Method and apparatus for multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) wireless communication

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) wireless communication. The method includes receiving a communication request, performing a first wireless communication, and performing a second wireless communication. The communication request through a second SIM is received while performing the first SIM-based wireless communication via a plurality of antennas. In response to a number of antennas for the first SIM and the second SIM-based wireless communication being greater than a number of available antennas of a terminal, the first wireless communication is performed based on the first SIM communicating via a first antenna group that is part of the plurality of antennas. The second SIM-based second wireless communication is performed via a second antenna group while performing the first wireless communication, where the second antenna group is different from the first antenna group.

Description

[0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0101391 filed on August 12, 2020, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing wireless communication using multiple Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs). Background Art

[0003] A multi-SIM wireless communication device is a device that uses multiple SIM cards for communication. In some cases, a multi-SIM device uses an external antenna. In various examples, a multi-SIM wireless device can be a mobile phone, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, or laptop computer capable of communicating using a simultaneous communication method.

[0004] A multi-SIM wireless communication device uses radio frequency (RF) resources for communication. Therefore, when a new wireless communication connection request for a second SIM is received while the device is communicating using the first SIM, the device can terminate the existing wireless communication or reject the connection for the new wireless communication.

[0005] In either case, the user may be inconvenienced because the device cannot establish multiple connections for the two SIMs in parallel despite the presence of the two SIMs. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system for communicating using multiple SIMs in parallel. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The inventive concept provides a method and apparatus for simultaneously performing wireless communications by mapping and allocating wireless communication paths and antennas to multiple Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs).

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for wireless communication of multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs) includes: receiving a communication request through a second SIM while communicating with a first SIM using multiple antennas; determining that the sum of the number of antennas used for communicating with the first SIM and the number of antennas used for the communication request through the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas; performing first wireless communication based on the first SIM using a first antenna group including a portion of the multiple antennas; and performing second wireless communication based on the second SIM using a second antenna group while performing the first wireless communication, wherein the second antenna group is different from the first antenna group.

[0008] In addition, a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) wireless communication device includes: a first SIM; a second SIM; a multi-SIM processor configured to perform the following operations: while performing wireless communication based on the first SIM via multiple antennas, receiving a communication request through the second SIM, and when the number of antennas predicted to be used for wireless communication based on the first SIM and the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas, generating a first wireless communication signal based on the first SIM and a second wireless communication signal based on the second SIM; and a communication circuit configured to send the first wireless communication signal via a first antenna group including a portion of the multiple antennas, and send the second wireless communication signal via a second antenna group, wherein the second group is different from the first antenna group.

[0009] A method for scheduling wireless communications of multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs), the method comprising: receiving a communication request through a second SIM while communicating with a first SIM using multiple antennas; determining that the sum of the number of antennas used for wireless communications based on the first SIM and the number of antennas used for wireless communications based on the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas; in response to the determination, allocating a first antenna group including a portion of the multiple antennas to a first wireless communication based on the first SIM; allocating a second antenna group to a second wireless communication based on the second SIM, wherein the second antenna group is distinct from the first antenna group; and scheduling the wireless communications so that a frequency range in which the first wireless communications are performed overlaps a frequency range in which the second wireless communications are performed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Embodiments of the inventive concept will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system according to an example embodiment of the present inventive concept;

[0012] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a protocol stack system according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept;

[0013] Figure 3A and Figure 3B is a diagram of a comparative embodiment of a multiple subscriber identity module (SIM) communication method;

[0014] Figure 4A and Figure 4B are block diagrams of embodiments of a first SIM and a second SIM, respectively;

[0015] Figure 4C is a timing diagram of a wireless communication method by using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0016] Figure 5A is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0017] Figure 5B is an example showing that some antennas allocated to perform a previous first wireless communication are allocated to the first wireless communication, and the remaining antennas are allocated to the second wireless communication according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0018] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0019] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device when the number of available antennas is greater than the number of antennas used for communication using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0020] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device when the number of available antennas is less than the number of antennas used for communication using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0021] Figure 9 is a flowchart of a method of performing a first wireless communication according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0022] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating transmission and reception signals between a base station and a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0023] Figure 11 is a flowchart of a method of performing first wireless communication by mapping each antenna of a first antenna group to a data stream according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0024] Figure 12 is a block diagram illustrating a method of performing wireless communication when an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of a first antenna group is allocated according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0025] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a method of performing wireless communication when an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of a first antenna group is not allocated according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

[0026] Figure 14 is a sequence diagram of a wireless communication method by using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The present disclosure generally relates to multi-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) wireless communications. More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method for allocating different antenna resources to different wireless communication connections of the same wireless communication device. For example, a mobile phone may include two SIM cards and may be within range of two different communication networks. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for simultaneous communication from a first set of antennas to a first SIM card and from a second set of antennas to a second SIM card.

[0028] Conventional wireless communication devices are generally unable to maintain multiple wireless communication connections simultaneously, resulting in connection problems for multi-SIM devices. For example, when resources are used for two wireless connections and the sum of the resources is greater than the available resources, wireless communication cannot be performed simultaneously.

[0029] The present disclosure provides a method for multi-SIM wireless communication. The method includes: receiving a communication request at a multi-SIM device, performing a first wireless communication, and then performing a second wireless communication. The multi-SIM device can receive a communication request associated with a second SIM via multiple antennas while communicating using a first SIM. In some examples, when the number of antennas used for wireless communication based on the first and second SIMs is greater than the number of available antennas of the terminal, the first wireless communication is performed based on the first SIM communicating via a first antenna group including a portion of the multiple antennas, and the second wireless communication is performed based on the second SIM communicating via a second antenna group. The second antenna group is different from the first antenna group.

