User terminal including multiple user identification modules

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) is disclosed, comprising: a first user identification module corresponding to a first cellular network, a second user identification module corresponding to a second cellular network, a wireless communication circuit, and a processor operably connected to the first user identification module, the second user identification module, and the wireless communication circuit. The processor is configured to: control the UE to perform data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN‑DC) through the wireless communication circuit using first identification information of the first user identification module; detect an activity that triggers data communication through the second cellular network; and in response to detecting the activity, connect data communication with the second cellular network through the wireless communication circuit using the second identification information of the second user identification module, and maintain support for EN‑DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE), for example, to a UE including two or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs) and supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC). Background Art

[0002] In order to meet the growing demand for wireless data services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "super 4G networks" or "post-LTE systems". 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands (e.g., 60GHz bands) in order to achieve higher data rates. In order to reduce the path loss of radio waves and increase the transmission distance, beamforming, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming and large antenna technologies are considered for 5G communication systems in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development of system network improvements is being carried out based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communications, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, collaborative communications, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), receiving-end interference elimination, etc. In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coded modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed.

[0003] A user identity module (SIM) may be an IC card storing user information of a user equipment (UE) for wireless network communication. A UE may include a single SIM, and a UE may include two or more SIMs, thereby accessing a wireless network using multiple identification information using respective SIMs.

[0004] The above information is provided as background information only to assist in understanding the present disclosure. No determination or assertion is made as to whether any of the above may be applicable as prior art to the present disclosure. Summary of the invention

[0005] Technical issues

[0006] A user equipment (UE) supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) may also include two or more SIMs. In this case, the UE may perform unnecessary EN-DC operations on SIM stacks not used for data communication, which may increase the complexity of implementation and the amount of current consumed.

[0007] Solution to the problem

[0008] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a UE and a method performed by the UE, the UE including two or more SIMs and designed not to perform unnecessary EN-DC operations on a SIM stack not used for data communication and reducing the complexity of implementation software and the amount of current consumed.

[0009] According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) may include: a first user identification module corresponding to a first cellular network; a second user identification module corresponding to a second cellular network; a wireless communication circuit; and a processor operably connected to the first user identification module, the second user identification module and the wireless communication circuit; wherein the processor may be configured to: control the UE to perform data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) through the wireless communication circuit using first identification information of the first user identification module; detect an activity that triggers data communication through the second cellular network; and in response to detecting the activity, execute a process of connecting data communication with the second cellular network through the wireless communication circuit using the second identification information of the second user identification module, and maintain the UE's capability to support EN-DC associated with the first cellular network.

[0010] According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a UE may include: performing data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) using first identification information of a first user identification module; detecting an activity that triggers data communication through a second cellular network; and in response to detecting the activity, performing a process of detecting data communication with the second cellular network using second identification information of a second user identification module, and maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network of the UE capability.

[0011] Beneficial effects of the present invention

[0012] According to various example embodiments, a UE and a method performed by the UE are provided, the UE including two or more SIMs and designed not to perform unnecessary EN-DC operations on a SIM stack not used for data communication and reducing complexity of implementation software and the amount of current consumed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0014] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example electronic device in a network environment according to various embodiments;

[0015] Figure 2is a block diagram illustrating an example electronic device for supporting traditional network communications and 5G network communications according to various embodiments;

[0016] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example protocol stack structure of a network for conventional communications and / or 5G communications according to various embodiments;

[0017] 4A is a diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments;

[0018] 4B is a diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments;

[0019] 4C is a diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments;

[0020] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example user equipment (UE) according to various embodiments;

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example network access method for each SIM protocol stack of a UE according to an example embodiment;

[0022] Figure 7 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example wireless communication process of a cellular network and a UE according to various embodiments;

[0023] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of controlling wireless communication by a UE according to various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 101 in a network environment 100 according to various embodiments. Figure 1, the electronic device 101 in the network environment 100 may communicate with the electronic device 102 via the first network 198 (e.g., a short-range wireless communication network), or communicate with the electronic device 104 or the server 108 via the second network 199 (e.g., a long-range wireless communication network). According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may communicate with the electronic device 104 via the server 108. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may include a processor 120, a memory 130, an input device 150, a sound output device 155, a display device 160, an audio module 170, a sensor module 176, an interface 177, a haptic module 179, a camera module 180, a power management module 188, a battery 189, a communication module 190, a user identification module (SIM) 196, or an antenna module 197. In some embodiments, at least one of the components (e.g., the display device 160 or the camera module 180) may be omitted from the electronic device 101, or one or more other components may be added to the electronic device 101. In some embodiments, some of the components may be implemented as a single integrated circuit.For example, the sensor module 176 (eg, a fingerprint sensor, an iris sensor, or an illumination sensor) may be implemented to be embedded in the display device 160 (eg, a display).

