A multiagent update process in a database with temporal data dependencies and schema versioning

Abstract

Temporal data dependencies are high-level linguistic constructs that define relationships among values of data-elements in temporal databases. These constructs enable the support of schema versioning as well as the definition of consistency requirements for a single time-point and among values in different time-points. In this paper, we present a multiagent update process in a database with temporal data dependencies and schema versioning. The update process supports the evolution of dependencies over time and the use of temporal operators within temporal data dependencies. The temporal dependency language is presented, along with the temporal dependency graph - which serves as the executable data structure. A thorough discussion of the feasibility, performance, and consistency of the presented model is provided. © 1998 IEEE.