SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TIME-OUT MANAGEMENT

摘要

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to computationally efficient timer-queue management. In one embodiment of the present invention, a timer queue is implemented as a circular-timer queue, containing timers, or time-associated data objects, due to expire in a relatively short period of time, and a second queue or list of timers or time- associated data objects, referred to as the "later queue," containing timers or time-associated data objects due to expire after a period of time longer than the period of time during which the timers or timer-associated data objects on the circular-timer queue are due to expire. At generally regular intervals, as timers or time-associated data objects are removed from the circular-timer queue, timers or time-associated data objects are transferred from the later queue to the circular-timer queue.