Method and system for threshold occurrence detection in a communications network

A system for detecting a threshold occurrence of events in a communications network without use of any counter or timer devices, said communications network having at least one processor and containing a plurality of devices, comprising:

• means for identifying, by a network operator, a resettable threshold condition to monitor for at least one selected device of said plurality of devices;
• means, responsive to said threshold condition, for allocating locations in memory of said at least one processor to store a plurality of timestamp values corresponding to the time of occurrence of each event for said selected device, each allocated location having an associated sequential location number said allocated locations being linked together to form a circularly-linked list;
• means for receiving a message from said selected device by said processor when said each event occurs;
• means, cooperative with said means for receiving, for comparing the time of occurrence value of each event with the contents of a current one of said allocated locations in memory;
• and
• means, cooperative with said means for comparing, for determining the occurrence of the threshold condition.