[0030] Hereinafter, embodiments of the inventive concept will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0031] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system 10 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concepts.

[0032] Reference Figure 1 , the wireless communication system 10 may include a wireless communication device 100 and a first network 210 and a second network 220. The wireless communication device 100 may be fixed or mobile and may be referred to as any device capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or control information by wirelessly communicating with the first network 210 and the second network 220. For example, the wireless communication device 100 may refer to a terminal, terminal equipment, terminal device, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), user terminal (UT), subscriber station (SS), wireless device, handheld device, etc.

[0033] The first network 210 and the second network 220 may include a first base station 211 and a second base station 221, respectively. The first base station 211 or the second base station 221 may refer to a fixed station that communicates with the wireless communication device 100 and / or other base stations, and by communicating with the wireless communication device 100 and / or other base stations, data and control information may be exchanged. For example, the first base station 211 or the second base station 221 may refer to a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next-generation Node B (gNB), a sector, a site, a base transceiver system (BTS), an access point (AP), a relay node, a remote radio head (RRH), a radio unit (RU), a small cell, or the like. In this specification, a station may be generally interpreted as representing some area or function covered by a base station controller (BSC) in code division multiple access (CDMA), a Node B in WCDMA, an eNodeB (eNB) in LTE, a gNB in ​​5G New Radio (NR), or a sector (site). The station may cover all various coverage areas, such as ultra-large cell, macro cell, micro cell, pico cell, femto cell, relay node, RRH, RU, and small cell communication range.

[0034] The wireless communication device 100 can access the first network 210 via the first base station 211, and can access the second network 220 via the second base station 221. The wireless communication device 100 can communicate with the first network 210 and the second network 220 according to any radio access technology (RAT). For example, the wireless communication device 100 can communicate with the first network 210 and the second network 220 according to a fifth generation (5G) system, a 5G NR system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a CDMA system, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, or any other RAT, as non-limiting examples. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 can communicate with the first network 210 and the second network 220 according to the same RAT, and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 can communicate with the first network 210 and the second network 220 according to different RATs.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication device 100 may include an antenna array 140, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) 130, a multi-SIM processor 120, and m SIMs (e.g., 111, 112, and 113) (where m is an integer greater than 1). The antenna array 140 may include at least one antenna and receive RF signals from the first base station 211 and the second base station 221, or transmit RF signals to the first base station 211 and the second base station 221. In an embodiment of the present inventive concept, the antenna array 140 may include multiple antennas for multiple input and multiple output (MIMO).

[0036] The RFIC 130 may include hardware coupled to the antenna array 140 and the multi-SIM processor 120, and may provide RF resources (e.g., RF paths) for wireless communication. For example, the RFIC 130 may be a transceiver that processes RF signals received from the antenna array 140 and provides a received signal RX as a baseband signal to the multi-SIM processor 120, and processes a transmit signal TX as a baseband signal to provide an RF signal to the antenna array 140. The RFIC 130 may be controlled by the multi-SIM processor 120 and may include, as non-limiting examples, switches, matching circuits, filters, amplifiers, mixers, and the like.

[0037] The multi-SIM processor 120 can communicate with the RFIC 130 by using baseband signals RX and TX, and can be coupled with m SIMs (e.g., 111, 112, 113, etc.). Figure 1 In the embodiment of the present invention, the first SIM 111 may include information for accessing the first network 210 via the first wireless communication 11, and the second SIM 112 may include information for accessing the second network 220 via the second wireless communication 12. Figure 2 As described, the multi-SIM processor 120 may have an architecture for handling connections associated with the first SIM 111 and connections associated with the second SIM 112. In some embodiments, the multi-SIM processor 120 may include a hardware block designed using logic synthesis, a processing unit including at least one processor that executes a software block and a series of commands, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the multi-SIM processor 120 may be a modem or a baseband processor.

[0038] m SIMs (e.g., 111, 112, 113, etc.) can support multi-SIM (MS) wireless communications. Figure 1 , the first SIM 111 can perform a first wireless communication 11 associated with a first network 210 including a first base station 211, and the second SIM 112 can perform a second wireless communication 12 associated with a second network 220 including a second base station 221. The first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 can be referred to as a first connection and a second connection, respectively, or as a first subscription and a second subscription, respectively. According to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, the wireless communication device 100 can perform the first wireless communication 11 by using the first antenna group of the antenna array 140. Additionally or alternatively, the wireless communication device 100 can perform the second wireless communication 12 by using a second antenna group that does not overlap with the first antenna group.

[0039] As in the example described above, when two wireless communications based on two SIMs (e.g., 111 and 112) are performed, the wireless communication device 100 can be called a dual SIM device and can operate as a dual receive (DR) single transmit dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) (DR-DSDS) device or a dual SIM dual communication (DSDA) device.

