A method and structure for determining when a frame of information
comprised of one or more buffers of data being transmitted in a network
processor has completed transmission is provided. The network processor
includes a plurality of control blocks, one for each data buffer, each
containing control information to link one buffer to another for
transmission. Each of the control blocks has a last bit feature which is
a single bit and indicates when the data buffer having the last bit is
transmitted. This last bit feature is a bit which can be set to either
zero or one. The last bit feature is in a first position when an
additional data buffer is to be chained to a previous data buffer
indicating an additional data buffer is to be transmitted and a second
position when no additional data buffer is to be chained to a previous
data buffer. The position of the last bit feature is communicated to the
network processor to indicate whether the transmission of a particular
frame is ended and a new frame is to be transmitted.