Patent ID: 7787905

Claim:
Method for operating a switching node in a communications network, the switching node having a connection for signaling data and additional user data connections, the communications network comprising both a layered architectural environment and a non-layered architectural environment, the method comprising the steps of receiving a communication service request, determining: by protocol of the service request, whether the switching node will operate as a layered architectural environment switching node or a non-layered architectural environment switching node, the layered architectural environment providing a user plane layer for user data and a control plane layer for signaling data and the non-layered architectural environment providing a layer for both the user plane and the control plane and the switching node being determined operatively to process the requested communication service as part of the non-layered architectural environment if an origin of the communications service request, in particular an originating radio network node, is local to the switching node, and a destination indicated by the communications service request is local to the switching node; and processing the requested communications service according to the determined operating mode of the switching node.