WO2001011529A1

WO2001011529A1 - Event information management system

Info

Publication number: WO2001011529A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/021870
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alexis Kopikis; Paul Walborsky; David Marcus; Zenobia Moochhala; Paul Jaminet
Original assignee: Worldstreet Corporation
Priority date: 1999-08-09
Filing date: 2000-08-09
Publication date: 2001-02-15
Also published as: WO2001011529A9; AU6536100A

Abstract

An investment event information management system is presented (see Fig. 1). The system can include a number of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a number of different sponsor sites. These can each include entry areas for investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items. A number of investor interfaces can be responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces and can be located at least one investor site. Each of them can include display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

Description

EVENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The invention is directed to methods and apparatus for managing information relating to the subject matter of events, such as systems, terminals, and methods for managing information related to events promoting the sale of financial services, products, and information to individuals such as investors.

Copyright Notice

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Background of the Invention

The investment industry includes two broad sectors, an institutional sector and an individual sector. The institutional sector is made up of broker/dealers of securities, such as the large Wall Street banks, brokers, and securities dealers, as well as investment firms, such as mutual fund companies, pension funds, endowments and foundations. Because of their usual respective roles in selling and buying securities, broker/dealers are generally referred to as the "sell-side" of the industry and investment firms are generally referred to as the "buy-side." A comparable split between brokers and investors exists on the retail side of the industry, except that investors are typically individuals rather than firms.

A key function of the sell-side firms is the creation and dissemination of investment information relating to the securities that they offer for sale. Sell-side firms employ one group of employees, typically referred to as research analysts, to generate investment information, and another group of employees, typically referred to as salespersons, to disseminate that information to investors. One manner in which sell-side firms generate investment information and/or disseminate it to investors is to organize events.

There are several types of events organized by sell-side firms. Among these are conference calls between research analysts and corporate executives. These are conducted for the purpose of generating investment information that will then be disseminated to investors through other channels. Sell-side firms also organize conferences in which research analysts meet directly with investors and disseminate information to them.

Currently, communication and coordination of activities relating to events organized by sell- side firms are conducted by human beings with limited software tools. Event organizers typically extend invitations to an event by telephone, mail, or electronic mail. The recipients typically respond via the same kinds of channels. These communications may be initiated or tracked using general-purpose personal information management software.

Summary of the Invention

In one general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management system that includes a number of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a number of different sponsor sites. These each include entry areas for investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items. A number of investor interfaces are responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces and are located at at least one investor site. Each of them includes display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

In preferred embodiments, the system can include a communication interface to allow users to create communication items related to the investment event items. The system can include an indexing system for storing and indexing the communication items as relating to the investment event items, and a retrieval system for retrieving the communication items for one or more of the investment items. The communication interface can be operative to create communications to be sent and delivered within a same sponsoring location, and these communications can relate to sub- event items that are unavailable to the investor interfaces. The communication interface can include a squawk box.

The system can also include number of investment event access control interfaces located at at least some of the different sponsor sites and each including controls for setting investor access levels associated with the investment event items, with the display areas of at least some particular ones of the investment interfaces being operative to display only an authorized subset of information items about the investment event items based on the access control entry for the investors using the particular ones of the investment interfaces. The user access control interfaces can be operative to allow selection from a different access levels for each of a plurality of the sponsor sites.

The system can also include a report generator operative to collect information relating to investor usage of the investor interfaces. The event sponsor publishing interfaces can be operative to publish a plurality of event types including conference calls, analyst meetings, roadshows, and conferences. The events sponsor publishing interfaces can be operative to publish information about trips to be made by analysts, including sub-events on those trips. The system can include an attachment management system to relate additional material to the investment event items. The system can also include a selection profile entry interface that comprises selection profile generation controls for generating stored selection profiles including selection criteria for the investment event items. The selection profile entry interface can allow for sharing of a selection profile created by a user of one of the investment interfaces with one or more users at at least one of the publisher sites. The investor interfaces can include investor interfaces located at a plurality of different investor sites. The system can also include an administration interface responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces and located at one or more administrative entity sites, with the investor interfaces being responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces through the administration interface. The investor interfaces can be accessible through a public hypertext network.

In another general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management method that includes receiving investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items from investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at different sponsor sites, and sending the investment event items to investor interfaces that each include display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

In preferred embodiments, the method can also include the step of categorizing and indexing the investment event items received in the step of receiving and associating by subject matter. The method can further include the step of identifying featured ones of the event items for more prominent display.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management system that includes data inputs from a plurality of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites. An event database is responsive to the data inputs and includes event entries for storing event identifiers and anticipated event times for events from the plurality of investment event sponsor interfaces. The system also includes data outputs to a plurality of investor interfaces each responsive to event entries from a plurality of the sponsor sites.

In preferred embodiments, the event entries can store information about corresponding events or links to information about the corresponding events. The event entries can also store subject matter categorization information for the events. The subject matter categorization information can include geographic and sector categories.

In another general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management system that includes means for receiving investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items from investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at different sponsor sites, means for indexing the investment event items received by the means for receiving, and means for sending the investment event items to investor interfaces that each include display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management system that includes an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events. A communication interface is operative to allow users to create communication items related to the investment event items. The system also includes an indexing system for indexing the communication items as relating to the investment event items, and a retrieval system for retrieving the communication items for one or more of the investment items based on indexing information from the indexing system.

In preferred embodiments, the indexing system can be operative to also index the communication items according to subject matter categories. The communication interface can comprise event-related response controls included in the investor interfaces. The event-related response controls can include an RSNP control, an information request control, and a withdraw control. A report generator can be operative to collect information relating usage of the event- related response controls to sponsor sites that sponsor events for which the event controls are used, and the report generator can be operative to break the usage information down according to subject matter categories. The communication interface can be operative to issue alerts relating to the investment event items, and the alerts can include alerts for a plurality of the following occurrence types: newly published events, user-selected events due to occur in a predetermined amount of time, modified/rescheduled/cancelled events, and financial information related to user-selected events.

In another general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management system that includes means for presenting event items associated with anticipated times for those events to a plurality of users, means for receiving communication items relating to the event items from the users, means for indexing the communication items as relating to the event items, and means for retrieving selected ones of the communication items based on indexing information from the means for indexing.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management method that includes presenting event items associated with anticipated times for those events to a plurality of users, receiving communication items relating to the event items from the users, indexing the communication items as relating to the event items, and retrieving selected ones of the communication items based on indexing information from the step of indexing.

In another general aspect, the invention features a data memory that includes an investment event information database including investment event entries from sponsoring organizations, and a user communication database linked to the investment event information database and including user communication entries for storing user communications linked to the investment event information items. In preferred embodiments, a background information item database can be linked to the investment event information database and includes background information entries linked to the event entries.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment information management system that includes data inputs from investment information sponsor publishing interfaces located at different sponsor sites, data outputs to investor interfaces each responsive to event records from a plurality of the sponsor sites, and a user access system including an access database that includes access entries for storing user identifiers and sponsor access identifiers, the access identifiers expressing an access level to which a corresponding user at one of the investor interfaces is entitled for information items from one or more of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

In preferred embodiments, the user access entries can express one of a plurality of different access levels for at least one of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces. The investment information can include investment event information, and the system can include an event database responsive to the data inputs and including event entries for storing event identifiers and anticipated event times for events from the plurality of investment event sponsor interfaces. The access control system can be operative to prevent particular investment interfaces from displaying any information about particular events. The access control system can include timeliness controls to determine when particular investors will be able to access particular investment event items. The access control system can also include investor group controls to control access for groups of investors.

