The t4sql temporal query language

Abstract

Time characterizes every aspect of our life and its management when storing and querying data is very important. In this paper we propose a new temporal query language, called T4SQL, supporting multiple temporal dimensions of data. Besides the well-known valid and transaction times, it encompasses two additional temporal dimensions, namely, availability and event times. The availability time records when information is known and treated as true by the information system; the event times record the occurrence times of both the event that starts the valid time and the event that ends it. T4SQL is capable to deal with different temporal semantics (atemporal aka non-sequenced, current, sequenced, next) with respect to every temporal dimension. Moreover, T4SQL provides a novel temporal grouping clause and an orthogonal management of temporal properties when defining the selection condition(s) and the schema for the output relation.