protected static function getSecondsGap()
    {
        $secondsGap = array();
        foreach (self::$timeGap as $gap) {
            if (count($gap) == 3 && $gap[2] == 's') // if the units are already in seconds, just assign them
            {
                $secondsGap[] = array($gap[0], $gap[1]);
            } else if (count($gap) == 2) {
                $secondsGap[] = array($gap[0] * 60, $gap[1] * 60);
            } else {
                $secondsGap[] = array($gap[0] * 60);
            }
        }
        return $secondsGap;
    }