[54] SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING
`PROCESSING AND DISPLAYING
`FINANCIAL INFORMATION
`Inventor: Gerard M. Higgins, Staten Island,
`NY.
`[73] Assignee: Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc., New
`York, N.Y.
`725,9
`725,951
`Jun. 27, 1991
`
`Pi]
`PP No.
`21] Appl.
`[22] Filed:
`
`No.:
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`1489571 10/1977 United Kingdom ............... 364/408
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`“Technical Analysis Software Directory”, Wall Street
`Computer Review, vol. 2, No. 8, Jun. 1985, 67-70, 72-79.
`Everest, G. C. Database Management. (McGraw-Hill
`Book Company: New York) 1986, 746.
`Chamoff, M.E.et al. “Dynamic Self-Optimizing Price
`pany
`;
`was
`.
`Lookupfor Retail Terminal System”, IBM Tech, Discl.
`Bull, vol. 24, No. 2, Jul. 1981, 976-8.
`Primary Examiner—Ray N. Envall, Jr.
`—_4ssistant Examiner—Laura Brutman
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Hopgood, Calimafde, Kalil,
`Blaustein & Judlowe
`ABSTRACT
`[57]
`.,
`.
`oo,
`A data processing and communication system distrib-
`utes and displays financial market
`ticker, quotation,
`news and ancillary information via a plurality of stored
`program controlled work stations. Stock trade execu-
`tions, quotations and other ticker plant information is
`COMMMMUnicated in parallel to a hierarchy of system data
`3792462 2/914 Caseyetalon340/34
`
`Processing terminals, e.g., those located at area, branch
`, 340/825.27
`3,823,387
`7/1974 McClellan ....
`
`and individual work station locations. Storage mediaat
`3,911,403 10/1975 ONeill, Jr. cccccssseccscsssesecsss 364/900
`
`the several system data processing levels extracts and
`8/1976 Cleveland etal.
`.. 340/825.26 X
`3,976,840
`
`stores data base information of differing purport and
`4,008,460 2/1977 Bryant et al. oo... 364/200
`
`completeness for the disseminated data to support the
`4,063,031 12/1977) Grunza ......-eeeeeeeceseeeentees 381/43
`
`system workstation users.
`1/1980 Bensonetal.....
`4,186,438
`364/200
`.
`:
`.
`2/1981 Kirschneret al.
`4,253,157
`364/900
`In accordance with one aspectof the present invention,
`4,334,270 6/1982 TOWELS seccccsoss-u
`364/408
`
`information characterizing a dynamically changing
`8/1982 Musmanno....
`4,346,442
`364/900
`sub-population of the overall ensemble of market securi-
`3/1983 Musmanno ...ssseressersees 364/900
`4,376,978
`
`
`ties is maintained at and becomes immediately available
`8/1983 Hosono.........
`364/900 X
`4,398,250
`to each workstation responsive to the pattern of usage
`4,432,057 2/1984 Daniell et al... 364/300
`
`at that specific station. Various derivative tasks, such as
`- 340/825.27 X
`4,473,824 9/1984 Claytor.....
`
`security price limit alerts, are user programmable and
`~ 364/408 X
`4,486,853 12/1984 Parsons.....
`4
`:
`.. 235/375
`4,491,725
`1/1985 Pritchard ..
`are activated by the contents of the work station data
`4,547,851 10/1985 Kurland ...
`364/410
`
`base.
`1/1986 Lockwood....
`... 235/381
`4,567,359
`
`
`4,577,062 3/1986 Hilleary et al.oo...eee 179/2 A
`
`
`4,881,179 11/1989 Vincent ....cccceesceeeeeseees 364/518
`
`US005270922A
`United States Patent 19
`[11] Patent Number:
`5,270,922
`Higgins
`[45] Date of Patent:
`Dec. 14, 1993
`
`
`LOTTETANA
`
`[75]
`
`[63]
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`Continuation of Ser. No. 626,339, Jun. 29, 1984, aban-
`doned.
`[51] Unt. CLS ooeeeecceeetnee GO6F 15/20; GO6G 7/52
`
`[82] US. C1, access
`ceesestoseeeeeeenestenseeseeseneeees 364/408
`[58] Field of Search................ 364/408, 229.41, 283.2;
`340/825.27; 395/800
`.
