Quantitative structural temporal constraints on repeating events

Presents a model of the temporal structure of repeating events. This model allows for the specification of constraints dealing with the part-whole structure of these events. The temporal structure of repeating events is viewed as being composed of six aspects: sub-interval number, gap number, sub-interval duration, gap duration, period and extent. A set of constraints involving these aspects collectively specifies the conditions under which repeating events can be assigned times, and thus partially formalizes a solution to the scheduling problem for repeating events. The consistency and tightness of a set of such constraints can be tested by identifying determinacy relationships among the different aspects. These relationships can also be used to infer constraints about one structural aspect from others. This paper also introduces a new category of quantitative temporal constraints involving repeating events which specifies that the duration or period of events be distributed randomly over a set of values.