In another general aspect, the invention features an investment information management method that includes receiving investment information items from sponsor publishing interfaces located at different sponsor sites, storing sponsor access identifiers expressing an access level to which corresponding users are entitled for information items from one or more of the investment information sponsor publishing interfaces, verifying access rights of the users to the information items based on the access identifiers stored in the step of storing, and determining whether to allow users access to ones of the investment event items based on the step of verifying.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment information management method that includes means for receiving investment information items from sponsor publishing interfaces located at different sponsor sites, means for storing sponsor access identifiers expressing an access level to which corresponding users are entitled for information items from one or more of the investment information sponsor publishing interfaces, and means for verifying the access rights of the users to the information items and for determining whether to allow users access to the investment event items based on the access identifiers stored in the step of storing. In another general aspect, the invention features a data memory that includes an investment information database including investment information entries from sponsoring organizations, and a user access database linked to the investment information database and including user access entries for storing user identifiers and sponsor access identifiers, with the access identifiers expressing an access level to which a corresponding user at one of a plurality of investor interfaces is entitled for information items from one or more of the investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

In preferred embodiments, the user access entries can express one of a plurality of different access levels for each of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces. The system can include a background information item database linked to the investment event information database and including background information entries linked to the event entries. The investment information entries can be investment event information entries for event identifiers and corresponding event times. The system can include a user communication database linked to the investment event information database that includes user communication entries for storing user communications linked to the investment event information items.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management terminal that includes an investment information interface including display areas for investment information items extracted from one or more information sources based on search criteria, an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events, and a selection profile entry interface including selection profile generation controls for generating stored selection profiles including selection criteria for both the investment information items and the investment event items.

In preferred embodiments, the selection profile entry interface can include user profile generation controls that use common selection criteria for the investment information items and the investment event items. The selection profile entry interface can be a search profile interface and with the terminal including one or more search initiation controls to initiate searches for ones of the investment information items and ones of the investment event items. The selection profile entry interface can be a user profile for use in extracting and displaying ones of the investment information items in the display areas of the investment information interface and for use in extracting and displaying ones of the investment event items in the display areas of the investment interface.

In another general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management terminal that includes a market interface including display areas for market event items obtained from data feeds and anticipated times for those events, and a sponsor interface including display areas for sponsor event items received from sponsors and anticipated times for those events. In preferred embodiments, the terminal can include a common selection profile entry interface including user controls for generating profiles that include common selection criteria for the market event items and the sponsor event items. The terminal can also include a user profile generation interface for use in generating user profiles to extract and display ones of the investment information items in both the market interface display areas and the sponsor interface display areas.

In a further general aspect, the invention features an investment event information management terminal that includes an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events, and a selection profile entry interface including user profile generation controls that employ a plurality of selection criteria to select the investment event items. In preferred embodiments, the selection criteria can comprise subject matter categorization information, which can include geographic and sector categories.

Systems according to the invention may be advantageous in that they permit publishing users to organize and disseminate information about conferences efficiently. This is because publishing users need only interact with a single tool to announce and disseminate information about a variety of different event types. And because this single tool allows the announcements and information to be disseminated both within an organization and outside the organization, a number of communications and other subtasks related to an event can be simplified and tracked.

Systems according to the invention may also allow investors to efficiently manage their time. Because events from multiple sponsoring entities are viewable using the same tool, the user can quickly and easily choose between them. The user can then sign up for the event, retrieve more information about the event, or otherwise communicate about the event from within the same tool. An integrated system also allows investors to restrict their scheduling activities to defined periods, instead of responding to a variety of calls, mailings, and/or e-mails at different times of the day.

Not only do systems according to the invention simplify the task of tracking events, but they can also integrate this task into the investor's broader investment research activities. Because broker events, market events, and/or market information can all be searched and/or filtered simultaneously, the most valuable events may be readily apparent to the investor, as a result of automated searches or filters using other information associated with the event information. As a result, the investor may be more likely to attend events will advance his or her investment objectives.

Systems according to the invention may also enhance the value of event follow-up and other background materials. This is because these materials are available through the same system that is used to plan event attendance, and they can even be associated with or linked to other related research. With the materials easily accessible and in context, investors will be more likely to take advantage of them while they are focussed on their research activities. They will not need to make a mental note to review newly-received material later as they sift through the day's mail or e-mail, nor will they later need to sort through their desks or computers to find the materials when they need them.

Systems according to the invention may further be advantageous in that they provide general feedback to the sponsoring organizations about investor interest levels. This allows the publishing organizations to efficiently tailor the types of events they sponsor and the pitches they use to advertise them to their intended audience. This tailoring should result in investors being able to choose from events that will be more likely to be of interest to them.

In addition to general feedback about their events, publishers can also obtain feedback from specific users. By publishing their profiles to sponsoring organizations, investors can effortlessly and precisely convey their areas of interest. This allows the sponsoring organizations to both increase the number of relevant event invitations presented to the user and decrease the number of irrelevant event invitations presented to the user.

By providing different access control levels, systems according to the invention publishing organizations can also tailor the types of information available to different users and the time at which this information becomes available. This can allow publishers to reward higher volume customers with more extensive and timely access to investment information. It can also can help to ensure that limited-attendance events will be attended by highly interested or otherwise preferred investors.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an event information management system according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operations of the system of Fig. 1 for a typical event;

Fig. 3 A is a block diagram illustrating a broad breakdown of information sources for the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3B is a block diagram illustrating information provided by sponsors for events for the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating publication of a user profile to publisher firms in the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating report generation in the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating search capabilities of the system of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 7 is an update page for a first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a event description text box for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a top portion of a broker events page for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. i; Fig. 10 is a top portion of a my events page for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 11 is a top portion of a company page for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 12 is a search page for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 13 is a user entitlements page for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 14 is an administrator entitlements dialog box for the first embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 15 is a home snapshot page for a second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 16 is a viewing page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1 showing the top of an article;

Fig. 17 is the viewing page of Fig. 16 showing the bottom of the article shown in Fig. 16;

Fig. 18 is an edit watch list page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 19 is an equity snapshot page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 20 is an edit interests page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 21 is an add alert page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1;

Fig. 22 is a search page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 23 is an equity search and view page for the second embodiment of the system of Fig. 1.

Detailed Description of an Illustrative Embodiment

Referring to Fig.l, an event management system 10 according to the invention can be made up of a number of sponsor firms systems 12, a number of investor firm systems 14, and an investment event management server 16. Typically, each sponsor firm system is made up of a series of sponsor terminals 20 A ... 20N networked together and to a firewall 22. Similarly, each investor firm system is made up of a series of investor terminals 24 A ... 24N networked together and to a firewall 26. Although the investment event management server can be located at one of the sponsor or investor sites, it is preferably operated by another organization.