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`[56]
`
`17 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
`
`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec. 14, 1993
`
`Sheet 1 of 5
`
`5,270,922
`
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`IPR2016-00753
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec. 14, 1993
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
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`IPR2016-00753
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec. 14, 1993
`
`Sheet 3 of 5
`
`5,270,922
`
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 4
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec. 14, 1993
`
`Sheet 4 of 5
`
`5,270,922
`
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`PMC Exhibit 2126
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`

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`USS. Patent
`
`Dec. 14, 1993
`
`Sheet 5 of 5
`
`5,270,922
`
`READ NEXT
`TICKER MSG (29
`
`
`
`
`
`OPLATE ory
`
`APFLICATIGNS
`AS RECEMEO
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`
`PMC Exhibit 2126
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`IPR2016-00753
`Page 6
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`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
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`

`

`1
`
`5,270,922
`
`SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING, PROCESSING AND
`DISPLAYING FINANCIAL INFORMATION
`
`This is a continuation of copending application Ser.
`No. 06/626,339 filed on Jun. 29, 1984 now abandoned.
`
`DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention relates to data communication and
`processing systems and, more specifically, to a system
`for distributing, processing and displaying financial
`market data, news and thelike.
`It is an object of the present invention to provide
`improved user friendly apparatus for communicating,
`storing, processing and displaying financial market in-
`formation, news and other original and derivative data.
`Morespecifically, it is an object of the present inven-
`tion to provide apparatus and methodology to commu-
`nicate and display information useful for securities bro-
`kers,
`investors, and others concerned with financial
`markets; to provide multiple viewing windowsto dis-
`play diverse and/or related ticker and other market
`information; and which permits interactive user control
`at system microprocessor governed workstations.
`It
`is another object of the present
`invention that
`stored program controlled subscriber workstations in a
`financial market information communication and dis-
`play system permit
`local and immediate access to a
`dynamically changing sub-population of securities of
`particular interest; and that full securities data is stored
`on a hierarchal basis at varying system facilities.
`The above and other objects of the present invention
`are realized in a specific, illustrative system for distrib-
`uting, processing and displaying financial market ticker,
`quotation, news and ancillary information via a plural-
`ity of stored program controlled work stations. Stock
`trade executions, quotations and other ticker plant in-
`formation is communicatedin parallel to a hierarchy of
`system data processing terminals, e.g., those located at
`area, branch and individual work station locations.
`Storage media at the several system data processing
`levels extracts and stores data base informationofdiffer-
`ing purport and completeness for the disseminated data
`to support the system workstation users.
`In accordance with one aspect of the present inven-
`tion, information characterizing a dynamically chang-
`ing sub-population of the marketsecurities is maintained
`at and becomes immediately available to each work
`station responsive to the pattern of usageat that specific
`station. Various derivative tasks, such as security price
`limitalerts and customized,selective ticker displays, are
`user programmable and are actuated by the worksta-
`tion data base.
`The above and other features and advantagesof the
`instant invention will become moreclear from thefol-
`lowing detailed description of a specific,
`illustrative
`embodiment thereof presented hereinbelow in conjunc-
`‘tion with the accompanying drawing, in which:
`FIGS.1A and 1B are the upper and lowerportions of
`a schematic block diagram of a system in accordance
`with the instant invention for distributing, processing
`and displaying financial information;
`FIG. 2 is an illustrative display presented to a system
`user via a work station cathode ray tube in accordance
`with the principles of the present invention;
`FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating user work station
`data processing to generate quotation information and
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`2
`to dynamically update the workstation data base mar-
`ket security sub-population; and
`FIG.4 is a flow chart illustrating work station ticker
`and related processing in accordance with the instant
`invention.
`Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, hereinafter re-
`ferred to as composite FIG.1, there is shown in block
`diagram form improved communications and data pro-
`cessing apparatus for communicating information char-
`acterizing financial markets generated at a central, com-
`monlocation, and for making that information available
`at a potentially large number of subscriber workstations
`110;;,4,
`€.g.,
`located on desks of brokerage industry
`account executives,
`their customers, and/or others
`whose business or interest is the world of finance. Ex-
`amining the system in overview, each workstation
`110;;% includes a display 107, e.g., a cathode ray tube
`controlled by a central processor 103. The work station
`110;;, also includes a program containing memory 109,
`@.g., a read only (ROM) device and variable content
`memory 111, e.g., a random access (RAM)unit. The
`user work station RAM 111 contains a good deal of the
`data of most interest to the specific work station 110
`user and, in general, the RAM 111 contents vary from
`user to user. RAM 111 may also contain programs or
`program portions.
`Each workstation 110;;x has access to information
`stored in more senior computers in the computerhierar-
`chy of the instant invention. Thus, for example, the
`broker at the illustrated work station 110,;% (and all
`others similarly situated) has access to his branch com-
`puter 90;, and,
`in particular, to the variable content
`RAM memories 95 and 96 there located which supply
`information beyond that capable of storage in the RAM
`111 of work station 110;;4. Yet further continuing up
`the computer hierarchy, the work station 110,;,% has
`access to the contents of a RAM 60 in an area-serving
`computer 50; with which its branch is associated. Ulti-
`mately, all system work stations 110 can access the
`master customer data base memory 12 in a homeoffice
`main frame computer.
`The basic data characterizing securities trading is
`generated in the manner per se well known to those
`skilled in the art. In particular, trading information(e.g.,
`execution prices and volume, and quotations) are sup-
`plied by the New York Stock Exchange 28 to a ticker
`plant 35. Also supplied to ticker plant 35 is comparable
`trading information from the several so-called regional
`exchanges 30; through 30, Other, domestic and world-
`wide information may be included as well. The output
`of the ticker plant is information characterizing stock
`trade executions at the respective exchanges, as well as
`bid and asked quotation information. The output of the
`ticker plant 35, as presently constituted and per se
`known,is the ticker of common experience which is
`distributed typically via land lines to brokerage houses
`and other financial institutions.
`In accordance with the present invention, the ticker
`plant output is supplied via a microwave uplink 38 for
`satellite distribution to receive-only earth stations at the
`area and branch computer locations 50 and 90. For
`redundant transmission, the ticker information is also
`radiated on a multiplexed basis with a television pro-
`gram. Such data multiplexing with a television signalis
`per se well known and maybe included, for example, as
`digital information modulating the video carrier in the
`vertical retrace interval to not be recoverable by con-
`ventional television receivers tuned to the underlying
`
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`5,270,922
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`3
`television program. Receiving equipment 70 at the area
`and branch computer locations $0 and 90 receives the
`radiated versions of the ticker plant 35 output.
`Advantageously for market information continuity
`assurance, the receiving location apparatus 70 includes
`antennas 80 and 81 for respectively receiving each of
`the satellite and television radiated signals. Examining
`the receiving equipment shown in FIG. 1A for area
`computer 50,;,
`illustrative of all such apparatus,
`the
`satellite and VHF or UHFtelevision-multiplexed sig-
`nals are respectively received at antennas 80 or 81 and
`detected by RF receivers 78; and 782. Antenna surro-
`gates, such as cable television delivery systems, may be
`employed. A demultiplexer 77 selects the base band
`data stream output of one or the other of radio recei-
`ver/detectors 78; or 782 under control of central proces-
`sor 72 in accordance with any appropriate algorithm
`stored in a ROM memory 74. Thus, for example, the
`CPU can receive and temporarily store in a RAM 76
`the data stream outputs of both receivers 78; and 782
`and select that one exhibiting the lower error rate.
`Other selection algorithms will be readily apparent to
`those skilled in the art.
`Thesecurities trading informationis thus coincident-
`ally supplied directly to each of the system branch and
`area computers 90 and 50 in parallel on an over-the-air,
`radiated basis. In each area computer 50, e.g., the unit
`50; shown in FIG. 1A,the received trading information
`is stored by the main central processing unit 56 under
`control of the program stored in read only memory 57.
