diff --git a/ndn-cpp/face.hpp b/ndn-cpp/face.hpp
index 372c908..e377577 100644
--- a/ndn-cpp/face.hpp
+++ b/ndn-cpp/face.hpp
@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@
     expressInterest(name, closure, 0);
   }
   
+  /**
+   * Process any data to receive.  For each element received, call face.onReceivedElement.
+   * This is non-blocking and will silently time out after a brief period if there is no data to receive.
+   * You should repeatedly call this from an event loop.
+   * @throw This may throw an exception for reading data or in the callback for processing the data.  If you
+   * call this from an main event loop, you may want to catch and log/disregard all exceptions.
+   */
+  void processEvents();
+
   void shutdown();
   
   const char *getHost() const { return host_.c_str(); }