Temporal interactions of intervals in distributed systems

Abstract

In a space-time view of a distributed system, each point in space has its own time axis. This paper studies the interaction of intervals at different spatial points in a distributed system. We formalize the notion of what it means for one such interval to affect another such interval. Thus, this paper contributes to the quintessential field of the study of time. The results extend the 1972 work by Hamblin that demonstrated the interaction of time intervals which shared the same linear global time axis. The results also shed light on the nature of interprocess communication in distributed systems, an area which was pioneered by Lamport in 1986. The diverse suite of temporal relations between intervals included in our results provides much greater flexibility than do Lamport's relations to model interprocess interaction in a distributed system. The results are also useful in specifying global predicates and distributed synchronization conditions. © 1996 Academic Press, Inc.