Merging existing network nodes into a new combined node

Abstract

In order to improve network services and lower the cost of them, there are attempts to enable communication nodes to perform various roles. To add more functionality and roles to communication nodes, existing communication nodes should be replaced with new ones, which lead to burdensome initial cost to service providers. Therefore, it is required a method of enabling existing communication nodes to perform a new function as well as exiting functions without introducing new communication nodes. In this paper, we propose a method for integrating the existing multiple communicating nodes into one combined node. It is shown that multiple networking nodes operate as a combined node by connecting them physically and logically, assigning specialized roles to them, and making them share common control data. With intent to explain the advantages of the combined node, we estimate and compare the resource requirements for a combined node and its corresponding separate nodes. Taken as a whole, a considerable amount of node resources can be saved in the combined node due to resource sharing among the component nodes. The resulting surplus resources after merging existing network nodes into a new combined node can be used as a basis for the expansion of existing services and the introduction of new network services.