1. A method for operating an electronic stock exchange system comprising the steps of:
establishing a clientserver computer system dedicated to screen-based trading (SBT) and comprising a plurality of remote trading-member computer stations in communication with a computer server, an SBT software program running on said computer server, and a graphical user interface displayed by said SBT software on each of said remote trading-member computer stations;
establishing a government regulating body to regulate said electronic stock exchange system, maintain said computer server, approve trading members for use of said plurality of remote trading-member computer stations, and implement regulations governing said exchange;
transforming a future cash flow into current equity capital by the substeps of,
an issuing company contracting one of said approved trading members to be an underwriter to market a fair revenue participation contract (FRPC) investment instrument to individual investors via said electronic stock exchange system,
said issuing company negotiating terms of offering of said FRPC investment instrument the contracted approved trading member, said negotiated terms including a percentage of future revenue to be paid to said individual investors, a length of time for which the agreed percentage of future revenue will be paid, and an amount of current equity capital to be paid by the individual investors for ownership of each FRPC investment instrument,
appraising and negotiating critical tangible assets of said issuing company to be pledged as security to a trustee company for due performance of said issuing company’s negotiated percentage of future revenue payment obligations under said FRPC investment instrument,
said issuing company assigning ownership of said appraised and negotiated critical tangible assets to said trustee,
said trustee granting an exclusive license to use said tangible critical assets back to said issuing company,
preparing an information memorandum by said contracted approved trading member and electronically distributing said information memorandum to all approved trading members and to prospective FRPC investors over said electronic stock exchange system,
procuring investors, by said approved trading members, to purchase said issuing company’s underwritten investment instruments whereby said investors become said investment instrument holders, and
purchasing by said investment instrument holders of units of said investment instruments; and
establishing a secondary market for said FRPC investment instruments by continued trading of said FRPC certificates in script-less form between approved trading members acting on behalf of buying and selling FRPC investment instrument holders over said electronic stock exchange system via their respective of remote trading-member computer stations.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of negotiating offering of said investment instrument by the approved trading member with said issuing company comprises the substeps of:
agreeing on percentage of revenue to be paid to said investor, mutually by said approved trading member and said issuing company;
agreeing on length of time for which that fixed percentage is to be paid, mutually by said approved trading member and said issuing company; and
recommending by said approved trading members, a par value of said investment instrument to be paid by said investor for said investment instrument based on said percentage of revenue to be paid to said investor and said length of time for which that fixed percentage is to be paid.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said step of purchasing by said investment instrument holders of units of said investment instruments is followed by the step of trading by said holders of said investments instruments on said exchange platform or said trading platform.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor, said computer program comprising:
a set of instructions for displaying a plurality of independently resizable windows, each window having a set of outer edges that are individually selectable and movable to resize the window;
a set of instructions for defining a selectable and movable seam between first and second windows when a first outer edge of the first window is brought into contact with a first outer edge of the second window;
a set of instructions for detecting that a cursor is over the seam;
a set of instructions for displaying an item for selecting and moving the seam when the cursor is determined to be over the seam for longer than a set period of time;
a set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows in response to a selection and a movement of the seam;
a set of instructions for resizing the first window but not the second window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the first window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact; and
a set of instructions for resizing the second window but not the first window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the second window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact.
2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said first and second windows are separate windows that do not encompass one another.
3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said seam is a first seam, wherein the computer program further comprises:
a set of instructions for identifying a second seam that is continuous with said first seam; and
a set of instructions for resizing each window that borders said second seam in response to the selection and the movement of the first seam.
4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first window has a predetermined minimum size and a predetermined maximum size, the computer program further comprising:
a set of instructions for expanding or contracting a set of windows that border the first window in response to the selection and the movement of the seam when the first window reaches the predetermined minimum size or the predetermined maximum size.
5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said first window comprises a display having an aspect ratio, wherein the set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows comprises a set of instructions for maintaining the aspect ratio of the display while resizing the first and second windows in response to the selection and the movement of the seam.
6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said first and second windows have a size ratio relationship with one another, wherein the set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows comprises a set of instructions for resizing said second window in a same proportion as the resizing of the first window in order to maintain the size ratio relationship between said first and second windows.
7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows comprises a set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows in accord with a direction of the movement of the seam.
8. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor, said computer program comprising:
a set of instructions for displaying a plurality of independently resizable windows, said windows comprising first and second windows that are brought together to abut one another, said first window having a selectable first outer edge that is in contact with a selectable first outer edge of the second window;
a set of instructions for defining a selectable seam between the first and second windows;
a set of instructions for detecting that a cursor is over the seam;
a set of instructions for displaying an item for selecting and moving the seam once the cursor is determined to be over the seam for longer than a set period of time;
a set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows in response to a selection and a movement of the seam;
a set of instructions for resizing the first window but not the second window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the first window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact; and
a set of instructions for resizing the second window but not the first window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the second window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact.
