) pp. 71-78, 97.
`Anon, “SOFFEX Management Summary,” Swiss 0p
`tions and Financial Futures Exchange Ltd. (1987).
`Primary Examiner-Roy Envall
`Assistant Examiner-Frantzy Poinvil
`Attorney. Agent, or Firm-Kirkland 8!. Ellis
`[57]
`ABSTRACT
`There is provided a broker workstation for managing
`orders in a market for trading commodities, securities,
`securities options, futures contracts and futures options
`and other items including: a device for selectively dis
`playing order information; a computer for receiving the
`orders and for controlling the displaying device; and a
`device for entering the orders into the computer;
`wherein the displaying device comprises a device for
`displaying selected order information about each in
`coming order, a device for displaying a representation
`of an order deck and a device for displaying a total of
`market orders. In another aspect of the invention, there
`is provided in a workstation having a computer, a de
`vice for entering order information into the computer
`and a device for displaying the order information en
`tered, a method for managing orders in a market for
`trading commodities, securities, securities options, fu
`tures contracts and futures options and the like compris
`ing the steps of: selectively displaying order information
`incoming to the workstation; accepting or rejecting
`orders corresponding to the incoming order informa
`tion displayed; displaying accepted order information in
`a representation of a broker deck; and selectively dis
`playing a total of orders at the market price.
`
`13 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets
`/134
`
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`Mar. 22, 1994
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`
`Mar. 22, 1994
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`US. Patent
`
`- Mar. 22, 1994
`
`Sheet 8 0f8 ’
`
`5,297,031
`
`FIG. 30
`
`START
`
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`INCOMING
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`
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`

`

`1
`
`METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORDER
`‘MANAGEMENT BY MARKET BROKERS
`
`5
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention relates to computer-based
`techniques for managing orders placed in a physical
`market for trading instruments such as stocks, bonds,
`‘ stock options, futures options and futures contracts on
`commodities including agricultural products, ?nancial
`instruments, stock market indices and the like.
`A futures contract is an agreement providing for the
`future delivery of a ?xed quantity of a commodity
`under conditions speci?ed by a federally designated
`exchange. In general, that contract is a ?rm legal agree
`ment between a buyer and seller to make or take deliv
`ery of the underlying commodity and is cleared by a
`separate clearinghouse.
`The futures exchanges house centralized auction mar
`kets (called designated contract markets) where stan
`dardized contracts for future delivery of speci?ed quan
`tities of commodities are bought and sold by open out
`cry. The open outcry method of auction trading is
`widely believed to be the best method of buying and
`selling goods because of the fast access to the market it
`provides to all prospective traders. It is important to
`note that the exchanges themselves do not trade futures
`contracts, nor do they set prices at which contracts are
`traded. They merely furnish a place where market par
`ticipants and their brokerage representatives can meet
`to trade futures contracts.
`Trading generally takes place in a pit or around the
`outside of a ring. All orders received by exchange mem
`ber ?rms are transmitted to the exchange floor for exe
`cution and are ?lled according to bids and offers in the
`respective pits by open outcry to all members present at
`the time. Only one instrument or commodity is traded in
`a pit or around a ring unless the volume is too small to
`justify so much space. customarily, those trading the
`same contract delivery month gather in the same area of
`40
`the ring or on the same step of the pit so that a broker
`with an order can locate the particular market as
`quickly as possible.
`Transactions on the trading floor must be reported to
`the membership and the general public. This is accom
`plished through a variety of communications systems
`by the various exchanges. Transaction information is
`typically entered by exchange-employed market report
`ers in each trading pit and is accessible through com
`puter terminals and electronic wallboards on each trad
`ing floor. At present the open outcry auction in the pit
`produces a large quantity of information which must be
`recorded accurately and quickly by hand.
`At the end of each day the clearing house, which may
`be a subsidiary of the exchange or an independent en
`55
`tity, assumes one side of all open contracts: the clearing
`house becomes the buyer to each seller of a futures
`contract, and a seller to each buyer. The clearing house
`guarantees its members the performance of both sides of
`all open contracts.