[0040] The multi-SIM processor 120 of the wireless communication device 100 can receive data streams from multiple SIMs and determine an antenna to be used to transmit data corresponding to each data stream of the antenna array 140. Thus, the multi-SIM processor 120 can allocate antennas for communication between the SIMs and efficiently use limited antenna resources by dynamically determining the number of antennas to be allocated based on the communication performance of the SIMs. For example, when the first SIM 111 transmits two data streams to the multi-SIM processor 120 to perform a first wireless communication 11, the multi-SIM processor 120 can allocate two antennas in the antenna array 140 to transmit the data corresponding to the two data streams. Additionally or alternatively, if the first SIM 111 determines that the communication quality is lower than the previous communication quality, the multi-SIM processor 120 can allocate one antenna to the first wireless communication 11 by receiving one data stream, and the wireless communication device 100 can use the additional antenna for wireless communication with the other SIMs in the multiple SIMs other than the first SIM 111.

[0041] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a protocol stack system 20 according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0042] Figure 2 2 shows a control plane of a protocol stack system 20 having a first protocol stack 21 and a second protocol stack 22. In some embodiments, Figure 2 The protocol stack system 20 can be composed of Figure 1 The multi-SIM processor 120 in the embodiment is implemented, and the multi-SIM processor 120 can be implemented by using Figure 2 The protocol stack system 20 is used to perform operations for wireless communication. Figure 2 At least some of the blocks shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented as hardware logic in some embodiments, or as software modules to be executed by at least one processor in some embodiments.

[0043] Reference Figure 2 The protocol stack system 20 may include a first protocol stack (protocol stack 1) 21 and a second protocol stack (protocol stack 2) 22 based on the first SIM 111 and the second SIM 112, respectively. Figure 1As described, each of the first protocol stack 21 and the second protocol stack 22 can support any RAT. In some embodiments, the protocol stack 1 21 and the second protocol stack 22 can interact with a shared upper layer. For example, the shared upper layer can be an application layer, and the upper layer can provide an interface for a program that obtains information about the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 or provides a command. The upper layer can be implemented in the multi-SIM processor 120, or in another device separate from the multi-SIM processor 120. In addition, the protocol stack system 20 may include a hardware interface 24 shared by the first protocol stack 21 and the second protocol stack 22. The hardware interface 24 can provide hardware, for example, to Figure 1 The first protocol stack 21 and the second protocol stack 22 may provide signals to or obtain signals from the RFIC 130 via the hardware interface 24. In some embodiments, the hardware interface 24 may refer to a driver of the RFIC 130.

[0044] Each of the first protocol stack 21, the second protocol stack 22, ..., and the mth protocol stack (protocol stack m) 23 of the control plane may include multiple layers. Figure 2 As shown, the first protocol stack 21 may include a first layer L1, a second layer L2, and a third layer L3, and the first layer L1, the second layer L2, and the third layer L3 may correspond to the three lower layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. For example, in LTE or 5G NR, the physical (PHY) layer may be included in the first layer L1, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer may be included in the second layer L2, and the radio resource control (RRC) layer and the non-access stratum (NAS) layer may be included in the third layer L3. Similar to the first protocol stack 21, the second protocol stack 22 may also include a first layer L1, a second layer L2, and a third layer L3. In this specification, operations performed by the first protocol stack 21 may be referred to as operations performed by the first SIM 111, and operations performed by the second protocol stack 22 may be referred to as operations performed by the second SIM 112.

[0045] Figure 3A and Figure 3B is a diagram of a comparative embodiment of a multi-SIM communication method.

[0046] According to an embodiment, the multi-SIM processor 120 may determine whether simultaneous transmission of the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b is possible based on RF resources such as antennas. If the multi-SIM processor 120 determines that simultaneous transmission is possible, some of the RF resources of the RFIC 130 may be allocated to each of the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b. For example, when the number of antennas used for the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b is less than the number of available antennas, some of the available antennas may be allocated to each of the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b.

[0047] However, while the first SIM 111 performs wireless communication via some of the plurality of transmission antennas, when the multi-SIM processor 120 receives a request for the second wireless communication 320b from the second SIM 112, a number of antennas greater than the number of available antennas may be used for the second wireless communication 320b. Figure 3A Even when a request for the second wireless communication 320b is received from the second SIM 112, the terminal device 310 can establish communication with the first mobile network (mobile network 1) by sending a signal of the first wireless communication 320a to the first base station 211, but since the signal of the second wireless communication 320b is not sent to the second base station 221, communication cannot be established with the second mobile network (mobile network 2) 220.

[0048] Reference Figure 3B , after receiving a request for the second wireless communication 320b from the second SIM 112 and a certain period of time has passed, by blocking the first wireless communication 320a and allocating at least some of the antennas that have been allocated to the first wireless communication 320a to the second wireless communication 320b, the terminal device 310 can transmit a signal of the second wireless communication 320b to the second base station 221. In other words, when the number of antennas used for the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b is greater than the number of available antennas, the terminal device 310 can exclusively perform the first wireless communication 320a and the second wireless communication 320b.

[0049] Figure 4A and 4B are block diagrams of embodiments of a first SIM 410a and a second SIM 410b, respectively, and Figure 4C is a timing diagram of a wireless communication method by using the first SIM 410 a and the second SIM 410 b according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0050] The first SIM 410a of the wireless communication device may divide the data packet into a plurality of data streams to perform the first wireless communication, and the wireless communication device may generate a wireless communication signal corresponding to the number of data streams and allocate an antenna for the first wireless communication. Figure 4A For wireless communication, the first SIM 410a may divide the data packet into two data streams DS1 and DS2 and send the two data streams DS1 and DS2 to the precoding processor 421 in the multi-SIM processor 420. After receiving the two data streams DS1 and DS2, the precoding processor 421 may generate two wireless communication signals respectively.