The event management system can employ a web-based design, although other types of implementations are also possible. In the embodiment shown, the user terminals are personal computers that each run a standard operating system and a standard web browser. As is well known in the art, a web browser presents Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages to its user. These pages include graphical elements such as text, images and video, as well as controls, such as hyperlinks, radio buttons and text boxes, which the user can interact with using his or her user input devices. The event management server is a web server that is connected to the terminals via a public or private network. Web-based implementation is advantageous in that it allows for efficient deployment and upgrading of a system within an organization. When deployed on the World-Wide

Web, the event management system can take the form of a private or public portal site. In operation, referring to Fig. 2, operations for a typical event begin with the publication of the event by a publisher (step 100). A publisher is a user who contributes information about events to the portal, and may be the sponsor or creator of the event, or an associate of the sponsor or creator. Typically, publishers work on behalf of sell-side firms or corporations. Most often, publishers either specialize in the organization of events (e.g., a roadshow organizer at a syndicate desk) or create events as a regular part of their jobs (e.g., an analyst who conducts conference calls with corporate executives).

Publication of an event includes providing event-related information to the event management system as well as setting up entitlements for the event. Publication can also include the sending of a broadcast message, such as by email. The event publisher can also contribute publisher information.

Publisher information can include event details, such as itineraries, "things to do", and descriptions of local hotels and restaurants. Publisher information may also include investment information contributed by the publisher, such as information about companies concerned with the event. It may also include research reports, corporate financials, and analyst information, such as recommendations or earnings estimates or valuation models. This information can be provided by relating arbitrary files, including executable programs, to an event, such as by HTML linking. This gives entitled users access to archives of information about past and future events.

Publishers also categorize each event by investor interest categorization information. Investor interest categorization information is an important part of the system, enabling the system to identify the investor interests to which an event or market information is related. Categorization information includes, but is not limited to:

• Companies. A conference call by an analyst with a Microsoft executive, for example, would be categorized by company Microsoft, and possibly by other companies. For instance, if the Microsoft executive mentioned that Microsoft was considering a joint venture with IBM, the conference call would be categorized as belonging to the IBM category as well.

• Regions and countries. A conference on the telecommunications industry in Latin America, for example, would be classified as belonging to the South America and Central America/Caribbean region categories, and as belonging to the Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru, Ecuado, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, etc. country categories.

• Sectors. The aforementioned conference, for example, would be classified as belonging to the telecommunications sector category.

Once an event has been published, selected users can see an entry for it on their terminals.

These users can include employees of the publishing firm as well as clients, although access to information about the event may be different for different "tiers" of clients, who can be scheduled to obtain access to different amounts of information at different times. Investors are invited to register interest in the event, or accept the invitation (RSNP) if they want to attend.

Between the publication of the event and the occurrence of the event, coordinators perform a number of pre-event tasks. Coordinators are users who work at a publishing firm and specialize in dealing with investors. Typically, coordinators are brokerage firm salespeople, but they can also be secretaries, public relations experts, or other types of employees. In one embodiment, a list of coordinators is generated dynamically from sell-side personnel interest profiles and the interest categorization of the event, and the list is then edited by the publisher. Pre-event tasks include the coordination of event-related activity within the sponsor firm (step 102), dissemination of event- related information to investors (step 104), contacts with investors (step 106), registration of investors (step 108), and confirmation of registration.

Coordination of event-related activity within the sponsor firm can include communication by the publisher about the event to other coordinators within his or her firm (step 102). This communication may take the form of initial sub-events, such as a teach-in. It can also take the form of an electronic communication placed through one of various mechanisms, such as a squawk interface, a notes system, or e-mail distribution list that can be derived from user profiles.

The coordinators will also contact investors (i.e., their clients) about the event (steps 104, 106). These contacts can be made by telephone or electronic mail, or by any other suitable method. They may be made as part of a routine sales call or they may be made in response to requests made by investors using the system for further information. Contacts may also be made in response to knowledge that the targeted investor is interested in a particular geographic area, sector, or company, and this information can be derived from the investor's profile if he or she has chosen to share it with the publishing organization. A central record of contacts relating to the event may be kept, as can be a database of invitees who have accepted, invitees who have declined, and invitees who have not responded. These can be accessed by publishers and coordinators.

When investors register their interest in attending the event, or RSVP (step 108), the response is stored in the central database of attendees. The RSNP also triggers an alert to both the publisher and the coordinator for the investor.

In cases where an event is oversubscribed, invitations are issued to some investors and others are denied invitations (step 110). These final invitations may be called "confirmations." If an investor is denied an invitation, the coordinator for the investor can contact them. Managers or coordinators personally decide who receives invitations and who doesn't. Registered investors may also withdraw from events. In such cases, both the coordinator and publisher are notified.

Publishers may also cancel or reschedule events. In such cases, registered and/or confirmed investors will be notified. For rescheduled events, a broadcast message to the originally-used broad list of investors is generally best repeated, so that investors who couldn't attend previously may now have the option of attending.

Communication channels exist for investors to request more information about an event from either publishers or coordinators. Requests to coordinators may be forwarded to publishers, who have the information about the event. Publishers may direct their response to coodinators, who can then forward the information to investors.

Communications between the various users consist primarily of alerts (where synchronous notification is preferred) and squawks or notes (where asynchronous communication is preferred). Communications generally proceed from one user to others at the same firm, from publishers to investors, or from publishers to event attendees.

Following the event, additional event-related information may be communicated to attendees or other investors who could not attend but requested information. These can include copies of conference presentations, videotapes of meetings, and/or recordings of conference calls. These materials can also be added to the system database, allowing users to search them.

Referring to Fig. 3A, information stored in the system database is derived from three sources: publishers, market sources, and users. Publishers contribute information relating to events, including event entitlements and access privileges, event-related information, as well as investor interest categorization information. They also contribute investment information, such as analyst reports and research notes, categorized according to the investor interest categorization information.

Market sources include market events and market investment information. Market events can have entitlements and access privileges, event-related information, and they can be categorized according to the investor interest categorization information. Market investment information can also be categorized according to the investor interest categorization information.

Users contribute to the system database by accepting invitations to events and by communicating to publishers and coordinators about the events. Their profiles and other user data are also stored for use by the system. User profiles consist of some or all of the following:

• One or more portfolios, with each portfolio consisting of a list of securities with the quantity held by the investor.

• One or more watch lists, with each watch list consisting of a list of companies of interest to the investor.

• One or more interest lists, with each list consisting of one or more interests and each interest consisting of a boolean combination of information categories including region or country and sector. (E.g. United States AND automotive sector, Peru, [Colombia OR Venezuela]

AND telecommunications sector).

Investors may share their user profiles with one or more publishers, enabling them to offer better support (see Fig. 4). This can be accomplished with special-purpose controls within the application or by another suitable method, such as an e-mail transfer of a profile file.

Referring to Fig. 3B, event sponsors provide a number of items of investment information to the system database for each event. The database stores these items in fields in a record for the event. The fields include access privilege and entitlements, details and attachments, and investor interest categorization information. Note that the database can be a single database, or it can be made up of a number of related databases, which can be distributed across machines.

Referring to Fig. 5, systems according to the invention can include report generators to enable generating reports to publishers or investors. A report generator may be a software module that accesses the system database and/or its web server logs and that generates a number of reports from those sources. Reports can include global reports, firm-specific reports, and user-specific reports to be provided to publisher firms, and investor reports to be provided to investor firms.

The different types of reports to be provided to publisher firms include figures and statistics on events such as: hit rates (what events are investors looking at), acceptance rates on invitations (by event type, by publisher, by investor, by sector, company, analyst, or specific event), status reports for specific investors, history of activities by client, and comparisons of statistics for their own events versus events from other publishing firms. Reports to be provided to investor firms include lists of events in which investors at the firm are interested, and lists of invitations that were accepted. Reports can be generated by the administering organization and sent to the buy-side and sell-side firms, or they can be automatically generated as web pages upon request by interested buy- side or sell-side users.

