CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing date of Swiss Patent Application No. 01188/11 , entitled "System zur visuellen Darstellung von Waehrungsstaerken", filed on July 9, 2011 , in the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. This application claims the benefit of the filing date of United States Patent Application No. 13283247, entitled "Graphical User Interface for Financial Data, and Related System and Method Implementing Same", filed on October 27, 2011 , in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

FIELD OF INTEREST

[0002] This invention relates to information visualization, and more particularly, to a method of computing and displaying the changes of currency strengths over time on a computer interface.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Currency exchange rates have a great impact on the economies of the world. Not only are they important for the imports and exports and, therefore, have heavy influence on the economy within a country (e.g., production, unemployment rate, consumer prices, and so on). The foreign exchange market is also the biggest financial market, with trading volumes of about $4 trillion US dollars per day. Having the possibility to convert one currency into another currency is important for business, because otherwise products or services between countries with different currencies cannot be traded.

[0004] There are millions of participants in this market. Investors, currency speculators, governments, banks, central banks, day-traders, and individual investors, just to name a few, spend countless hours each year analyzing the exchange rates, as they directly influence many financial products. For example, for stocks or funds in a different country with a different currency, the exchange rate directly affects the performance and risk. In addition, it is also possible to buy and sell currencies directly, or to speculate on rising or falling currencies. Having insight and understanding of this market in the long and in the short term is essential to many people, as currencies are the interface between many financial products and participants.

[0005] Monitoring the exchange rates is a task that is permanently necessary to be successful on the financial market. However, nearly all participants of this market only concentrate on pairs of exchange rates (for example USD/EUR) that are usually displayed with traditional line charts. Of course, it is possible to monitor several of these exchange rates with multiple instances of line charts. However, they only reflect one pair of currencies each. Thus, when trying to monitor the 10 major currencies, for example, 10 ^* 9 = 90 combinations must be observed, which is complicated, and getting an overview of the real happenings in this incomprehensible mess and an overall picture is nearly impossible. When all 90 exchange rates are plotted into one line chart simultaneously, the information is nearly impossible to understand, because the high degree of overlap makes it impossible to identify the lines. A technique that simplifies this virtually impossible task and that puts all currency exchanges rates on one scale in order to draw a map of the foreign exchange market would be of great help. Analyzing single exchange rates can be considered having pieces of a puzzle that must be put together to provide a coherent picture. The absence of such a solution was the inspiration for this work.

[0006] The absence of such a practicable solution in the foreign exchange market is evident. On the internet, there are many blogs and discussions, where users relate to one specific exchange rate (for example USD/EUR), and ask questions like: today, the USD got 2% stronger compared to the EUR ... but what is the reason? Is it because the USD got stronger, or is it because the EUR got weaker? It can be very difficult to answer this rather simple question. Even if the exchange rate of USD (United States Dollar) and EUR (Euro) is constant over time, it may be that both currencies lost strength compared to all other currencies. Thus, analysis of a single exchange rate, for two currencies, may provide no real indication of changes in the individual currencies on a wider scale. If a trader only has a focus on analyzing a single exchange rate, but he is not able to put the values of the two currencies into a wider context of the market, he is likely to lose a lot of money. A technical product that supports traders in determining the value of a currency, and to give insight into the interplay of currencies on the financial market, would be of help.

[0007] To answer the simple question above in a theoretic way, economists, decades ago, already had the idea to develop so-called currency strength indexes, which can be based on the absolute or the relative currency strength. The associated algorithms are not particularly satisfying. Some algorithms are based on the prices of physical products ("shopping basket"), which shows the buying power of a currency, and is then compared between different countries and currencies. Other algorithms use a fixed starting value (every currency at the beginning has the same strength), and calculate the change of the currency strength over time, without readjusting the strength indexes to be not identical anymore at the starting date, which may be confusing, but which is formally correct from a relative point of view. Some recent attempts use moving averages of different length (for example 30 and 90 days) of exchange rates, and sum up or subtract the differences of the two moving averages to determine a gain or loss in currency strength. Despite the fact that moving averages have a "lagging" effect and do not provide precision at the most current point of time, a major uptrend of an exchange rate with many zigzags causes a constant increase of the currency strength because the differences between the two moving averages are always positive, completely neglecting the "downs" of the zigzag where something needs to be subtracted (see http://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/File:MovingAverage.GIF ).

[0008] One model, the so-called Trade-Weighted-Index, computes the currency strength from the changes of the exchange rates, combined with a weight factor between currencies that comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The disadvantage of this model is that for a start date, this model requires a predetermined starting value. This value significantly influences the rest of the currency index, and also the weights from the International Monetary Fund change from time-to-time, which may cause jumps in the computation. For the many participants on the foreign exchange market, the currency strength computed with this model is, therefore, of rather theoretical nature, because in the practical use of a trader, only the exchange rate counts.

[0009] Another model is based on so-called nominal effective exchange rates, which is based on the price of material goods in a predetermined shopping basket of products. This model is heavily influenced by other external factors. For example, the price of the same product can significantly differ in compared countries because the manufacturer has different pricing policies for each country. Other factors are taxes, or the location where products are bought in a country, as there are cheap and expensive regions. This model completely lacks any mathematical precision.

[0010] An often used technical indicator for trading is the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which was presented in 1978 by J.W. Wilder Jr. in his book "New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems". This method was not specifically tailored for exchange rates, but since it is very universal it has also been applied to currency time series to determine oversold and undersold conditions. The RSI is a momentum oscillator that measures the velocity of directional price movement, and that moves up/down fast if the price moves up/down fast, and slows down as the price continues in a directional move. The oscillator principle of the RSI causes those currencies that become continuously stronger over time will not increase in strength in the RSI, as the currency strength of the momentum oscillator will flatten out to a horizontal line. Also, a currency that has become strong over time and that continues to remain strong compared to other currencies will decrease in strength using the RSI.

[0011] Another method is the Relative Currency Strength (RCS), which uses an algorithm for decorrelating 28 currency pairs and which shows the relative strength momentum of selected currencies over time. This indicator can cope with multiple time series. The RSC is typically used on a 14-day time period and measured on a scale from 0 to 100 like RSI, with 70 reflecting overbought and 30 reflecting oversold conditions. The problem is that using this technique, the computation of increases and decreases in currency strength of different currencies do not even out over time, and the sum of increases and the sum of decreases reflects an unbalanced state of the market.

[0012] In the modern financial world, a variety of different currency strength indices are used, some of them based on the techniques mentioned above, some using additional weighting functions, some using parameters like the level of trade between the countries, some are normalized, and so on. Several stock exchanges and large financial companies have, for example, their own dollar index, to measure the value of the dollar against several other currencies.

[0013] In addition to the problems of existing algorithms that have been mentioned, attempts to visually display changes of currency strengths so far can be considered unsuccessful in implementing a system where the data is displayed in a graphically useful manner. Most systems simply plot line graphs into the same chart, which is hardly readable in the end and does not allow a profound analysis.

[0014] FIG. 2A illustrates a method for displaying a plurality of currency strength indexes, in accordance with the prior art. Each line in FIG. 2A represents a different currency strength over time. However, it provides little value - it is merely a set of plots displayed at the same time, with no readily ascertainable knowledge of relatedness or relativity between and among the different currency plots.

