Temporal Specialization

Synonyms

Temporal restriction

Definition

Temporal specialization denotes the restriction of the interrelationships between otherwise independent (implicit or explicit) timestamps in temporal relations. An example is a relation where tuples are always inserted after the facts they record were valid in reality. In such a relation, the transaction time of a tuple would always be after the valid time. Temporal specialization may be applied to relation schemas, relation instances, and individual tuples.

Key Points

Data models exist where relations are required to be specialized, and temporal specializations often constitute important semantics about temporal relations that may be utilized for, e.g., improving the efficiency of query processing.

Temporal specialization encompasses several kinds of specialization. One is based on the relationships between isolated events and one based on inter-event relationships. Two additional kinds consider intervals instead of events, and one is based on...