Note: This version of the documentation is valid for version 0.4.2.1 or earlier.
From the NWB website:
Neurodata Without Borders: Neurophysiology (NWB:N) is a project to develop a unified data format for cellular-based neurophysiology data, focused on the dynamics of groups of neurons measured under a large range of experimental conditions. The NWB:N team consists of neuroscientists and software developers who recognize that adoption of a unified data format is an important step toward breaking down the barriers to data sharing in neuroscience.
NWB:N is funded by GE, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), The Kavli Foundation and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility. Our founding scientific partners are the Allen Institute, the Svoboda Lab at the Janelia Research Campus of HHMI, the Meister Lab at the California Institute of Technology, the Buzsáki Lab at New York University School of Medicine and the University of California, Berkeley.
...
The official format specification can be found on GitHub as raw HTML files. We've adapted it for use with Open Ephys in the following way:
Open Ephys NWB File Structure (based on version 1.0.4_beta)
(NOTE: The current version of the NWB record format on the development branch of Open Ephys is untested and unfinished so it might have bugs or fields not completely complying with the specification. A current known issue is that the messages and event timestamps are not saved in seconds but in sample numbers. The value in seconds can be manually obtained by dividing the sample number by the relevant source sample rate)
...
Top-level groups (always created):
/acquisition
/analysis
/epochs
/general
/processing
/stimulus
Top-level datasets (always created):
/file_create_date: date + time in ISO format (text array)
...
/session_start_time: date + time in ISO format (text)
...
/acquisition group:
All of the data generated during recording should be stored in this group.
...
*** = index of electrode (1, 2, 3, etc.)
Rules for creating new files, versus creating new groups:
- If acquisition is stopped, create a new file (experiment1.nwb, experiment2.nwb, etc.). Timestamps are reset to zero.
- If recording is stopped (but acquisition is active), create a new group (recording1, recording2, etc.). Timestamps are relative to start of acquisition.
...
/general group:
All of the experimental metadata should be stored in this group. Eventually, we should have a pop-up window inside the GUI that allows the user to input various parameters (e.g., subject name, experimenter name) that will be automatically written here.
...