A temporal extension to the parsimonious covering theory.

In this paper, parsimonious covering theory is extended in such a way that temporal knowledge can be accommodated. In addition to causally associating possible manifestations with disorders, temporal relationships about duration and the time elapsed before a manifestation comes into existence can be represented by a graph. Precise definitions of the solution of a temporal diagnostic problem as well as algorithms to compute the solutions are provided. The medical suitability of the extended parsimonious cover theory is studied in the domain of food-borne disease.