MULTI-SIM DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME

• US 20200137556A1
• Filed: 07/17/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Min-su, Lee, Jun-kyoung, Ryu, Jong-hoon, Lee, Young-yong
• Granted Patent: US 10,880,725 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A multi-subscriber identification module (SIM) device is provided, and includes first and second SIMs, first and second radio frequency (RF) resources, and a baseband processor. The first and second SIMs are for using first and second services of first and second networks respectively. The first RF resource supports a non-limiting channel configuration use in accordance with a radio resource control (RRC) protocol. The second RF resource supports a limiting channel configuration use in accordance with the RRC protocol. The baseband processor, in a dual radio (DR) mode, configures one of the first and second SIMs as a main SIM based on information on the first and second networks, allots the first RF resource to the main SIM, configures the other one as a sub-SIM, and allots the second RF resource to the sub-SIM.

Claims

1. A multi-subscriber identification module (SIM) device comprising:

a first SIM for using a first service of a first network;

a second SIM for using a second service of a second network;

a first radio frequency (RF) resource that supports a non-limiting channel configuration use in accordance with a radio resource control (RRC) protocol and processes a non-periodic channel or a periodic channel;

a second RF resource that supports a limiting channel configuration use in accordance with the RRC protocol and processes a periodic channel; and

a baseband processor that, in a dual radio (DR) mode of the multi-SIM device, configures one of the first SIM and the second SIM as a main SIM based on information on the first network and the second network, allots the first RF resource to the main SIM, configures the other one of the first SIM and the second SIM as a sub-SIM, and allots the second RF resource to the sub-SIM.

2. The multi-SIM device of claim 1, wherein a first number of first components of the first RF resource are greater than a second number of second components of the second RF resource.

3. The multi-SIM device of claim 1,

wherein the first RF resource comprises a first decoding module provided with at least one first type decoding block performing a first type channel configuration corresponding to the non-periodic channel and at least one second type decoding block performing a second type channel configuration corresponding to the periodic channel, and

wherein the second RF resource comprises a second decoding module provided with the at least one second type decoding block performing the second type channel configuration corresponding to the periodic channel.

4. The multi-SIM device of claim 3, wherein the at least one first type decoding block is different from the at least one second type decoding block in at least one of a decoding method, a rate dematching method, and a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) method.

5. The multi-SIM device of claim 3,

wherein the first RF resource comprises a plurality of first coded composite traffic channel (CCTrCH) blocks that provide a channel received from a network corresponding to the main SIM to the first decoding module in units of CCTrCHs, and

wherein the second RF resource comprises a plurality of second CCTrCH blocks for providing a channel received from a network corresponding to the sub-SIM to the second decoding module in units of CCTrCHs.

6. The multi-SIM device of claim 5,

wherein a first portion of the plurality of first CCTrCH blocks provide the non-periodic channel to the first decoding module in units of CCTrCHs and a first remaining portion of the plurality of first CCTrCH blocks provide the periodic channel to the first decoding module in units of CCTrCHs, and

wherein the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks provide the periodic channel to the second decoding module in units of CCTrCHs.

7. The multi-SIM device of claim 6,

wherein the periodic channel comprises a paging channel (PCH) and a broadcast channel (BCH), and

wherein a second portion of the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks provide the PCH to the second decoding module in units of CCTrCHs and a second remaining portion of the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks provide the BCH to the second decoding module in units of CCTrCH.

8. The multi-SIM device of claim 3,

wherein the baseband processor performs a channel configuration suitable for channels received from the first network and the second network on the first decoding module and the second decoding module, and

wherein the first decoding module and the second decoding module perform processing operations in an order in which the channel configuration is completed.

9. The multi-SIM device of claim 1,

wherein the first RF resource comprises a first buffer that processes the non-periodic channel or the periodic channel,

wherein the second RF resource comprises a second buffer that processes the periodic channel, and

wherein a first size of the first buffer is greater than a second size of the second buffer.