`In the area computer 50;, which is senior in the com-
`puter 50-90-110 hierarchy of FIG. 2, complete market
`data for substantially the entire population of monitored
`securities is retained in RAM 60. The functions ofele-
`ments 72, 74 and 76 could of course be performed di-
`rectly by elements 56, 57 and 60.
`Correspondingly, in a branch computer 90,e.g., the
`computer 90;;, variable content RAM memory 96
`makes no attemptto store all of the monitored securi-
`ties. Rather, RAM memory 96 stores information for
`only a subset of the entire securities population corre-
`sponding to those securities which are of generally
`popular interest. Computer 90;;, memory 96 thusretains
`current market information for a securities population
`less than that of the area computer 50; but substantially
`greater than that retained in RAM 111 of the work
`stations 110,;,, associated with the branch 90;;.
`AS a matter of overall system philosophy, when a
`work station 110;;; seeks current price information for
`a security not then within its memory 11], it seeks such
`information from its associated branch computer 90,x.
`If the information is not available at the branch level,
`the branch computer 90;; inquires of the area computer
`50; via connecting modems 91 and 52 and communica-
`tionslink 83. Thus a reasonable amount of memory and
`computing power is employed at the several system
`hierarchal
`levels commensurate with the reasonable
`needs of those levels. All information is obtainable at a
`work station 110 either from its internal storage, from
`its branch,or from its area. Additional information may
`be obtained, as needed, from the home office main
`frame central processor 14 and data base 12 (source
`level 10) via communications apparatus 22 (e.g., the
`switched telephone network) and modem 25; or from
`external data base(s) 26 via a modem 27.
`The illustrative branch computer 90;x includes a
`RAM 95 which stores historical information character-
`izing securities of interest, e.g., past earnings, price
`
`5
`
`25
`
`30
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`4
`earnings ratio, dividend history, annual high and low
`prices, and so forth. Such informationis available to any
`work station 110 associated with that branch 90); via
`appropriate keyboard 112 entries (“full quote’’) at the
`workstation. The current stock price information RAM
`96 and the historical, corporate information stored in
`RAM 95are showndistinct in FIG. 2. The two memo-
`ries 95 and 96 mayof course be separate or commingled
`portions of a single such memory.
`As a final source of information for the system of
`FIG.1, one or more source level 10 news wire source(s)
`24 supply financial newsvia land lines 25 to the various
`area and branch computers 50 and 90 and, via the
`branch computers, to the various work stations 110.
`Illustrative of currently available news wire sources are
`those provided by Dow Jones and Reuters. Alterna-
`tively, the news information furnished by source 24 can
`be multiplexed and radiated with the output of ticker
`plant 35 for distribution to area, branch and worksta-
`tion computers.
`It is an objective and purpose of the instant invention
`to make use of the market and newsinformation gener-
`ated byticker plant 35 and news wire source(s) 24 at the
`various system work stations 110. That is, the work
`stations 110 have a signal entry keyboard 112 which
`may be employed by a user (e.g., a broker) to specify
`various kinds of information desired for viewing via his
`display 107. As above noted, part of the market infor-
`mation resides within his work station in RAM 111.
`Additional quotations not already at his location are
`loaded via multiplexer/demultiplexer 105 under central
`processor 103 contro! via multiplexer control port 105,
`from the associated branch computer 90 or area com-
`puter 50. The information presented at display 107 may
`comprise a single field of information, ¢.g., a quotation,
`a ticker flow or the like. Alternatively, in accordance
`with one aspect of the instant invention, a multi-win-
`dow display may be presented via the cathode ray tube
`107. Moreover, depending upon the user-entered key
`strokes, the specific format of the multi-window display
`may vary. Presenting plural “windows”or fields on a
`single cathode ray tube display is of course per se well
`knownto those skilled in the art and is available via
`IBM,Bell Laboratories and others.
`Oneillustrative multi-window presentation for dis-
`play 107 at a system work station 110 is shown in FIG.