Referring to Fig. 6, the system has two general types of search capabilities: ad hoc searching and automatic filtering. Automatic filters are defined by user profiles, and are based on the investor interest categorization information. They are generally used to filter the data displayed on a web page served by the system. Ad hoc searches are user-entered or prerecorded expressions that can be used to search sponsor-supplied data and market-supplied data, and may be based on the investor interest categorization information and/or a number of keywords, as discussed below. Both types of searching enforce user access rights.

Referring to Figs. 7-14, a first embodiment of an investment event management system according to the invention includes six primary viewable areas, screens, or pages that are accessible to the user through a tab control interface. These include an update page, a broker events page, a my events page, a company page, a search page, and a user entitlements page. While this embodiment employs a tab-based user interface and underlined links to allow navigation between a particular set of pages that display both data and controls in different ways, embodiments that incorporate features of the invention can be implemented in a variety of ways. Referring to Fig. 7, the update page displays a list of all events of all types posted in the last 24 hours to the system by sell side firms. Each list entry includes an event-type icon, a headline field, a date field, a time field, a location field, and a sponsoring firm field. The event-type icon and the headline field are active links that both bring the user to a pop-up box containing specific information about the event.

Referring to Fig. 8, the event pop-up box includes fields for the event type, a title, date and time, a sponsor, one or more locations, participants, analysts, description, and attachments. The attachments include categories (e.g., sector and ticker symbol, if applicable) and contact information. The attachments can also include links to background and/or follow-up material. The contact's email address is an active e-mail link to the person designated as a contact for the project. A list of sub-events or event particulars may also be included.

The event pop-up box also includes an "add to my events" link. Actuating this link allows a user to accept the invitation to attend, which initiates two actions. The first is to convey an acceptance message to the publisher (e.g., an RSVP e-mail), and the second is to cause the event to appear in the "my events" page (see Fig. 10 and accompanying text).

There are three broad types of investment events: broker events, user events, and market events. Publishers contribute broker events to the system. There are many varieties of broker event, including:

• Conference Calls. These are typically a telephone conference call with a corporate executive scheduled by an analyst. After the analyst publishes notice of the upcoming conference call in the system and categorizes it (e.g., by company, sector, and region), investors can request to participate. Immediately after the call, the analyst compiles information and distributes it to interested investors.

• Management Meetings. These are similar to conference calls, except that the analyst meets personally with corporate management.

• Analyst Meetings. These are meetings between analysts and investors.

• Roadshows. These are events scheduled by a syndicate desk in support of a security offering. Roadshows may have many sub-events called Roadshow_Events within the system. Roadshows may be co-sponsored by several publishing firms.

• Conferences. These can be symposia with speakers and presentations, and typically take place at major hotels or resorts. They are often sponsored by brokerage firms, and may be co-hosted by multiple publishing firms.

• Trips. These are extended trips by analysts that include multiple management meetings or analyst meetings, • Teach-ins. These are events internal to a publishing firm, in which analysts or publishers teach coordinators about an event. Teach-ins typically precede publication of the event to clients.

Market events are typically unsponsored market-related public events that may be mandated by law. Market events include the release of economic data by government agencies, corporate press releases, upcoming initial public offerings, earnings report dates, and major economic events. Information about market events is typically obtained from commercial feeds, rather than publishers. Sources of market event information include the CNBC Schedule of Events, CCBN's calendar of conference calls by companies, First Call, Zack's, and others.

User events are personal events contributed by coordinators and investors. These can include meetings between the coordinators and/or investors, or dates of interest to the investor, such as sporting events, charity events, or club meetings.

Referring to Fig. 9, the broker events page contains event listings contributed by sell side firms, for viewing by portfolio managers. Portfolio managers can see events from as many sell side firms as they are entitled to view. They can click on the event type icon and the headline for more specific information, which appears in a pop-up box, as described above.

The broker events page also includes an interval drop-down list control and date scroll controls. The interval drop-down list control allows the user to adjust the interval for which events are displayed (e.g., daily, weekly, or monthly). The date scroll controls allow the user to move forward and backward from interval to interval.

Referring to Fig. 10, the my events page is similar to the broker events page except that it displays all the broker events that the user has entered into his or her personal calendar for the selected period. As with the broker events page, the user can obtain more information about the events by clicking on event type icons and headlines, and can select different interval views using a drop-down list control and a scroll control.

Referring to Fig.11 , the company page allows users to search for all events pertaining to one company within a given time frame. The user enters an equity symbol in a text box and enters start/end dates for the search in a series of drop-down list controls. After clicking a go button, a list of all events involving this equity appears. The user can then click on the event type icon or headline of the event for more specific information.

Referring to Fig. 12, the search page allows users to create multi -variable searches to filter out events of particular interest. Each search parameter is selected from a drop-down list control. Possible search parameters include: region, location, country, analyst, sector, firm, and date range.

Referring to Fig. 13, the user entitlements page allows users to view their entitlements and to request new entitlements. It includes of a list of sponsoring entity entries, which each include a firm name, status, action and firm logo fields. The status field can list the user as "entitled," "not entitled," or "entitlement requested." If a user is not entitled to view a firm's events, an "entitle me" link will be presented in the action field of the entry. Actuating the icon submits an application for entitlement to the firm and changes the status from "not entitled" to "entitlement requested." If a user is already entitled to view a particular firm's events, the action column remains blank.

Referring to Fig. 14, a simple administrator entitlements dialog box can be used to administer relationships between investors and access control lists. This page includes a name selection control, and a two-part entitlement control. The entitlement control includes a list of requested firms, a list of entitled firms, and a transfer control to move firm names from one list to the other.

Items managed by this entitlements page need not be restricted to firm names, but can also include tiers of event information for each firm. For example, a user might receive a US Equities Tier 1 access level, a US Fixed Income Tier 2 access level, and a Latin American Equities Tier 3 access level from the same firm. In one embodiment, the administrator entitlements dialog box includes dedicated controls for access level assignment.

Systems according to the invention can also employ sell-side administrator entitlements pages for each sell-side firm. These allow salespersons to provide access to clients that request it without involving an administrator, although they may need to request approval from within the firm. Controls for of this type of entitlement page need only allow users to control access levels.

The system can enable different types of access restrictions, as well. These can include access levels, which allow some users to see all the information relating to an event, allow others to see only partial information, and may not even divulge the existence of the event to unentitled users. Access may also be staggered in time, with preferred users having immediate access and other users obtaining access at a later time or date. Access rights may be granted either on an individual basis or a group-by-group basis. Any combination of privileges may be granted (e.g. no access before a first point in time, partial access up to a second point in time, and full access after that).

Referring to Figs. 15-23, the functionality described above in connection with figs. 5-13 is preferably integrated with additional market and investor information tools. A system incorporating a set of suitable tools is described in a copending application entitled "Methods And Apparatus For

Managing Information Relating To Subject Matter Of Commercial Transactions," serial no.

09/313,829, filed on May 18, 1999, and herein incorporated by reference. Integrated functions for the system can include the ability to monitor a list of equities, the ability to filter and search news and research feeds, and the ability to set alerts based on equities or news and research feeds. In one embodiment, the information feeds are buffered and formatted by a modularized part of the system described in the above-referenced application. The system may also allow users to manage to do items, and publishers and coordinators may have access to client management tools. Market information is obtained from commercial data feeds and includes:

• News and research reports.

