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Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) Tags for Time, Duration, and Period
draft-ietf-cbor-time-tag-11

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 9581.
Authors Carsten Bormann , Ben Gamari , Henk Birkholz
Last updated 2023-10-26 (Latest revision 2023-10-22)
Replaces draft-bormann-cbor-time-tag
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Stream WG state Submitted to IESG for Publication
Document shepherd Barry Leiba
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2023-08-23
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Needs one more YES or NO OBJECTION position to pass.
Responsible AD Francesca Palombini
Send notices to barryleiba@computer.org
IANA IANA review state IANA OK - Actions Needed
draft-ietf-cbor-time-tag-11
Network Working Group                                         C. Bormann
Internet-Draft                                    Universität Bremen TZI
Intended status: Standards Track                               B. Gamari
Expires: 24 April 2024                                        Well-Typed
                                                             H. Birkholz
                                                          Fraunhofer SIT
                                                         22 October 2023

Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) Tags for Time, Duration, and
                                 Period
                      draft-ietf-cbor-time-tag-11

Abstract

   The Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR, RFC 8949) is a data
   format whose design goals include the possibility of extremely small
   code size, fairly small message size, and extensibility without the
   need for version negotiation.

   In CBOR, one point of extensibility is the definition of CBOR tags.
   RFC 8949 defines two tags for time: CBOR tag 0 (RFC3339 time as a
   string) and tag 1 (POSIX time as int or float).  Since then,
   additional requirements have become known.  The present document
   defines a CBOR tag for time that allows a more elaborate
   representation of time, as well as related CBOR tags for duration and
   time period.  This document is intended as the reference document for
   the IANA registration of the CBOR tags defined.

   // (This cref will be removed by the RFC editor:) The present
   // revision (–11) addresses the ARTART and IOTDIR directorate
   // reviews.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-cbor-time-tag/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the CBOR Working Group
   mailing list (mailto:cbor@ietf.org), which is archived at
   https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/cbor/.  Subscribe at
   https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/cbor/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/cbor-wg/time-tag.

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Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 24 April 2024.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Objectives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Time Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.1.  Key 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.2.  Keys 4 and 5  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.3.  Keys -3, -6, -9, -12, -15, -18  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.4.  Key -1: Timescale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.5.  Clock Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       3.5.1.  ClockClass (Key -2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       3.5.2.  ClockAccuracy (Key -4)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       3.5.3.  OffsetScaledLogVariance (Key -5)  . . . . . . . . . .   9
       3.5.4.  Uncertainty (Key -7)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       3.5.5.  Guarantee (Key -8)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     3.6.  Keys -10, 10: Time Zone Hint  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

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     3.7.  Keys -11, 11: IXDTF Suffix Information  . . . . . . . . .  11
   4.  Duration Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   5.  Period Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   6.  CDDL typenames  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.1.  CBOR tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.2.  Timescale Registry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     7.3.  Time Tag Map Key Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
   Appendix A.  Collected CDDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23

1.  Introduction

   The Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR, [RFC8949]) provides
   for the interchange of structured data without a requirement for a
   pre-agreed schema.  RFC 8949 defines a basic set of data types, as
   well as a tagging mechanism that enables extending the set of data
   types supported via an IANA registry for CBOR tags (Section 9.2 of
   [RFC8949], [IANA.cbor-tags]).

   RFC 8949 defines two tags for time: CBOR tag 0 (RFC3339 time as a
   string) and tag 1 (POSIX time as int or float).  Since then,
   additional requirements have become known.  The present document
   defines a CBOR tag for time that allows a more elaborate
   representation of time, as well as related CBOR tags for duration and
   time period.  This document is intended as the reference document for
   the IANA registration of the CBOR tags defined.

1.1.  Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   The term "byte" is used in its now customary sense as a synonym for
   "octet".

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   Superscript notation denotes exponentiation.  For example, 2 to the
   power of 64 is notated: 2^64.  In the plain-text rendition of this
   specification, superscript notation is not available and
   exponentiation therefore is rendered by the surrogate notation seen
   here in the plain-text rendition.

   CBOR diagnostic notation is defined in Section 8 of [RFC8949] and
   Appendix G of [RFC8610].  A machine-processable model of the data
   structures defined in this specification is provided throughout the
   text using the Concise Data Definition Language, CDDL [RFC8610];
   Appendix A provides the collected model information.

