Streams and Reports and StreamBase

I had a critical realization about Streams when talking with Steve Ray about the use of Streams in FSGIM.

A StreamBase consists of

dtStart
duration
related-to (interval identifier)

Sequence (a set of intervals)

And a Payload

In effect, it is a Gluon and Sequence packaged as one.

A StreamBase can have two uses. It can specify a stream. Or it can describe the computation of the Sequence that will later be conveyed as part of a stream.

If we take the simple case for a Stream, Measure the Temperature at 5 minute intervals starting at 3:00 PM and going through 10:00 PM

Our focus has been on conveying

3:00 PM (dtstart)
5 Minutes (duration)
[01] (related to interval 1)

Room temperature (payload)
01:84 (first interval UID and measurement) (note interval UID can be anything that enables ordering. The actual time is a natural choice)
02:84
03:85
04:85
…

1)
It is perhaps far more useful, to our readers and others, the be able to request the stream reporting, i.e.

3:00 PM (dtstart)
5 Minutes (duration)
[01] (related to interval 1)  ß -not needed because implicit
Room temperature (payload)
10:00 PM (dtend)

Is this a stream specifier? If so, it is akin to the ReportSpecifier in Energy Interoperation. I think the Stream is easier to understand if we * start * with the Specifier and then describe the StreamBase


2)
Partitions and Sequences. As written, a Stream can be any sort of Sequence. Is it useful to include any type other than the Partition? If it is not restricted to the Partition, what does it mean? I can imagine a complex Sequence, perhaps measuring a cluster of different items at a scattershot of times, but is it useful?

3)
Temporal Relations. This is a special case of the Sequence discussion. If the measurement sums (for example) some activity over a three minute interval, then would it make sense to convey that “wait 10 minutes and start another sum?”

I know that notions of waiting minutes is the source of a lot of confusion in the FSGIM. They think of a measurement as an instantaneous act separated by durations, while I have always implicitly considered a meter reading as summing the delta over the interval.

tc

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– George Bernard Shaw.
Toby Considine TC9, Inc.

Phone: (919)619-2104
http://www.tc9.com

Chair, OASIS OBIX Technical Committee
Chair, OASIS WS-Calendar Technical Committee
Editor, OASIS Energy Market Information Exchange (EMIX)

Editor, OASIS Energy Interoperation blog:
http://www.NewDaedalus.com