`2. The composite presentation has a first field 142 which
`simply comprises the complete New York Stock Ex-
`changeticker (a series of stock transaction messages for
`stock executions on that exchange). Thefield includes a
`sequence of messages each formed of a stock symbol
`143 followed by the volume(in hundredsof shares) 144
`and the trade price 145. The price 145 may haveits first
`digit deleted, and volume may be omitted on reasonably
`busy days to obviate undue ticker delays. Examining,
`for example,the first trade constituent in the ticker data
`field 142 in display 107, one viewing the ticker would
`know that 5,000 shares of the security having an ex-
`change symbol ABC tradedat a price of 90}.
`The multiple window display format chosen by the
`user via keyboard 112 includes a second ticker (“TICK-
`ER-2”) specified under the user contro]. In accordance
`with varying aspects of the present invention, the user
`may format his own personal
`ticker by establishing
`criteria which a trade message from tickerplant 38 must
`satisfy to pass to the TICKER-2 windowfield 147 for
`viewing. Thecriteria, stored in RAM 111, mayspecify
`trades in only a specific enumerated list of securities,
`
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`5,270,922
`
`5
`trades from specific exchange(s), and/or so forth. This
`gives rise to a relatively slow speed, focused ticker
`which eliminates the clutter associated with trading of
`securities of no interest to the operator of the specific
`work station 110.
`A display field 149 forms a scrolling presentation of
`the news reported via the source 24; and a field 151 in
`the particular display format shown contains limit-
`exceeding information. The entryillustrated in FIG. 2
`identifies a security (MNO) which has last traded (25$)
`outside (lower) a bound (25f) stored in RAM 111. Up-
`side and downside limits are often used by brokers and
`investors as buy or sell conditions and are of interest
`both to the broker and to his customers owning those
`securities.
`A further, MONITORfield 153 containsprice infor-
`mation for a predetermined population of securities of
`interest to that particular broker. Each entry includes an
`identification 154 (the stock symbol), a designation 155
`of the market where the last trade occurred, an arrow
`157 signalling whether the last trade was an uptick or
`downtick, and the currently obtaining bid and ask
`prices 158. Finally, a QUICK-QUOTEfield 157 pro-
`vides a quotation for a particular stock (ABC) having a
`symbol entered by the user via keyboard 112. Reading
`acrosstheillustrative entry of FIG.2, the stock symbol
`is followed by an identifier for the exchange executing
`the last trade (New York) in the security, an arrow
`showing the tick direction of the last trade (up), the
`trade price (904), the current bid (90%) and asked (90%)
`prices and the exchanges wherethose bid and ask prices
`came from (bid-Boston and New York, asked-American
`and Toronto), the bid and ask volumesizes (60 and 5
`respectively), the number of shares (230,800) of that
`security traded so far during that business day, and the
`time of the last trade (12:02).
`Other windows in addition to or superimposed upon
`the display of FIG. 2 may be employed as well. Thus,
`for example, a field may signal the operative stored
`securities limits as just one example among many.
`Each ofthe data fields in FIG. 2 may be displayed,
`alone, on the face of the cathode ray tube under user
`control entered via the keyboard 112. Alternatively as
`above discussed, one of various multi-window formats
`may be specified via the keyboard 112,as again is per se
`well known, to present a numberof data fields simulta-
`neously.
`As alluded to above, it is one of the offices of the
`instant
`invention to store within each work station
`110;;,; and in particular in the RAM memory 111 there
`located,
`information characterizing the securities of
`interest to that broker or other work station user. To
`that end, the stored computer program automatically
`stores in the variable content RAM memory 111 ofthe
`subject work station securities identification and price
`data corresponding to a limited, predetermined number
`(e.g., 300 for purposes of specificity only) of securities
`whoseprice information was last requested at that work
`station. Whenthe station 110is at its upper storage limit
`(300), a new quotation request automatically causes the
`central processor 103 to discard the oldest security in
`the limited stored population, i.e., the one last viewed
`prior to later quotation requests for 300 different securi-
`ties.
`Asnewtrades in the monitored 300 security popula-
`tion are reported via the ticker plant 35, communica-
`tions link receiver 98, demultiplexer 105 and work sta-
`tion central processor 103 automatically change the
`
`—0
`
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`20
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`50
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`stored price information in RAM 111. Thestored secu-
`rity price information also automatically changes the
`price presentation for the respective securities wher-
`ever a security appears in any of the multiple windows
`(fields) of the display 107. That is, new price informa-
`tion for any particular stock will change in each win-
`dow in which that security appears. For example, a
`price change in the price of the equity whose symbolis
`assumed to be ABCfortheillustrative display of FIG.