2.  Objectives

   For the time tag, the present specification addresses the following
   objectives that go beyond the original tags 0 and 1 (defined in
   Sections 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 of [RFC8949]):

   *  Additional resolution for epoch-based time (as in tag 1).  CBOR
      tag 1 only provides for integer and up to binary64 floating point
      representation of times, limiting resolution to approximately
      microseconds at the time of writing (and progressively becoming
      worse over time).

   *  Indication of timescale.  Tags 0 and 1 are defined for UTC;
      however, some interchanges are better performed on TAI.  Other
      timescales may be registered once they become relevant (e.g., one
      of the proposed successors to UTC that might no longer use leap
      seconds, or a scale based on smeared leap seconds).

   By incorporating a way to transport [IXDTF] suffix information
   (Section 3.6, Section 3.7), additional indications can be provided of
   intents about the interpretation of the time given, in particular
   also for instances of time that, at the time they are being
   described, are in the future.  Intents might include information
   about time zones, daylight savings times, preferred calendar
   representations, etc.

   Semantics not covered by this document can be added by registering
   additional map keys for the map that is the content of the tag (see
   etime-detailed in Figure 1), the specification for which is
   referenced by the registry entry (see Section 3).

   For example, map keys could be registered for direct representations
   of natural platform time formats.  Some platforms use epoch-based
   time formats that require some computation to convert them into the
   representations allowed by tag 1; these computations can also lose
   precision and cause ambiguities.  (The present specification does not

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   take a position on whether tag 1 can be "fixed" to include, e.g.,
   Decimal or BigFloat representations.  It does define how to use these
   representations with the extended time format.)

   Additional tags are defined for durations and periods.

3.  Time Format

   An extended time is indicated by CBOR tag 1001, the content of which
   is a map data item (CBOR major type 5).  The map may contain integer
   (major types 0 and 1) or text string (major type 3) keys, with the
   value type determined by each specific key.  For negative integer
   keys and text string values of the key, implementations MUST ignore
   key/value pairs they do not understand; these keys are "elective", as
   the extended time is still usable if an implementation elects not to
   implement them.  Conversely, for unsigned integer keys,
   implementations MUST signal as an error key/value pairs they do not
   understand or implement (these are either "base time" or "critical",
   see below).

   The map must contain exactly one unsigned integer key that specifies
   the "base time", and may also contain one or more negative integer or
   text-string keys, which may encode supplementary information.

   Supplementary information may also be provided by additional unsigned
   integer keys that are explicitly defined to provide supplementary
   information (we say these keys are defined to be "critical"); as
   these are required to be understood, there can be no confusion with
   base time keys.

   Negative integer and text string keys always supply supplementary
   information (they are "elective", and this will not be explicitly
   stated below).

   Supplementary information may include:

   *  a higher precision time offset to be added to the base time,

   *  a reference timescale and epoch different from the default UTC and
      1970-01-01

   *  information about clock quality parameters, such as source,
      accuracy, and uncertainty

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   Additional keys can be defined by registering them in the Map Key
   Registry (Section 7.3).  Registered keys may, for instance, add
   intent information such as timezone and daylight savings time, and/or
   possibly positioning coordinates, to express information that would
   indicate a local time.

   This document does not define supplementary text keys.  A number of
   both unsigned and negative-integer keys are defined in the following
   subsections.

   Figure 1 provides a formal definition of Tag 1001 in CDDL.

   Etime = #6.1001(etime-detailed)

   etime-framework = {
     uint => any ; at least one base time
     * (nint/text) => any ; elective supplementary information
     * uint => any ; critical supplementary information
   }

   etime-detailed = ({
     $$ETIME-BASETIME
     ClockQuality-group
     * $$ETIME-ELECTIVE
     * $$ETIME-CRITICAL
     * ((nint/text) .feature "etime-elective-extension") => any
     * (uint .feature "etime-critical-extension") => any
   }) .within etime-framework

                   Figure 1: CDDL definition of Tag 1001

3.1.  Key 1

   Key 1 indicates a base time value that is exactly like the data item
   that would be tagged by CBOR tag 1 (POSIX time [TIME_T] as int or
   float).  As described above, the time value indicated by the value
   under this key can be further modified by other keys.

   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (1: ~time)

3.2.  Keys 4 and 5

   Keys 4 and 5 indicate a base time value and are like key 1, except
   that the data item is an array as defined for CBOR tag 4 or 5,
   respectively.  This can be used to include a Decimal or Bigfloat
   epoch-based float [TIME_T] in an extended time, e.g., to achieve
   higher resolution or to avoid rounding errors.

