Patent ID: 8539502

Claim:
A method for obtaining repeatable and predictable output results when processing messages by using a module in a continuous processing system, where the module comprises a set of primitives that correspond to one or more processing statements, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of messages for the module from an input stream having a schema and subscribed to by the module, the messages each having a timestamp, wherein timestamps may be the same among the individual messages and messages are individually configured to be processed by one or more primitives associated with the module; grouping one or more of the received messages for the module into at least one time slice based on the timestamp associated with each message, wherein multiple time slices can share a same timestamp and include messages configured to be a processed by a same primitive; selecting a time slice for processing based on a first order; and for messages grouped within the selected time slice: selecting a particular message to process based on a second order, and selecting a primitive to process the selected particular message.