[0051] According to an embodiment, the precoding processor 421 may convert the two received data streams DS1 and DS2 into wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2, respectively, based on a precoding matrix. As an example, the precoding processor 421 may generate orthogonal wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 to each other based on the precoding matrix. Therefore, when multiple wireless communication signals are transmitted via the antenna of the communication device, interference may not occur. The precoding matrix for satisfying the orthogonality of the communication signals may include one of the matrices in Table 1 below.

[0052] Table 1

[0053]

[0054] According to an embodiment, when a wireless communication device requests communication with a base station via multiple wireless communication signals, the base station may transmit a transmit precoding matrix index (TPMI) to the wireless communication device. The TPMI may be an index value assigned to the wireless communication device based on the signal reception status of the base station, and according to Table 1, the base station may assign one of three index values ​​TPMI[0] to TPMI[2] to the wireless communication device. The precoding processor 421 of the wireless communication device that receives the TPMI value may convert the data streams DS1 and DS2 into wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2, respectively, using a matrix corresponding to the TPMI value.

[0055] The RFIC 430 of the wireless communication device can transmit wireless communication signals to the network via the RF path. Figure 4A , the RFIC 430 can receive the two wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 of the precoding processor 421 and send the wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 to the network via the two available antennas of the antenna array 440 respectively.

[0056] When the precoding processor 421 receives a communication request from the second SIM 410b, the precoding processor 421 may determine whether there are any allocatable antennas other than the antennas allocated for the first wireless communication by the first SIM 410a. Additionally or alternatively, when the precoding processor 421 determines that the number of allocatable antennas is less than the number of antennas used for the second wireless communication by the second SIM 410b, the second wireless communication may be performed after maintaining the first wireless communication for a specific period of time.

[0057] Reference Figure 4B , the precoding processor 421 may generate two wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 by blocking the reception of the data stream from the first SIM 410a and receiving the two data streams DS1 and DS2 from the second SIM 410b. In other words, when it is determined that the number of antennas used to perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication is greater than the number of available antennas, the wireless communication device may block the first wireless communication and perform the second wireless communication.

[0058] Therefore, refer to Figure 4C The multi-SIM processor 120 can alternately perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication by using RF switching, and may not perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication simultaneously. If the first wireless communication is blocked for a long time to perform the second wireless communication, the wireless communication device may lose the connection with the base station used to perform the first wireless communication, and during the period for recovering the lost connection, communication may be performed inefficiently due to data loss.

[0059] Figure 5A is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, and Figure 5B is an example illustrating that some of antennas allocated to perform a previous first wireless communication are allocated to the first wireless communication and the remaining antennas are allocated to the second wireless communication according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0060] Reference Figure 5A and Figure 5B , when the number of antennas used for the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication is greater than the number of available antennas, by allocating a first antenna group among the available antennas to the first wireless communication and allocating a second antenna group among the available antennas to the second wireless communication, both the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication can be performed simultaneously.

[0061] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multi-SIM processor may receive a communication request from the second SIM while performing the first wireless communication based on the first SIM (S100). The multi-SIM processor may compare the number of antennas used for the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication with the number of available antennas (S200). The multi-SIM processor may determine the number of antennas obtained by subtracting the number of antennas allocated to the wireless communication for the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication from the total number of antennas as the number of available antennas. The multi-SIM processor may determine the number of antennas by using the number of data streams received from the first SIM and the second SIM. The comparison of the number of used antennas with the number of available antennas is not limited to this, and may include: receiving a data stream from the second SIM by the multi-SIM processor, and determining by the multi-SIM processor whether an error occurs due to a lack of antennas for transmitting wireless communication signals.

[0062] When the multi-SIM processor determines that the number of used antennas is less than the number of available antennas, the multi-SIM processor may simultaneously perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication by allocating antennas other than the antennas allocated for the previous first wireless communication among the available antennas to the second wireless communication (S300).

[0063] Therefore, in some examples, a multi-SIM device receives a communication request from a second SIM while communicating with a first SIM using multiple antennas. The multi-SIM processor then determines that the sum of the number of antennas used for wireless communication based on the first SIM and the number of antennas used for wireless communication based on the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas (e.g., the total number of antennas in the multi-SIM device). In response to the determination, the processor allocates a first antenna group including a portion of the multiple antennas to the first wireless communication based on the first SIM and allocates a second antenna group to the second wireless communication based on the second SIM, wherein the second antenna group is distinct from the first antenna group.

[0064] The multi-SIM device then schedules wireless communications for the first and second SIMs using the first and second antenna groups, respectively, and in some cases, performs wireless communications such that a frequency range in which the first wireless communications are performed overlaps a frequency range in which the second wireless communications are performed.

[0065] Reference Figure 5BWhen the multi-SIM processor determines that the number of antennas to be used is greater than the number of available antennas, the first wireless communication may be performed via the first antenna group 520, where the first antenna group 520 may be a portion of the antennas in the plurality of antennas 510 previously allocated to the first wireless communication (S400). In other words, the wireless communication device 500 may perform the first wireless communication using the first antenna group 520 (which may be a portion of the antennas in the plurality of antennas 510 previously allocated to the first wireless communication), and by not allocating the remaining antenna group or the second antenna group 521 to the first wireless communication, the remaining antenna group (i.e., the second antenna group 521) may be reserved as an antenna that can be used to perform the second wireless communication.