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   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (4: ~decfrac)
   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (5: ~bigfloat)

3.3.  Keys -3, -6, -9, -12, -15, -18

   The keys -3, -6, -9, -12, -15 and -18 indicate additional decimal
   fractions by giving an unsigned integer (major type 0) and scaling
   this with the scale factor 1e-3, 1e-6, 1e-9, 1e-12, 1e-15, and 1e-18,
   respectively (see Table 1).  Each extended time data item MUST NOT
   contain more than one of these keys.  These additional fractions are
   added to a base time in seconds [SI-SECOND] indicated by a Key 1,
   which then MUST also be present and MUST have an integer value.

                 +=====+==============+=================+
                 | Key | meaning      | example usage   |
                 +=====+==============+=================+
                 | -3  | milliseconds | Java time       |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+
                 | -6  | microseconds | (old) UNIX time |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+
                 | -9  | nanoseconds  | (new) UNIX time |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+
                 | -12 | picoseconds  | Haskell time    |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+
                 | -15 | femtoseconds | (future)        |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+
                 | -18 | attoseconds  | (future)        |
                 +-----+--------------+-----------------+

                    Table 1: Key for decimally scaled
                                Fractions

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-3: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-6: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-9: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-12: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-15: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-18: uint)

   Note that these keys have been provided to facilitate representing
   pairs of the form second/decimal fraction of a second, as found for
   instance in C timespec (Section 7.27.1 of [C]).  When ingesting a
   timestamp with one of these keys into a type provided by the target
   platform, care has to be taken to meet its invariants.  E.g., for C
   timespec, the fractional part tv_nsec needs to be between 0 inclusive
   and 10^9 exclusive, which can be achieved by also adjusting the base
   time appropriately.

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3.4.  Key -1: Timescale

   Key -1 is used to indicate a timescale.  The value 0 indicates UTC,
   with the POSIX epoch [TIME_T]; the value 1 indicates TAI, with the
   PTP (Precision Time Protocol) epoch (1 January 1970 00:00:00 TAI, see
   [IEEE1588-2019] or [IEEE1588-2008]).

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-1 => $ETIME-TIMESCALE)

   $ETIME-TIMESCALE /= &(etime-utc: 0)
   $ETIME-TIMESCALE /= &(etime-tai: 1)

   If key -1 is not present, the default timescale value 0 is implied.

   Additional values can be registered in the Timescale Registry
   (Section 7.2); values MUST be integers or text strings.

   (Note that there should be no timescales "GPS" or "NTP" — instead,
   the time should be converted to TAI or UTC using a single addition or
   subtraction.)

   t    = t    - 2208988800
    utc    ntp

   t    = t    + 315964819
    tai    gps

               Figure 2: Converting Common Offset Timescales

      |  Editor's note: This initial set of timescales was deliberately
      |  chosen to be frugal, as the specification of the tag provides
      |  an extension point where additional timescales can be
      |  registered at any time.  Registrations are clearly needed for
      |  earth-referenced timescales (such as UT1 and TT), as well as
      |  possibly for specific realizations of abstract time scales
      |  (such as TAI(USNO) which is more accurate as a constant offset
      |  basis for GPS times).  While the registration process itself is
      |  trivial, these registrations need to be made based on a solid
      |  specification of their actual definition.

3.5.  Clock Quality

   A number of keys are defined to indicate the quality of clock that
   was used to determine the point in time.

   The first three are analogous to clock-quality-grouping in [RFC8575],
   which is in turn based on the definitions in [IEEE1588-2008]; the
   last two are specific to this document.

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   ClockQuality-group = (
     ? &(ClockClass: -2) => uint .size 1 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(ClockAccuracy: -4) => uint .size 1 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(OffsetScaledLogVariance: -5) => uint .size 2 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(Uncertainty: -7) => ~time/~duration
     ? &(Guarantee: -8) => ~time/~duration
   )

3.5.1.  ClockClass (Key -2)

   Key -2 (ClockClass) can be used to indicate the clock class as per
   [RFC8575] (which is based on Table 5 in Section 7.6.2.4 of
   [IEEE1588-2008]; Table 4 in Section 7.6.2.5 of [IEEE1588-2019] has
   updated language).  It is defined as a one-byte unsigned integer as
   that is the range defined in IEEE 1588.

