time interval

http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval

as defined in The Time-indexed Value in Context pattern

version info
1.1.1
version
prior version
imports
changes
title
The Time-indexed Value in Context pattern
description
The **_Time-indexed Value in Context pattern (TVC)_** is an Ontology Design Pattern for the description of scenarios that involve entities having some value during a particular time and within a particular context. ![The main architecture of TVC.](tvc.png) Sometimes, we need to describe scenarios in which someone (e.g., a person) has a value (e.g., a particular role) during a particular time and for a particular context. Four different things are involved in these kinds of scenarios: 1. the _entity_ having some value, e.g. a person or a document possessing a role or a status; 2. the _value_ had by someone, e.g. a role or a status; 3. the _time period_ during which the entity has that value, e.g. from April 2008 to September 2008; 4. the particular _context_ that characterises the act of having that value, e.g. being a member of an institution or an editor of a particular journal. Thought as a natural extension of the [_Time-indexed Situation pattern_](http://ontologydesignpatterns.org/wiki/Submissions:TimeIndexedSituation), TVC is able to describe these kinds of scenarios. ## Examples of use In the following subsections, we introduce some examples to showcase how to use TVC. The prefixes that are used in all the examples provided below are defined as follows: @prefix : <http://www.sparontologies.net/example/> . @prefix tvc: <http://www.essepuntato.it/2012/04/tvc/> . @prefix ti: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#> . @prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> . @prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> . ### Holding a role within a specific time frame TVC easily allows one to model people's roles within certain contexts (e.g., organisations) and how these change through time, while keeping track of the fact that they all refer to the same entities. The following example shows how to model the fact that a researcher holds the role of editor-in-chief for a scientific journal for a specific time interval. :john-doe a foaf:Person ; tvc:hasValue :editorial-role-situation . :editorial-role-situation a tvc:ValueInTime ; tvc:withValue :editor-in-chief ; tvc:withinContext :journal-of-semantics ; tvc:atTime :tenure-interval . :tenure-interval a ti:TimeInterval ; ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2020-01-01"^^xsd:date ; ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-12-31"^^xsd:date . :journal-of-semantics a foaf:Organization . ## Competency Questions TVC can be used for answering several questions related to values that change in time, according to some context. In the following subsections, some of them are introduced together with their respective SPARQL queries. The prefixes that are used in all the SPARQL queries provided below are defined as follows: PREFIX : <http://www.sparontologies.net/example/> PREFIX tvc: <http://www.essepuntato.it/2012/04/tvc/> PREFIX ti: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#> ### CQ1 What value did a specific entity hold, within which context, and during what time interval? SELECT ?value ?context ?startDate ?endDate WHERE { :john-doe tvc:hasValue ?sit . ?sit tvc:withValue ?value ; tvc:withinContext ?context ; tvc:atTime ?interval . OPTIONAL { ?interval ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?startDate . } OPTIONAL { ?interval ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?endDate . } } ### CQ2 Which entities held a specific value within a given context? SELECT ?entity ?sit WHERE { ?entity tvc:hasValue ?sit . ?sit tvc:withValue :editor-in-chief ; tvc:withinContext :journal-of-semantics . }
keywords
ontology design patterns
Semantic Publishing and Referencing Ontologies
SPAR Ontologies
time-indexed values in context
creator
Silvio Peroni (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0530-4305)
contributor
David Shotton (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5506-523X)
Fabio Vitali (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7562-5203)
Sebastian Barzaghi (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0799-1527)
publisher
created
2012-06-08
issued
2012-06-08
modified
2026-10-05
date
2026-09-18
license
source
bibliographic citation
Silvio Peroni. The Time-indexed Value in Context pattern. Revision: 1.1.1. http://purl.org/spar/tvc.
code repository
doi
TBA
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included in data catalog
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preferred namespace prefix
tvc
preferred namespace uri
http://purl.org/spar/tvc
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time interval
c

IRI: http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval

comment
A region in a dimensional space that aims at representing time.
en
is defined by
http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#
is equivalent to
time intervalc
is in range of
at timeop
label
time interval
en

@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix ti: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#> .
@prefix time: <http://www.w3.org/2006/time#> .

<http://purl.org/spar/tvc> {
    ti:TimeInterval a owl:Class ;
        rdfs:label "time interval"@en ;
        rdfs:comment "A region in a dimensional space that aims at representing time."@en ;
        rdfs:isDefinedBy ti: ;
        owl:equivalentClass time:Interval .
}


[
  {
    "@graph": [
      {
        "@id": "http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval",
        "@type": [
          "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"
        ],
        "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment": [
          {
            "@language": "en",
            "@value": "A region in a dimensional space that aims at representing time."
          }
        ],
        "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#isDefinedBy": [
          {
            "@id": "http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#"
          }
        ],
        "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label": [
          {
            "@language": "en",
            "@value": "time interval"
          }
        ],
        "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#equivalentClass": [
          {
            "@id": "http://www.w3.org/2006/time#Interval"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "@id": "http://purl.org/spar/tvc"
  }
]
<http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "time interval"@en <http://purl.org/spar/tvc> .
<http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#isDefinedBy> <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#> <http://purl.org/spar/tvc> .
<http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class> <http://purl.org/spar/tvc> .
<http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval> <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#equivalentClass> <http://www.w3.org/2006/time#Interval> <http://purl.org/spar/tvc> .
<http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#TimeInterval> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment> "A region in a dimensional space that aims at representing time."@en <http://purl.org/spar/tvc> .
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