[0066] The multi-SIM processor may perform the second wireless communication (S500) via the second antenna group 521 different from the first antenna group 520. In other words, the wireless communication device 500 may perform the second wireless communication by allocating, to the second wireless communication, an available antenna reserved for performing the second wireless communication among the antennas 510 previously allocated to the first wireless communication.

[0067] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0068] Reference Figure 6 The multi-SIM processor 620 may receive first to nth data streams DS1_1 to DSm_n from multiple SIMs (e.g., the first SIM 611, the second SIM 612, and the nth SIM 613), and transmit first to kth wireless communication signals TX1 to TXk to the RFIC 630 based on the received first to nth data streams DS1_1 to DSm_n. The multi-SIM processor 620 may transmit the first to kth wireless communication signals TX1 to TXk to the network via the antenna array 640. The wireless communication device may transmit the first to kth wireless communication signals TX1 to TXk to one base station via multiple antennas, but embodiments are not limited thereto. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication device may transmit the first to kth wireless communication signals TX1 to TXk to multiple base stations based on antennas assigned to each of the SIMs (e.g., 611, 612, or 613). For example, when performing a first wireless communication based on the first SIM 611, the multi-SIM processor 620 may assign a first antenna group to the first wireless communication, and the first antenna group may transmit the first wireless communication signal to the first base station.

[0069] A SIM (e.g., 611, 612, or 613) may divide a data packet into multiple data streams based on the capacity of the data to be transmitted. When a larger amount of data is to be transmitted, the SIM (e.g., 611, 612, or 613) may divide the data packet into more data streams. For example, the SIM (e.g., 611, 612, or 613) may send the first to fourth data streams to the multi-SIM processor 620 based on the size of the data packet. When a large amount of data is to be transmitted, the SIM (e.g., 611, 612, or 613) may divide the data packet into four data streams and send the four data streams to the multi-SIM processor 620. However, the number of data streams is not limited to being determined based on the capacity of the data and may be determined based on uplink layer information received from the base station.

[0070] The multi-SIM processor 620 according to the embodiment can generate wireless communication signals corresponding to the number of data streams and can allocate as many antennas as the number of data streams for wireless communication. As an example, the multi-SIM processor 620 that has received four data streams from the first SIM 611 can generate four wireless communication signals and allocate four antennas for performing the first wireless communication. However, as will be described later, Figure 13 As described, when it is determined that the data streams can be merged, the multi-SIM processor 620 can generate wireless communication signals corresponding to the number of merged data streams and allocate antennas.

[0071] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device when the number of available antennas is greater than the number of antennas used for communication using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0072] Reference Figure 7 According to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, a wireless communication device may receive a request for a second wireless communication from a second SIM card 712 while performing a first wireless communication based on a first SIM card 711. The multi-SIM processor 720 may determine whether the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication can be performed simultaneously based on the number of data streams received from the second SIM card 712. The multi-SIM processor 720 may determine the number of antennas to use based on the number of received data streams and compare the number of available antennas in the antenna array 740 that are not allocated for the first wireless communication with the number of antennas to use. Additionally or alternatively, when the number of available antennas is greater than or equal to the number of antennas to use, the multi-SIM processor 720 may simultaneously perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication by generating wireless communication signals corresponding to the number of data streams received from the second SIM card 712 and transmitting the wireless communication signals via the available antennas.

[0073] Reference Figure 7 In an example embodiment, the multi-SIM processor 720 may generate two first wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 by receiving two first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 from the first SIM 711. The first wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 may be used to perform the first wireless communication via the first antenna group in the antenna array 740. Additionally or alternatively, upon receiving a second wireless communication including two second data streams DS2_1 and DS2_2 from the second SIM 712, the multi-SIM processor 720 may determine whether any of the available antennas are allocable for performing the second wireless communication. Because two of the four antennas 740 of the wireless communication device are allocated for the first wireless communication, the multi-SIM processor 720 may determine that both antennas are available. After generating second wireless communication signals TX3 and TX4 corresponding to the second data streams DS2_1 and DS2_2, because the number of antennas used to transmit the second wireless communication signals TX3 and TX4 is two, the multi-SIM processor 720 may simultaneously perform the first and second wireless communications by allocating the available antennas in the antenna array 740 to the second wireless communication.

[0074] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the precoding processor 721 of the multi-SIM processor 720 can determine a precoding matrix based on the TPMI assigned by the base station, and convert each of the multiple data streams into multiple wireless communication signals based on the determined precoding matrix. The precoding processor may include a component implemented as a software module to be executed by the same hardware module as the multi-SIM processor. When a base station for wireless communication is determined for each SIM, the wireless communication device can convert the data stream into a wireless communication signal by receiving the TPMI from each base station. In other words, the precoding processor 721 can generate the first wireless communication signal and the second wireless communication signal by distinguishing the precoding matrix used to generate the first wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 from the precoding matrix used to generate the second wireless communication signals TX3 and TX4.

[0075] For example, when the first SIM 711 communicates with the first network and the second SIM 712 communicates with the second network, the wireless communication device may receive different TPMIs from the first network and the second network, respectively. Therefore, the precoding processor 721 may convert the first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 received from the first SIM 711 into first wireless communication signals TX1 and TX2 based on a first precoding matrix, and may convert the second data streams DS2_1 and DS2_2 received from the second SIM 712 into second wireless communication signals TX3 and TX4 based on a second precoding matrix.