3.5.2.  ClockAccuracy (Key -4)

   Key -4 (ClockAccuracy) can be used to indicate the clock accuracy as
   per [RFC8575] (which is based on Table 6 in Section 7.6.2.5 of
   [IEEE1588-2008]; additional values have been defined in Table 5 in
   Section 7.6.2.6 of [IEEE1588-2019]).  It is defined as a one-byte
   unsigned integer as that is the range defined there.  The range
   between 23 and 47 is a slightly distorted logarithmic scale from 1 ps
   to 1 s in [IEEE1588-2019] (in [IEEE1588-2008] the range was a subset
   of that, 32 to 47 for 25 ns to 1 s) — see Figure 3; the number 254 is
   the value to be used if an unknown accuracy needs to be expressed.

                            acc
   enum    ≈ 48 + ⌊2 ⋅log   ──── - ε⌋
       acc               10  s

         Figure 3: Approximate conversion from accuracy to accuracy
                             enumeration value

3.5.3.  OffsetScaledLogVariance (Key -5)

   Key -5 (OffsetScaledLogVariance) can be used to represent the
   variance exhibited by the clock when it has lost its synchronization
   with an external reference clock.  The details for the computation of
   this characteristic are defined in Section 7.6.3 of [IEEE1588-2019]
   and the same section in [IEEE1588-2008].

3.5.4.  Uncertainty (Key -7)

   Key -7 (Uncertainty) can be used to represent a known measurement
   uncertainty for the clock, as a numeric value in seconds or as a
   duration (Section 4).

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   For this document, uncertainty is defined as in Section 2.2.3 of
   [GUM]: "parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that
   characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be
   attributed to the measurand".  More specifically, the value for this
   key represents the expanded uncertainty for k = 2 (Section 6.2.1 of
   [GUM]), in seconds.

   Note that the additional information that can be meaningfully
   provided with the duration that represents an uncertainty is limited,
   e.g., it is not customary to provide an uncertainty for a duration
   representing an uncertainty.  Implementations are free to reduce the
   information contained in an uncertainty (which is already elective)
   to the information they can process.

   For example, a timestamp that is given to a resolution of 10^-6
   seconds (microseconds) but only has an uncertainty of 10^-3 seconds
   (milliseconds) could be expressed by one of the extended time tags in
   Figure 4 (note the slight rounding error in the third case, which is
   probably inconsequential for an uncertainty value):

   1001({1: 1697724754, -6: 873294, -7: {1: 0, -6: 1000}}),
   1001({1: 1697724754, -6: 873294, -7: {1: 0, -3: 1}}),
   1001({1: 1697724754, -6: 873294, -7: {1: 0.001}})

                    Figure 4: Examples Using Uncertainty

3.5.5.  Guarantee (Key -8)

   Key -8 (Guarantee) can be used to represent a stated guarantee for
   the accuracy of the point in time, as a numeric value in seconds or
   as a duration (Section 4) representing the maximum allowed deviation
   from the true value.

   While such a guarantee is unattainable in theory, existing standards
   such as [RFC3161] stipulate the representation of such guarantees,
   and therefore this format provides a way to represent them as well;
   the time value given is nominally guaranteed to not deviate from the
   actual time by more than the value of the guarantee, in seconds.

   Note that the additional information that can be meaningfully
   provided with the duration that represents a guarantee is limited,
   e.g., it is not meaningful to provide a guarantee of accuracy for the
   duration representing a guarantee of accuracy.  Implementations are
   free to reduce a guarantee (which is already elective) to the
   information they can process.

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3.6.  Keys -10, 10: Time Zone Hint

   Keys -10 and 10 supply supplementary information, where key 10 is
   critical.

   They can be used to provide a hint about the time zone that would
   best fit for displaying the time given to humans, using a text string
   in the format defined for time-zone-name or time-numoffset in
   [IXDTF].  Key -10 is equivalent to providing this information as an
   elective hint, while key 10 provides this information as critical
   (i.e., it MUST be used when interpreting the entry with this key).

   Keys -10 and 10 MUST NOT both be present.

