  A family of tridiagonal pairs which appear in the context of quantum
integrable systems is studied in details. The corresponding eigenvalue
sequences, eigenspaces and the block tridiagonal structure of their matrix
realizations with respect the dual eigenbasis are described. The overlap
functions between the two dual basis are shown to satisfy a coupled system of
recurrence relations and a set of discrete second-order $q-$difference
equations which generalize the ones associated with the Askey-Wilson orthogonal
polynomials with a discrete argument. Normalizing the fundamental solution to
unity, the hierarchy of solutions are rational functions of one discrete
argument, explicitly derived in some simplest examples. The weight function
which ensures the orthogonality of the system of rational functions defined on
a discrete real support is given.
