US Patent 9690930 Detecting periodicity in a stream of events

Sequences of discrete events, such as clicks on a website, are evaluated for periodic behavior, a period is calculated, and the sequence is scored to determine the confidence that the sequence really exhibits periodicity. The random variations on the timing of the discrete events due to transmission delays or other factors may be reduced or eliminated from the evaluation. An apparatus for performing the method of evaluation may include a computer programmed to carry out the method.