Communication terminal and method for using a communication service

• US 9,398,638 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2013
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Deutschland GmbH (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Chirayil, Beena Joy
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Minjung
• Application Number:
  US13/784,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20140256302A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,232 Days
• Field of Search: 455/418, 455/558
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• 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 communication terminal is described including a transceiver, a plurality of subscriber identity modules, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a signal for each of the subscriber identity modules, a determiner configured to determine, for each subscriber identity module, a rating of the received signal and a controller configured to select a subscriber identity module from the plurality of subscriber identity modules for a communication service based on the ratings and configured to control the transceiver to use the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module.

Claims

1. A communication terminal comprising:

a transceiver;

a plurality of subscriber identity modules, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a signal for each of the subscriber identity modules;

a determiner configured to determine, for each subscriber identity module, a rating of the received signal; and

a controller configured to select a subscriber identity module from the plurality of subscriber identity modules for a communication service based on the ratings and configured to control the transceiver to use the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module, wherein the controller determines whether more than one subscriber identity modules are in a maximum signal strength set and, if this is the case, selects the subscriber identity module with a maximum signal quality determined based on paging decoding errors out of the maximum signal strength set, and, if there is only one subscriber identity module in the maximum signal strength set, selects the subscriber identity module with the maximum signal quality determined based on the paging decoding errors;

wherein each subscriber identity module of the plurality of subscriber identity modules is associated with a cellular mobile communication network;

wherein the subscriber identity module identifies the communication terminal as a subscriber terminal of the cellular mobile communication network associated with the subscriber identity module;

wherein the subscriber identity modules are at least partially associated with the same cellular mobile communication network; and

wherein the determiner is further configured to determine whether the subscriber identity modules are camped on different serving cells of the same cellular network and to determine the rating of the received signal if the subscriber identity modules are camped on different serving cells of the same cellular network.

2. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to select the subscriber identity module or one of the subscriber identity modules for which the transceiver has received the signal with the highest rating.

3. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the rating of the signal is the signal strength at which the transceiver has received the signal or a quality of the signal or a combination of both.

4. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive, for each of the subscriber identity modules, the signal via a communication channel associated with the subscriber identity module.

5. Communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein for each subscriber identity module, the terminal camps on a radio cell and the communication channel associated with the subscriber identity module is a downlink channel of the radio cell.

6. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to initiate the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module.

7. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the subscriber identity modules are associated with different cellular mobile communication networks.

8. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to use the communication service by means of the cellular mobile communication network associated with selected subscriber identity module.

9. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein using the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module includes using the subscriber identity module to identify the mobile when using the communication service.

10. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein using the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module includes using the subscriber identity module to perform encryption and decryption of data exchanged in context of the communication service.

11. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication service is dedicated communication connection.

12. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication connection is a circuit switched communication connection or a packet switched communication connection.

13. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication service is exchange of useful data.

14. Communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication service is a voice call or video call or a messaging service.

15. A method for using a communication service comprising:

receiving a signal for each of a plurality of subscriber identity modules;

determining, for each subscriber identity module, a rating of the received signal;

selecting a subscriber identity module from the plurality of subscriber identity modules for a communication service based on the ratings, wherein it is determined whether more than one subscriber identity modules are in a maximum signal strength set and, if this is the case, the subscriber identity module with a maximum signal quality determined based on paging decoding errors out of the maximum signal strength set is selected, and, if there is only one subscriber identity module in the maximum signal strength set, the subscriber identity module with the maximum signal quality determined based on the paging decoding errors is selected; and

using the communication service by means of the selected subscriber identity module;

wherein each subscriber identity module of the plurality of subscriber identity modules is associated with a cellular mobile communication network;

wherein the subscriber identity module identifies the communication terminal as a subscriber terminal of the cellular mobile communication network associated with the subscriber identity module;

wherein the subscriber identity modules are at least partially associated with the same cellular mobile communication network; and

determining whether the subscriber identity modules are camped on different serving cells of the same cellular network, wherein the rating of the received signal is determined if the subscriber identity modules are camped on different serving cells of the same cellular network.