`60
`Other aspects of the commodity markets are treated
`in the literature, which includes Kaufman, “Handbook
`of Futures Markets,” John Wiley 8: Sons, New York
`(1984); Rothstein, “The Handbook of Financial Fu
`tures,” McGraw Hill Book Company, New York
`65
`(1984); Gould, “The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Com
`modities Trading,” Dow Jones-Irwin, Homewood
`(1981); Goss & Yamey, "The Economics of Futures
`
`5,297,031
`2
`Trading,” John Wiley & Sons (1976); Johnson & Hazen,
`“Commodities Regulation,” Little, Brown and Com
`pany, Boston (1989); R. Teweles et al., “The Commod
`ity Futures Game,” McGraw-Hill, New York (1974); T.
`Hieronymus, “Economics of Futures Trading,” Com
`modity Research Bureau, Inc., New York (1971);
`“Commodity Trading Manual,” Chicago Board of
`Trade, Chicago (1989); and J. Schwager, “A Complete
`Guide to the Futures Markets,” John Wiley & Sons,
`New York (1984).
`Floor traders are generally classi?ed in two ways: (1)
`speculators, or “locals”, buy and sell for their own
`accounts; and (2) floor brokers ?ll orders for commis
`sion houses, producers and processors seeking to lock in
`a price for their products. Unless a trader is a member of
`an exchange, it is necessary for the trader to deal on the
`exchange through a member brokerage ?rm. Normally,
`?rms that handle public business (the “commission
`houses”) must be registered as “Futures Commission
`Merchants”, or “FCMs.” A “local” can take long-term
`positions (i.e., weeks or months) or “scalp” over very
`short periods (liquidating positions within seconds or
`minutes of entering the transactions). He may trade in
`one or more pits. He bene?ts from the speed with which
`he can take or liquidate positions, but this is in itself no
`assurance of a pro?t. Some ?oor traders specialize in
`spreads by taking opposite positions between future or
`options when the price difference appears abnormal.
`Floor traders have the advantage of lower transaction
`costs available to all members of exchanges.
`The floor traders who execute orders for others but
`seldom or never trade for themselves are the brokers
`who may specialize in orders from customers such as
`commercial processors, exporters, ?nancial institution
`commodity trading funds and the like. They may re
`ceive only a small percentage of the commissions paid
`by the customer to his commission house, but the com
`mission revenues may be substantial depending on the
`volume of business. The orders held by a ?oor broker at
`any given time are referred to as his “deck.” He is al
`lowed to trade for his own account if he chooses, but he
`can not use the public orders to bene?t his own trading.
`When a registered representative‘ of the commission
`house receives an order from a customer, the represen
`tative sends the order to the commission house’s order
`desk on the trading floor, where it is usually handed to
`a messenger and taken directly to an appropriate broker
`in the trading pit or ring. Once the broker in the trading
`pit has the order, he typically uses voice and hand sig
`nals to announce his bid or offer price, the delivery
`month, and the quantity to be bought or sold. Once the
`order has been executed, it is carried by messenger back
`to the commission house's order desk on the trading
`floor, and the con?rmation of the order is dispatched
`back to the office where it was initiated. The represen
`tative then usually telephones the con?rmation to the
`customer or hands him a con?rmation slip if he is pres
`ent in the office.
`,
`The communication of orders from the registered
`representative to the order desks on the trading ?oor '
`takes place with great speed. All orders are time
`stamped at various stages along the order route as a
`check that the order is being expedited in the best possi
`ble fashion. Increasingly, this process is performed by
`computerized communications systems which start
`with a terminal used by the registered representative
`and end with a printer near the broker. Often the com
`
`20
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`in
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`5,297,031
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`4
`puter simultaneously records the terms of the order for
`Some customers will raise their stop prices as the
`later use in preparing statements for the registered rep
`market price advances in an effort to gain as much as
`possible from a major move, while making certain that
`resentative and his customer.