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-10: time-zone-info)
   $$ETIME-CRITICAL //= (10: time-zone-info)

   time-zone-info = tstr .abnf
                    ("time-zone-name / time-numoffset" .det IXDTFtz)
   IXDTFtz = '
      time-hour       = 2DIGIT  ; 00-23
      time-minute     = 2DIGIT  ; 00-59
      time-numoffset  = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute

      time-zone-initial = ALPHA / "." / "_"
      time-zone-char    = time-zone-initial / DIGIT / "-" / "+"
      time-zone-part    = time-zone-initial *13(time-zone-char)
                          ; but not "." or ".."
      time-zone-name    = time-zone-part *("/" time-zone-part)
      ALPHA             =  %x41-5A / %x61-7A   ; A-Z / a-z
      DIGIT             =  %x30-39 ; 0-9
   ' ; extracted from [IXDTF] and [RFC3339]; update as needed

3.7.  Keys -11, 11: IXDTF Suffix Information

   Keys -11 and 11 supply supplementary information, where key 11 is
   critical.

   Similar to keys -10 and 10, keys -11 (elective) and 11 (critical) can
   be used to provide additional information in the style of IXDTF
   suffixes, such as the calendar that would best fit for displaying the
   time given to humans.  The key's value is a map that has IXDTF
   suffix-key names as keys and corresponding suffix values as values,
   specifically:

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   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-11: suffix-info-map)
   $$ETIME-CRITICAL //= (11: suffix-info-map)

   suffix-info-map = { * suffix-key => suffix-values }
   suffix-key = tstr .abnf ("suffix-key" .det IXDTF)
   suffix-values = one-or-more<suffix-value>
   one-or-more<T> = T / [ 2* T ]
   suffix-value = tstr .abnf ("suffix-value" .det IXDTF)

   IXDTF = '
      key-initial       = lcalpha / "_"
      key-char          = key-initial / DIGIT / "-"
      suffix-key        = key-initial *key-char

      suffix-value      = 1*alphanum
      alphanum          = ALPHA / DIGIT
      lcalpha           =  %x61-7A
      ALPHA             =  %x41-5A / %x61-7A   ; A-Z / a-z
      DIGIT             =  %x30-39 ; 0-9
   ' ; extracted from [IXDTF]; update as needed!

   When keys -11 and 11 both are present, the two maps MUST NOT have
   entries with the same map keys.

   Figure 4 of [IXDTF] gives an example for an extended date-time with
   both time zone and suffix information:

   1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00[America/Los_Angeles][u-ca=hebrew]

   A time tag that is approximating this example, in CBOR diagnostic
   notation, would be:

   / 1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00[America//Los_Angeles][u-ca=hebrew] /
   1001({ 1: 851042397,
        -10: "America/Los_Angeles",
        -11: { "u-ca": "hebrew" }
   })

   Note that both -10 and -11 are using negative keys and therefore
   provide elective information, as in the IXDTF form given in the
   comment.  Note also that in this example the time numeric offset
   (-08:00) is lost in translating from the [RFC3339] information in the
   IXDTF into a POSIX time that can be included under Key 1 in a time
   tag.

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4.  Duration Format

   A duration is the length of an interval of time.  Durations in this
   format are given in SI seconds, possibly adjusted for conventional
   corrections of the timescale given (e.g., leap seconds).

   Except for using Tag 1002 instead of 1001, durations are structurally
   identical to time values.

   Duration = #6.1002(etime-detailed)

   Semantically, they do not measure the time elapsed from a given
   epoch, but from the start to the end of (an otherwise unspecified)
   interval of time.

   In combination with an epoch identified in the context, a duration
   can also be used to express an absolute time.

   Without such context, durations are subject to some uncertainties
   underlying the timescale used.  E.g., for durations intended as a
   determinant of future time periods, there is some uncertainty of what
   irregularities (such as leap seconds, timescale corrections) will be
   exhibited by the timescale in that period.  For durations as
   measurements of past periods, abstracting the period to a duration
   loses some detail about timescale irregularities.  For many
   applications, these uncertainties are acceptable and thus the use of
   durations is appropriate.

      |  Note that the durations defined in [ISO8601:1988] and
      |  [ISO8601-1:2019] are rather different from the ones defined in
      |  the present specification; there is no intention to support ISO
      |  8601 durations here.

5.  Period Format

   A period is a specific interval of time, specified as either two
   times giving the start and the end of that interval, or as one of
   these two plus a duration.

