A temporal element is a finite union of n-dimensional time boxes. Temporal elements are closed under the set theoretic operations of union, intersection and complementation.
Temporal elements may be used as timestamps. Special cases of temporal elements occur as timestamps in valid-time relations, transaction-time relations, and bitemporal relations. These special cases are termed valid-time elements, transaction time elements, and bitemporal elements. They are defined as finite unions of valid-time intervals, transaction-time intervals, and bitemporal rectangles, respectively.