[0025] The processor 120 may run, for example, software (e.g., program 140) to control at least one other component (e.g., hardware component or software component) of the electronic device 101 connected to the processor 120, and may perform various data processing or calculations. According to one embodiment, as at least part of the data processing or calculation, the processor 120 may load a command or data received from another component (e.g., sensor module 176 or communication module 190) into the volatile memory 132, process the command or data stored in the volatile memory 132, and store the resultant data in the non-volatile memory 134. According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may include a main processor 121 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor (AP)) and an auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a sensor hub processor, or a communication processor (CP)) that is independent of or combined with the main processor 121 in operation. Additionally or alternatively, the auxiliary processor 123 may be adapted to consume less power than the main processor 121, or adapted to be specifically used for a specified function. The auxiliary processor 123 may be implemented separately from the main processor 121 , or as part of the main processor 121 .

[0026] When the main processor 121 is in an inactive (e.g., sleep) state, the auxiliary processor 123 may control at least some of the functions or states related to at least one component (e.g., display device 160, sensor module 176, or communication module 190) among the components of the electronic device 101 (not the main processor 121), or when the main processor 121 is in an active state (e.g., running an application), the auxiliary processor 123 may control at least some of the functions or states related to at least one component (e.g., display device 160, sensor module 176, or communication module 190) among the components of the electronic device 101 together with the main processor 121. According to an embodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., an image signal processor or a communication processor) may be implemented as part of another component (e.g., camera module 180 or communication module 190) that is functionally related to the auxiliary processor 123.

[0027] The memory 130 may store various data used by at least one component of the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 or the sensor module 176). The various data may include, for example, software (e.g., the program 140) and input data or output data for commands related thereto. The memory 130 may include a volatile memory 132 or a nonvolatile memory 134.

[0028] The program 140 may be stored as software in the memory 130 , and may include, for example, an operating system (OS) 142 , middleware 144 , or applications 146 .

[0029] The input device 150 may receive commands or data from outside the electronic device 101 (e.g., a user) to be used by other components of the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120). The input device 150 may include, for example, a microphone, a mouse, a keyboard, or a digital pen (e.g., a stylus).

[0030] The sound output device 155 can output a sound signal to the outside of the electronic device 101. The sound output device 155 may include, for example, a speaker or a receiver. The speaker can be used for general purposes such as playing multimedia or playing records, and the receiver can be used for incoming calls. Depending on the embodiment, the receiver can be implemented as a separate part from the speaker, or as a part of the speaker.

[0031] The display device 160 may visually provide information to the outside of the electronic device 101 (e.g., a user). The display device 160 may include, for example, a display, a holographic device, or a projector, and a control circuit for controlling a corresponding one of the display, the holographic device, and the projector. According to an embodiment, the display device 160 may include a touch circuit adapted to detect a touch or a sensor circuit (e.g., a pressure sensor) adapted to measure the strength of a force caused by a touch.

[0032] The audio module 170 may convert sound into an electrical signal, or vice versa. According to an embodiment, the audio module 170 may obtain sound via the input device 150, or output sound via the sound output device 155 or an earphone of an external electronic device (e.g., electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wired) or wirelessly connected to the electronic device 101.

[0033] The sensor module 176 may detect an operating state (e.g., power or temperature) of the electronic device 101 or an environmental state (e.g., a state of a user) outside the electronic device 101, and then generate an electrical signal or data value corresponding to the detected state. According to an embodiment, the sensor module 176 may include, for example, a gesture sensor, a gyro sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a grip sensor, a proximity sensor, a color sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a biometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or an illumination sensor.

[0034] The interface 177 may support one or more specific protocols to be used to connect the electronic device 101 directly (e.g., wired) or wirelessly to an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102). According to an embodiment, the interface 177 may include, for example, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a secure digital (SD) card interface, or an audio interface.

[0035] The connection end 178 may include a connector, wherein the electronic device 101 can be physically connected to an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102) via the connector. According to an embodiment, the connection end 178 may include, for example, an HDMI connector, a USB connector, an SD card connector, or an audio connector (e.g., a headphone connector).

[0036] The haptic module 179 may convert the electrical signal into mechanical stimulation (eg, vibration or motion) or electrical stimulation that can be recognized by the user via his sense of touch or kinesthetic sense. According to an embodiment, the haptic module 179 may include, for example, a motor, a piezoelectric element, or an electrical stimulator.

[0037] The camera module 180 may capture still images or moving images. According to an embodiment, the camera module 180 may include one or more lenses, an image sensor, an image signal processor, or a flash.

