Specifying Time Intervals in URI Queries and Fragments of Time-Based Web Resources

This document specifies a syntax for addressing time intervals within time-based Web resources through URI queries and fragments. This scheme is particularly used for Annodex and CMML. Web resources, though it could be picked up by any other time-based Web resource format. Temporal addressing enables, e.g., direct access to a clip inside a video stored on a Web Server, or direct jumps to a specific event within a piece of music. The syntax is not restricted to audio or video Web resources though, but covers all kinds of Web resources that contain time-continuous information. When a server (e.g. a Web Server) supports the URI query syntax, it is able to extract the given time subsections from the base resource and serve them as another resource of the same type. Specifying a time point or interval through a URI fragment in contrast does not deliver a subpart of the resource — instead it is up to the user agent and the resource type as to what action is invoked. Examples are a fast forward to a time point, or a zoom into a time interval.