• Corporate information, such as annual reports or SEC filings, and corporate financial data, such as historical and current earnings and balance sheet information.

• Securities information, such as the securities issued by a particular company, the reference data for these securities, the exchanges they trade on, and real-time and historical price quotes and market data relating to these securities.

• Government and privately-generated data such as economic statistics.

• Non-financial information such as directories of industry personnel.

Each piece of market information is categorized with investor interest categorization information. This allows it to be linked to events that share the same categorization, and to be retrieved by users via their user profiles.

Investor information is typically entered by the investor users. It may be shared with publishers & coordinators, at the investors discretion. It consists mainly of user profiles, but also includes contact information and other data about the investor.

Referring to Fig. 15, many of the integrated research functions can be presented on a single home snapshot page. In one embodiment, the home snapshot page can be reached by default upon login or by actuating a home control link that can be viewed in one or more of the various event views. It includes three main panels: an action item panel, a watch list panel, and a news and research panel. The action item panel is divided into a to do section for to do items and an alerts section for alert items. These items are shown as underlined hypertext links, and clicking on them allows the user to modify their parameters. A my events section could also be included, which would include information similar to that shown in the my events page (see Fig. 10).

At the top of the watch list panel there is a drop-down list control, which allows the user to select one of several watch lists. These display a list of equity items, which each include an equity symbol as well as a price value and a change value for the equity for which the symbol is shown. Actuating one of the equity symbols takes the user to the equity snapshot page for that equity (see Fig. 19).

The news and research panel includes a list of news and research items. Each news and research item includes a date field, an article format icon, a title, a source acronym, and a client icon. Actuating the text of the title or the article format icon retrieves the text of the news or research entry and displays it in a viewing page (see Figs. 16-17). The bottom of the article contains links to the website containing the original article text and to snapshots of all equities mentioned within the article.

In sell-side views, actuating the client icon takes the user to the an interested client window. In buy-side views, actuating comparable links would take the user either to an interested user window, which displays other interested users within the same buy-side firm, or to a relevant portfolios window, which displays portfolios or funds that are relevant to the news story. Note that while placing the icon next to the name of a news story creates a clear association between the two, there are other ways to indicate such an association, and this association can even be implicit from context or proximity.

Full-page versions of each of the panels can also be accessed using the tabs at the top of the home page. These full-page versions are largely similar to the panel versions, and typically also include links to customizing controls to tailor the material to be viewed in that particular page or panel. Customization controls can include watch list controls, user interest profile controls, and alert controls, which will be described below in more detail.

Sell-side and/or buy-side pages can also include a ticker panel and/or a squawk box. In systems displaying a ticker, a ticker panel is displayed on the top right portion of every page, and this panel displays three scrolling lines. The top line lists real-time pricing for all morning meeting equities. The user can add equities to his or her morning meeting watch list to add more items to this ticker line. The middle line lists real-time news and research items based upon morning meeting equities. Adding equities to a user's morning meeting watch list will also add more items to this ticker line. To view live quotes for other equities in a separate window, the user can actuate a quote button located next to the squawk box panel. The bottom line lists triggered alerts for all contacts. Alerts are displayed on the Ticker for 24 hours on business days. Alerts triggered on the weekend are displayed on Monday (until 11 a.m.).

Users can also interact with the ticker. They can click on any item and view a close-up view of the data in that line. They can also stop a line from scrolling by placing their mouse pointer on a ticker line. And they can drag the ticker line back or forward by placing their mouse pointer on a ticker line and pressing the right mouse button.

In systems displaying a squawk box, a squawk box is displayed on the top left portion of every window. This panel permits team members to send quick messages. These are displayed on every user's page within a selected group, alongside the sender's initials in brackets. It is a scrolling chat-room style text box that permits everyone in the group to communicate with each other. Groups can include users in one or more sell-side or buy-side firms.

To use the squawk box, the user actuates a button located next to the squawk box. This opens a squawk dialog box, which includes a message area and destination controls. The destination controls include a group control, which allows the user to send a message to the members of a group, and a user control, which allows the user to send a message to individual users. The user first types his or her message into the message area, selects recipients and clicks on a send button.

The system is designed to allow the squawk box to operate in real time (i.e., with a guaranteed maximum latency). Preferably, the latency is well below a minute, such as every at 15 seconds, although the system may have some value in some circumstances with a latency of a few minutes. The maximum latency can be adjustable.

If a user prefers to communicate asynchronously, he or she can use alerts, e-mail, or notes. Notes can be public, personal, or they can be shared with specific users or groups of users. Their titles can be displayed in a panel on the home snapshot page, and the title can be actuated to access the full text of the note. Notes and e-mail messages can contain direct hyperlinks to event information.

The system maintains a database of notes and other transactions for an event. Notes are typically indexed by client user, client firm, security, event, author, recipients, subject(s), and according to the investor categorization information. This database allows users to track all interaction between an investor and a publishing firm about an event, and to include notes relating to an event when searches are performed for categories for that event.

In order to allow users to communicate with each other, the system maintains a database of users. Users wishing to communicate with another user within their firm or at other firms can access this database to address their messages. Preferably, the database includes user access control information to allow users to communicate only with other users for which they are authorized. The database may also be tailored to permit targeted communications of different types, such as advertising, to be sent to users of different groups.

Referring to Fig. 18, user watch lists summarize pricing and volume information for groups of equities in the watch list panel. User watch lists can also act as part of a user profile to retrieve news and research information items for the my news and research panel. To add a user watch list, the user actuates an add watch list link in the a watch list page. The user is then prompted for a name for the user watch list and a list of equities to include in the user watch list.

Watch lists can be set up to monitor portfolios or parts of portfolios that are managed separately. Each of these portfolio lists includes a quantity held entry and a value held entry for each equity in the watch list panel, in addition to the summarized pricing and volume information. A grand total for the portfolio can also be displayed.

Referring to Fig. 19, users can actuate the ticker symbol for any equity in the watch list (or in other views) to retrieve information about the equity, such as in an equity snapshot page. This equity snapshot page includes a news and research panel, a company profile panel, a recommendations panel, and a quote/chart panel. The news and research panel is similar to the news and research panel in the home snapshot page, and includes a list of news and research entries related to the equity for which the page is displayed. The company profile panel includes an indication of the sector and country (both searchable categories) for the equity, located above a fixed watch list for competitors of the company. The recommendations panel displays internal and consensus recommendations for the equity for which the page is displayed. The quote/chart panel includes live quote information and customized charts for the equity for which the page is displayed.

The system can also contain a securities reference information database. This database includes a complete list of companies and their securities, as well as categorization information about each company and security, descriptions of the countries, regions, and sectors associated with them.

Referring to Fig. 20, interest profiles drive how news and information is displayed in the news and research panel, and how events can be added to the my events page. Once a user's interests and watch list are set up, the user can view news, research, and pricing specific to the user. An interest profile may include a region (e.g., Europe, Africa, Middle East), country, and sector (e.g., Advertising, Banking, Computers), or combinations. For example, an interest profile can include the United States as a country and both computers and information technology as sectors. The profile is used to filter news and research to be displayed in the news and research panel and to filter events events of specific interest, which will automatically be added to the my events page.

To set up a user interest profile, the user can select an edit interests link in the my news and research page. This causes the system to display an edit interests page. This page includes a series of drop-down list boxes for each of the region, country, and sector categories. Next to the list boxes is an interest profile text box to which the user can add or remove any combination of categories. It is not necessary to complete all three fields.

