Communications network controller module

A communications network controller module comprising:

• a media access controller;
• and
• a message handler implemented in an integrated circuit;
• wherein the message handler is configured, in response to receiving a frame comprising frame data from the media access controller, the frame data comprising header frame data and payload frame data,
• to identify a frame type for the frame,
• to identify a target queue in dependence upon the frame type, the target queue comprising a series of data areas in memory reserved for storing frames of the frame type,
• to obtain a current descriptor address of a current descriptor for the target queue, the current descriptor comprising a descriptor type field,
• to obtain a first address in the series of data areas and to store the payload frame data at the first address, and
• to obtain a second address in a header data area in the series of data areas and to store the header frame data at the second address;
• wherein the message handler is configured, in dependence upon determining that a descriptor type held in the descriptor type field indicates the payload frame data is to be stored contiguously in the series of data areas,
• to obtain the first address at which to store the payload frame data by reading the first address from a current incremental address register for the target queue,
• to obtain the second address at which to store the header frame data by reading the second address from the current incremental address register for the target queue,
• to process the header frame data using a header descriptor and to process the payload frame data using a payload descriptor wherein the payload descriptor is different to the header descriptor, and wherein the header frame data comprises all header data of the frame, and
• to store the payload frame data contiguously in the series of data areas and, in response to the header descriptor instructing the message handler to store the header frame data, to store the header frame data in the header data area for the target queue.