Time code ambiguity
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In telecommunication, time code ambiguity is the shortest interval between successive repetitions of the same time code value.
For example, in a time code in which year-of-century (the '72' in 10/04/72) is the most slowly changing field, 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 clock 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 bug isan example of the pitfalls of time code ambiguity. Very often dates are now recorded with 4 digit years (10/04/1972). This changes the ambiguity from 100 years to 10,000 years.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C