Преброяване на групирани пропуски във времето за времеви диапазон

Само за да избегна двойна работа, ето данните (замених включващия горен граничен отсек с изключителен, който е по-често срещан, IMHO):

-- CREATE SCHEMA tmp;
DROP TABLE tmp.gaps CASCADE;
CREATE TABLE tmp.gaps
        ( id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY       -- surrogate key
        , ztype CHAR(1) NOT NULL
        , start_datetime TIMESTAMP NOT NULL     -- lower boundary := inclusive
        , end_datetime TIMESTAMP NOT NULL       -- upper boundary := exclusive
        );
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX gaps_forward ON tmp.gaps(ztype,start_datetime);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX gaps_backward ON tmp.gaps(ztype,end_datetime);

INSERT INTO tmp.gaps(id,ztype,start_datetime,end_datetime) VALUES
 (1,'a', '2012-01-11 00:00:00', '2012-01-15 00:00:00' )
,(2,'a', '2012-01-18 00:00:00', '2012-01-21 00:00:00' )
,(3,'b', '2012-01-14 00:00:00', '2012-01-20 00:00:00' )
,(4,'c', '2012-01-10 00:00:00', '2012-01-16 00:00:00' )
,(5,'d', '2012-01-11 00:00:00', '2012-01-21 00:00:00' )
,(6,'e', '2012-01-11 00:00:00', '2012-01-15 00:00:00' ) -- added this
,(7,'e', '2012-01-15 00:00:00', '2012-01-21 00:00:00' ) -- and this
        ;
-- SELECT * FROM tmp.gaps;

АКТУАЛИЗАЦИЯ:тук идва CTE. В първия UNION добавям два фалшиви интервала отляво и отдясно на желания (12 януари -- 19 януари) интервал.

За ztype преброявам общия брой интервали. Това трябва да е една, ако няма дупки, две, ако има една дупка и т.н. Това също така ще намери пропуски за ztype, които нямат никакви записи в желания интервал.

-- EXPLAIN ANALYZE
WITH RECURSIVE meuk(ztype,start_datetime,end_datetime) AS (
        -- For every possible "ztype" add two dummie records
        -- just before and just after our wanted interval.
        WITH plus2 AS (
                SELECT g0.ztype,g0.start_datetime,g0.end_datetime FROM tmp.gaps g0
                WHERE (g0.start_datetime <= '2012-01-12 00:00:00' AND g0.end_datetime >= '2012-01-12 00:00:00')
                   OR (g0.start_datetime >= '2012-01-12 00:00:00' AND g0.end_datetime <= '2012-01-19 00:00:00')
                   OR (g0.start_datetime <= '2012-01-19 00:00:00' AND g0.end_datetime >= '2012-01-19 00:00:00')
                UNION ALL SELECT DISTINCT g1.ztype, '1900-01-01 00:00:00'::timestamp, '2012-01-12 00:00:00'::timestamp FROM tmp.gaps g1
                UNION ALL SELECT DISTINCT g2.ztype, '2012-01-19 00:00:00'::timestamp, '2100-01-01 00:00:00'::timestamp FROM tmp.gaps g2
                )
        SELECT p0.ztype,p0.start_datetime,p0.end_datetime
        FROM plus2 p0
                -- the start of a stretch: there is no older overlapping 
                -- (or touching) interval
        WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT *
                FROM plus2 nx
                WHERE nx.ztype = p0.ztype
                AND nx.start_datetime < p0.start_datetime -- older
                AND nx.end_datetime >= p0.start_datetime  -- touching or overlapping
                )
        UNION
        SELECT mk.ztype
                , LEAST(mk.start_datetime,p1.start_datetime)
                , GREATEST(mk.end_datetime,p1.end_datetime)
        FROM plus2 p1
        , meuk mk
        WHERE p1.ztype = mk.ztype
        AND (p1.start_datetime >= mk.start_datetime AND p1.start_datetime <= mk.end_datetime AND p1.end_datetime > mk.end_datetime)
        )
SELECT ztype, COUNT(*)-1 AS ngap
FROM meuk mk
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT *
        FROM meuk  nx
        WHERE nx.ztype = mk.ztype
        AND (nx.start_datetime,nx.end_datetime) OVERLAPS( mk.start_datetime,mk.end_datetime)
        AND (nx.end_datetime - nx.start_datetime) > (mk.end_datetime - mk.start_datetime)
        )
GROUP BY ztype
ORDER BY ztype
        ;

Създаването на крайната сума е оставено като упражнение за читателя;-)

РЕЗУЛТАТИ:

 ztype | ngap 
-------+------
 a     |    1
 b     |    1
 c     |    1
 d     |    0
 e     |    0
(5 rows)