Method for counting without the use of unique identifiers

1. A computer implemented method of counting a number of unique clients over a specified time span without reliance on unique client identifiers, comprising:

receiving, from one or more clients, one or more data elements, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication of a data element from the client;

determining a timestamp of each received data element; and

determining from the received data elements and associated timestamps a count of unique clients over a received time span, wherein the count determining is implemented on a processing device and comprises:

determining a start time of aggregation from the received time span, and

for each received data element:

subtracting the length of time since the previous communication from the associated timestamp of the communication to determine a resultant time and

incrementing the count of unique clients when the resultant time is earlier than the start time of aggregation.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for an active check.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for a roll call check.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the received time span is seven days.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending, from a server, to a plurality of clients, the number of seconds since the start of the current day on the server.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the steps of determining the timestamp of each received data element and determining a count of unique clients are performed by a server.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data elements are in XML format.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein data elements having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication equal to zero are discarded.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising incrementing the count of unique clients when the length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication is a negative number.

10. A client counter system for counting the number of unique clients over a specified time span without reliance on identifying information for any client, comprising:

a data element receiver that receives data elements from a plurality of clients, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication from the client, and that further associates each data element with a timestamp;

a time selection interface that receives a time span to count unique clients over; and

a unique client counter implemented on a processor which causes the processor to for each received data element:

subtract the length of time since the previous communication from the timestamp of the communication to determine a resultant time; and

increment the count of unique clients when the resultant time is earlier than the start time of aggregation.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising:

a clock that determines the number of seconds from the start of the current day; and

a time synchronization interface that sends the number of seconds from the start of the current day to a plurality of clients.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an XML interface that parses XML structured data received from a plurality of clients.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the XML interface generates XML-structured data containing the number of seconds from the start of the current day.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the data element receiver further discards data elements having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication from the client equal to zero.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the unique client counter further increments the count of unique clients when a data element is received having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication from the client equal to a negative number.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for an active check.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for a roll call check.

18. A computer implemented method of counting unique users, comprising:

receiving one or more data elements indicating a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication;

subtracting the length of time since the previous communication from the current time to determine a timestamp;

associating the received data elements with the timestamp;

determining a count of unique users over a time span, wherein the count determining is implemented on a processing device and comprises:

incrementing a count of unique users when a time determined by the received data element and associated timestamp is prior to a start time of the time span.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving the one or more data elements from the one or more clients without an identifier associated with the client from which the data elements are received.