   They are given as an array of unwrapped time and duration elements,
   tagged with Tag 1003:

   Period = #6.1003([
     start: ~Etime / null
     end: ~Etime / null
     ? duration: ~Duration / null
   ])

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   If the third array element is not given, the duration element is
   null.  Exactly two out of the three elements must be non-null, this
   can be somewhat verbosely expressed in CDDL as:

   clumsy-Period = #6.1003([
     (start: ~Etime,
      ((end: ~Etime,
        ? duration: null) //
       (end: null,
        duration: ~Duration))) //
     (start: null,
      end: ~Etime,
      duration: ~Duration)
   ])

6.  CDDL typenames

   When detailed validation is not needed, the type names defined in
   Figure 5 are recommended:

   etime = #6.1001({* (int/tstr) => any})
   duration = #6.1002({* (int/tstr) => any})
   period = #6.1003([~etime/null, ~etime/null, ~duration/null])

                 Figure 5: Recommended type names for CDDL

7.  IANA Considerations

   // RFC Editor: please replace RFCthis with the RFC number of this
   // RFC, and remove this note.

7.1.  CBOR tags

   In the "CBOR Tags" registry [IANA.cbor-tags], IANA has allocated the
   tags in Table 2 from what was at the time the FCFS space, with the
   present document as the specification reference.

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              +======+===========+=========================+
              |  Tag | Data Item | Semantics               |
              +======+===========+=========================+
              | 1001 | map       | [RFCthis] extended time |
              +------+-----------+-------------------------+
              | 1002 | map       | [RFCthis] duration      |
              +------+-----------+-------------------------+
              | 1003 | array     | [RFCthis] period        |
              +------+-----------+-------------------------+

                         Table 2: Values for Tags

   IANA is requested to change the "Data Item" column for Tag 1003 from
   "map" to "array".

7.2.  Timescale Registry

   This specification defines a new registry titled "Timescales" in the
   "CBOR Tags" registry group [IANA.cbor-tags], with a combination of
   "Expert Review" and "RFC Required" as the Registration Procedure
   (Sections 4.5 and 4.7 of [BCP26]).

   Each entry needs to provide a timescale name (a sequence of uppercase
   ASCII characters and digits, where a digit may not occur at the
   start: [A-Z][A-Z0-9]*), a value (CBOR unsigned integer, uint), and
   brief description of the semantics, and a specification reference
   (RFC).  The initial contents are shown in Table 3.

         +===========+=======+======================+===========+
         | Timescale | Value | Semantics            | Reference |
         +===========+=======+======================+===========+
         | UTC       |     0 | UTC with POSIX Epoch | [RFCthis] |
         +-----------+-------+----------------------+-----------+
         | TAI       |     1 | TAI with PTP Epoch   | [RFCthis] |
         +-----------+-------+----------------------+-----------+

              Table 3: Initial Content of Timescale Registry

7.3.  Time Tag Map Key Registry

   This specification defines a new registry titled "Time Tag Map Keys"
   in the "CBOR Tags" registry group [IANA.cbor-tags], with
   "Specification Required" as the Registration Procedure (Section 4.6
   of [BCP26]).

   The designated expert is requested to assign the key values with the
   shortest encodings (1+0 and 1+1 encoding) to registrations that are
   likely to enjoy wide use and can benefit from short encodings.

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   Each entry needs to provide a map key value (CBOR integer, int), a
   brief description of the semantics, and a specification reference.
   Note that negative integers indicate an elective key, while unsigned
   integers indicate a key that either provides a base time or is
   critical.  For the unsigned integers as keys, the choice of base time
   or critical needs to be indicated in the brief semantics description.
   (Elective map keys may be explicitly marked as such in the
   description, e.g., to distinguish them from critical keys.)

   The initial contents are shown in Table 4.

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   +=======+=====================================+=====================+
   | Value | Semantics                           | Reference           |
   +=======+=====================================+=====================+
   |   -18 | attoseconds                         | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |   -15 | femtoseconds                        | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |   -12 | picoseconds                         | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |   -11 | IXDTF Suffix Information (elective) | [RFCthis], [IXDTF]  |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |   -10 | IXDTF Time Zone Hint (elective)     | [RFCthis], [IXDTF]  |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -9 | nanoseconds                         | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -8 | Guarantee                           | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -7 | Uncertainty                         | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -6 | microseconds                        | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -5 | Offset-Scaled Log Variance          | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -4 | Clock Accuracy                      | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -3 | milliseconds                        | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    -2 | Clock Class                         | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |     1 | base time value as in CBOR Tag 1    | [RFC8949]           |
   |       |                                     | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |     4 | base time value as in CBOR Tag 4    | [RFC8949]           |
   |       |                                     | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |     5 | base time value as in CBOR Tag 5    | [RFC8949]           |
   |       |                                     | [RFCthis]           |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    10 | IXDTF Time Zone Hint (critical)     | [RFCthis], [IXDTF]  |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+
   |    11 | IXDTF Suffix Information (critical) | [RFCthis], [IXDTF]  |
   +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------------+

           Table 4: Initial Content of Time Tag Map Keys Registry

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8.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations of RFC 8949 apply; the tags introduced
   here are not expected to raise security considerations beyond those.

