A temporally oriented data model
ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS)
The role of time in information processing: a survey
ACM SIGMOD Record
Implementation of a time expert in a data base system
ACM SIGMOD Record
The role of time in information processing: a survey
ACM SIGART Bulletin
Representing implicit and explicit time relations in narrative
IJCAI'81 Proceedings of the 7th international joint conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1
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The design and implementation of a collection of computer programs knowledgeable about time "in general," called the time specialist, is described. The thesis that this time specialist can be placed in the service of larger more general problem solvers is demonstrated for two examples, medical diagnosis and the understanding of a time-travel story. The time specialist accepts a wide variety of facts and questions relating to the time of events. These include dates, vague terms such as "a few weeks ago," and two kinds of intervals. The "fuzziness" or inexactness of the time of events is handled differently for each of the representation types. The time specialist contains routines that compare, combine and translate between these various representation types. The time specialist attempts to maintain a consistent data base. As facts are entered into the system, they are checked for their consistency with previously accepted facts. The time specialist corrects, to the extent possible, the data base after previously believed facts are doubted. Incoming facts are organized by the time specialist to facilitate inference. Events are organized by their dates, by their position in a sequence of events, and by their relation to other very common events such as "now" and "birth." Routines that create, maintain, correct and use these organizational structures are described. The importance of organizing principles for facts is indicated.