`2 causes changes in at least the MONITORfield 153,
`the NYSETicker 142, and in the QUICK-QUOTEfield
`157 all of which derive their refreshed information from
`the work station data base in RAM 111.If the last trade
`exceeded a limit, an appropriate message would be
`generated as well in field 151.
`Attention will now be directed to the flow chart of
`FIG. 3 which presents the operative program for main-
`taining the data base in the work station 110 RAM 111
`to reflect the limited (300) entries most recently queried
`at that specific work station. The program for dynami-
`cally controlling storage at the user’s work station 110 is
`typically stored in the read only memory, or ROM 109
`there included although RAM 111 storage is also possi-
`ble. To reiterate, it is the function of the dynamic stor-
`age algorithm to maintain in the variable, RAM mem-
`ory 111 at the user’s station 110 information associated
`with the 300 securities for which quotations were most
`recently requested at that station (and which are thus
`most likely to generate future quotation requests). To
`this end, RAM 111 includes a “least recently used” or
`LRU list which stores the stock symbols of the most
`recently requested 300 (or fewer) securities. It will be
`assumed that the most recently requested security re-
`sides in the top,orfirst position, in that list; and that the
`least recently requested symbolis stored at the bottom
`of the list in a jeopardy position to be purged if a new
`security, not otherwise in the LRUlist, is entered at the
`workstation keyboard 112 (assuming a full complement
`of 300 items). A processing variable LRUSZ is main-
`tained to indicate the size or number of items in the
`LRUlist. Programmingfor theinstant invention may of
`course be in any convenient language which is stored
`and implemented on any of the diverse formsofdigital
`processing apparatus.
`To illustrate specific operation of the dynamic stor-
`age reallocation algorithm, assume that a broker or
`other user at the work station 110;), illustrated in FIG.
`1B wishes a quotation on any desired security. He enters
`the corresponding symbol for the security as by his
`signal entry keyboard 112 (functional step 201 in FIG.
`3). Test 205 then examines the LRUtable to determine
`whether the newly entered stock symbolis already in
`the LRUlist. If it is (YES output of test 205), test 206
`examines the command message entered through key-
`board 112 to determine whether the user wishesa full
`quote (e.g., including historical and derived(e.g., price-
`earnings ratio) information not locally available at the
`workstation 110 or the more commonso-called quick
`quote price and volume information which is locally
`available. If a full quote is desired, the work station 110
`obtains the historical information from the historical
`information memory95 in the branch computer 90; via
`the communicating demultiplexer 105. If desired, his-
`torical information of varying levels of detail may be
`distributed between the branch and area RAMs 95 and
`60. In either event, either the quick quote or full quote
`after data retrieval from RAM 985is displayed for the
`
`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 9
`
`PMC Exhibit 2126
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 9
`
`

`

`5,270,922
`
`7
`user (step 215) as via the user’s cathode ray tube display
`107
`Tracing the alternate output path from the test 205,
`assume that the stock symbol requested was not one
`recently examined at the specific work station 110,;%
`and therefore was not in the LRUlist locally available
`from the work station 110 RAM 111 (N¢@ outputpath of
`test 205). When this condition obtains, the desired quo-
`tation is retrieved from the branch RAM 96 (or higher
`order computer if necessary)—step 220. Depending
`upon whethera full quote or quick quote was specified
`by the input commandentered by the user at keyboard
`112,
`test 222 fetches the full
`information from the
`branch RAM 95 if appropriate (step 224) or skips this
`operation if only a quick quote was desired. The follow-
`ing operation 227 stores the securities information just
`obtained in the user’s work station variable memory
`111, and step 229 sets a flag bit in some predetermined
`location (e.g., FLAG)to signal that FIG. 3 processing
`is dealing with a security not previously stored at the
`user’s work station 110 memory 111. As before, the
`quotation information is displayed in its full or quick
`(limited) form in the display step 215.
