telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

, time code ambiguity is the shortest interval between successive repetitions of the same

time code A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...

value. For example, in a

in which year-of-century (the '72' in 10/04/72) is the most slowly changing

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

, the time code ambiguity would be 100 years; it is ambiguous whether this value refers to a date in 1872, 1972 or some other century. For a

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

in which hours and minutes up to a maximum of 11:59 are displayed, the time code ambiguity would be 12 hours. The

Year 2000 problem The year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem, Y2K scare, millennium bug, Y2K bug, Y2K glitch, Y2K error, or simply Y2K refers to potential computer errors related to the Time formatting and storage bugs, formatting and storage of cale ...

is an example of the pitfalls of time code ambiguity. Very often dates are now recorded with 4 digit years (10/04/1972). Assuming that the use of a 4-digit year field would continue, even in the far future, this would change the time code ambiguity from 100 years to 10 000 years.

References

*{{FS1037C Synchronization *