A method for managing a queue of cells received from a plurality of sources, wherein the last cell received is stored at a receive address in a buffer, and a time stamp is established for the last cell received that represents the theoretical time it is to leave the queue. The receive address is inserted into a programmer at a location identified by the time stamp of the last cell received, and an occupancy bit associated with the time stamp is set to an active state. The first cell(s) to leave the queue from the first active occupancy bit following that of the cell that has just left the queue is determined, with the occupancy bits being classified in increasing order of the associated time stamps, and the occupancy bit of the first cell is set to an inactive state when it leaves the queue.