`they can probably lose back only a little of the gain.
`The ?oor brokers’ stock in trade is their skill in exe
`Such an order is frequently called a “trailing stop”.
`cuting the orders they receive and accept. They must
`A somewhat more complex order is the “stop limit
`decide, instantly, the tactics that will be most effective
`order”. The customer might instruct his broker not to
`in filling a given order: whether to wait for bids or
`buy sugar until it rises to 5.53 cents per pound and not
`offers, or whether to hold with the current price, or to
`to pay more than 5.55 cents. This is unlike the unlimited
`bid up or offer down promptly. To be effective, they
`stop, which becomes a market order when the stop
`must know the pit: who will do how much at what
`price has been touched. The limit price may be the same
`price. They must read the intentions of scalpers, locals
`or different from the speci?ed stop.
`and other brokers while concealing their own inten
`A “market-if-touched (M.I.T.) order" is like a limit
`tions.
`order, but the M.I.T. order is executed at the market
`One of the skills of a broker is in knowing his deck.
`when the market has traded at the price speci?ed on the
`As described above, the deck is a stack of orders that
`order, and so it may be ?lled either at that speci?ed
`are to be executed by the broker. The orders are typi
`price, above it, or below it. M.I.T. orders are sometimes
`cally written on pieces of paper about ?ve by seven
`called “board orders”. The order may be entered for
`inches which are then arranged by the broker in a se
`one day, a speci?ed period, or open (i.e., good until
`quence for execution as the market price moves up or
`cancelled).
`down. The broker usually folds them for concealment
`Sometimes a customer may wish to take a position
`and puts them in his pocket so that his bands will be free
`within a short time but would like the broker on the
`to signal and to handle his trading card and pencil.
`?oor of the exchange to use some of his personal judg
`Occasionally, the decks are as much as an inch thick and
`ment in the timing of the ?ll. The broker could do this
`require great memory skill and anticipatory planning.
`if the order indicates that he is to ?ll it at the market but
`Perhaps the most common type of order is the “mar
`is to take his time and will not be responsible if by wait
`ket order” in which the customer states how many
`ing too long or not waiting long enough the price is
`contracts of a given delivery month he wishes to buy or
`unsatisfactory to the customer. Such orders may be
`sell. He does not specify the price at which he wants to
`marked “not held”. Customers may also specify the
`initiate the transaction but simply wants it placed as
`time at which they wish their orders ?lled, e.g., “on
`soon as possible at the best possible price.
`opening,” “on close,” or at a particular speci?ed time.
`“Contingency orders” are those that impose certain
`“Alternative orders” provide for one of two possible
`limitations beyond the quantity and delivery month,
`executions: a customer may order 5,000 bushels of corn
`such as limits in price or time, or both. A “price limit
`at $1.45 a bushel and 5,000 bushels of wheat at $2.56 a
`order” contains a price limitation that is speci?ed by the
`bushel, but not want both. A far more common example
`customer; it can be executed only at the price speci?ed
`of the alternative order is the placing of an objective
`or at a better price level. A “?ll or kill” order contains
`and a stop, with instructions to cancel one if the other is
`a speci?ed price at which the order must be executed or
`?lled; for example, having bought one contract of soy
`it is to be immediately cancelled.
`bean oil at 14.50 cents a pound, a customer may order
`“Stop orders” are sometimes confused with "limit
`his broker to sell the oil either at 14.95 or 14.25 cents
`orders”, but they are actually quite different. A “buy
`stop, whichever occurs ?rst, and then immediately can
`stop order” instructs a broker to execute the order when
`cel the remainder of the order to avoid inadvertently
`the price of a commodity rises to a speci?ed level above
`reversing his position.