[0015] FIG. 2B 282 gives a extensive overview of thirteen commercial products available in 2012, showing the current state of the art in Information Visualization when displaying and analyzing currency strengths. The products have been found via a thorough web search on the Internet. Some systems use multiple line charts 283 284 285 292 295, creating a high degree of over plotting, which is hard to interpret. Other systems only use one line chart 288, which is not able to give an overview and a comparison to other currencies at the same time. Other systems use bar charts 286 291 instead of line charts, but can only show one fixed time interval and are not able to show the changes of the currency strength over time which is not sufficient for understanding the development of the currency strengths over time and to get a more global picture across currencies. The same applies to systems that use numeric values 287 290, which are also only able to show one fixed time interval, and which are also unable to show the change of the currency strength over time. Other commercial software only shows an up or down arrow for a currency, or a bar that has a certain positive or negative value to show changes of the currency strength, or heat maps, or cascaded blocks to show a single time interval 293, or tabular layouts 294.

[0016] Today, many computer programs exist to support the understanding of financial data. Additionally, with the advent of the Internet, more and more online brokers and financial websites offer graphical and interactive applications, often with the possibility to trade online. However, regarding the financial market, there is a big demand for solutions, but good solutions that are useful and easy to understand are actually rare. Many solutions can be considered experimental, or too abstract, or with nearly no practical benefit.

[0017] Getting a real understanding of the behavior and characteristics of all currencies over a period of time is nearly (or completely) impossible with these prior art techniques. Additionally, users today also expect manipulation methods that support exploration of the data, and manipulation of the graphical user interface, which is non-existent in many prior art systems that analyze the currency strength.

SUMMARY

[0018] In this application, a new system, method, and computer program product to compute the changes of the currency strength are provided, which are based purely on exchange rates, with no external factors or false presumptions. Thus, a computer system can be provided that is able to compute and display currency strength information in an understandable way to the user that gives insight into the development and change of the currency strength over time.

[0019] In accordance with the present invention, provided is a software system and computer interface that gives users the possibility to view a quantity of information on an efficiently configured graphical environment.

[0020] A financial data interface system according to one embodiment of this invention is configured to operate as financial software application. According to this embodiment, a computer interface system is provided to analyze the changes of currency strengths over time. It divides a display screen of a predetermined size into a plurality of currency strengths, and displays the regions that visualize the strengths of the currencies over a period of time. In one embodiment, this predetermined space is a rectangle. In another embodiment, these display regions that usually form a rectangle are displayed separately to increase readability. These embodiments may work with the method to compute the relative currency strength that is presented in this paper, but may also work with other methods in the same way. In addition to that, the embodiments can also include a menu interface for manipulating and displaying information to the user. [0021] According to the present embodiment, the interface system graphically conveys to the user information about the currency strength over a period of time through the use of display size and color. This way, the user can see the graphical size and color to decipher the changes of the currency strength over time. In one embodiment, the currency strengths are arranged one next to the other, so that the sum of the currency strengths for any point of time t sums up to the same height. In another embodiment, these regions are displayed separately from each other, to increase readability.

[0022] It is noted that the computer interface system can be manipulated in various ways to provide functions to the users. These functions can include: changing of the time scale, selecting the currencies which should be displayed, manually or automatically selecting the colors, scaling the display to a different size, zooming in and out, manually or automatically arrange the currencies, highlighting a currency, obtaining additional information for a currency or a point or period of time, enlarging one currency to be exclusively displayed, enlarging two currencies to be exclusively displayed for comparison, using additional graphical or statistical means to show trends, or changing the color for each currency over time for coding additional information. It is understood that these visual parameters may be modified in numerous other ways.

[0023] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, provided is a computer-implemented method, a financial data interface system, and a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied, for computing and presenting changes in strength of currencies over time. The method, system, and computer program product comprise providing at least one computer processor coupled to at least one non-transitory storage media, and a display; accessing currency exchange rates and electronically computing currency strengths for a plurality of selected currencies for a specified period of time, including computing a currency strength for each of the plurality of selected currencies relative to the other selected currencies; and generating one or more display regions on the display, incl. presenting within the one or more display regions the currency strengths and relative changes in the currency strengths over time.

[0024] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise computing said currency strengths as currency strength indexes based on increases and decreases of the currency values over time, such that a sum of the currency strengths indexes for the plurality of currencies is substantially constant over time.

[0025] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise displaying a plurality of display regions on the display, each display region comprising at least one of the currency strengths, and automatically or manually determining an ordering of the display regions.

[0026] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise displaying a plurality of display regions on the display, where the ratio of the size of the display regions for each combination of currency pair at each point of time t reflects the change rate of the corresponding exchange rate of that currency pair to a reference point of time.

[0027] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise displaying additional information about each of said currencies in response to a command provided via a user input device.

[0028] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise updating said one or more display regions at predetermined time intervals.

[0029] Each of said display regions can represent a corresponding currency strength, and a change of size of each display region over time corresponds to the change of said currency strength over time.

[0030] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise contiguously stacking said currency strengths within the display regions one above the other.

[0031] A weakest point of relative currency strengths between at least two different currencies can be 0.

[0032] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise generating on the display a menu interface having user-interactive mechanisms enabling manipulation and displaying of information related to the plurality of selected currencies.

[0033] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise generating on the display relevant data for individual regions from the one or more display regions within a pop-up display appearing when one of said regions is selected. [0034] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise generating on the display an expanded display providing additional data related to the plurality of selected currencies and user options for interacting with the additional data.

[0035] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise generating on the display a zoom view of the computed currency strengths.

[0036] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise re-sizing the currency strengths at predetermined intervals, wherein the resizing reflects a change in financial data of the plurality of selected currencies.

[0037] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise positioning the currency strengths on the display according to a mathematical function employing variables comprising metrics of said currencies.

[0038] The method, system, or computer program product can further comprise providing a user input mechanism to enable a user to modify the time scale of the one or more display regions.

[0039] According to another aspect of the present invention, provided is a computer-implemented method of presenting changes in strength of currencies over time. The method comprises: providing at least one computer processor coupled to at least one non-transitory storage media, and a display; accessing currency values and electronically computing currency strengths for a plurality of currencies for a specified period of time, including computing a currency strength of each of the plurality of selected currencies relative to other selected currencies, including computing said currency strengths as currency strength indexes based on increases and decreases of the currency values over time, such that a sum of the currency strengths indexes for the plurality of currencies is substantially constant over time; and generating one or more display regions on the display, including graphically presenting the computed currency strength indexes for the plurality of selected currencies over time, including graphically presenting relative changes in the currency strength indexes of the plurality of selected currencies over time, including contiguously stacking said currency strength indexes within the display regions one above the other. [0040] According to another aspect and some embodiments of the invention, a method, system and computer program product is provided, for constructing a currency index indicating the relative strength of a currency towards other currencies in a basket of currencies, the method, system, and computer program product comprising: providing at least one computer processor coupled to at least one non- transitory storage media storing computer code which when executed performs the method; accessing currency exchange rates and electronically computing currency strengths for a plurality of selected currencies in a basket of currencies for a specified period of time, including computing a currency strength for each of the plurality of selected currencies relative to the other selected currencies; performing on each of the plurality of currencies using each of the currencies as base currency for the currency pairs, at least, computing, for each of the currency pairs, the change factors of the exchange rate from one point of time to another point of time, and mapping the values of these change factors above and below 1 linearly to increases and decreases of currency strengths, with change factors larger or equal 1 resulting in increases of currency strength of Change Factor - 1 , and change factors smaller than 1 resulting in decreases of currency strength of 1 / Change Factor minus 1 , so that the absolute value of an increase regarding a Change Factor larger than 1 equals the absolute value of the decrease regarding 1 / Change Factor which is smaller than 1 , while maintaining a linear scale between the change factors and increases and decreases of currency strengths at the same time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] The present invention will become more apparent in view of the attached drawings and accompanying detailed description. The embodiments depicted therein are provided by way of example, not by way of limitation, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating aspects of the invention.

