SegReferences

SegReferences is a data structure and API designed to manage references to discrete segments within a larger sequence, enabling efficient storage, retrieval, and manipulation of segment metadata and positions.

It is used in segmentation workflows across domains such as image and video processing, audio analysis, genomics, and document layout, to index and access segments without duplicating data.

A segment reference typically includes an identifier, a start position, an end position (end exclusive), a label or type, and optional attributes such as confidence or priority, with potential support for hierarchical subsegments.

Core operations include adding, removing, updating segments, merging and splitting segments, and querying by position or label; implementations may enforce non-overlapping guarantees or allow overlaps depending on use case.

Implementations may use dynamic arrays or lists augmented by indexing structures like interval trees or segment trees to speed range queries, with attention to memory usage and concurrency in streaming contexts.

Common applications include marking scenes in video, delineating genomic regions, organizing document layout blocks, or annotating sensor data segments.

Related concepts include intervals, interval trees, segment trees, and range-index structures; SegReferences is often integrated with broader segmentation and data management frameworks.

See also: segmentation; interval tree; segment tree.