A data structure splitting method is provided for processing data using a minimum number of memory accesses. An SoC is provided with a with a central processing unit (CPU), a system memory, an on-chip memory (OCM), and a network interface including an embedded direct memory access (DMA). The network interface accepts a data structure with a header and a payload. The DMA writes the payload in the system memory, and the header in the OCM. The network interface DMA notifies the CPU of the header address in the OCM. The CPU reads the header in the OCM, performs processing instructions, and writes the processed header in the OCM. The CPU sends the address of the processed header in OCM to the network interface DMA. The network interface DMA reads the processed header from the OCM and sends a data structure with the processed header and the payload.