[0076] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating signal transmission and reception of a wireless communication device when the number of available antennas is less than the number of antennas used for communication using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0077] Reference Figure 8 When a request for a second wireless communication is received from the second SIM 812 while performing the first wireless communication, the multi-SIM processor 820 may compare the number of available antennas in the antenna array 840 that are not allocated to the first wireless communication with the number of antennas used for the second wireless communication. Additionally or alternatively, when the number of available antennas is less than the number of antennas used, Figure 7 Unlike the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the wireless communication device may not perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication at the same time.

[0078] According to an embodiment of the present invention, by reducing the number of first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 received from the first SIM 811 based on uplink layer information received from the network, fewer antennas can be allocated for the first wireless communication, and the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication can be performed simultaneously by allocating the available antennas to the second wireless communication. According to another embodiment of the present invention, by combining at least some of the first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 received from the first SIM 811, the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication can be performed simultaneously. Figures 9 to 14 A method of simultaneously performing first wireless communication and second wireless communication is described in detail.

[0079] Figure 9 is a flowchart of a method of performing a first wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, and Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating transmission signals and reception signals between the first base station 1050 and the wireless communication device 1000 according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0080] According to the embodiment, the wireless communication device 1000 can receive a communication request from the second SIM, and when it is determined that the number of available antennas is less than the number of antennas to be used, by allocating the first antenna group 1041 of the multiple antennas 1040 that previously performed the first wireless communication to the first wireless communication, the remaining antennas of the second antenna group 1042 can be allocated to the second wireless communication.

[0081] The wireless communication device 1000 may transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) to the first base station 1050 via the first antenna group 1041 among the plurality of antennas 1040 that previously performed the first wireless communication (S410). The SRS may be a reference signal transmitted from the wireless communication device 1000, and the first base station 1050 may determine the current channel state of the wireless communication device 1000 based on the SRS transmitted via the first antenna group 1041.

[0082] The first base station 1050 can select an antenna for performing the first wireless communication by receiving an SRS for each antenna in the first antenna group 1041 and measuring the SRS. Figure 10 When wireless communication device 1000 transmits an SRS via first antenna group 1041, first base station 1050 receives the SRS using fewer antennas than previously allocated for the first wireless communication. Therefore, wireless communication device 1000 can allocate fewer uplink layers than previously allocated for performing the first wireless communication. For example, if the first wireless communication was already being performed via two antennas before receiving a request for the second wireless communication, wireless communication device 1000 can transmit the SRS via one antenna after receiving the request for the second wireless communication.

[0083] The first base station 1050 may determine the number of uplink layers based on the channel state of the wireless communication device 1000, and transmit a signal including information about the number of uplink layers to the wireless communication device 1000 via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (S420). The number of uplink layers may correspond to the number of data streams generated by the SIM for transmitting data in the wireless communication device 1000.

[0084] Reference Figure 10 When the first base station 1050 receives the SRS via one antenna after the wireless communication device 1000 receives the request for the second wireless communication, the first base station 1050 may allocate the uplink layers, which were previously two but have been reduced to one, as the uplink layer for the first wireless communication. The first base station 1050 may transmit a command signal for allocating one uplink layer to the wireless communication device 1000 via the PDCCH.

[0085] The first SIM may generate as many data streams as the number of uplink layers received via the PDCCH (S430). Additionally or alternatively, as many uplink layers as the number of antennas in the first antenna group 1041 may be allocated, and thus, the first SIM may generate as many data streams as the number of antennas in the first antenna group 1041.

[0086] The multi-SIM processor may generate a first wireless communication signal corresponding to the number of data streams, and the wireless communication device 1000 may perform the first wireless communication by transmitting the first wireless communication signal through the first antenna group 1041 (S440). Thereafter, the wireless communication device 1000 may perform the second wireless communication through the second antenna group 1042 other than the first antenna group 1041 among the plurality of antennas 1040 that have previously performed the first wireless communication.

[0087] In order to simultaneously perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication, the wireless communication device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept may allocate some of the antennas for the first wireless communication that were already being performed before receiving a request for the second wireless communication to the second wireless communication. The wireless communication device 1000 may transmit and receive data via the first antenna group 1041 among the multiple antennas 1040, and may cause the first base station 1050 to allocate fewer uplink layers than the previously allocated uplink layers in the first wireless communication.

[0088] Figure 11 is a flowchart of a method of performing first wireless communication by mapping each antenna of a first antenna group to a data stream according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0089] According to the embodiment, the wireless communication device can allocate uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group by causing the base station to reduce the number of uplink layers, but when the base station is not caused to reduce the number of uplink layers, the wireless communication device can merge some data streams to generate a wireless communication signal corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group.

[0090] The multi-SIM processor may determine whether the number of antennas in the first antenna group is greater than or equal to the number of uplink layers received via the PDCCH (S431). When the multi-SIM processor determines that the number of antennas in the first antenna group is greater than or equal to the number of uplink layers, the wireless communication device may proceed to operation S434 to perform first wireless communication, and when it is determined that the number of uplink layers is greater than the number of antennas in the first antenna group, the operation may proceed to operation S432 to merge some of the data streams.

[0091] Because the number of uplink layers to be reduced is not reduced, the multi-SIM processor may determine that the number of uplink layers of the first antenna group is greater than the number of antennas of the first antenna group (S432). Therefore, some of the data streams received from the first SIM may be combined to generate a wireless communication signal corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group. According to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, the precoding processor may combine the multiple data streams based on the combined precoding matrix.

