System and method for dynamic wireless carrier swap system

• US 9,894,601 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2015
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Murray, Allen R., Lei, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nimesh
• Application Number:
  US14/828,881
• Publication Number:
  US 20170055201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A vehicle carrier swap system includes a controller that, in response to a notification indicating first public land mobile network (PLMN) access signal quality is less than a threshold and successful registration with a second PLMN selected from a set of PLMNs made available by at least two subscriber identity modules associated with non-roaming partner carriers according to a priority defined by the carriers, provides network access using the second PLMN.

Claims

1. A vehicle system, comprising:

a controller in communication with at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), each of the SIMs providing network access via one of a plurality of preferred public land mobile networks (PLMNs) defined by a carrier associated with the SIM, wherein the carriers are not roaming partners with one another such that the preferred PLMNs defined by a first carrier are different from the preferred PLMNs defined by a second carrier, the controller programmed to,

in response to detecting that signal quality of a connection to a first PLMN that is one of the preferred PLMNs of the first carrier is less than a threshold, connect to a second PLMN that is one of the preferred PLMNs of the second carrier selected from a list that combines the PLMNs of the SIMs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal quality is defined by at least one of a signal strength or a data rate.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the signal strength is based on a reference signal received power (RSRP).

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second PLMN is further selected based on an availability of the second PLMN as defined by a radio frequency (RF) channel scan.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of preferred PLMNs corresponding to each of the SIMs are arranged in descending order of priority as a home PLMN (HPLMN), an equivalent HPLMN (EHPLMN), a registered PLMN (RPLMN), a visited PLMN (VPLMN), and an operator PLMN (OPLMN).

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the SIMS are arranged in a dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) configuration.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the SIMS are arranged in a dual SIM dual active (DSDA) configuration.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein, prior to connecting to the second PLMN, the controller is further programmed to request a user approval of the connection.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second PLMN is further selected manually by a user of the vehicle.

10. A method for a vehicle, comprising:

responsive to detecting, by a controller, signal quality of a first public land mobile network (PLMN) connection less than a threshold, connecting to a second PLMN selected from a prioritized list combining preferred PLMNs of at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), wherein the respective preferred PLMNs are different as defined by carriers that are not roaming partners with one another, and providing network access using the second PLMN.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the signal quality is defined by at least one of a signal strength or a data rate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal strength is based on a reference signal received power (RSRP).

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second PLMN is further selected based on an availability of the second PLMN as defined by a radio frequency (RF) channel scan.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the prioritized list includes arranging the PLMNs in descending order of priority as a home PLMN (HPLMN), an equivalent HPLMN (EHPLMN), a registered PLMN (RPLMN), a visited PLMN (VPLMN), and an operator PLMN (OPLMN).

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the SIMs are arranged in a dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) configuration.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the SIMs are arranged in a dual SIM dual active (DSDA) configuration.

17. A vehicle carrier swap system, comprising:

a controller connected to at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), each of the SIMs providing network access using one of a plurality of preferred public land mobile networks (PLMNs) defined by a carrier of the SIM, wherein the carriers are not roaming partners with one another such that the respective preferred PLMNs are different from each other, the controller programmed to,

in response to detecting that signal quality of a current network connection to a first PLMN is less than a threshold, select a second PLMN from a prioritized list that combines the respective preferred PLMNs of the SIMs, wherein the first PLMN is one of the PLMNs of a first carrier and the second PLMN is one of the PLMNs of a second carrier,

initiate registration with the second PLMN, and

upon registration, connect to the second PLMN.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the list of PLMNs is a set of available PLMNs defined by a radio frequency (RF) channel scan and prioritized in descending order of priority defined by the carriers.