Referring to Fig. 21 , alerts allow users to track market events such as price and volume changes or when a news or research report is released. User alerts are distinguished from global alerts which are automatically created and not associated with specific clients. Global alerts notify users when any company in any of the watch lists of their contacts meets a particular criteria. They are automatically created based upon equities in any user watch list or client watch list. Users do not create global alerts directly, and global alerts do not display on the ticker. A global alert is automatically created for watch list equities if one of the following conditions occurs today:

• There was price change of 5% up or down today

• The equity reached a pricing 52 week high or 52 week low • There were earnings reported in the last 2 days

• There was a recommendation change (upgraded or downgraded)

• There are internal or consensus estimates FYE changes (i.e. upgraded or downgraded)

• There are internal or consensus earnings surprise % reported

• There is a research report out (e.g., internal reports from Research Direct)

Sell-side users can also view non-equity global alerts for client birthdays and anniversaries if these dates are entered in a client contact data page.

Individual users create user alerts. These alerts are private; only the user who created them can view them. Users can create alerts that are associated with news and research and equity pricing/activity events related to his or her contacts' interests. News and research alerts cause the system to trigger an alert if a news or research item is released that pertains to a company, a news category, a country or sector. Equity pricing/activity events alerts cause the system to trigger an alert based upon pricing changes, earnings estimate, or trading and volume activity. Triggered alerts display on the bottom line of the ticker and on the home snapshot page.

The following are some uses of client alerts If a user's client likes a particular analyst, he or she can set an alert any time the analyst generates a report. The user can also set alerts for news items regarding particular stocks, and then use the holdings information to find other clients who are already holding the stock. The user can set multiple alerts for a client who likes a particular stock, and the sector, but thinks that a particular company is too expensive. This can be accomplished by setting a research alert that is triggered if the company meets its earnings, setting an instrument alert that is triggered if there is a 10% change in the price, or setting an alert based upon news from a particular sector. A user may also set a news alert to get information on a particular country's political situation.

To set an alert, the user clicks on the alert control in the left navigation area 24, and the system displays the add news and research alert page by default. The user can then select either the instrument or real-time research alert type, if necessary. These alert creation pages are each divided into an alert trigger specification panel and a contact specification panel. The alert trigger specification panel includes one or more trigger specification controls and a selection criteria box. The user adds criteria to the box until the combined triggering conditions have been specified. The fields that are available for the different types of alerts are listed in Tables 1-4. Alerts can also be set up to trigger to do items and other system collaboration features.

alerts are triggered if there is any news that matches the partial name.

Headline/Title

Author/Analyst

Subject

News Category Specify the text that you want these items to contain

Countries to trigger the alert.

Sectors

Select from the dropdown list and an alert will be triggered if there is news or research that equals the selection.

Table 1: Available fields for News and Research Alerts

Category Field Choices Using the Criteria Fields

Pricing Ask Price Select from the dropdown list (e.g., =, >, <_> <=. Bid Price >=, or between) and specify the price value or Net Change range that should trigger an alert. Percent Change

Fundamentals Price/Earnings

Trading & Volume Volume of Shares Traded

Table 2; Available Fields for Real-Time Alerts

Table 3: Available Fields for Real-Time Alerts

Note that Instrument reporting alerts are triggered if the company provides updated information that corresponds to the alert conditions. Companies provide updates annually, quarterly, daily, or anytime, depending on the category or field. For example, if an alert is based upon one year earnings per share, it will be triggered when the company releases quarterly information.

Once the alert triggering criteria have been set, the user specifies a list of clients to contact when the alert is triggered, by selecting a call list from the drop down box and then selecting names from the box. Multiple names can be selected by dragging the mouse or by holding the control key while clicking on names.

It is important to delete old triggered alerts or to reset them. The system does not automatically remove or reset triggered alerts. Users may create, remove, or reset alerts by navigating to the home snapshot or action items pages. To remove or reset an alert, the user visits the snapshot or action items pages, clicks on the item, and clicks on a delete or reset button. Alerts also let investors be alerted for: (a) newly published events matching their user profiles; (b) upcoming events on their calendar; (c) rescheduled, cancelled, or modified events on their calendar; (d) financial information or news relevant to events on their calendar. Publishers can also be alerted when investors take action on an event, such as signing up for it or canceling it.

Referring to Fig. 22, the system also offers its users a rich variety of search strategies. These include news and research searches, instruments searches, contacts searches, and holdings searches. To start a search, the user first navigates to one of four search pages for the desired search type.

Each search page includes search criteria selection controls and a selected criteria box, and operates in a similar manner to the add alert pages. Search fields for the different types of searches are listed in tables 4-15.

Author/Analyst

To find research items written by a particular person, a user can enter his or her name in the criteria field. In addition to this field choice, the date range field can be used to cause the system to find items older than today's.

Company Name

A user can enter the company name to find news or research items pertaining to a specific equity. Note: to use the company's Ticker symbol, use the Symbol field.

Country

A user can select a country from the drop down list. Use this field in conjunction with other fields to focus the search results. For example, to search for U.S. news or research items in the Advertising sector add two parameters: Specify "United States" for country and Advertising for sector.

Date Range

A user can select a date range from the drop down list to find news or research published in this range. Make sure to use other fields to focus the search results. For example, to find news or research on XYZ company, published in the last 2 days, select "last 2 days" from the date range dropdown list, and XYZ for the company name.

Headline/Title

Allows a user to find news or research containing particular words in the headline enter any text.

Keywords

This field lets a user find news or research that contains specific words anywhere in the article. The user may use multiple words separated by a space. For example, to find today's items that have the words Computers and Modems, enter "Computers Modems" Region

To find news or research pertaining to a specific region, the user can select from the dropdown list.

Sector

The user can select from the dropdown list to limit the search to articles that are specific to markets.

Subjects

These are categories for research, such as from First Call. A user can select from the drop down list to find research that falls the category.

Symbol

To find news or research on a particular company, a user can enter its ticker symbol.

Table 4: Available Fields for News and Research Searches

Instrument search fields are divided in to the following categories of fields, which are described in more detail in Tables 5-15 presented below.

Company Basics Dividends Earnings Estimates

Financial Strength Financials Growth Rates

Ownership Pricing Profitability Ratios

Trading and Volume Recommendations

Table 5: Company Basics Field Choices

Ex-Date Expiration Date. The last day on which an option may be exercised.

Indicated Annual This value is the total of the expected dividend payments over the Dividend next twelve months. It is generally the most recent cash dividend paid or declared multiplied by the dividend payment frequency, plus any recurring extra dividends.

Table 6: Dividends Field Choices

Table 7: Earnings Estimates Field Choices

Table 8: Financial Strength Field Choices

Table 9; Financials Field Choices

This is the sum of the Income After Taxes for the quarters in the most recent fiscal year minus the sum of the Income

After Tax for the quarters during the same period 1 year ago divided by the Income After Taxes for the same period one year ago, multiplied by 100.

Revenue MRQ YoY % This is the Total Revenue for the most recent quarter 1 year change ago divided by the Average Diluted Shares Outstanding for the same period. Note: This item is not annualized.

Revenue YTD YoY % This is the percent change in annual Sales as compared to the change same period one year ago.

It is calculated as the Sales for the most recent fiscal year minus the Sales for the same period one year ago divided by the annual Sales one year ago, multiplied by 100.