[0042] In the drawings:

[0043] FIG. 1A is a diagram of an embodiment of a network of computer systems that can be used to process and present financial data in accordance with aspects of the present invention; [0044] FIG. 1 B is a diagram of an embodiment of a user system that can be configured to provide a graphical user interface for presenting financial data, according to aspects of the invention;

[0045] FIG. 1C shows an embodiment of a network accessible financial data interface system as a server-based system, in accordance with aspects of the present invention;

[0046] FIG. 1 D is a functional block diagram of computer components or modules that can comprise the financial data interface system, according to aspects of the invention;

[0047] FIG. 2A illustrates a prior art approach for displaying 8 currency strength indexes over time by using a traditional line chart;

[0048] FIG. 2B illustrates thirteen commercial products available in 2012 for analyzing the currency strength, in accordance with the prior art;

[0049] FIG. 2C illustrates an example of an exchange rate between 2 currencies (USD and JPY), in accordance with aspects of the invention;

[0050] FIG. 3A is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method used to compute the relative currency strength changes, as a first stage, according to aspects of the invention;

[0051] FIG. 3B is a flow diagram of an embodiment of another method used to compute the relative currency strength changes, as a first stage, according to aspects of the invention;

[0052] FIG. 3C is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for generating a graphical output of currency strengths, as a second stage, according to aspects of the invention;

[0053] FIG. 4A illustrates an embodiment of information used to calculate the currency strength by an example of 3 currencies according to the flow diagram in FIG. 3A, according to one aspect of the invention;

[0054] FIG. 4B illustrates an embodiment of information used to calculate the currency strength by an example of 3 currencies according to the flow diagram in FIG. 3C, according to one aspect of the invention;

[0055] FIG. 4C illustrates an embodiment of information used to calculate and normalize the currency strength by an example of 3 currencies according to the flow diagram in FIG. 3B, according to one aspect of the invention; [0056] FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output that shows changes of the relative currency strength over time for three currencies (USD, JPY, GBP) computed with the method in FIG. 3A, according to one aspect of the invention;

[0057] FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output that shows changes of the relative currency strength over time for seven currencies compute with the method in FIG. 3A, according to aspects of the invention;

[0058] FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a graphical user interface output for seven currencies in a separated arrangement (decomposition of FIG. 6), according to aspects of the invention;

[0059] FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of a graphical user interface output for ten currencies, computed with the method in FIG. 3A, according to aspects of this invention;

[0060] FIG. 9 illustrates a graphical user interface output according to FIG. 6, wherein one portion is enlarged by a zoom, according to aspects of the invention;

[0061] FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output that shows changes of the relative currency strength over time for three currencies (USD, JPY, GBP) computed with the method in FIG. 3B, according to one aspect of the invention; At each point of time (on the horizontal axis), the ratio of the vertical size between each possible combination of currency pairs exactly reflects the change of the exchange rate of the corresponding currency pair with pixel precision compared to the start date on the very left side.

[0062] FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output that shows changes of the relative currency strength over time for seven currencies computed with the method in FIG. 3A without normalization, according to one aspect of the invention;

[0063] FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output including a legend control, according to an aspect of the invention;

[0064] FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface output including an information display, according to aspects of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0065] Various exemplary embodiments will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some exemplary embodiments are shown. The present inventive concept may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein.

[0066] It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. are be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element from another, but not to imply a required sequence of elements. For example, a first element can be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element can be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the present invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0067] It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "on" or "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly on or connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements can be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" or "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., "between" versus "directly between," "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.).

[0068] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

[0069] FIG. 1A is a diagram of an embodiment of a network of computer systems 100 that can be used to process and present financial data in accordance with aspects of the present invention. A financial data interface system 200 may be provided to include the hardware, software, and/or firmware that enable financial data processing and presentation in accordance with aspects of the present invention. The financial data interface system 200 may be a properly configured computer system having at least one processor, at least one data storage device, and input and output devices.

[0070] The financial data interface system 200 may be network enabled or accessible, and communicate via at least one network 80. As examples, network 80 may be the Internet, Worldwide Web, a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual private network, a cellular telephone network, a cable network, a satellite network, or the like, or some combination thereof.

[0071] The financial data interface system 200 may receive financial data, e.g., currency data, from one or more financial data sources 300, via network 80. The data from financial data sources 300 may be pushed to or pulled by the financial data interface system 200. Such financial data sources 300 may be, for example, government entities or private entities that report currency and/or exchange rate information or other relevant financial or economic data or information.

[0072] The financial data interface system 200 may be, or may be part of, an end user system, having input and output devices, such as display screens. In other embodiments, the financial data interface system 200 may be a server or application server accessible by a user system 10. In such cases, the user system 10 can include a program useful for interacting with the financial data interface system 200 to output and interact with displays including financial analysis or comparative data and information. In some embodiments, that program could be or include a Web browser, word processor, database, or other program, or combination thereof.

[0073] FIG. 1 B is a diagram of an embodiment of a user system 10 that can be configured to provide a graphical user interface for presenting financial data, according to aspects of the invention. User system 10, which is a computer system or user device, can be configured to enable access and use of the financial data interface system 200. User system 10, which can be used as terminal, can include components such as a CPU 20, working memory 30, storage medium 60, and/or other hardware. Furthermore, user system 10 can comprise a display screen 40 for visual or graphical output to the user of financial analysis data and information from the financial data interface system 200. Also provided can be input devices 70 that allow human-computer interaction. These various devices, components, or modules of user system 10 can be coupled together via a bus 50. It is understood that the components of user system 10 may be modified in numerous ways, without departing from the invention. User system 10 may be, or include, a personal computer, workstation, laptop computer, cell phone or smart phone, network-enabled tablet or personal digital assistance, and the like, as examples.

[0074] Today, various systems get financial data from the Internet and/or various network-accessible sources. In one embodiment, user system 10 is configured to implement the interface system 200. In other embodiments, the interface system 200 can be implemented on or across multiple systems.

[0075] FIG. 1C shows an embodiment of a network accessible financial data interface system 200 as a server-based system, in accordance with aspects of the present invention. In this example, as a networked system, financial data interface system 200 may be configured to interact with a plurality of user systems 10 and financial data sources over network 80, as discussed above with respect to FIG. 1 A. Each user system 10 interacts with the financial data interface system 200 over network connection 80, such as the Internet, for example to load or to update data.

[0076] The financial data interface system 200 servers can include components similar to those of the user system 10. For example, these can include a CPU 210, working memory 230, storage memory 260, network interface 280. However, financial data interface system 200 server is not required to have all of these components to do the required task. Therefore, FIG. 1C only depicts a typical illustration of a server. The server may or may not include at least one display 240 and a bus 250 for internal communication. Similarly, the server may or may not include at least one input device. It is understood, that the components of the financial data interface system 200 server may be modified in numerous ways.

[0077] Referring to FIG. 1 D, the financial data interface system 200 can include various functional modules, which can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or some combination thereof. In this embodiment, the financial data interface system 200 can include the storage media 260 discussed above, or an equivalent. A display interface 222 can be provided to drive display devices, and provide displays in accordance with the present invention, as described herein below. A network interface 224 can be provided that enables communication between the financial data interface system 200 and financial data sources 300, user systems 10, or other systems, via network 80.

[0078] A data manager 228 can be provided to obtain, request, store, and/or access financial data information. An output generator 226 can be provided that obtains financial data and display information, e.g., display templates or instructions stored in storage media 260, which are ultimately output to a display via display interface 222. A financial data processor 212 executes the financial data analysis and processing algorithms used to generate the financial data displays output in accordance with the present invention.

