On applying temporal database concepts to event queries

Abstract

Temporal databases and query languages have been a subject of research for more than 30 years and are a natural fit for expressing queries that involve a temporal dimension. This paper makes an argument for an event query language that incorporates temporal relational operators to provide a higher degree of expressivity for event queries. The proposed event query language is based on relational algebra with extensions from the XChangeEQ event query language. After an overview of temporal database operators, example use cases are presented to illustrate the benefits of integrating event and temporal query language concepts. Challenges to the approach and potential solutions are also presented. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.