`the current market price. The “buy limit order” is usu
`“Scale orders” are used to establish or liquidate posi
`ally placed below the current market price and must be
`tions as the market moves up or down. The sugar trader
`executed at the limit price or better. The difference
`may instruct his broker to buy a contract of sugar at
`between a buy limit order and a buy stop order is exem
`5.45 cents and another contract each time the price
`pli?ed as follows. A customer may be inclined to buy
`drops ?ve points from that level until he has accumu
`December sugar, which could be selling at a price of
`lated six contracts. When he sells out his position, he
`5.43 cents per pound. The customer could tell his bro
`may order the broker to sell one contract at 5.70 cents
`ker to buy a contract at a price not to exceed 5.35 cents;
`and another contract each time the price rises ?ve
`this is a “buy limit order”. Another customer under the
`points until his six contracts have been sold.
`same circumstances could tell his broker to buy a con
`“Contingent orders” are ?lled by the broker after the
`tract of December sugar but not until the price rises to
`price of another contract or even another commodity
`at least 5.55 cents, at which point the order will be
`reaches a speci?ed level.
`55
`executed at the market; this is a “buy stop order”. The
`“Spreads” may be established at a ?xed difference
`buy stop order is placed above the current market and
`rather than at speci?ed prices because the spreader is
`may be executed at the price speci?ed on the stop,.
`concerned only with the difference rather than the
`above it, or below it because it is executed at the market
`level. He may therefore order his broker to “buy one
`price after the stop price is touched; at that point, the
`July pork bellies and sell one February bellies at 80
`stop is said to be "elected”.
`points difference or more, premium February.” Such an
`A "sell stop order” instructs a broker to execute an
`order could be used to establish a new spread position,
`order when the price falls to a given level, at which
`which the trader believes will narrow, or to take the
`point it is to be executed at the market price. Unlike a
`pro?t in a position at a narrower difference and be
`typical “sell limit order”, the sell stop order is below the
`satis?ed with the pro?t at 80 points difference.
`Although the foregoing description has concentrated
`current market price and may be executed at a price at,
`above, or below the speci?ed stop price when it is
`on the commodity futures markets, it will be understood
`elected.
`that the order management system of the present inven
`
`60
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`65
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`

`5,297,031
`5
`tion is applicable to all markets, including those for
`securities trading. Securities markets are usually based
`on actions by specialists, each of whom is the market
`maker for one or more speci?c securities. In the New
`York Stock Exchange, for example, the ultimate deter
`mination of price for any given transaction frequently is
`determined by a specialist who deals in a particular
`stock and who maintains a running list or “book” of
`offers to sell and orders to purchase that stock. The
`specialist may complete a transaction in the stock when
`ever one or more purchase and sell orders can be
`matched with respect to price; on occasion, the same
`specialist purchases the particular stock in which he
`specializes or sells the same stock in order to maintain a
`market for the stock and prevent violent ?uctuations in
`its price. Similar functions, particularly with respect to
`the matching of orders to purchase and to sell, must be
`carried out in all auction markets for the marketing of
`fungible goods, including such commodities as wheat,
`corn, and the like as well as stocks and bonds.
`A computation system for establishing prices in auc
`tion trading for the securities market is described in US.
`Pat. No. 3,581,072 to Nymeyer. That computation sys
`tem comprises a main data store for recording encoded
`data items representative of orders to buy and to sell the
`goods, such orders including orders at speci?c prices
`and other orders “at the market.” The system includes a
`buy order sequencing device for arranging and record
`ing purchase offers ?rst in descending order by price
`and secondly by time of entry so that at each price level
`the oldest orders are uppermost. A sell order sequenc
`ing device is provided for arranging and recording all
`offers to sell ?rst in ascending order by price and se
`condly in descending order by time so that once again
`the oldest orders are the highest at each price level. A
`35
`closing price store is provided to record the last actual
`selling price for the goods. The closing price store and
`the main data store are coupled, by suitable control
`means, to the sequencing devices in order to transfer the
`recorded data items from the data store to the sequenc
`ing devices with “at market” prices being transferred at
`the aforementioned last selling price. The two sequenc
`ing devices are coupled to a comparator that compares
`the sell orders and the buy orders, when they have been
`arranged in sequence, to determine the lowest buy
`order price that is equal to or greater than a recorded
`sell order and thus establish a new selling price for the
`goods.