[0079] It is understood that the financial data interface system 200 may be implemented with different or additional components that could provide extra functionality to the application and system.

[0080] The financial data interface system 200 can be configured to implement a method of financial data analysis and display in accordance with aspects of the present invention. FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are a flow diagrams of embodiments of two methods used to compute the relative currency strength changes, in accordance with aspects of the invention. And FIG. 3C is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method that illustrates how a second stage takes a time series with relative currency strengths, and generates a graphical output, according to aspects of the invention. These methods can be implemented, as an example by the above described computer systems.

[0081] The process or method by which the financial data interface system 200 generates the graphical outputs is now explained in more detail. The method of this embodiment operates in two stages: computing the currency strength for a plurality of currencies with a unique method, and positioning the result of this computation on the display by exploiting the special characteristics of the method in the first stage. As a preliminary, the underlying objectives are briefly detailed.

[0082] As existing methods of calculating the currency strength according to previous art have serious weaknesses (see overview of prior art methods before), an improved novel method of computing the currency strength is proposed. In addition to that, prior art systems use very simple graphical representations to display the result of that computation (such as line graphs, bar charts, arrows, or numbers). This, however, is not a satisfying solution, and therefore a better visualization method to display the changes in currency strengths is proposed that perfectly matches special characteristics of the novel method, in the preferred embodiment.

[0083] The foreign exchange market is considerable different to other financial markets, such as the stock market. As stocks or funds can be examined separately, currency analysis only makes sense if currencies are analyzed as a currency pair, which means that a currency is compared to another currency over time. However, analyzing a single pair might give insight into the relationship between these two currencies, but is to some degree useless if not put into a bigger context. Regarding all currencies of the world, a lot of these currency pairs exist. But when analyzing several of these currency pairs, the overall behavior of the market still remains a secret. Therefore, analysts are missing the "big picture".

[0084] One interesting characteristic of the foreign exchange market is that certain parity can be observed. Although this market is permanently in motion, with exchange rates between currencies updating within seconds, some rules can be observed and exploited. The reason for this high degree of parity is that today there are many trading systems that trigger in milliseconds to make minimal profits, and which cause the exchange rates to re-adjust within shortest time frames. Therefore, the exchange rates between multiple currencies are in some sort of "stable" state, and increases and decreases of one currency automatically affect not only the other currencies that are directly connected to it, but also the exchange rates of other currencies among themselves.

[0085] The methods described below in this application are based completely on the exchange rates (transaction costs are not considered), and exploit this high degree of parity that this market has. However, as the exchange rates in the market undergo constant changes and fluctuations, equilibrium is existent to a very high degree, but not mathematically perfect. There are minimal deviations all the time, which prior art algorithms as well as the presented invention have to cope with. It is understood that the methods described in this application are formulated to be correct in a mathematically way, but in practical use always include these minimal deviations. However, the method described below is designed to automatically compensate these minimal deviations during processing [0086] The following explanations may help to understand the parity of the foreign exchange market. When doing a trade with a currency pair, for example USD/JPY, it is easy to see that if an amount of 1 USD is exchanged to JPY and then it is changed back from JPY to USD, roughly the same initial amount of 1 USD will occur. The differences are only minimal, usually something in the area of 3 to 4 digits after the comma. We can therefore say that the exchange rate in one direction is roughly 1/x of the exchange rate in reverse direction. As an example, if 1 USD is traded to JPY on 1991-06-07 with the official rate, the trader will get 139.45 JPY. If the same amount is traded back to USD on the same day with the official rate, the trader will get 0.99983 USD, which is the initial value, with only a minimal deviation or rounding error of 0.017%, or 0.00017 USD. Vice versa, if the amount of 1 JPY is traded to USD on 1991-06-07, the trader will receive 0.00717 USD, and when trading back to JPY, the trader will end up with 1 JPY (with a minimal deviation)..

[0087] Regarding this isolated example of the exchange rate of USD and JPY over time in a closed system of only these 2 currencies, the changes over time can also be interpreted as the changes of the currency strength between USD and JPY. If the exchange rate of USD and JPY is drawn as a chart (as can be seen in FIG. 2C), the relative strength is reflected by the display regions above and below the separating zigzag line. In addition to that, typical for such a chart, the time axis and the value axis span a rectangular space. However, instead of seeing FIG. 2C as a line chart in a traditional way, it can also be seen as a surface with a geometric rectangular shape, with two display regions that perfectly interlock, one above and below the separating line, surrounded by the rectangle, and filled with two different colors. The way how the rectangle is divided in two parts reflects the changes of the currency strength over time where it is easy to identify the strongest and weakest point as well as the strong and weak phases of a currency strength.

[0088] The exchange rate x and the reverse exchange rate 1 / x causes that the sequence of the two trades x * ( 1 / x ) is just a multiplication by 1 , which means that for any given initial amount that is traded in forth and back direction, the result is the starting amount with minimal deviation. The exchange rates of JPY/USD and for USD/JPY therefore complement themselves to an almost constant value, and can be mapped in a rectangular space. The changes of the exchange rate determine where the rectangular shape is split. [0089] In accordance with the present invention, provided is an algorithm and a graphical display to extend this rationale to three or more currencies, and to display this plurality of currency strengths in a rectangular space with the changes of the currency strength over time. As a second example, now with three currencies, if the amount of 1 USD is traded to JPY on 1991-06-07 (see example above), an amount of 139.45 JPY will be received in return. For the amount of 139.45 JPY, on the same day one would get 0.5934 GBP (British Pound Sterling). If the amount of 0.5934 GBP is traded back to USD, then 0.9972 USD will be received, which is the initial amount with only a minimal deviation at the 3th digit after the comma. As a second example, 1 USD that is traded on 1995-04-18 will result in 81.40 JPY, which can be traded to 0.6195 GBP, which results in 1.001 USD (with a little rounding error). As can be observed, the parity of the foreign exchange market is highly precise not only in pairs, but accordingly if a sequence of multiple pairs is taken. With a starting value of 1 USD, the sequence USD->JPY->GBP->USD leads to the same value again, although the exchange rates at the two different points of time (1991 and 1995) are completely different.

[0090] As the trading of an initial amount of money between three currencies as described above nearly produces the same initial amount again, is should also be possible to reflect this in a rectangular shape as well, again with the time t on one axis and the initial amount of 100% of the money on the other axis. Because the result of the trading sequence is constant, it should be possible to reflect the changes of the exchange rates over time within a rectangular outline with a constant height even if more than 2 currencies are taken. However, as the exchange rates between the three currencies change over time, these changes also need to be reflected correctly INSIDE the rectangle, in a way that the change of the currency strength can be depicted. With three currencies, the rectangular shape must be divided in 3 corresponding display regions, where at each point of time t, the shape of the regions must reflect the correct exchange rates between all combinations of currencies. Another technical requirement of the algorithm is that the result is always the same, no matter in which order the trading sequence takes place (EUR->USD- >JPY->EUR, USD->EUR->JPY->USD, JPY->USD->EUR->JPY, just to mention a few of the possible combinations). Using the 8 major currencies, 40320 combinations of sequences exist; however, the result must always turn out to be the same. [0091] What can easily be observed by the given two examples of trading USD->JPY->GBP->USD is that the increase in strength of one currency in an exchange rate requires a decrease of the strength of other currencies in other exchange rates, so that trading an amount in this sequence leads to the same initial amount again. Therefore, there is parity not only between two exchange rates, but also between three, four, and so on. As there is an equilibrium, the increase and decrease of the exchange rates between the currencies in these pluralities of currencies exactly even out, else it would not be possible to receive the initial amount of money again in a trading sequence.

