Method and system for building and maintenance watch lists

Abstract

A method and apparatus for monitoring a items such as stocks and other securities, suitable for use in portable devices, such as personal organizes, wherein instead of separate watch lists, a pool of items being watched is maintained, and the total number of items which can be contained in the pool is intentionally limited to a predefined number, and further wherein each of the items in the pool includes an associated tag which defines a watch list to which it belongs, and the pool of the items being watched can be viewed simultaneously as one coherent collection, or specific watch lists can be displayed.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method for organizing information for a plurality of data items which are being tracked in a computing device of the type which is capable of exchanging information with a communications center, comprising:
 tracking a plurality of data items at the communications center that comprises a subset of available data items;   maintaining a data list at the communications center, which includes information for all of the plurality of data items being tracked; and   sending the data list to the computing device.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising receiving from a user an instruction at the communications center defining at least one category tag for each of the plurality of data items being tracked. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the data list is limited to a predetermined number of data items. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising displaying on the data list a first number which indicates a running total of the number of items in the data list. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising displaying a second number which indicates the predetermined number of items permitted in the data list. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising updating the data lists by the communications center with at least one user defined category tag for each of the plurality of data items being tracked. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein sending the data list to the computing device comprises sending the updated data list. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising receiving updates to the data list items being tracked, wherein the updates are generated by the computing device. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the data items comprise securities. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the computing device comprises a mobile computing device. 
     
     
         31 . A system for organizing information for a plurality of data items being tracked comprising:
 a communications center of the type which is capable of exchanging information with a computing device, wherein the communications center:
 tracks a plurality of data items that comprises a subset of available data items; 
 maintains a data list at the communications center, which includes information for all of the plurality of data items being tracked; and 
 sends the data list to the computing device. 
   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the communications center tracks the plurality of data items in response to receiving an instruction to track the plurality of data items. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the communications center further receives an instruction from a user defining at least one category tag for each of the plurality of data items being tracked. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the data items comprise securities. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the communications center further displays on the data list a first number which indicates a running total of the number of items in the data list, and displays a second number which indicates the predetermined number of items permitted in the data list.