`More than such a system for merely matching buy
`and sell orders, the present invention provides a system
`that allows brokers to manage their decks and to im
`prove the accuracy of communications between the
`trading floor and the customers. The present invention
`can also reduce the back of?ce costs to trading ?rms by
`reducing the volume of paperwork and consequent
`errors.
`
`6
`means for displaying a representation of an order deck
`and means for displaying a total of market orders.
`In another aspect of the invention, there is provided
`in a workstation having a computer, means for entering
`order information into the computer and means for
`displaying the order information entered, a method for
`managing orders in a market for trading commodities,
`securities, securities options, futures contracts and fu
`tures options and the like comprising the steps of: selec
`tively displaying order information incoming to the
`workstation; accepting or rejecting orders correspond
`ing to the incoming order information displayed; dis
`playing accepted order information in a representation
`of a broker deck; and selectively displaying a total of
`orders at the market price.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE-DRAWINGS
`The features and advantages of the present invention
`will be better understood after a reading of the follow
`ing detailed description in conjunction with the draw
`ings in which:
`FIG. 1a shows a block diagram of a portion of an
`apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
`FIG. 1b shows an embodiment of other portions of an
`apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
`FIGS. 20, 2b, 2c and 2d show display partitions in
`accordance with present invention; and
`FIGS. 3 and 3a show functional block diagrams of
`the broker workstation instructions.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`INVENTION
`The broker workstation in accordance with the pres
`ent invention is an electronic replication of the broker’s
`management of the orders in his deck. The broker has
`the ability to manage his deck just as he has today in the
`pits, but more effectively. The present invention facili
`tates the rapid organization, presentation and exchange
`of large amounts of order information to a broker with
`out requiring a physical order deck.
`As described further below, orders can be entered
`into the workstation in two ways. The order may be
`entered directly to the workstation via an electronic
`order entry system, or it may be entered manually when
`brought to the pit by a messenger or other signalling.
`For best utilization of an electronic market trading sys
`tem such as that described in co-pending US. patent
`application Ser. Nos. 07/322,985 and 07/329,866, the
`orders are preferably entered by way of the electronic
`order entry system.
`The broker workstation in ‘accordance with the pres
`ent invention allows the broker to manage the FCMs’
`orders more efficiently and to handle order accep
`tances, ?ll reports and cancel con?rmations more effec
`tively. When used with an electronic order entry sys
`tem, the broker workstation enables the broker to com
`municate information as to the status of the orders he is
`working. Therefore, the FCM can track the orders
`from the time they are entered into the electronic order
`entry system until the time the orders are returned. The
`broker workstation can also feed information directly to
`the customer and clearing house via the electronic
`order entry system of the exchange. The audit trail is
`thus enhanced for the FCMs, the broker and the ex
`change. From the improved procedures provided by
`the present invention, savings in the form of reduced
`staff and reduced errors due to manual handling of
`paper orders can also be expected.
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`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`In accordance with the present invention, there is
`provided a broker workstation for managing orders in a
`market for trading commodities, securities, securities
`options, futures contracts and futures options and other
`items comprising: means for selectively displaying
`order information; a computer for receiving the orders
`and for controlling the displaying means; and means for
`entering the orders into the computer; wherein the
`displaying means comprises means for displaying se
`lected order information about each incoming order,
`
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`5,297,031
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`station 10 to send an acknowledgment of receipt to the
`The broker workstation in accordance with the pres
`transmitting order entry system. In some situations, the
`ent invention is a deck management system that contin
`workstation receiver module 18 would cause the work
`ues to permit the broker to use his expertise to execute
`the order depending on the market situation. The bro
`station 10 to send a not-acknowledged message to the
`order entry system so that the information could be
`ker has indicated on his workstation the different types
`retransmitted. Such situations would typically occur
`of orders residing in his deck, including the total quan
`when the workstation-in queue 22 is temporarily full or
`tity at a price of limit orders, stops, stop limits, M.I.T.s,
`and orders with special instructions. There is also an
`when an error in the format of the information occurs,
`such as might arise from a noisy communication‘ link.
