Efficient timer management system

A timer management system and method for managing timers in both a synchronous and asynchronous system. In one embodiment of the present invention, a timer management system comprises an application program interface (API) for providing a set of synchronous functions allowing an application to functionally operate on the timer. The timer management system further comprises a timer database for storing timer-related information. Furthermore, the timer management system comprises a timer services for detecting the expiring of the timer. A handle function of the timer services allows an asynchronous application, i.e., application in a multi-task system, to synchronously act on the timer. That is, when a timer in a asynchronous system times-out, the handle function allows the asynchronous application to act on the expired timer without incurring an illegal time-out message. In another embodiment of the present invention, a timer may be reinitialized from the same allocated block of memory used to create the timer. In another embodiment of the present invention, a time-out message may be sent using the same allocated block of memory used to create the timer.