   Time, of course, has significant security considerations; these
   include the exploitation of ambiguities where time is security
   relevant (e.g., for freshness or in a validity span) or the
   disclosure of characteristics of the emitting system (e.g., time
   zone, or clock resolution and wall clock offset).

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [BCP26]    Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8126>.

   [GUM]      Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology, "Evaluation of
              measurement data — Guide to the expression of uncertainty
              in measurement", JCGM 100:2008, September 2008,
              <https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/gum.html>.

   [IANA.cbor-tags]
              IANA, "Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) Tags",
              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/cbor-tags>.

   [IEEE1588-2008]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization
              Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems",
              IEEE 1588-2008, July 2008,
              <https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1588/4355/>.  Often
              called PTP v2, as it replaced the earlier 2002 version of
              this standard by a non-backwards compatible protocol.

   [IEEE1588-2019]
              IEEE, "IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization
              Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems",
              IEEE 1588-2019, June 2020,
              <https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1588/6825/>.  Often
              called PTP v2.1, as it has been designed so it can be used
              in a way that is fully backwards compatible to
              IEEE1588-2008.

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   [IXDTF]    Sharma, U. and C. Bormann, "Date and Time on the Internet:
              Timestamps with additional information", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-sedate-datetime-extended-10, 5
              October 2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-sedate-datetime-extended-10>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8575]  Jiang, Y., Ed., Liu, X., Xu, J., and R. Cummings, Ed.,
              "YANG Data Model for the Precision Time Protocol (PTP)",
              RFC 8575, DOI 10.17487/RFC8575, May 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8575>.

   [RFC8610]  Birkholz, H., Vigano, C., and C. Bormann, "Concise Data
              Definition Language (CDDL): A Notational Convention to
              Express Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) and
              JSON Data Structures", RFC 8610, DOI 10.17487/RFC8610,
              June 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8610>.

   [RFC8949]  Bormann, C. and P. Hoffman, "Concise Binary Object
              Representation (CBOR)", STD 94, RFC 8949,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8949, December 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8949>.

   [SI-SECOND]
              International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
              "Quantities and units — Part 3: Space and time",
              ISO 80000-3, 1 March 2006.

   [TIME_T]   The Open Group Base Specifications, "Vol. 1: Base
              Definitions, Issue 7", Section 4.16 'Seconds Since the
              Epoch', IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, 2018 Edition, 2018,
              <http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/
              V1_chap04.html#tag_04_16>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [C]        International Organization for Standardization,
              "Information technology — Programming languages — C",
              Fourth Edition, ISO/IEC 9899:2018, June 2018,
              <https://www.iso.org/standard/74528.html>.  Contents

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              available via <https://www.open-
              std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n2310.pdf
              (https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/
              n2310.pdf)>

   [ISO8601-1:2019]
              ISO, "Date and time — Representations for information
              interchange — Part 1: Basic rules", ISO 8601-1:2019,
              February 2019, <https://www.iso.org/standard/70907.html>.

   [ISO8601:1988]
              ISO, "Data elements and interchange formats — Information
              interchange — Representation of dates and times",
              ISO 8601:1988, June 1988,
              <https://www.iso.org/standard/15903.html>.  Also available
              from <https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/FIPS/
              fipspub4-1-1991.pdf
              (https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/FIPS/
              fipspub4-1-1991.pdf)>.

   [RFC3161]  Adams, C., Cain, P., Pinkas, D., and R. Zuccherato,
              "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Time-Stamp
              Protocol (TSP)", RFC 3161, DOI 10.17487/RFC3161, August
              2001, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3161>.

   [RFC3339]  Klyne, G. and C. Newman, "Date and Time on the Internet:
              Timestamps", RFC 3339, DOI 10.17487/RFC3339, July 2002,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3339>.

Appendix A.  Collected CDDL

   This appendix collects the CDDL rules spread over the document into
   one convenient place.

