Patent ID: 6360217
Filing Date: 2002-03-19
Classification: G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for identifying event occurrences that are specified by an event expression comprising the steps of:obtaining rules that are associated with the event expression and are classified into groups that include an add rule group and a delete rule group, wherein the rules include one or more add rules that are classified into the add rule group and one or more delete rules that are classified in the delete rule group; identifying a next add rule occurrence for each of the one or more add rules, so as to generate one or more next add rule occurrences each associated with a time; sorting the one or more next add rule occurrences in chronological order based on the associated times, the add rule occurrence that is earliest in the chronological order being identified as a candidate occurrence; and determining whether the candidate occurrence is an event occurrence satisfying the event expression, including performing the step of determining whether the candidate occurrence coincides with any delete rule occurrence associated with the one or more delete rules, wherein, if the candidate occurrence coincides with said any delete rule occurrence, the candidate occurrence is not an event occurrence that satisfies the event expression.