Rule Name: Legal Time Ranges

Definition

  1. For Absolute Time Point,
    1. hour must be between -1 and 23 inclusive, where -1 indicates that hour is not applicable.
    2. minutes must be between -1 and 59 inclusive, where -1 indicates that minutes is not applicable.
    3. seconds must be between -1 and 59, i.e. -1 <= seconds < 59.0, where -1 indicates that seconds is not applicable.

  2. For Absolute Time Interval and Relative Time Point,
    1. delta_hours must be between 0 and 23 inclusive.
    2. delta_minutes must be between 0 and 59 inclusive.
    3. delta_seconds must be between 0 and 59, i.e. 0 <= seconds < 59.0.

  3. For Relative Time Interval,
    1. delta_start_hours must be between 0 and 23 inclusive, and delta_stop_hours must be between 0 and 23 inclusive.
    2. delta_start_minutes and delta_stop_minutes must each be between 0 and 59 inclusive.
    3. delta_start_seconds and delta_stop_seconds must each be between 0 and 59, i.e. 0 <= seconds < 59.0.

Rationale

Absolute times are sometimes used to specify dates, without specifying a specific time for that date, hence "not applicable" is needed for hours, minutes, and seconds.

Any values for hour greater than 23 should be expressed in days.

Any values for minutes greater than 59 should be expressed in hours.

Any values for seconds greater than 59 should be expressed in minutes.

Example

  1. To specify a date of 31 December 1999 with an Absolute Time Point, set year = 1999, month = SE_DECEMBER, day = 31, but set hour = minutes = seconds = -1 to indicate that only the date (not the exact time) is being specified.

FAQs

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