[0092] Two Stage Algorithm - Introduction

[0093] The process or method by which the financial data interface system 200 generates the appropriate regions for display on a computer interface is explained. References are made to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, and 4C, which illustrate a calculation scheme for the algorithm and flow diagrams of the different steps to generate a graphical representation, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of this embodiment operates via two stages, a first stage 300 depicted in FIG. 3A (or an alternative first stage method 310 depicted in Fig. 3B) and a second stage 320 depicted in FIG. 3C. The computation of the currency strength indexes is performed in the first stage, according to steps 301 - 303 (or 31 1 - 313 for a variation of the first stage method 310). And the normalization and positioning of the currency strength series from the first stage on the display is performed in the second stage 320, according to steps 321 - 325. For each of the views discussed in reference with FIGS. 5 - 11 , the system performs both stages respectively.

[0094] The methods described below in this application are based completely on the exchange rates, and exploit the high degree of equilibrium in this particular market explained in the previous section.

[0095] As a preliminary, the underlying objectives of this method are briefly detailed. Getting a real insight into the strengths of currencies on the foreign exchange market (Forex) is very difficult, as currencies are commonly traded as pairs. To get the big picture, for example, regarding the ten major currencies of the world, a combination of 10 * 9 = 90 exchange rates (45 pairs, two directions) has to be taken into account to give profound and meaningful answers. Manual analysis of 90 line charts with all its zigzags simultaneously is a tedious task and confusing, and it can be assumed that the result of the analysis is neither reliable nor precise. Economists have developed instruments, which show how the relative strengths of currencies can be determined. As described in the Background section, some of the existing prior art techniques have significant disadvantages.

[0096] Therefore, the use of a computer-implemented algorithm that computes the changes of the currency strength over a period of time that is purely based on exchange rates, without the known disadvantages is the most promising solution. Additionally, if the sum of the increases of the strengths of currencies exactly matches the sum of decreases of the strengths of other currencies (as we discovered before when trading an amount of money in a sequence back to the original currency), it should be possible to visualize these changes of the currency strength in a closed system of a plurality of currencies in a way that the sum of the currency strengths for any given point of time (t) is constant, exploiting the above mentioned parity of exchange rates for a given amount of currencies. Therefore, for example, a predetermined geometric display space, such as a rectangle, can perfectly be used to display the changes of the currency strength over time, as the time axis and the constant sum of values of the currency strengths for each point of the time axis create a rectangular shape, according to the present embodiment.

[0097] Given a rectangular space, such as the display area of a display screen 40, or a portion thereof, and a plurality of display regions, such as currency strengths 510 - 530 of three currencies shown in FIG. 5, the financial data interface system 200 is initiated with the aim of dividing the display area into regions that reflect the strength of currencies over a period of time t. FIG. 6 shows a similar display for 7 major currencies, FIG.8 shows a similar display for 10 major currencies.

[0098] Stage 1 (Computation of Currency Strength)

[0099] The method 300 to compute the currency strength in one embodiment of the presented invention works as illustrated in the flow diagram in FIG. 3A. However, in another embodiment, the instructions that are processed may also be executed in a different order with the same result, as the ordering of some mathematical functions that are used here can be swapped. For example, the order of factors that are multiplied or divided, or numbers that are added or subtracted one to each other, can be swapped with no difference of the final result. It is understood that the changes of ordering of certain operations does not affect the final result, while effectively doing the same thing. Therefore, FIG. 3A is only to be seen as a means to facilitate understanding the underlying principle of the method.

[00100] FIG. 5 shows a display for 3 currencies that can be produced by method 300, with the calculation scheme illustrated in FIG. 4A. FIG. 8 shows a display for the 10 leading currencies using method 300.

[00101] Given a plurality of currencies, the first stage method 300 of the financial data interface system 200, in step 1 301 , determines the required exchange rates for further processing. Given a plurality of n currencies, all combinations of n * ( n - 1 ) exchange rates of one currency towards all other currencies are required. The approach to take a basket of currencies, and to compare each individual currency with all other currencies in the basket to determine a currency strength, is the "classical" starting point for the computation since 40 years. However, after this point, the existing methods to compute the currency strength diverge vastly.

[00102] To facilitate understanding of the presented method herein, the example in FIG. 3A and the calculation scheme in FIG. 4A provide a set of three currencies (USD, JPY, GBP), a total of six exchange rates need to be analyzed (ExR(1 ,2) = USDJPY, ExR(1 ,3) = USDGBP, ExR(2,1) = JPYUSD, ExR(2,3) = JPYGBP, ExR(3,1) = GBPUSD, ExR(3,2) = GBPJPY, see columns 410 to 415 in FIG. 4A). It is to be understood that the method of the invention and the disclosure herein are applicable to any basket of two or more currencies, and more, less, or different currencies compared to the given example can be used. The example provides four points of time t1 to t4 421 - 424, and is based on the real exchange rates given in columns 410 - 415 in rows 421 - 424.

[00103] As a second step 302, a change factor (CF) of all values of each exchange rate time series relative to a chosen reference time (Ref_Date, usually the starting point of the time series, in the example in FIG. 3A and FIG. 4A it is t=1) is computed: CFxy(ExR(x,y)(t)) = ExR(x,y)(t) / ExR(x,y)(Ref_Date). The advantage of the determination of a change factor between two points of time t of an exchange rate is that it works independently of the scale of two currencies (1 USD 100 JPY), and it can be applied between any points of time t on the time axis directly. Using the method of having a fixed Ref_Date is also advantageous regarding precision and fault-tolerance over methods that calculate the changes from one point of time to the next because various types of errors (rounding errors, outliers, noise, different closing times to determine the daily official exchange rate) in the data are continuously accumulated until the end of the computation, often over several thousand points of time. Only one wrong or missing value in the time series can already void the whole process.

[00104] In the example in FIG. 4A, the result of the computation of the change factors (CF) from the Ref_Date to each of the points of time t1 421 to t4 424 is shown in columns 410 - 415 in rows 431 - 434. As the change of the exchange rate of one currency A to another currency B is 1/x of the change of the exchange rate of currency B to currency A at each point of time t, the multiplication of all change factors in each of the rows 431 - 434 is always 1 (see column 416). Example: If GBPUSD is 2.0, which means for 1 GBP one receives 2 USD, then USDGBP is 0.5 meaning that for 1 USD, one receives 0.5 GBP, and consequently 2.0 ^* 0.5 is 1. Therefore, the pairs of USDJPY and JPYUSD, of USDGBP and GBPUSD, and of JPYGBP and GBPJPY in rows 431 to 434 each multiply to 1 , so also all multiply to 1.

[00105] In a third step 303, the computed change factors from the second step 302 that reflect a relative change in value of one currency to another currency need to be correctly converted into an increase or decrease of the strength of one currency to another, while exactly preserving the equilibrium property of the exchange rates. The difficulty here is mapping these change factors that multiply to 1 at each point of time t to an increase or decrease in currency strength in a way that increases (additions) and decreases (subtractions) exactly even out to 0 if summed up in order to maintain the equilibrium property. This is also a requirement for correctly mapping multiple currencies with their corresponding currency strengths into a rectangular shaped space, without having the need to scale which would effectively falsify any output. While several prior art methods tried completely different approaches in determining a currency strength, the remaining methods that tried to map the change rates to increases and decreases were not successful in finding an optimal solution for the conversion problem yet. The most recent approach tried to solve this problem by applying a log-function on the change factors, meaning that if GBPUSD is 2.0 and USDGBP is 0.5, then log (2.0) is 0.301 and log (0.5) is - 0.301 (which is the simple rule that log (x) * log (1/x) = 1), and therefore, the value of GBP is increased by the same value the USD is decreased. The problem of this approach is that the logarithmic function does not scale linearly: a change factor of 100 is expected to be 10 times larger than a change factor of 10, but log (10) is 1 and log (100) is 2, which is only two times larger. Accordingly, the increase in the currency strength is affected in the same way. In addition to that, functions to further process these results and that are designed to work correctly in a linear space are then applied on logarithmic data. A function, that would map the change factors to increases and decreases so that the increases exactly match the decreases, and that scales linearly at the same time, would be the right solution.