[0038] The power management module 188 may manage power supply to the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the power management module 188 may be implemented as, for example, at least a part of a power management integrated circuit (PMIC).

[0039] The battery 189 may power at least one component of the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the battery 189 may include, for example, a non-rechargeable primary battery, a rechargeable secondary battery, or a fuel cell.

[0040] The communication module 190 may support establishing a direct (e.g., wired) communication channel or a wireless communication channel between the electronic device 101 and an external electronic device (e.g., electronic device 102, electronic device 104, or server 108), and perform communication via the established communication channel. The communication module 190 may include one or more communication processors capable of operating independently from the processor 120 (e.g., an application processor (AP)) and supporting direct (e.g., wired) communication or wireless communication. According to an embodiment, the communication module 190 may include a wireless communication module 192 (e.g., a cellular communication module, a short-range wireless communication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (e.g., a local area network (LAN) communication module or a power line communication (PLC) module). A corresponding one of these communication modules may communicate with an external electronic device via a first network 198 (e.g., a short-range communication network such as Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Direct, or Infrared Data Association (IrDA)) or a second network 199 (e.g., a long-range communication network such as a cellular network, the Internet, or a computer network (e.g., a LAN or a Wide Area Network (WAN))). These various types of communication modules may be implemented as a single component (e.g., a single chip), or may be implemented as multiple components (e.g., multiple chips) separated from each other. The wireless communication module 192 may identify and authenticate the electronic device 101 in a communication network (such as the first network 198 or the second network 199) using user information (e.g., an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)) stored in the user identification module 196. According to various embodiments, the user identification module 196 may include multiple user identification modules, and each of the multiple user identification modules may store different user information.

[0041] The antenna module 197 may transmit or receive a signal or power to or from the outside of the electronic device 101 (e.g., an external electronic device). According to an embodiment, the antenna module 197 may include an antenna including a radiating element formed of a conductive material or a conductive pattern formed in or on a substrate (e.g., a PCB). According to an embodiment, the antenna module 197 may include a plurality of antennas. In this case, at least one antenna suitable for a communication scheme used in a communication network (such as the first network 198 or the second network 199) may be selected from the plurality of antennas by, for example, the communication module 190 (e.g., the wireless communication module 192). A signal or power may then be transmitted or received between the communication module 190 and the external electronic device via the selected at least one antenna. According to an embodiment, another component (e.g., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)) other than the radiating element may be additionally formed as a part of the antenna module 197.

[0042] At least some of the above components may be connected to each other via an inter-peripheral communication scheme (e.g., a bus, a general purpose input output (GPIO), a serial peripheral interface (SPI), or a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI)) and communicatively transmit signals (e.g., commands or data) therebetween.

[0043] According to an embodiment, a command or data may be sent or received between the electronic device 101 and the external electronic device 104 via the server 108 connected to the second network 199. Each of the electronic device 102 and the electronic device 104 may be a device of the same type as the electronic device 101, or a device of a different type from the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, all or some operations to be executed in the electronic device 101 may be executed in one or more of the external electronic device 102, the external electronic device 104, or the server 108. For example, if the electronic device 101 should automatically execute a function or service or should execute a function or service in response to a request from a user or another device, the electronic device 101 may request the one or more external electronic devices to execute at least part of the function or service instead of executing the function or service, or the electronic device 101 may request the one or more external electronic devices to execute at least part of the function or service in addition to executing the function or service. The one or more external electronic devices that receive the request may execute the requested at least part of the function or service, or execute another function or another service related to the request, and transmit the result of the execution to the electronic device 101. The electronic device 101 may provide the result as at least a partial reply to the request with or without further processing the result. To this end, for example, cloud computing technology, distributed computing technology, or client-server computing technology may be used.

[0044] The electronic device according to various embodiments may be one of various types of electronic devices. The electronic device may include, for example, a portable communication device (e.g., a smart phone), a computer device, a portable multimedia device, a portable medical device, a camera, a wearable device, or a household appliance. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device is not limited to those electronic devices described above.

[0045] It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present disclosure and the terms used therein are not intended to limit the technical features set forth herein to specific embodiments, but include various changes, equivalent forms or alternative forms for corresponding embodiments. For the description of the accompanying drawings, similar reference numerals may be used to refer to similar or related elements. It will be understood that the nouns in the singular form corresponding to the term may include one or more things unless the relevant context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, each of the phrases such as "A or B", "at least one of A and B", "at least one of A or B", "A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C" and "at least one of A, B or C" may include any one or all possible combinations of the items listed together with the corresponding one of the multiple phrases. As used herein, terms such as "1st" and "2nd" or "first" and "second" may be used to simply distinguish the corresponding component from another component, and do not limit the component in other aspects (e.g., importance or order). It will be understood that if an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “combined with another element (e.g., the second element)”, “combined to another element (e.g., the second element)”, “connected with another element (e.g., the second element)”, or “connected to another element (e.g., the second element)” when the terms “operably” or “communicatively” are used or when the terms “operably” or “communicatively” are not used, it means that the element may be directly (e.g., wired) connected to the other element, wirelessly connected to the other element, or connected to the other element via a third element.

