Concurrent data communication and voice call monitoring using dual SIM

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9942873-B2
Application number	US-201514807306-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 25, 2014
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

Performing concurrent data communication and voice call monitoring using a single cellular radio. According to some embodiments, the UE may perform data communication, via the radio, using a first RAT, supported by a first SIM. The UE may also perform paging functions for a voice communication, via the radio, using a second RAT, supported by a second SIM. In some scenarios, the first and second RATs are the same. The data communication and the paging functions may be performed concurrently using shared physical layer resources. For example, the shared physical layer resources may comprise a shared software defined radio (SDR) configured to demodulate and/or decode signals of the data communication and the paging function. As another example, the shared physical layer resources may comprise a shared Rake receiver configured to demodulate signals of the data communication and the paging function.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A user equipment device (UE), comprising:
a first subscriber identity module (SIM);
a second SIM; and
a radio coupled to the first SIM and the second SIM, the radio comprising a Rake receiver and at least one processor, wherein the radio is configured to:
perform data communication using a first radio access technology (RAT), the data communication supported by the first SIM; and
perform a paging function for a voice communication using a second RAT, wherein the second RAT is not Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the paging function supported by the second SIM, wherein the performing the paging function is performed concurrently with the performing the data communication;
wherein the at least one processor is configured to implement a software defined radio (SDR) to decode data signals of the data communication and paging signals of the paging function;
wherein a plurality of fingers of the Rake receiver are configured for demodulation of data signals of the data communication, and wherein, during paging reception cycles, a subset of the plurality of fingers of the Rake receiver are configured for demodulation of paging signals of the paging function, while the remaining fingers of the plurality of fingers of the Rake receiver remain configured for demodulation of data signals of the data communication.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to implement the SDR to demodulate the data signals of the data communication and the paging signals of the paging function.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the first RAT is the same as the second RAT.

4. The UE of claim 3 , wherein the first RAT and the second RAT are Universal Mobile Telecommunications System-Frequency Division Duplexing (UMTS-FDD).

5. The UE of claim 3 , wherein the radio is configured to perform the data communication using a first instantiation of a protocol stack for the first RAT, and to perform the paging function using a second instantiation of the protocol stack for the same RAT.

6. A method, comprising:
by a user equipment device (UE) comprising a cellular radio:
receiving, via the cellular radio, a data signal of a first radio access technology (RAT) supported by a first subscriber identity module (SIM);
receiving, via the cellular radio, a paging signal of a second RAT supported by a second SIM;
concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal, wherein the concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal comprises:
utilizing all of a plurality of fingers of a Rake receiver to demodulate signals from the first RAT when no signal from the second RAT is present; and
utilizing a first subset of the plurality of fingers of the Rake receiver to demodulate signals from the first RAT and a second subset of the fingers to demodulate signals from the second RAT when a paging signal from the second RAT is present; and

concurrently decoding the data signal and the paging signal at the physical layer using a software defined radio (SDR) implemented by a processor of the UE, wherein the SDR is configured to decode the data signal and the paging signal in a time-interleaved fashion.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal is performed by shared physical layer resources that are shared between the first RAT and the second RAT.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal comprises the SDR demodulating the data signal and the paging signal in a time-interleaved fashion.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first RAT is the same as the second RAT.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first RAT and the second RAT are Universal Mobile Telecommunications System-Frequency Division Duplexing (UMTS-FDD).

11. A non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium comprising program instructions executable by a processor of a communication device, the program instructions causing the communication device to:
receive a data signal of a first radio access technology (RAT) supported by a first subscriber identity module (SIM);
receive a paging signal of a second RAT supported by a second SIM;
concurrently demodulate the data signal and the paging signal, the concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal comprising:
utilizing all of a plurality of fingers of a Rake receiver to demodulate signals from the first RAT when no signal from the second RAT is present; and
utilizing a first subset of the plurality of fingers of the Rake receiver to demodulate signals from the first RAT and a second subset of the fingers to demodulate signals from the second RAT when a paging signal from the second RAT is present; and

concurrently decode the data signal and the paging signal at the physical layer via a software defined radio (SDR) implemented by a processor of the communication device, wherein the SDR is configured to decode the data signal and the paging signal in a time-interleaved fashion.

12. The non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium of claim 11 , wherein concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal is performed by shared physical layer resources that are shared between the first RAT and the second RAT.

13. The non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium of claim 12 , wherein concurrently demodulating the data signal and the paging signal comprises the SDR demodulating the data signal and the paging signal in a time-interleaved fashion.

14. The non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium of claim 11 , wherein the first RAT is the same as the second RAT.

15. An apparatus, comprising:
a first receive chain configured to receive a data signal of a first radio access technology (RAT);
a second receive chain configured to receive a paging signal of a second RAT concurrently with the first receive chain receiving the data signal of the first RAT, wherein the second RAT is not Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM);
a Rake receiver having a plurality of fingers, wherein, at a first time, during a paging reception cycle, a first subset of the fingers are configured to demodulate the paging signal and a second subset of the fingers are configured to concurrently demodulate the data signal, and wherein, at a second time, not during the paging reception cycle, the first subset of fingers and the second subset of fingers are configured to demodulate the data signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a first subscriber identity module (SIM) configured to support the first RAT;
a second SIM configured to support the second RAT.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a software defined radio configured to decode the data signal and the paging signal at the physical layer in a time-interleaved fashion.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a first hardware accelerator configured to decode the data signal; and
a second hardware accelerator configured to decode the paging signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first RAT is the same as the second RAT.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the first RAT and the second RAT are Universal Mobile Telecommunications System-Frequency Division Duplexing (UMTS-FDD).

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Sebeni Johnson O
• Su Li
• Shi Jianxiong

Classifications

• H04B2201/70979

  Fat finger issues in RAKE receivers · CPC title

• H04W8/183

  Processing at user equipment or user record carrier · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04L5/14

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04W72/1215

  for collaboration of different radio technologies · CPC title