`Following delivery of the information to the user’s
`display 107, the symbol for the security just requested
`‘by the user is put on top of the LRUlist which signals
`that this security was most recently requested at the
`work station 110;;,4 (step 217).
`The remainderof the functional operation depicted in
`FIG. 3 then serves to maintain the least recently used
`(LRU) list in correct form as well as to maintain the list
`size variable (LRUSZ)at the correct value. Tothis end,
`test 219 examines the contentsofthe flag bit (FLAG) to
`determine whether or not the symbol most recently
`processed was new to the data table (it being new fol-
`lowing the N@ output of test 205 but not for the YES
`outputofthat test). If the flag bit was not set (N@ output
`of test 219) signalling that the stock symbol (and its
`concomitant information) was already in the LRUlist
`and in the RAM 111 data table, step 230 searches
`through the LRUlist after position 1 and deletes the
`second appearanceof the symbolin thelist. The symbol
`is deleted since it is known to be in the first or most
`senior position in the LRUlist as a result of step 217 and
`thus its redundant presence is discarded. That com-
`pletes operation of the FIG. 3 dynamic storage realloca-
`tion for the assumed branch of data processing which
`thus goes to the end point of the subroutine and passes
`to system control for other system business.
`Whentest 219 signals that the flag bit was set (YES
`output signalling that the symbol was new to the LRU
`list) test 235 next determines whether or not the LRU
`list is at its maximum size (LRUSZ 2 300).Ifit is not, the
`data table can accept a new symbol without deleting an
`old one. Accordingly, the LRU size variable is incre-
`mented by one (LRUSZ=LRUSZ + 1) in step 240, the
`flag bit is cleared (step 242), and processing is com-
`pleted. Correspondingly, if the LRU table is full (YES
`output of test 235), the bottom element in the LRUlist
`is deleted (step 237). The flag bit is then cleared (step
`242) ending the routine.
`Accordingly, the FIG. 3 mode of data processing
`automatically maintains within the work station 110
`RAM 111 a list (LRU) of the 300 most recently re-
`quested stock symbols at that station. The newerof the
`stock symbols requested are in the top portion ofthelist
`while the older symbols are in the bottom pari of the
`list, with symbols being deleted if they are not requested
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`40
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`45
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`60
`
`8
`a second time before 300 other quotations are entered at
`the user keyboard 112.
`It will be apparent that the stock symbols in the LRU
`list and the corresponding stock price values and other
`information, will vary from time to time for any user of
`the equipment 110,and will differ at any given time
`for different system work stations presumably having
`operators who enter different patterns of quotations.
`The local variable memory 111 of each work station 110
`will thereby store the information most likely to be next
`needed by each station user and which will be quickly
`available to that person, not requiring interrogation
`(other than for “historical” information) from any other
`system computer thus obviating communication and
`possible queueing delays.
`Finally, attention will be directed to the flow chart of
`FIG. 4 which presents the operative program for dy-
`namically updating data in the user’s RAM 111 data
`base characterizing the stocks having a present applica-
`tion for that user. That is, FIG. 4 depicts the mannerin
`which current price and other market data is loaded
`into the user’s RAM 111 to provide current information
`for each componentofthe display (FIG. 2)of the user’s
`cathode ray tube 107. It will be assumed for simplicity
`of discussion that each separate display application
`(FIG. 2 field or window) has an associated list in RAM
`memory 111 of those symbols currently of interest, i.¢.,
`there exists a first list (LRU table) for the 300 most
`recently requested quotations, a second list for those
`securities for whom limits are being maintained, further
`lists for the ticker presentations, and so forth. Eachlist
`would contain or have a pointer to all data for each
`security in that list. Alternatively, a single integrated list
`and data table may be employedforall stocks for which
`there is any current application, together with one or
`more identifiers which record those application(s) for
`which the stock data is required.
`Examining the flow chart of FIG. 4, thefirst step 301
`reads into the computer CPU the next incoming stock
`symbol, price, volume and related information (ticker
`message) originated by ticker plant 35, and furnished to
`the work station 110,;,4 via its corresponding branch
`apparatus 70,80,81 via cable 103 and demultiplexer 105.
`Test