`area indicating the total market orders to buy and sell.
`The workstation receiver module 18 receives the
`Just as in the present markets, the broker must judge
`information from the order entry system and places it in
`how to get the best order execution, whether that is in
`the physical pits or on an electronic trading system. The
`the workstation-in queue 22 in a predetermined time
`system of the present invention thus enables the broker
`sequence. The receiver module 18 thus could advanta
`geously arrange for processing of information from an
`to better serve the needs of the market.
`electronic order entry system before processing of in
`Referring now to the Figures in which like reference
`formation entered by hand despite the earlier receipt of
`numerals indicate like parts throughout, FIG. 1a shows
`the hand-input information. For example, orders from a
`a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with the
`trader in Japan could be presented to a Chicago-located
`present invention comprising a broker workstation 10.
`broker workstation before orders ?ashed by hand from
`As described in more detail below, the broker worksta
`a Chicago trader to the broker are processed. In this
`tion 10 may advantageously be a MICROEXPLORER
`20
`way, communications link delays could be compensated
`processor, made by Texas Instruments Inc., that in
`by the system so that the system access time is equal for
`cludes a MACINTOSH II computer, manufactured by
`Apple Computer, Inc., having a high-resolution (e.g.,
`all traders, but such access time equalization is not es
`sential to the present invention. It will be appreciated
`350 dots per inch), color, touch-sensitive display screen.
`that such delay compensation would not be expected in
`Suitable touch-sensitive screens are made by Apple
`25
`Computer, Inc, and it will be appreciated that many
`applications in which the workstation 10 received or
`ders through a plurality of different electronic order
`other suitable devices are commercially available. One
`entry systems used by different FCMs. In addition, the
`embodiment of a broker workstation 10 is illustrated in
`FIG. 1b which shows a high-resolution display screen
`receiver module 18 can implement the features of the
`present invention for organizing information in price
`12, a keyboard 14 and an auxiliary control device 16,
`and time sequences as in stock-exchange and other
`such as a trackball or mouse. It will be understood by
`types of trading system.
`those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present
`invention pertains that the various keys and touch-sensi
`After time-stamping the received information, the
`workstation receiver module 18 places the information
`tive screen functions can also be implemented by a
`conventional keyboard, mouse and other standard input
`in the workstation-in queue 22, such as a FIFO buffer,
`devices.
`and transmits an acknowledgement message to the
`order entry system. If the workstation-in queue 22 is full
`The workstation 10 carries out a plurality of instruc
`or if an error in the information is detected by the work
`tion modules that can be written in any suitable com
`puter language, such as LISP, PASCAL and C, al
`station receiver module 18, the module 18 transmits a
`though LISP is preferable because of the ?exibility it
`not-acknowledged message to the order entry system.
`40
`provides. In addition, the broker workstation 10 shown
`The workstation receiver module 18 also handles an
`in the block diagram of FIG. 1a is representative of a
`“alive” or “heartbeat” message from the workstation 10
`plurality of broker workstations that may be operational
`to the order entry system in the event of little market
`simultaneously.
`activity.
`A workstation receiver module 18 receives suitable
`Information in the workstation-in queue 22 is re
`communications from an electronic order entry system
`moved by a workstation transaction processor 24 which
`and price reporting system that are provided by the
`time-stamps the information and updates the worksta
`exchange and are electronically connected to the work
`tion’s display screen and database, which may be stored
`station 10 by a suitable link 20. The receiver module 18
`on a hard disk memory, in accordance with the informa
`is thus a port into the workstation 10, which may be
`tion through a FIFO buffer 26. As described in more
`detail below, those updates re?ect market activity and
`activated initi