Table 10: Growth Rates Field Choices

Table 11: Ownership Field Choices

Table 12: Pricing Field Choices

Table 13: Trading and Volume Field Choices

Table 14: Profitability Ratios Field Choices

Table 15: Recommendations Ratios Field Choices

For the recommendation fields, the user can specify 1,2,3,4,5, or 6 from the drop down list, where 1= strong buy, 2=moderate buy, 3= hold, 4=moderate sell, or 5=strong sell. Note that negative numbers are allowed. For example, to search for instruments where the pricing has dropped more than 50% in the last 4 weeks, the user can specify: "Pricing, 4 week change, < -50" in the field choices below. Some fields allow a user to specify the text that begins with what the user wants to search on. The system will find all instruments that match the fields that contains this text. For example, entering a partial name for the Name field will cause the system to find all matching instruments. The user can select from the dropdown list (e.g., =, >, <, <=, >=, or between) and specify the price value or range to view instruments with these parameters.

Table 16: Client Search Field Choices

First/Last Name

To find holdings for a particular person, enter his or her name in the criteria field.

Role

This field is available only for contacts who are set up in the system with a role field.

Contact Region

This field is available only for contacts who are set up in the system with a region field. Select from the dropdown list to find holders who are located in a particular region.

City

To find Holders in a particular City. Company

To find Holders at a specific firm, use this field.

Fund

Enter the Fund name if to find holding information for a particular fund.

Holding Region

To find holding information according to region, select from the dropdown list.

Holding Country

To find holding information according to a country, select from the dropdown list.

Sector

Select from the dropdown list to limit the search to articles that are specific to markets.

Symbol

To find holdings for a particular company, the user can enter the ticker symbol.

Shares Held

Use the less than, greater than, or equal to criterion with the number you enter to find holders who have a specific quantity of shares. Use this field in conjunction with other fields to find holders, for example, who have X number of shares in the Advertizing Sector.

Value of Holding

Enter in a dollar amount to find holdings with a specified value.

Last Change in Shares Held

Enter a number. Negative numbers can be used in this field to find holders who have reduced holdings.

Last Change in Value

Enter a dollar amount. Negative numbers are also permitted.

Table 17: Holdings Search Field Choices

To achieve searching on the above-described fields, the system maps index information from different suppliers to the system's uniform categorization system. For example, one information vendor might only tag a news story by country. The system would translate this tag into a region category and store it in the database in association with the text of the story. The indexer independently indexes stories and events for full-text searching.

Many simpler searches are also built into the system, taking advantage of the interconnections between data to enable single-mouse-click execution of common operations. These include:

• Security to Users. From a security, display all users interested in this security.

• Security to Events. From a security, display all events related to this security.

• Security to Market Information. Display all market information related to this security.

• Market Information to Users. From an item of market information, find all interested users.

• Market Information to Events. From an item of market information, find all events which have an overlapping investor interest categorization. For example, if an event is categorized by under the US and computer software categories and an item of market information is categorized by under the Microsoft and computer software categories, the event would be regarded as related to the item of market information.

• Event to Users. From an event, display all interested users. For example, if an event is categorized under the Microsoft and computer software categories, User 1 has Interest Computer Software, User 2 has Microsoft in a Watch List, and User 3 has Microsoft in a Portfolio, all three will be considered interested in the event.)

• Event to Market Information. From an event, find all related items of Market Information. For example, if the event is categorized in the by Microsoft category, all news stories about Microsoft will be considered related.

• User to Events. From a user, find all events of interest to him. For example, if the user has Microsoft in a Watch List and Computer Software in an Interest all events categorized by Microsoft or Computer Software will be of interest to the user.

• User to Market Information.

Note that systems including features according to the invention support different business models. In one embodiment, an administrative organization provides a public or private portal site that sell-side and buy-side firms can access. In another embodiment, the administrative organization handles the transfer of data between systems operating within buy-side and sell-side firms. In this embodiment, the administrative organization may also provide system development services to the buy-side and/or sell-side firms. In larger organizations, portions of the system can be deployed for internal use only (e.g., an internal calendaring system). Depending on the business model, users may need to log onto the system with a user ID and password before they can access any part of the system. Referring to Fig. 23, in one embodiment, the system is operated by the administrative organization as a pubic internet portal site. In this embodiment, fees are collected from sell-side firms for listing events. The administrative organization can also charge for advertisements posted on the screen. Also, the number (and possibly more specific information) of new buy-side users in a given time period is sent to sell-side users. Sell-side users can be notified of which calendar events received the most interest (or "clicks") from buy side users. Firms can also co-host events presented in the calendar views, which can include multiple time zones.

This embodiment also provides for a featured events section. In this embodiment, when users search for events related to a particular equity by entering a ticker symbol in a text box in an equity event search page, the first displayed events are featured events. An all events panel follows, which is broken into sub-panels for different event types. Featured events can be events that sell- side firms pay the administrating organization an additional fee to promote.

The embodiment described can run in an Internet Data Center that is accessed via private (leased) lines. The web servers use Java Webserver 1.2 running on Solaris 2.6 HW 5/98 (with patch cluster 24356) and using JDK 1.2 and 1.1.6 with native threads installed, and Sybase JConnect for JDBC v4.0. The application servers use Solaris 2.6 HW 5/98 (with patch cluster 24356) and JDK 1.2 and 1.1.6 with native threads installed. The database server uses Solaris 2.6 HW 5/98 (with patch cluster 24356) and JDK 1.2 and 1.1.6 with native threads installed, Sybase Adaptive Server 11.5, with text indexing capabilities from Verity. The web browsers supported are Internet Explorer 4.01 (with service pack 1) or Netscape 4.04 (or higher). Unauthorized access to the network is prevented by using a router for packet filtering and allowing only HTTP connections to port 80 on the web server. FTP connections to the database server from data vendors are permitted for nightly or intraday downloads of financial data.

The present invention has now been described in connection with a number of specific embodiments thereof. However, numerous modifications which are contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention should now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the visual feel of the application and particular controls could be implemented in different ways. Different software and hardware platforms and services can be assembled in different ways to achieve similar results in different circumstances. And systems could be developed for other types of evens, such as trade shows and open houses. Therefore, it is intended that the scope of the present invention be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto. In addition, the order of presentation of the claims should not be construed to limit the scope of any particular term in the claims.

What is claimed is:

Claims

1. An investment event information management system, comprising: a plurality of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites and each including entry areas for investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items, and a plurality of investor interfaces responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces, being located at at least one investor site, and each including display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a communication interface operative to allow users to create communication items related to the investment event items.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further including an indexing system for storing and indexing the communication items as relating to the investment event items, and a retrieval system for retrieving the communication items for one or more of the investment items.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the communication interface is operative to create communications to be sent and delivered within a same sponsoring location.

5. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the communications delivered within the same sponsoring location relate to sub-event items that are unavailable to the investor interfaces.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the communication interface includes a squawk box.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a plurality of investment event access control interfaces located at at least some of the different sponsor sites and each including controls for setting investor access levels associated with the investment event items and wherein the display areas of at least some particular ones of the investment interfaces are operative to display only an authorized subset of information items about the investment event items based on the access control entry for the investors using the particular ones of the investment interfaces.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the user access control interfaces are operative to allow selection from a plurality of different access levels for each of a plurality of the sponsor sites.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a report generator operative to collect information relating to investor usage of the investor interfaces.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the event sponsor publishing interfaces are operative to publish a plurality of event types including conference calls, analyst meetings, roadshows, and conferences.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the events sponsor publishing interfaces are further operative to publish information about trips to be made by analysts, including sub-events on those trips.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 further including an attachment management system to relate additional material to the investment event items.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a selection profile entry interface including selection profile generation controls for generating stored selection profiles including selection criteria for the investment event items.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the selection profile entry interface allows for sharing of a selection profile created by a user of one of the investment interfaces with one or more users at at least one of the publisher sites.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of investor interfaces include investor interfaces located at a plurality of different investor sites.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 further including an administration interface responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces and located at one or more administrative entity sites, and wherein the investor interfaces are responsive to the investment event sponsor publishing interfaces through the administration interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the investor interfaces are accessible through a public hypertext network.

18. An investment event information management method, including: receiving a plurality of investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items from a plurality of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, and sending the investment event items to a plurality of investor interfaces that each include display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

19. The method of claim 18 further including the step of categorizing and indexing the investment event items received in the step of receiving and associating by subject matter.

20. The method of claim 18 further including the step of identifying featured ones of the event items for more prominent display.

21. An investment event information management system, comprising: data inputs from a plurality of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, an event database responsive to the data inputs and including event entries for storing event identifiers and anticipated event times for events from the plurality of investment event sponsor interfaces, and data outputs to a plurality of investor interfaces each responsive to event entries from a plurality of the sponsor sites.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the event entries are further for storing information about corresponding events or links to information about the corresponding events.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the event entries are further for storing subject matter categorization information for the events.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the subject matter categorization information includes geographic and sector categories.

25. An investment event information management system, comprising: means for receiving a plurality of investment event items and anticipated times for the investment event items from a plurality of investment event sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, means for indexing the investment event items received by the means for receiving, and means for sending the investment event items to a plurality of investor interfaces that each include display areas for the investment event items associated with the anticipated times for the investment event items.

26. An investment event information management system, comprising: an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events, a communication interface operative to allow users to create communication items related to the investment event items, an indexing system for indexing the communication items as relating to the investment event items, and a retrieval system for retrieving the communication items for one or more of the investment items based on indexing information from the indexing system.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the indexing system is operative to also index the communication items according to subject matter categories.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the communication interface comprises event-related response controls included in the investor interfaces.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the event-related response controls include an RSVP control, an information request control, and a withdraw control.

30. The apparatus of claim 26 further including a report generator operative to collect information relating usage of the event-related response controls to sponsor sites that sponsor events for which the event controls are used.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the report generator is operative to break the usage information down according to subject matter categories.

32. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the communication interface is operative to issue alerts relating to the investment event items.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the alerts include alerts for a plurality of the following occurrence types: newly published events, user-selected events due to occur in a predetermined amount of time, modified/rescheduled/cancelled events, and financial information related to user-selected events.

34. An investment event information management system, including: means for presenting event items associated with anticipated times for those events to a plurality of users, means for receiving communication items relating to the event items from the users, means for indexing the communication items as relating to the event items, and means for retrieving selected ones of the communication items based on indexing information from the means for indexing.

35. An investment event information management method, including: presenting event items associated with anticipated times for those events to a plurality of users, receiving communication items relating to the event items from the users, indexing the communication items as relating to the event items, and retrieving selected ones of the communication items based on indexing information from the step of indexing.

36. A data memory, comprising: an investment event information database including investment event entries from a plurality of sponsoring organizations, and a user communication database linked to the investment event information database and including user communication entries for storing user communications linked to the investment event information items.

37. The data memory of claim 35 further including a background information item database linked to the investment event information database and including background information entries linked to the event entries.

38. An investment information management system, comprising: data inputs from a plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, data outputs to a plurality of investor interfaces that are each responsive to event records from a plurality of the sponsor sites, and a user access system including an access database that includes access entries for storing user identifiers and sponsor access identifiers, the access identifiers expressing an access level to which a corresponding user at one of the investor interfaces is entitled for information items from one or more of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the user access entries express one of a plurality of different access levels for at least one of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

40. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the investment information includes investment event information and further including an event database responsive to the data inputs and including event entries for storing event identifiers and anticipated event times for events from the plurality of investment event sponsor interfaces.

41. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the access control system is operative to prevent particular investment interfaces from displaying any information about particular events.

42. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the access control system includes timeliness controls to determine when particular investors will be able to access particular investment event items.

43. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the access control system includes investor group controls to control access for groups of investors.

44. An investment information management method, including: receiving a plurality of investment information items from a plurality of sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, storing sponsor access identifiers expressing an access level to which corresponding users are entitled for information items from one or more of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces, verifying access rights of the users to the information items based on the access identifiers stored in the step of storing, and determining whether to allow users access to ones of the investment event items based on the step of verifying.

45. An investment information management method, including: means for receiving a plurality of investment information items from a plurality of sponsor publishing interfaces located at a plurality of different sponsor sites, means for storing sponsor access identifiers expressing an access level to which corresponding users are entitled for information items from one or more of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces, and means for verifying the access rights of the users to the information items and for determining whether to allow users access to the investment event items based on the access identifiers stored in the step of storing.

46. A data memory, comprising: an investment information database including investment information entries from a plurality of sponsoring organizations, and a user access database linked to the investment information database and including user access entries for storing user identifiers and sponsor access identifiers, the access identifiers expressing an access level to which a corresponding user at one of a plurality of investor interfaces is entitled for information items from one or more of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

47. The data memory of claim 46 wherein the user access entries express one of a plurality of different access levels for each of the plurality of investment information sponsor publishing interfaces.

48. The data memory of claim 46 further including a background information item database linked to the investment event information database and including background information entries linked to the event entries.

49. The data memory of claim 46 wherein the investment information entries are investment event information entries for event identifiers and corresponding event times.

50. The data memory of claim 45 further including a user communication database linked to the investment event information database that includes user communication entries for storing user communications linked to the investment event information items.

51. An investment event information management terminal, comprising: an investment information interface including display areas for investment information items extracted from one or more information sources based on search criteria, an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events, and a selection profile entry interface including selection profile generation controls for generating stored selection profiles including selection criteria for both the investment information items and the investment event items.

52. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the selection profile entry interface includes user profile generation controls that use common selection criteria for the investment information items and the investment event items.

53. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the selection profile entry interface is a search profile interface and wherein the terminal further includes one or more search initiation controls to initiate searches for ones of the investment information items and ones of the investment event items.

54. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the selection profile entry interface is a user profile for use in extracting and displaying ones of the investment information items in the display areas of the investment information interface and for use in extracting and displaying ones of the investment event items in the display areas of the investment interface.

55. An investment event information management terminal, comprising: a market interface including display areas for market event items obtained from data feeds and anticipated times for those events, and a sponsor interface including display areas for sponsor event items received from sponsors and anticipated times for those events.

56. The apparatus of claim 55 further including a common selection profile entry interface including user controls for generating profiles that include common selection criteria for the market event items and the sponsor event items.

57. The apparatus of claim 55 further including a user profile generation interface for use in generating user profiles to extract and display ones of the investment information items in both the market interface display areas and the sponsor interface display areas.

58. An investment event information management terminal, comprising: an investment event interface including display areas for investment event items associated with anticipated times for those events, and a selection profile entry interface including user profile generation controls that employ a plurality of selection criteria to select the investment event items.

59. The apparatus of claim 58 wherein the selection criteria include subject matter categorization information.

60. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the subject matter categorization information includes geographic and sector categories.