Method and terminal device for keeping subscriber identity module card in standby state

• US 9,674,696 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Bai, Zhidong, Zhu, Chunxi, Zhao, Yuqing, Peng, Chenghui
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US14/671,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20150201325A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: 455418, 455415, 455411, 455423, 455558, 4554261, 4555521, 370328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/45 using multiple identity modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

A method and a terminal device for keeping a subscriber identity module card in a standby state are provided. The method for keeping a subscriber identity module card in a standby state includes receiving, by a terminal device, an enabling request, where the enabling request is used for requesting simultaneous standby of a first subscriber identity module card and a second subscriber identity module card; invoking a third-party invocation interface provided by an operating system of the terminal device; performing interaction with a subscriber identity module card control module, so as to complete a network access process of the first subscriber identity module card on the basis of a data file of the first subscriber identity module card; and keeping the first subscriber identity module card and the second subscriber identity module card in a standby state at the same time according to the enabling request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a terminal device, an enabling request, wherein the enabling request is used for requesting simultaneous standby of a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card and a second SIM card in the terminal device, wherein the first SIM card is a software-implemented SiM card, and wherein the second SIM card is a hardware implemented SIM card;

implementing, by the terminal device, a first SIM card network access process by interacting with a SIM card control module in the terminal device to complete a first network access process of the first SIM card using a data file of the first SIM card; and

implementing, by the terminal device, a standby process by maintaining the first SIM card and the second SIM card in the standby state at a same time according to the enabling request, wherein the second subscriber identity module card has already accessed a network; and

invoking, by the terminal device, a third-party invocation interface provided by an operating system of the terminal device, wherein the first SIM card interacts with the SIM card control module through the third-party invocation interface using a SIM mobile equipment (SIM-ME) function of the third-party invocation interface.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party invocation interface is a radio interface layer (RIL) interface.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein completing the first network access process of the first SIM card using the data file of the first SIM card comprises:

receiving, by the terminal device, an authentication request sent by a network side device;

reading key information in the data file of the first SIM card;

generating authentication information according to the key information; and

sending the authentication information to the network side device to complete the first network access process of the first SIM card.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing, by the terminal device, after the terminal device starts up and prior to performing the standby process, a second SIM card network access process to complete a second network access process of the second SIM card.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving, by the terminal device, the enabling request comprises receiving, by the terminal device, a first enabling request for the first SIM card selected by a subscriber that uses the terminal device, wherein the enabling request is used for requesting simultaneous standby of the second SIM card and the first SIM card selected by the subscriber that uses the terminal device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data file of the first SIM card is stored in the terminal device.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data file of the first SIM card is stored in an external storage device connected to the terminal device.

8. A terminal device, comprising:

a first (SIM) card interface and a SIM card control module,

wherein the first SIM card interface is configured to receive an enabling request, wherein the enabling request is used for requesting simultaneous standby of a first SIM card and a second SIM card in the terminal device, wherein the first SIM card is software-implemented and the second SIM card is hardware-implemented, wherein the first SIM card interface is configured to send the enabling request to the SIM card control module to complete a first network access process of the first SIM card using a data file of the first SIM card,

wherein the SIM card control module is configured to receive the enabling request sent by the first SIM card interface and implement a standby process to maintain both the first SIM card and the second SIM card in a standby state at a same time according to the enabling request after the first network access process of the first SIM card is completed, wherein the second subscriber identity module card has already accessed a network, and

wherein the first SIM card interface is configured to invoke a third-party invocation interface provided by an operating system of the terminal device, and perform interaction with the SIM card control module through the third-party invocation interface with a SIM mobile equipment (SIM-ME) function to complete the first network access process of the first SIM card using the data file of the first SIM card.

9. The terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the third-party invocation interface is a radio interface layer (RIL) interface.

10. The terminal device according to claim 9, wherein the first SIM card interface is configured to perform interaction with the SIM card control module through the third-party invocation interface with the SIM-ME function to complete the first network access process of the first SIM card using the data file of the first SIM card comprises:

receiving by the first SIM card interface through the third-party invocation interface with the SIM-ME function an authentication request from a network side device, wherein the authentication request is sent by the SIM card control module;

reading, by the first SIM card interface, key information in the data file of the first SIM card;

generating, by the first SIM card interface, authentication information according to the key information;

sending by the first SIM card interface, the authentication information to the SIM card control module through the third-party invocation interface with the SIM-ME function; and

sending, by the SIM card control module the authentication information to the network side device to complete the first network access process of the first SIM card.

11. The terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the SIM card control module is further configured to, after the terminal device starts up, perform interaction with the second SIM card to complete a second network access process of the second SIM card.

12. The terminal device according to claim 8, further comprising a first SIM card management module, wherein the first SIM card management module is configured to send the enabling request for the first SIM card selected by a subscriber that uses the terminal device to the first SIM card interface, and wherein receiving by the first SIM card interface the enabling request comprises:

receiving, by the first SIM card interface, the enabling request for the first SIM card selected by the subscriber that uses the terminal device, wherein the enabling request is sent by the first SIM card management module, and the enabling request is used for requesting simultaneous standby SIM card and the first SIM card selected by the subscriber that uses the terminal device.

13. The terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the data file of the first SIM card is stored in the terminal device.

14. The terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the data file of the first SIM card is stored in an external storage device connected to the terminal device.