[00106] The presented method applies the following equation on the computed change factors from step 2 302 to achieve this. It computes the increases and decreases of the currency strength CS 303 for each base currency x to all other corresponding n-1 currencies at each point of time t in order to map the multiplication factors linearly into corresponding additions and subtractions so that increases and decreases even out:

[00107]

If ( CF >= 1 ) : CS(x.t) = CS(x.t) + ( CF - 1 )

else

If ( CF < 1 ) : CS(x,t) = CS(x,t) - ( (1 / CF ) - 1 )

[00108] For example, if CF is 1.4 (40% increase), then CS in increased by 0.4; if CF is 1.8 (80% increase), then CS in increased by 0.8 (double value), which is a linear scaling. Vice versa, if CF is 0.714 (1 / 1.4), then CS is -0.4, and if CF is 0.5555 (1 / 1.8), then CS is -0.8. So despite the linear scaling, the decreases also correspond exactly in size to the increases, both at the same time. It is important to note that this strategy achieves linearity relative to 1 , and not relative to 0 (which is mathematically not possible), which means that not the change factor itself scales linear to the increases and decreases (0.8 is twice as large as 0.4, but 1.8 is not twice as large as 1.4), but the amount above 1 scales linearly to the change factor, and correspondingly the amount below 1 for 1 / CF - 1 , so the amount of increases scales linearly to the gain in percent, and the amount of decreases is set to the same value as the increase, but in negative direction.

[00109] In FIG. 4A, the result of the computation of step 3 303 if applied on the change factors from step 2 302 can be seen in rows 441 - 444 in columns 410 - 415. For each base currency towards the n -1 other currencies, these results are summed up for the corresponding base currency to form a new time series which now holds the relative currency strength of this currency. For example, for the USD, the two values -0.7131 and 0.03944 are summed up, to form a result of - 0.67370174. This is done accordingly for JPY and GBP as base currencies. The sum of each of the rows 441 - 444 in columns 410 - 415 is 0 at each point of time 416, so increases and the decreases of the changes in relative strength of the currencies in the basket exactly even out. This time series from t1 to t4 in rows 441 - 444 now represents the relative currency strength of each base currency in the basket of three currencies.

[00110] This computation of the currency strengths over time in steps 301 -

303 concludes the first stage 300 method, in this embodiment.

[00111] Variations for Stage 1

[00112] 1) 1 ^st Variation of the method 300

[00113] As a variation of the presented algorithm, the financial data interface system 200 computes the amount of the increase rate in percent over the decrease rate in percent and uses an averaging function to modify the increase and decrease rate. As an example, one exchange rate increases by a factor of 100%, and another exchange rate decreases by a factor of - 50%. To even up additions and subtractions of currency strengths according to this embodiment, as the absolute value of the increase rate (+100%) is twice as large as the absolute value of the decrease rate (-50%), the increase rate is cut by 2/3, and the decrease rate is raised by 1/3. As a result, the increase rate is now set to +33%, and the decrease rate is set to -33% in order to even out increases and decreases. It is understood that a variety of similar variations can be constructed to modify the method 300, however effectively following the same principle with a similar or almost identical result. This is especially the case, if they also follow a linear or near-linear approach, for example by only multiplying the described increases and decreases with a constant factor that make no difference to the proposed solution.

[00114] In another embodiment, as another linear method 310 to compute the relative currency strength from a basket of n currencies, instead of n * (n-1) combinations of currency pairs (as in step 301) only n exchange rates are required 311. So, for n = 10 currencies, only 10 exchange rates need to be processed instead of 90, which saves 90 % of the computational overhead. For this method 31 1 , one of the n currencies is selected as reference currency (in the example in 3 1 it is USD), and n exchange rates with the other currency as base currency and the reference currency as counter currency are taken 311. This also includes the "reference currency"-to-"reference currency" exchange rate (in the given example in 311 this is USDUSD), which is 1 for all points of time t. In the example in FIG. 3B 311 for n = 3 currencies (USD, JPY, GBP), the 3 exchange rates are ExR(1) = USDUSD, ExR(2) = JPYUSD, and ExR(3) = GBPUSD. This differs completely from other approaches that use the reference currency as base currency. FIG. 4C 480 may help to understand the described method by giving a real-world example with 4 points of time in rows 485 - 488. In a first processing step 312, a reference date Ref_Date is chosen (usually, but not necessarily the start of the time series where t = 1), and the change factor for all n time series for each point of time t to the reference date Ref_Date is computed. In the example 480 in FIG. 4C, Ref_Date is t=1 , and the change factors for the three exchange rates ExR(1) = USDUSD 481 , ExR(2) = JPYUSD 482, and ExR(3) = GBPUSD 483 are computed for the four points of time in rows 490 - 493. These change factors of the n exchange rates are then summed up at each point of time t in step 313 (see column 484 and rows 490 - 493 in FIG. 4C), and each change factor in rows 490 - 493 in columns 481 - 483 is then divided by this sum for the result in rows 495-498. The ratio of the changes of the currency strength of the n currencies which is implied by the original exchange rates between points of time t1 to t4, is completely preserved by this method. The result of step 3 can be seen in rows 495 - 498 in columns 481 - 483. At Ref_Date = t = 1 , all currencies are set to the same currency strength, and the changes of the exchange rates over time cause increases and decreases of the corresponding currency strength. In step 3, by dividing through the sum computed in step 2, the sum of all change factors at each point of time is 1 , which is suitable for plotting into a rectangular space with a constant height. Simultaneously, it also completely preserves the currency strength ratios between all combinations of currencies, which are implied by the original exchange rates.

[00115] The result of this computation can be seen in FIG. 10 and may not appear very spectacular at first glance. In Fig. 10, at each point of time t on the horizontal axis, the ratio of the vertical size between each possible combination of currency pairs exactly reflects the change of the exchange rate of the corresponding currency pair compared to the start date on the very left side showing pixel precision over the whole image.

[00116] As an example, in FIG. 10 and with reference to FIG. 4C, at the starting date t1 on 1991-06-07, all currencies are set to the identical strength (also see rows 490 and 495 in FIG. 4C). Compared to point of time t2 on 1995-04-18, the currency strength of the USD in column 481 and row 496 is at 27.21 %, the currency strength of the JPY in column 482 and row 496 is at 46.61%, and the currency strength of the GBP in column 483 and row 496 is at 26.18%. What is important here are the 6 ratios that exist between these three percent values. Compared to the starting date at point of time t1 , the value of the JPY compared to the USD has increased by 71.269% to point of time t2 (see column 482 and row 491). Correspondingly, the ratio of the USD to the JPY in FIG. 10 changed so that the vertical height of the JPY at point of time t2 is 71.269 % larger than the vertical height of the USD. 46.61 is 71.269% larger than 27.21. At point of time t2 in FIG. 10, the ratio of the vertical height of the USD divided by the vertical height of the JPY is exactly 71.269%, correspondingly this is the same with all other possible ratios (USDGBP, JPYGBP, JPYUSD, GBPUSD, GBPJPY). Therefore, the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10 in vertical direction represents exactly the change of the exchange rate between all possible combinations of currencies relative to the reference date. This is true for all points of time t on the horizontal axis. It manages to encode all these information in one coherent image with pixel precision over the whole image, taken into consideration the ratio at which one currency has changed in strength to any other currency. It does not matter which of the n currencies is taken as reference currency, the result is always exactly the same. Despite the novelty to code this information into one coherent image that is drawn to scale with pixel accuracy, a quadratic overhead is avoided, as this method only requires linear time complexity ( O = n ).

