Epoch
An epoch is a cycle in the UniRep system, each with an updated state tree and epoch tree. Each attester determines their own epoch length, in seconds. User epoch keys can receive attestations during 1 epoch. With each transition, the data balances of all users are finalized and carried over into the next epoch.
Epoch Transition
Epoch transitions happen automatically whenever an attester calls functions in the UniRep contract. The current epoch is defined by the function:
(block.timestamp - attester.startTimestamp) / attester.epochLength;
This allows epochs to be updated automatically and precisely. When an epoch ends, all epoch keys with owed balances must be committed by updating the epoch tree root.