US Patent 6920468 Event occurrence detection method and apparatus

One step of a method of detecting when a certain number of events occur within a time frame causes a database having several event records to include a first event record in response to a first event occurring. Another step of the method updates the first database record in response to each event that occurs within a first period from the first event occurring. The first period being based upon the time frame. The method also determines, based upon the several event records, that the certain number of events occurred within the time frame. An apparatus which detects when a certain number of events occur within a time frame is also disclosed.