[00117] To easily understand the results, it is also possible to compare FIG. 4C with FIG. 5 instead of FIG. 10. For example, the currency strength of JPY (white display region in the middle in FIG. 5) in column 482 at t2 in row 491 compared to t1 in row 490 increased significantly from the beginning at t1 to the year 1995, then it lost significantly in strength to t3 in 2007 492 297, and then again increased at the very end of the chart at t4 493 498. [00118] Stage 2 (Computation for positioning of Currency Strengths on the Display)

[00119] The second stage (FIG. 3C) 320, the normalization and positioning of currency strengths series on the display, is employed so that the currency strengths series can be arranged or positioned in their proper locations. It is noted that there is more than one "proper" location, as the positioning of this stage is not limited to any one specific method. For example, the ordering of the currencies can be altered. Basically, the method of stage two is primarily configured to create a visually appealing appearance, and to facilitate the analysis of the development of the currency strengths over time. Thus, the method of the second stage may be used to arrange the regions by a mathematical function of various characteristics of displayed regions, such as for example, the size or shape of a region, etc. Accordingly, the optimization arrangement provides a further enhancement to the graphical view since the user may analyze the data more efficiently or easier.

[00120] In a first step, a plurality of currency strength time series is required, in step 321. In the preferred embodiment, the currency strength time series are computed with the methods described in stage 1 , in steps 301 - 303 or 311 - 313. In accordance with the present embodiment, the special way in which the currency strength is computed with the methods described above already ensures that the sum of the currency strengths for a plurality of currencies is 0 at all points of time, and that it is possible to display the currency strength in a rectangular shape, as illustrated in the plot 1100 of FIG. 11.

[00121] In a second step 322 that may or may not be taken depending on if the results shall be normalized or not, the currency strength time series (441 - 444 or 495 to 498) are normalized. The real-world example in FIG. 4B may help to understand this process. The smallest value of each series 460 is subtracted from all elements of that series 461 - 464. As a consequence, the smallest element of each currency strength time series is now 0, which represents the weakest point of the currency compared to the other currencies for the given period of time 441 - 444.

[00122] As the sum of the currency strengths according to our method was a constant 0 for all points of time in rows 441 - 444, adding a constant value x to this 0 will create a constant value again. The value x is of the sum of the smallest elements of the currency strength time series. In the example in FIG. 4B, the normalized time series for USD in column 451 would be transformed from (0, -0.67370174, -0.47165902, -0.714143709) in rows 441 - 444 to (0.714143709, 0.040441969, 0.242484689, 0) in rows 461 - 464, and accordingly for the JPY in column 452 and for the GBP in column 453. The 0 represents the weakest point of time of a currency. In the example in FIG. 4B, the sum of the values for each point of time t after the normalization is 2.13 in rows 461 - 464 in column 454, which reflects the sum of the negative minimum values of the currency strengths time series before the normalization ( ( -0.714143709) + ( - 0.59168239) + (-0.8244932) = - 2.1303192). As the sum, as a result, is constant again, it is ensured that the normalization step preserves the special property of the first stage method, and the currency strength time series still form a rectangular shape after this normalization.

[00123] In the third step 323, depending on which layout should be displayed, the layout to be displayed is computed. As the normalized currency strengths in the previous step 322 sum up to a constant value of x at each point of time t, it is possible to determine the proportional amount that each currency strength has at point of time t compared to this constant sum. The proportional amounts in percent add up to 100% as shown in rows 470 - 473 in column 454 and in rows 495 - 498 in column 484, therefore, in the preferred embodiment, it is possible to form a rectangular shape, with time t on the one axis, and the proportional amounts of the currencies that add up to a constant value on the other axis.

[00124] The method to generate this stacked graph is that at each point of time t, a display region corresponding to the proportion of the currency strength with regard to the sum is plotted, one above the other. As the sum of the currency strengths is constant when the methods to compute the currency strength correctly preserve this property, in the stacked graph they also add to the same value and therefore to a constant height of 100%. The rectangle can have any size, and the result can linearly plotted into the corresponding display regions.

[00125] FIG. 5, as a result, shows how to integrate three currencies into one rectangle, successfully extending the rationale that plotting currencies into a rectangular space as we traditionally know it (see. FIG. 2C) is limited to 2 currencies.

[00126] FIG. 6 illustrates the visual appearance in the preferred embodiment of the invention for 7 currencies. The advantage of this visualization is clear at hand: instead of having an incomprehensible mess of 42 exchange rates for the eight major currencies, this technique puts all 42 exchange rates on one single scale, and allows an exceptional view on the historic development of the foreign exchange market by exploring the large amount of time series data in a highly simplified way. As always in the foreign exchange market, all changes are of relative nature and are in this case depending on the selected currencies and the selected time frame. Regarding the coverage of the eight major currencies of 90% of the market turnover, and a long time frame of 20 years with daily data, FIG. 6 can be considered, for the first time, a reliable historic overview of the changes in relative currency strength of the foreign exchange market.

[00127] The image in FIG. 6 reveals insight into the foreign exchange market in a refreshing clarity, as we are able to discover trends that have previously been well hidden behind the many combinations of exchange rates, and that could hardly be discovered analyzing all corresponding line charts. It exposes how the market forces shaped the value of currencies over time, and allows us to uncover the interplay of currencies on the market. The overall changes of currency strengths on the market are clearly visible, and it is easy to determine upward, downward, and sideward trends of currencies. What can easily be perceived is that the US Dollar and British Pound lost a lot of currency strength compared to the other major currencies in recent years, and have currently hit their all-time low. With the crash of Lehmann Brothers in September 2008 the investors fled to the Japanese Yen, even the strength of the JPY continuously eroded over eight years before that. The availability of financial data in high quality that can be streamed over the internet and processed and analyzed in real-time makes this technique also interesting for experts like day- traders in order to monitor the market trend with second accuracy.

[00128] FIG. 2C illustrates the visual appearance in the preferred embodiment of the invention for 2 currencies. In this case with 2 currencies, it exactly represents the exchange rate of the two currencies. FIG. 5 illustrates the visual appearance in the preferred embodiment of the invention for 3 currencies. And FIG. 8 illustrates the visual appearance in the preferred embodiment of the invention for 10 currencies.

[00129] Variations for Stage 2, Separated View

[00130] In one embodiment of the invention, the financial data interface system 200 shows the currency strength time series not in a stacked view as in, for example FIG. 6, but in a separated view as in FIG. 7 in order to facilitate analysis of the currency strength. FIG. 7 is a display of the seven currencies shown in FIG. 6 as separate currency strength time series plots over time. As the bottom of the display space for each currency strength is a line or axis that makes it is easy to determine the currency strength by reading the height of the display space, relative changes can be visually determined in a quick, user-friendly manner. This makes it a lot easier for the user to determine the phases where a currency was strong or weak. In another embodiment of the invention, half of the height is mapped above and half of the height is mapped below the axis line.

[00131] Automatic or Manual Arrangement

[00132] In one embodiment of the invention, the ordering of the currencies for display can be manually arranged by user interaction with the financial data interface system 200. In another embodiment of the invention, the ordering of the currencies for output can be automatic, for example, depending on some mathematical function implemented automatically by the financial data interface system 200.