9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the first and second windows have a size ratio relationship with one another, wherein the set of instructions for resizing the first and second windows comprises a set of instructions for resizing the second window in a same proportion as the resizing of the first window in order to maintain the size ratio relationship between the first and second windows.
10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of independently resizable windows comprises a plurality of pairs of abutting windows, each abutting window in a pair having a selectable outer edge that abuts a selectable outer edge of another abutting window in the pair, the computer program further comprises:
a set of instructions for displaying a selectable seam between each pair of abutting windows; and
a set of instructions for resizing each particular pair of abutting windows in response to a selection and a movement of the seam of the particular pair of abutting windows.
11. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor, said computer program comprising:
a set of instructions for displaying a plurality of windows, each window having a set of outer edges that are individually selectable and movable to resize the window;
a set of instructions for defining a selectable and movable seam between first and second windows when a first outer edge of the first window is brought into contact with a first outer edge of the second window;
a set of instructions for extending the seam to include a first outer edge of a third window when the third window is moved to overlap a portion of the first window;
a set of instructions for detecting that a cursor is over the seam;
a set of instructions for displaying an item for selecting and moving the seam once the cursor is determined to be over the seam for longer than a set period of time;
a set of instructions for concurrently resizing the first, second, and third windows in response to a selection and a movement of the seam;
a set of instructions for resizing the first window but not the second and third windows in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the first window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact; and
a set of instructions for resizing the second window but not the first and third windows in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the second window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact.
12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third windows includes a display having an aspect ratio, wherein the aspect ratio of the display is maintained when the window is resized in response to the selection and the movement of the seam.
13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein at least two of the first, second and third windows have a size ratio relationship with one another, wherein the set of instructions for resizing the first, second, and third windows comprises a set of instructions for resizing the two windows proportionally in order to maintain the size ratio relationship between the two windows.
14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer program further comprises:
a set of instructions for identifying another seam that is continuous with said seam; and
a set of instructions for resizing all the windows that border said continuous seam in response to the selection and the movement of the seam.
15. A method for resizing windows, said method comprising:
displaying a plurality of independently resizable windows, said windows comprising first and second abutting windows, said first window having a selectable first outer edge that is in contact with a selectable first outer edge of the second window;
defining a selectable and movable seam between the first and second windows;
detecting that a cursor is over the seam;
displaying an item for selecting and moving the seam once the cursor is determined to be over the seam for longer than a set period of time;
resizing the first and second windows in response to a selection and a movement of said seam;
resizing the first window but not the second window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the first window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact; and
resizing the second window but not the first window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the second window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first window includes a display having an aspect ratio, wherein the aspect ratio of the display is maintained when the first window is resized in response to the selection and the movement of the seam.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first and second windows have a size ratio relationship with one another, wherein resizing the first and second windows comprises resizing the second windows in a same proportion as the resizing of the first window in order to maintain the size ratio relationship between the two windows.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein said seam is a first seam, wherein the method further comprises:
identifying a second seam that is continuous with the first seam; and
resizing each window that borders said second seam in response to the selection and the movement of the first seam.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first window has a predetermined minimum size and a predetermined maximum size, wherein the method further comprises resizing a set of windows that border the first window in response to the selection and the movement of the seam when the first window reaches the predetermined minimum size or the predetermined maximum size.
20. A method of defining a graphical user interface (\u201cGUI\u201d), said method comprising:
defining a plurality of independently resizable windows, each window having a set of outer edges that are individually selectable and movable to resize the window;
for resizing multiple windows, defining sets of instructions for (i) defining a selectable and movable seam between first and second windows when a first outer edge of the first window is brought into contact with a first outer edge of the second window, (ii) detecting that a cursor is over the seam, (iii) displaying an item for selecting and moving the seam once the cursor is determined to be over the seam for longer than a set period of time, (iv) resizing the first and second windows in response to a selection and a movement of the seam, (v) resizing the first window but not the second window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the first window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact, and (vi) resizing the second window but not the first window in response to a selection and a movement of the first outer edge of the second window when the first outer edges of the first and second windows are in contact.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein said first window comprises a display having an aspect ratio, wherein the sets of instructions for resizing the multiple windows further comprises a set of instructions for maintaining the aspect ratio of the display while resizing the first and second windows in response to the selection and the movement of the seam.