Allen’s Relations

Synonyms

Qualitative relations between time intervals; Qualitative temporal constraints between time intervals

Definition

A (convex) time interval I is the set of all time points between a starting point (usually denoted by I⁻) and an ending point (I⁺). Allen’s relations model all possible relative positions between two time intervals [1]. There are 13 different possibilities, depending on the relative positions of the endpoints of the intervals (Table 1).

Allen’s Relations, Table 1 Translation of Allen’s interval relations between two intervals I and J into conjunctions of point relations between I−, I+, J−, and J+