[00133] Preferably, the ordering of the currencies for display is arranged in a way that increases a good appearance of the currency strength, depending on the shape of the display regions as shown for example for the currencies in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, 10 currency strengths are shown, over time. For this display a user, such as an entity involved in the trading of currencies, can easily see the different currency strength of each currency as the same time, and relative trends.

[00134] One strategy to create a visually more appealing appearance is to arrange the ordering of the currencies in a way where strong and weak phases of currencies even themselves out in a way that the pathways of currencies are as horizontal as possible. Another strategy to create a visually more appealing appearance is to arrange the ordering of the currencies in a way that as few breaks of the pathways occur, which can happen, depending on the order. This method provides for a more appealing visual display by not randomly plotting the regions. It is understood that there are many other aspects that can also be considered to improve the ordering of the currencies, and correspondingly there is a large variety of mathematical function to achieve that.

[00135] Embodiment of various displays will now be explained, which can be generated and presented in a computer by the financial data interface system 200, and in accordance with associated methods thereof. [00136] FIG. 6 illustrates a view of the screen on display 40, as an example, as generated by the financial data interface system 200, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with this embodiment of the present invention, the financial data interface system 200 divides the available screen on display 40 into a plurality of display sectors 610 - 616 corresponding to the currency strength time series over a period of time for different currencies. In this embodiment, these are contiguously stacked to fill a predetermined space. In the example in FIG. 8, the currencies are CAD 610, EUR 611 , JPY 612, GBP 613, CHF 614, USD 615, and AUD 616. The system is, however, not limited to these 7 currencies, and can work with any amount of currencies, as shown in other display screens provided herein, as further examples.

[00137] In addition, the financial data interface system 200 shows on the display screen 40 a menu interface 1300 in FIG. 12. The menu interface 1200 can be used for manipulating and displaying information to the user. In this example, the menu interface includes a plurality of currencies selection boxes. The user can select the currencies that are to be analyzed and displayed. A box for choosing an update frequency is provided, which is used by the financial data interface system 200 for analysis and display. Here 10 minutes is chosen, which means the system will update the display every 10 minutes, in this embodiment. The update preferably includes an update based on updated currency information. A scale is also provided, here "20 years" is chosen which determines the length of the time series used for computation and/or for display.

[00138] It is understood that the display of the financial data interface system 200 is illustrated according to one embodiment of the present invention and is not limited as such. For example, the currencies 1210 that a user can select from, the colors 1220, the time scale 1240, the update frequency 1230, may be modified in numerous ways. In addition, there is no limit to how many currencies 1210 are offered to the user, and how many he can select.

[00139] FIG. 6 shows a plurality of display regions 610 - 616, such as region 612 (JPY) and 615 (USD), each corresponding to a distinct object, which in this embodiment refers to the strength of a currency over a period of time 620.

[00140] FIG. 7 illustrates a view of the screen on display 40 as generated by the financial data interface system 200, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the interface system 220 divides the available screen into, for example, seven display sectors 710 - 716. Instead of stacking the display regions like in FIG. 6, the display regions are decomposed and shown separately, to improve the readability and comparability of the size of the regions, individually.

[00141] Variation: data information

[00142] With reference to FIG. 13, an output 1300 is shown. The output takes the form of pop-up display 1300 of additional information that can be displayed to the user when a region is selected. One way of selecting a region is to move an input device 70, such as a mouse, so that the mouse pointer on the display screen 40 is located over a desired region, such as a displayed currency strength plot. In response, a pop-up display 1300 appears, showing additional information, such as currency name 1310, date 1320, currency strengths 1330, trends 1340, exchange rates to other currencies 1350 - 1360, but the invention is not limited to the display of this particular set of information. Other information can include trading volume, analyst recommendations, financial news, just to name a few of the endless possibilities. Alternatively, the information can also be shown on other regions of the display 40 without a separate pop-up window, or by other means.

[00143] Variation: user manipulation

[00144] According to the present embodiment, financial data interface system 200 is configured via its various views, as shown in FIGS. 5 - 11 to graphically convey to the user information about the currency strength through the use of region size and color. Thus, for each region or currency the user can examine its graphical size and color to decipher the changes in the currency strength over time. In one embodiment, each color corresponds to one currency and is selected by the user. An additional modification, in one embodiment, can be the use of shading and/or different intensities. It is understood that these visual modifications may be modified in numerous ways.

[00145] With continued reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5, 6 7, 8 - 14, it is understood the many additional features can be added to the interface and function of the financial application.

[00146] With reference to FIG. 9, for example, one portion of the display 40 of the financial data interface system 200 is enlarged and occupying the entire interface, according to one embodiment of the invention, showing, for example, a time span of 3 years instead of 20 years as in FIG. 6. The time region can be scaled to any desired size, for example an amount of years, months, days, hours, minutes, or seconds. One way of zooming into a desired region is by selecting a desired time frame via manipulation methods of the financial data interface system 200. Another way of zooming into a desired region is by selecting this region with an input device, for example, a mouse. It is understood that in another embodiment there may be other methods for manipulating the interface. As with FIG. 13, a pop-up display 1300 may be used to show additional information. As with FIG. 12, manipulation of the display may also be used here.

[00147] Again, it is noted that the interface screens described herein, provide only a limited number of embodiment in accordance with the present invention, which is not limited as such. Also, in other embodiments, the displayed data may show other financial ratios than the currency strength that have the same or similar characteristics, for example other financial ratios that have a parity or add up to the same value. Also, there might be alternative applications in addition to that of the financial industry.

[00148] As mentioned above, each of FIGS. 6 - 7 can be present on a display with a menu bar or other user interactive selection mechanism, such as interface 1200, with controls to facilitate any necessary tasks, and an information display 1300 to show additional information.

[00149] Optional features, 1

[00150] FIG. 12 illustrates an optional feature, which may be included as a legend, menu, pop-up window, or any other method, and which is useful for controlling the criteria and visual indications of the financial data interface system 200. For example, the user may select the currencies 1210, may specify the colors for the currencies 1220, may vary the update frequency of the currency exchange data 1230, may modify the time scale 1240, or may chose that interface system to automatically arrange the ordering of the currencies 1250. It is understood, that the options to manipulate the selection or to change the display can be varied in manifold ways.

[00151] Optional features, 2 [00152] FIG. 13 illustrates a second optional feature to the financial application of this embodiment 1300, which enables additional information to be displayed to the user for a more detailed analysis of a particular region of the display. One way of selecting a region is to move an input device 70, such as a mouse, so that the mouse pointer on the display screen 40 is located over a desired region. In response, a pop-up display 1300 appears, showing additional information, such as currency name 1310, date 1320, currency strengths 1330, trends 1340, exchange rates to other currencies 1350 - 1360, but not limited to these information. Other information can include trading volume, analyst recommendations, financial news, just to name a few of the endless possibilities. Alternatively, the information can also be shown on other regions of the display 40 without a pop-up window. It is understood, that graphical user interfaces today offer a wide variety of techniques to achieve various results.

[00153] With respect to the wide availability of financial data over networks today, such as the Internet, the software application of this invention can be used to provide the user detailed information about the development of currency strengths. For example, in one embodiment, the exchange rates can be updated over network.

[00154] It is understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments as described hereinabove. In an alternative embodiment, the computer interface may be configured to use other financial measures, or areas other than the financial industry, especially if the data has parity and a time component, as it is the case with exchange rates.

[00155] While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best mode and/or other preferred embodiments, it is understood that various modifications can be made therein and that the invention or inventions may be implemented in various forms and embodiments, and that they may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim that which is literally described and all equivalents thereto, including all modifications and variations that fall within the scope of each claim.