Patent ID: 7594092

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving an entry comprising a binary time stamp having at least four bits and a data value; providing a first pointer memory structure, referenced using a first pointer address and having a head and a body, wherein the head comprises a bit map field comprising four bits and the body comprises four memory positions, each bit in the bit map field representing one of the four memory positions; initializing the four bits of the head of the first pointer memory structure to a first state; when storing a second pointer address in a first memory position of the four memory positions, changing a first bit of the four bits of the head of the first pointer memory structure to a second state; when storing the second pointer address in a second memory position of the four memory positions, changing a second bit of the four bits of the head of the first pointer memory structure to the second state; when storing the second pointer address in a third memory position of the four memory positions, changing a third bit of the four bits of the head of the first pointer memory structure to the second state; and when storing the second pointer address in a fourth memory position of the four memory positions, changing a fourth bit of the four bits of the head of the first pointer memory structure to the second state, wherein an address added to a value in the bit map field will reference a memory position where the second pointer address is stored.