Patent ID: 6647382
Filing Date: 2003-11-11
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of detecting subsuming temporal relationships in a relational database, the method comprises the steps of:receiving an invocation of a within operation that specifies a first event and a second event; in response to the invocation, evaluating a combination of temporal relationships between the first event and the second event to determine (a) whether the second event starts at the same time as the first event or whether the second event starts before the first event and (b) whether the second event ends at the same time as the first event or whether the second event ends after the first event; generating a TRUE value when the within operation determines that (a) the second event starts at the same time as the first event or that the second event starts before the first event and that (b) the second event ends at the same time as the first event or that the second event ends after the first event; and generating a FALSE value when the within operation fails to determine that (a) the second event starts at the same time as the first event or that the second event starts before the first event and that (b) the second event ends at the same time as the first event or that the second event ends after the first event.