long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
 long limit = now + timeoutMillis;

 synchronized (obj) {
   while ((!obj.didIMeetCondition()) &&
          ((now=System.currentTimeMillis()) < limit)) {
     obj.wait(limit - now);
   }
 }

 if (now >= limit) {
   throw new MyException("condition not met");
 }

The code that sets the condition should be synchronized on the same
"obj", and must call obj.notify() after making the change.

/gordon

--

You might want Future.get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit), or one of the
other classes that throw TimeoutException.

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/class-use/TimeoutEx
ception.html