   Etime = #6.1001(etime-detailed)

   etime-framework = {
     uint => any ; at least one base time
     * (nint/text) => any ; elective supplementary information
     * uint => any ; critical supplementary information
   }

   etime-detailed = ({
     $$ETIME-BASETIME
     ClockQuality-group
     * $$ETIME-ELECTIVE
     * $$ETIME-CRITICAL
     * ((nint/text) .feature "etime-elective-extension") => any

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     * (uint .feature "etime-critical-extension") => any
   }) .within etime-framework

   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (1: ~time)

   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (4: ~decfrac)
   $$ETIME-BASETIME //= (5: ~bigfloat)

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-3: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-6: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-9: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-12: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-15: uint)
   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-18: uint)

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-1 => $ETIME-TIMESCALE)

   $ETIME-TIMESCALE /= &(etime-utc: 0)
   $ETIME-TIMESCALE /= &(etime-tai: 1)

   ClockQuality-group = (
     ? &(ClockClass: -2) => uint .size 1 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(ClockAccuracy: -4) => uint .size 1 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(OffsetScaledLogVariance: -5) => uint .size 2 ; PTP/RFC8575
     ? &(Uncertainty: -7) => ~time/~duration
     ? &(Guarantee: -8) => ~time/~duration
   )

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-10: time-zone-info)
   $$ETIME-CRITICAL //= (10: time-zone-info)

   time-zone-info = tstr .abnf
                    ("time-zone-name / time-numoffset" .det IXDTFtz)
   IXDTFtz = '
      time-hour       = 2DIGIT  ; 00-23
      time-minute     = 2DIGIT  ; 00-59
      time-numoffset  = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute

      time-zone-initial = ALPHA / "." / "_"
      time-zone-char    = time-zone-initial / DIGIT / "-" / "+"

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      time-zone-part    = time-zone-initial *13(time-zone-char)
                          ; but not "." or ".."
      time-zone-name    = time-zone-part *("/" time-zone-part)
      ALPHA             =  %x41-5A / %x61-7A   ; A-Z / a-z
      DIGIT             =  %x30-39 ; 0-9
   ' ; extracted from [IXDTF] and [RFC3339]; update as needed

   $$ETIME-ELECTIVE //= (-11: suffix-info-map)
   $$ETIME-CRITICAL //= (11: suffix-info-map)

   suffix-info-map = { * suffix-key => suffix-values }
   suffix-key = tstr .abnf ("suffix-key" .det IXDTF)
   suffix-values = one-or-more<suffix-value>
   one-or-more<T> = T / [ 2* T ]
   suffix-value = tstr .abnf ("suffix-value" .det IXDTF)

   IXDTF = '
      key-initial       = lcalpha / "_"
      key-char          = key-initial / DIGIT / "-"
      suffix-key        = key-initial *key-char

      suffix-value      = 1*alphanum
      alphanum          = ALPHA / DIGIT
      lcalpha           =  %x61-7A
      ALPHA             =  %x41-5A / %x61-7A   ; A-Z / a-z
      DIGIT             =  %x30-39 ; 0-9
   ' ; extracted from [IXDTF]; update as needed!

   Duration = #6.1002(etime-detailed)

   Period = #6.1003([
     start: ~Etime / null
     end: ~Etime / null
     ? duration: ~Duration / null
   ])

   clumsy-Period = #6.1003([
     (start: ~Etime,
      ((end: ~Etime,
        ? duration: null) //
       (end: null,
        duration: ~Duration))) //
     (start: null,
      end: ~Etime,

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      duration: ~Duration)
   ])

   etime = #6.1001({* (int/tstr) => any})
   duration = #6.1002({* (int/tstr) => any})
   period = #6.1003([~etime/null, ~etime/null, ~duration/null])

           Figure 6: Collected CDDL rules from this specification

Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to acknowledge the many comments from members
   of the CBOR WG, Francesca Palombini for her AD review, and Thomas
   Fossati and Qin Wu for their directorate reviews.

Authors' Addresses

   Carsten Bormann
   Universität Bremen TZI
   Postfach 330440
   D-28359 Bremen
   Germany
   Phone: +49-421-218-63921
   Email: cabo@tzi.org

   Ben Gamari
   Well-Typed
   117 Middle Rd.
   Portsmouth, NH 03801
   United States
   Email: ben@well-typed.com

   Henk Birkholz
   Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology
   Rheinstrasse 75
   64295 Darmstadt
   Germany
   Email: henk.birkholz@sit.fraunhofer.de

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