[0092] The multi-SIM processor may generate a wireless communication signal based on the combined data stream, and the RFIC may distribute the wireless communication signal to the antennas in the first antenna group and transmit the distributed wireless communication signal to the network (S433).

[0093] When the uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group is allocated, the multi-SIM processor may receive a data stream corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group (S434). The multi-SIM processor may generate a wireless communication signal corresponding to the data stream based on the precoding matrix, and the RFIC may allocate the wireless communication signal to the antennas of the first antenna group and transmit the allocated wireless communication signal to the network.

[0094] Therefore, the wireless communication device can perform first wireless communication via the first antenna group, and by performing second wireless communication via the second antenna group different from the first antenna group, the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication can be performed simultaneously even when RF resources such as antennas are limited.

[0095] Figure 12 is a block diagram illustrating a method of performing wireless communication when an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas in the first antenna group 1241 is allocated according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0096] Reference Figure 12 , when a request for a second wireless communication is received while performing the first wireless communication and the number of antennas used is greater than the number of available antennas, the first SIM 1211 and the second SIM 1212 can simultaneously perform the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication by respectively reducing the data flow corresponding to the number of uplink layers.

[0097] Figure 12 The multi-SIM processor 1220 can be configured according to Figure 8In one embodiment, two data streams are received from a first SIM card 1211 and a second SIM card 1212, respectively, and the number of antennas used for the first and second wireless communications may be determined to be four, which may be greater than two or the number of available antennas. The multi-SIM processor 1220 may transmit and receive data via a first antenna group 1241, which may be part of an antenna array 1240 previously allocated for the first wireless communication. Based on information regarding the number of uplink layers, the first SIM card 1211 may allocate one uplink layer, which is less than the two uplink layers previously allocated for the first wireless communication. By allocating one uplink layer to the first SIM card 1211, the first SIM card 1211 generates one data stream DS1 and performs the first wireless communication via the first antenna group 1241 of the antenna array 1240 previously allocated for the first wireless communication. Similar to the first wireless communication, the second wireless communication of the second SIM card 1212 may be performed via the second antenna group 1242 by reducing the number of data streams generated by the second SIM card 1212 to correspond to the number of uplink layers.

[0098] according to Figure 12 The embodiment shows a case where the first wireless communication and the second wireless communication are simultaneously performed by reducing multiple data streams to one and sending a wireless communication signal via one antenna, but the embodiment is not limited thereto, and it may also be a case where the wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention performs the first wireless communication via a first antenna group including multiple antennas, and performs the second wireless communication via a second antenna group including multiple antennas.

[0099] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a method of performing wireless communication when an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of a first antenna group is not allocated according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0100] Figure 13 Embodiments may include an embodiment in which the wireless communication device has caused the base station to allocate fewer uplink layers than previously allocated, but because the channel state is determined not to have degraded to the point where the reduced uplink layers are used, the uplink layers are allocated without being reduced. If the uplink layers are not reduced, the multi-SIM processor 1320 may receive two data streams from the first SIM 1311 as before and combine the two data streams into a single data stream to generate a single first wireless communication signal TX1. By generating a single first wireless communication signal TX1 based on the two data streams, the multi-SIM processor 1320 may perform the first wireless communication via the first antenna group 1341 in the antenna array 1340.

[0101] By receiving the second data stream DS2 from the second SIM 1312 and generating a second wireless communication signal TX2 based on the received data stream, the wireless communication device can perform second wireless communication via the second antenna group 1342 in the antenna array 1340 .

[0102] The precoding processor 1321 of the multi-SIM processor 1320 may convert the first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 into a first wireless communication signal TX1 based on a combined precoding matrix. The combined precoding matrix may include a matrix for combining the first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2, and may include, for example, one of the matrices in Table 2.

[0103] Table 2

[0104]

[0105] The precoding processor 1321 may combine the first data streams DS1_1 and DS1_2 and / or the second data stream DS2 by selecting one of the matrices in Table 2 according to the transmission and reception states of the first SIM 1311 and the second SIM 1312. As an example, when data is being transmitted and received to and from the first SIM 1311 while data is being transmitted to the second SIM 1312, the precoding processor 1321 may combine the data streams based on the combined precoding matrix M_TPMI[0].

[0106] An independent demodulation reference signal (DMRS) may be stored in each of the data streams generated by the SIM, and even when the precoding processor 1321 combines the data streams into a wireless communication signal, the base station may identify each channel as an independent channel by using the DMRS.

[0107] Figure 14 is a sequence diagram of a wireless communication method by using a first SIM and a second SIM according to an embodiment of the inventive concept.

[0108] Reference Figure 14 The wireless communication device may be in a state of performing first wireless communication during a first time period T1 and may generate a first wireless communication signal by receiving a first data stream from a first SIM. During the first time period T1, the wireless communication device may transmit the first wireless communication signal to a network via a plurality of antennas including first antenna group antenna 1 and second antenna group antenna 2.

