Dual-SIM Network Selection Techniques

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016262200-A1
Application number	US-201514637085-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 3, 2015
Priority date	Mar 3, 2015
Publication date	Sep 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to operating multi-SIM mobile devices. In some embodiments, a UE comprises at least first and second SIMs where the first SIM is configured to communications via a home network or one or roaming networks and the second SIM is configurable for communications via local networks other than the home network. In these embodiments, the UE is configured to execute a first protocol stack for communications using the first SIM via a home network or a roaming network. In these embodiments, the UE is further configured to search for available networks for the second SIM using the first protocol stack and select an available local network for the second SIM using the first protocol stack. This may reduce power consumption and/or improve communication quality during the search, in some embodiments.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A user equipment device (UE) configured to perform voice transmission, comprising:
at least one antenna; at least one transmitter; at least one receiver; a first subscriber identity module (SIM) configured for communications via a home network or a roaming network; a second SIM that is configurable for communications via local networks other than the home network; and one or more processors coupled to the at least one transmitter and the at least one receiver; wherein the UE is configured to:
execute a first protocol stack for communications using the first SIM via the home network or the roaming network;
search for available networks for the second SIM using the first protocol stack and select an available local network for the second SIM using the first protocol stack; and
communicate via the home network or the roaming network using the first SIM and communicate via the selected local network using the second SIM.

2 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE is further configured to:
activate, subsequent to selecting the available local network for the second SIM, a second protocol stack for communications using the second SIM via the selected local network.

3 . The UE of claim 2 , wherein the first protocol stack is a full multi-mode protocol stack, the second protocol stack is not a full multi-mode protocol stack, and the one or more processors are configured to execute at most one full multi-mode protocol stack at a time.

4 . The UE of claim 2 , wherein the UE is configured to use the first protocol stack to monitor for both circuit-switched (CS) and packet-switched (PS) paging prior to activating the second protocol stack and is configured to use the first protocol stack to monitor for CS paging and the second protocol stack to monitor for PS paging after activating the second protocol stack.

5 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE is configured to search for available networks for the second SIM in response to input requesting connection to a local network.

6 . The UE of claim 5 , wherein the input specifies a particular local network.

7 . The UE of claim 6 , wherein the UE is configured to, in response to a failure to find the particular local network or a failure to connect to the particular local network, to schedule a future search for the particular local network using the first protocol stack.

8 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE is configured to search for available networks and select an available network for the second SIM during discontinuous reception (DRX) wakeup time for the first protocol stack.

9 . The UE of claim 8 , wherein the UE is further configured to schedule cell detection and/or measurement activities during the DRX wakeup time.

10 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the search is a public land mobile network (PLMN) search for a specific radio access technology (RAT) or for multiple RATs.

11 . A method, comprising:
executing a first protocol stack for communications using a first subscriber identity module (SIM) via a home network or a roaming network; searching, for available networks for a second SIM using the first protocol stack, wherein the second SIM is configurable for communications via local networks other than the home network; selecting an available local network for the second SIM; and communicating via the home network or a roaming network using the first SIM and the first protocol stack and communicating via the selected local network using the second SIM and a second protocol stack.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
storing information for the second protocol stack; and activating the second protocol stack in response to selecting the available local network for the second SIM.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first protocol stack is a full multi-mode protocol stack and wherein the second protocol stack is not a full multi-mode protocol stack.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving input via an input module, wherein the input specifies a particular local network, wherein the searching is performed in response to the input.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
executing the second protocol stack for the second SIM for another local network during the searching and selecting, wherein the searching using the first protocol stack is performed in response to a change in conditions for the other local network.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
executing a first protocol stack for communications using a first subscriber identity module (SIM); searching for available networks for a second SIM using the first protocol stack, wherein the second SIM is configurable for communications via local networks; selecting an available local network for the second SIM; and communicating via using the first SIM and the first protocol stack and communicating via the selected local network using the second SIM and a second protocol stack.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
activating the second protocol stack in response to the selecting, wherein information for the second protocol stack is stored prior to the activating; wherein the searching for available networks for the second SIM uses a subscriber identity of the second SIM.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the first protocol stack is a full multi-mode protocol stack, the second protocol stack is not a full multi-mode protocol stack, and at least one of the first and second SIMs is an embedded SIM (eSIM).

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the searching is performed in response to a change in conditions for another local network for which the second SIM is used to communicated prior to the selecting.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the searching is performed in response to received input.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Su Li

Classifications

• H04W48/16 Primary

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W52/0209

  in terminal devices · CPC title

• H04W8/183

  Processing at user equipment or user record carrier · CPC title

• H04W48/18

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W76/15 Primary

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title