A Temporal Extension to a Generic Object Data Model

We present a temporal object model capable of representing the lifespan of objects and also the history of the roles and associations in which they participate. We advocate an approach of temporal generalisation rather than temporal extension in which a model in its entirety is given a temporal semantics through an orthogonal generalisation of all concepts of the model. Our model allows objects to participate in several roles simultaneously. Further, metadata may also have temporal properties allowing the lifespan of the object roles themselves, and constraints over these roles, to be modelled. The model is based on the generic object data model OM and the associated algebra has been generalised into a full temporal algebra over object roles