Abstract: A method is disclosed for indicating a status of a transfer of data from a first device to a second device over a network. In one embodiment, the data includes one or more data frames. Each frame includes a header having one or more bits. The method includes setting a last bit of the one or more bits in the header of a last frame of the one or more data frames to a first value if the status of the transfer of data is good and setting the value of the last bit of the last data frame to a second value if the transfer of data failed. This results in a less congested, more efficient network.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for indicating a status of a transfer of data from a first device to a second device over a network. In one embodiment, the data includes one or more data frames. Each frame includes a header having one or more bits. The method includes setting a last bit of the one or more bits in the header of a last frame of the one or more data frames to a first value if the status of the transfer of data is good and setting the value of the last bit of the last data frame to a second value if the transfer of data failed. This results in a less congested, more efficient network.

Abstract: Storing frames of data in frame buffers sized to match the frame size when the frame size is not a power-of-two number of bytes is disclosed. The buffer size is chosen to be the largest power-of-two that is less than the frame size. When a frame of data is to be stored, the buffer number of a free buffer is effectively multiplied by the buffer size to obtain a partial frame buffer address Q. The buffer size subtracted from the frame size is referred to as a residual buffer size, and the buffer number is effectively multiplied by the residual buffer size to obtain a residual frame buffer address R. The full frame buffer starting address S=Q+R. For implementations where the difference between the frame size and the buffer size is a power-of-two value, binary shifts and addition can be used instead of a multiplier.