[0109] The wireless communication device may enter a second time period T2 by receiving a request for second wireless communication from a second SIM card, and the multi-SIM processor may determine whether the second wireless communication can be performed using available antennas other than the multiple antennas that were already performing the first wireless communication during the first time period T1. If it is determined that the second wireless communication cannot be performed using the available antennas, the multi-SIM processor may reduce the number of antennas allocated to the first wireless communication so that the second wireless communication can be performed via the second antenna group antenna 2 of the multiple antennas. During the second time period T2, the wireless communication device can simultaneously perform the first and second wireless communications by allocating the first antenna group antenna 1 to the first wireless communication and the second antenna group antenna 2, which is different from the first antenna group antenna 1, to the second wireless communication.

[0110] During the third time period T3, when it is determined that the communication request from the second SIM is completed, the wireless communication device may re-assign the second antenna group antenna 2 that has been assigned to the second wireless communication back to the first wireless communication. Figure 14 The figure shows a case where, upon receiving a communication termination request from the second SIM during the third time period T3, the wireless communication device allocates the second antenna group antenna 2 to the first wireless communication. However, embodiments of the present inventive concept are not limited to this, and embodiments may also involve the wireless communication device allocating the first antenna group antenna 1, which had already been allocated to the first wireless communication, to the second wireless communication upon receiving a communication termination request from the first SIM. Thus, by scheduling antenna allocation based on start and termination requests from the first or second wireless communication, the wireless communication device can efficiently perform multi-SIM wireless communication.

[0111] While the inventive concept has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication of multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs), comprising: receiving a communication request through the second SIM while communicating with the first SIM using the plurality of antennas; determining that a sum of the number of antennas used for communication with the first SIM and the number of antennas used for the communication request by the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas; performing a first wireless communication based on the first SIM using a first antenna group including a portion of the plurality of antennas; as well as While performing the first wireless communication, a second wireless communication based on the second SIM is performed using a second antenna group, wherein the second antenna group is different from the first antenna group.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The step of performing the first wireless communication includes: Sending a sounding reference signal (SRS) via a first antenna group; receiving information about the number of uplink layers corresponding to the first antenna group via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) corresponding to the SRS; and A data stream is generated based on the information about the number of uplink layers.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The step of performing the first wireless communication includes: determining whether an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group is allocated; and In response to a case where uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are allocated, first wireless communication is performed.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The first wireless communication is performed by allocating the data streams to the first antenna group.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The step of performing the first wireless communication includes: In response to a situation where uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are not allocated, merging at least some of the data streams; and A first wireless communication is performed by allocating the combined data stream to the first antenna group.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Combining at least some of the data streams includes combining the data streams corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The step of combining at least some of the data streams comprises combining the data streams based on a combining precoding matrix.

8. A multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) wireless communication device, comprising: First SIM; Second SIM; a multi-SIM processor configured to perform the following operations: receive a communication request through the second SIM while performing wireless communication based on the first SIM via a plurality of antennas, and generate a first wireless communication signal based on the first SIM and a second wireless communication signal based on the second SIM when the number of antennas predicted to be used for wireless communication based on the first SIM and the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas; as well as The communication circuit is configured to transmit a first wireless communication signal via a first antenna group including a portion of the plurality of antennas and to transmit a second wireless communication signal via a second antenna group, wherein the second antenna group is distinct from the first antenna group.

9. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 8, wherein: The communication circuit transmits a sounding reference signal (SRS) via a first antenna group, and receives information about the number of uplink layers corresponding to the first antenna group via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) corresponding to the SRS, and The first SIM generates a data stream based on the information about the number of uplink layers.

10. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 9, wherein: The multi-SIM processor determines whether uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are allocated, and generates a first wireless communication signal in response to a situation in which uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are allocated.

11. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The multi-SIM processor generates a first wireless communication signal corresponding to the data stream.

12. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The multi-SIM processor combines at least some of the data streams in response to uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group not being allocated, and generates a first wireless communication signal based on the combined data streams.

13. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 12, wherein: The multi-SIM processor combines the data streams corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group.

14. The multi-SIM wireless communication device according to claim 12, wherein: The multi-SIM processor combines the data streams based on a combining precoding matrix.

15. A method for scheduling wireless communications of multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs), the method comprising: receiving a communication request through the second SIM while communicating with the first SIM using the plurality of antennas; determining that a sum of the number of antennas used for wireless communication based on the first SIM and the number of antennas used for wireless communication based on the second SIM is greater than the number of available antennas; In response to the determination, allocating a first antenna group including a portion of the plurality of antennas to a first wireless communication based on the first SIM; assigning a second antenna group to a second wireless communication based on a second SIM, wherein the second antenna group is distinct from the first antenna group; as well as The wireless communications are scheduled such that a frequency range in which the first wireless communications are performed overlaps a frequency range in which the second wireless communications are performed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein: The step of allocating the first antenna group to the first wireless communication comprises: Sending a sounding reference signal (SRS) via a first antenna group; receiving information about the number of uplink layers corresponding to the first antenna group via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) corresponding to the SRS; and A data stream is generated based on the information about the number of uplink layers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein: The step of allocating the first antenna group to the first wireless communication comprises: determining whether an uplink layer corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group is allocated; and In response to a case where uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are allocated, the first antenna group is allocated to the first wireless communication.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein: The step of allocating the first antenna group to the first wireless communication comprises: In response to a situation where uplink layers corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group are not allocated, merging at least some of the data streams; and The first antenna group is assigned to the first wireless communication by assigning the combined data stream to the first antenna group.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein: Combining at least some of the data streams includes combining the data streams corresponding to the number of antennas of the first antenna group.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein: The step of combining at least some of the data streams comprises combining the data streams based on a combining precoding matrix.

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