Graphical forecasting interface

Abstract

A system, method, apparatus, and technique for gathering and providing information forecasts is disclosed. An example of a system according to the technique includes a graph module having at least and interactive portion and an optional static portion. The interactive portion of the graph can be capable of plotting future data points provided by a user. The static portion of the graph can contain a plot of past data points. The graphical forecasting interface provides a simple mechanism for a user to make one or a plurality of future predictions as to an information item using a graphical input.

1 . A graphical forecasting interface comprising: 
 a graph module having an interactive portion capable of plotting future data points provided by a user;    a submission module capable of sending the future data points provided by the user to a database for storage;    a retrieval module capable of retrieving future data points from the database;    a calculation module capable of performing a desired function on the retrieved future data points to generate a desired result; and    a display module capable of displaying the desired result as at least one plot on the interactive portion of the graph module.    
     
     
         2 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the graph module further includes a static portion containing a plot of past data points.  
     
     
         3 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the database is stored on a remote server and contains future data points from a plurality of users.  
     
     
         4 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the database is stored on a local server and contains future data points from a plurality of users.  
     
     
         5 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 3 , wherein the desired function is selected as one or a combination of a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of the future data points from the plurality of users.  
     
     
         6 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of the future data points from the plurality of users comprises one of an average, a weighted average, and a weighted consensus, wherein different weights are applied to different user forecasts based on some weighting criteria.  
     
     
         7 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the weighting criteria are determined based on at least one of past forecasting accuracy, categorization of the user making the forecast as an expert or as a novice, or on a combination of these.  
     
     
         8 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the graph module, submission module, retrieval module, calculation module and display module are integrated into one module.  
     
     
         9 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the user provides the future data points by drawing a line, or clicking a mouse, making a touch-screen or touch pad or pen input, or making another graphical interaction using a pointing device, key stroke, voice input, or other interaction on the interactive portion of the graph module.  
     
     
         10 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a receiving module;    wherein the user enters future data points into the receiving module and the receiving module plots the data on the interactive portion of the graph module.    
     
     
         11 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the graph module is used to gather and predict a future data item.  
     
     
         12 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the graph module is used to gather and predict financial data.  
     
     
         13 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 12 , wherein financial data includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a market index, a group of stocks, a stock index, a stock price, a mutual fund price, a currency price, a bond price, a bond rating, a credit rating, an Exchange Traded Fund, an index, and any combination of these.  
     
     
         14 . A graphical forecasting interface as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the graph module is used to gather and predict at least one selected from the group consisting of a commodity, an article of trade, a sport outcome, a numerical outcome, a financial outcome, and a weather event.  
     
     
         15 . A method of gathering information from a user and predicting a future outcome, the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a graph having an interactive portion;    receiving user input via the interactive portion of the graph;    sending the user input to a memory device for storage;    retrieving information from the memory device;    manipulating the information thereby generating desired information; and    displaying the desired information on the interactive portion of the graph.    
     
     
         16 . A method as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the graph further having a static portion.  
     
     
         17 . A method as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the static portion of the graph corresponds to previous events and the interactive portion of the graph corresponds to future events.  
     
     
         18 . A method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein manipulating the information involves applying one or a combination of a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of the of the information and the desired information is a result of applying the statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation.  
     
     
         19 . A method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein manipulating the information involves taking an average or a weighted average with non-uniform weights of the information and the desired information is a result of the average or weighted average.  
     
     
         20 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the memory device is located remotely.  
     
     
         21 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the step of receiving user input further comprises the steps of: 
 analyzing a line drawn by the user, a user mouse click, a user touch-screen or touch pad or pen input, or another user input graphical interaction using a pointing device, key stroke, voice input, or other interaction on or relative to the interactive portion of the graph to determine the user input.    
     
     
         22 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the step of receiving user input further comprises the steps of: 
 receiving data and plotting the data on the interactive portion of the graph to determine the user input.    
     
     
         23 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the graph further having a static portion, and the static portion of the graph displays previous financial data, the user input is the user's prediction of future financial data, and the desired information is a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of all of a plurality of user's predictions for the financial data.  
     
     
         24 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the financial information comprises a stock or bond price or value.  
     
     
         25 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the graph further having a static portion, and the static portion of the graph displays past state information for a particular item or set of items, the user input is the user's prediction of future state information for the particular item or set of items, and the desired information is an applying one or a combination of a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of the of the information and the desired information is a result of applying a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation to a plurality of all user's predictions for the information for a particular item or set of items.  
     
     
         26 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the graph module is used to gather and predict a future data item.  
     
     
         27 . A method as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the graph module is used to gather and predict financial data.  
     
     
         28 . A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for performing the steps comprising: 
 providing a graph having an interactive portion;    receiving user input via the interactive portion of the graph;    sending the user input to a database for storage;    retrieving information from the database;    manipulating the information thereby generating desired data; and    displaying the desired information on the interactive portion of the graph.    
     
     
         29 . A computer-readable storage medium as recited in  claim 28 , wherein the graph further includes a static portion, and the static portion of the graph corresponds to previous events and the interactive portion of the graph corresponds to future events.  
     
     
         30 . A computer-readable storage medium as recited in  claim 29 , wherein the desired information is an average of data stored in the database and the data stored in the database comprises the user input and input from previous users.  
     
     
         31 . An apparatus comprising: 
 a graphical engine with an interactive portion for accepting a user's future predictions for an information item and for displaying a statistical or mathematical function or calculation or transformation of previous user's predictions for that information item.    
     
     
         32 . The apparatus as recited in  claim 31 , further comprising: a static portion for displaying past state of the information item.  
     
     
         33 . The apparatus as recited in  claim 32 , wherein the information item comprises a financial information.  
     
     
         34 . The apparatus as recited in  claim 33 , wherein the financial information comprises a stock or bond price.  
     
     
         35 . The apparatus as recited in  claim 31 , further comprising: 
 a database for storing user predictions and for using user predictions to calculate an average or consensus of future predictions.