10. The multi-SIM device of claim 1, wherein the baseband processor selects one of the DR mode and a dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) mode based on the information, and controls the multi-SIM device to operate according to the selected mode at a time at which a first RF resource use request period of the first SIM and a second RF resource use request period of the second SIM overlap.

11. The multi-SIM device of claim 10, wherein the baseband processor selects the DSDS mode, and in the DSDS mode of the multi-SIM device, the baseband processor allots the first RF resource to one of the first SIM and the second SIM based on the information.

12. The multi-SIM device of claim 1,

wherein the main SIM performs a first communication operation with a network corresponding to the main SIM in a network connection mode or an idle mode, and

wherein the sub-SIM simultaneously performs a second communication operation with a network corresponding to the sub-SIM with the first communication operation in the idle mode.

13. A multi-subscriber identification module (SIM) device comprising:

a plurality of SIMs;

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) resources allotted to the plurality of SIMs to process a plurality of channels received from a plurality of networks corresponding to the plurality of SIMs; and

in response to RF resource use request periods of at least two object SIMs among the plurality of SIMs overlapping, a baseband processor allots a first RF resource capable of being configured for non-periodic channel processing or periodic channel processing among the plurality of RF resources to a SIM configured as a main SIM among the at least two object SIMs and allots a second RF resource capable of being configured for the periodic channel processing among the plurality of RF resources to a SIM configured as a sub-SIM among the at least two object SIMs.

14. The multi-SIM device of claim 13,

wherein the first RF resource comprises:

a first receiving circuit that receives a first channel from a network corresponding to the main SIM;

a first buffer that stores the first channel;

a first decoding module that processes the first channel; and

a plurality of first CCTrCH blocks that provide the first channel stored in the first buffer to the first decoding module in units of CCTrCHs, and

wherein the second RF resource comprises;

a second receiving circuit that receives a second channel from a network corresponding to the sub-SIM;

a second buffer that stores the second channel;

a second decoding module that processes the second channel; and

a plurality of second CCTrCH blocks that provide the second channel stored in the second buffer to the second decoding module in units of CCTrCHs.

15. The multi-SIM device of claim 14,

wherein the first decoding module is configured to perform a first type channel configuration corresponding to the non-periodic channel and a second type channel configuration corresponding to the periodic channel, and

wherein the second decoding module is configured to perform a second type channel configuration corresponding to the periodic channel.

16. The multi-SIM device of claim 14, wherein a first number of the plurality of first CCTrCH blocks is greater than a second number of the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks.

17. The multi-SIM device of claim 14,

wherein the periodic channel comprises a paging channel (PCH) and a broadcast channel (BCH), and

wherein a portion of the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks are configured to provide the PCH to the second decoding module and a remaining portion of the plurality of second CCTrCH blocks are configured to provide the BCH to the second decoding module.

18. The multi-SIM device of claim 13,

wherein the baseband processor performs a first channel configuration on the first RF resource based on radio resource control (RRC) with a network corresponding to the main SIM and performs a second channel configuration on the second RF resource based on the RRC with a network corresponding to the sub-SIM, and

wherein the first RF resource and the second RF resource start channel processing operations based on an order in which the first channel configuration and the second channel configuration are completed.

19. A method of operating a multi-subscriber identification module (SIM) device including a plurality of SIMs, the method comprising:

generating a radio frequency (RF) resource request from one object SIM among the SIMs;

determining whether the one object SIM is configured as a main SIM to which a first RF resource is allotted or a sub-SIM to which a second RF resource is allotted; and

in response to determining that the one object SIM is configured as the main SIM, performing non-limiting channel configuration for processing a non-periodic channel or a periodic channel on the first RF resource, and

in response to determining that the one object SIM is configured as the sub-SIM, performing limiting channel configuration for processing the periodic channel on the second RF resource.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, in response to the one object SIM being configured as the sub-SIM, the performing of the limiting channel configuration comprises:

determining a kind of the periodic channel received from a network corresponding to the one object SIM;

allotting a processing path in the second RF resource suitable for the kind of the periodic channel that is determined; and

performing the limiting channel configuration on the second RF resource based on radio resource control (RRC) with the network.