[0046] As used herein, the term "module" may include units implemented in hardware, software, or firmware, and may be used interchangeably with other terms (e.g., "logic," "logic block," "portion," or "circuit"). A module may be a single integrated component adapted to perform one or more functions or a minimum unit or portion of the single integrated component. For example, according to an embodiment, a module may be implemented in the form of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0047] The various embodiments described herein may be implemented as software (e.g., program 140) including one or more instructions stored in a storage medium (e.g., internal memory 136 or external memory 138) that can be read by a machine (e.g., electronic device 101). For example, under the control of a processor, a processor (e.g., processor 120) of the machine (e.g., electronic device 101) may call at least one of the one or more instructions stored in the storage medium and execute the at least one instruction with or without the use of one or more other components. This enables the machine to operate to perform at least one function according to the at least one instruction called. The one or more instructions may include code generated by a compiler or code that can be run by an interpreter. A machine-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Among them, the term "non-transitory" only means that the storage medium is a tangible device and does not include a signal (e.g., an electromagnetic wave), but the term does not distinguish between data being semi-permanently stored in a storage medium and data being temporarily stored in a storage medium.

[0048] According to an embodiment, the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be included and provided in a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be released in the form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or may be downloaded via an application store (e.g., Play Store TM ) The computer program product may be published (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) online, or the computer program product may be distributed (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) directly between two user devices (e.g., smart phones). If published online, at least part of the computer program product may be temporarily generated, or at least part of the computer program product may be at least temporarily stored in a machine-readable storage medium (such as a memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or a forwarding server).

[0049] According to various embodiments, each component (e.g., module or program) in the above-mentioned components may include a single entity or multiple entities. According to various embodiments, one or more components in the above-mentioned components may be omitted, or one or more other components may be added. Alternatively or additionally, multiple components (e.g., module or program) may be integrated into a single component. In this case, according to various embodiments, the integrated component may still perform the one or more functions of each component in the multiple components in the same or similar manner as a corresponding component in the multiple components before integration. According to various embodiments, the operations performed by a module, program or another component may be performed sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly or in a heuristic manner, or one or more operations in the operations may be run or omitted in different orders, or one or more other operations may be added.

[0050] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example electronic device for supporting traditional network communications and 5G network communications according to various embodiments.

[0051] Reference Figure 2 , the electronic device 101 may include a first communication processor (e.g., including a processing circuit) 212, a second communication processor 214 (e.g., including a processing circuit), a first radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) 222, a second RFIC 224, a third RFIC 226, a fourth RFIC 228, a first radio frequency front end (RFFE) 232, a second RFFE 234, a first antenna module 242, a second antenna module 244, and an antenna 248. The electronic device 101 may also include a processor (e.g., including a processing circuit) 120 and a memory 130. The network 199 may include a first network 292 and a second network 294. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may also include Figure 1 , and the network 199 may further include at least one other network. According to an embodiment, the first communication processor 212, the second communication processor 214, the first RFIC 222, the second RFIC 224, the fourth RFIC 228, the first RFFE 232, and the second RFFE 234 may be at least a part of the wireless communication module 192. According to an embodiment, the fourth RFIC 228 may be omitted or may be included as a part of the third RFIC 226.

[0052] The first communication processor 212 may establish a communication channel of a frequency band to be used for wireless communication with the first network 292, and may support network communication through the established communication channel. According to various embodiments, the first network may be a conventional network including a second generation (2G), a third generation (3G), a fourth generation (4G), or a long term evolution (LTE) network. The second communication processor 214 may establish a communication channel corresponding to a designated frequency band (e.g., about 6 GHz to 60 GHz) in a plurality of frequency bands to be used for wireless communication with the second network 294, and may support 5G network communication through the established communication channel. According to various embodiments, the second network 294 may be a 5G network defined in 3GPP. In addition, according to an embodiment, the first communication processor 212 or the second communication processor 214 may establish a communication channel corresponding to another designated frequency band (e.g., about 6 GHz or lower) in a plurality of frequency bands for wireless communication with the second network 294, and may support 5G network communication through the established channel. According to an embodiment, the first communication processor 212 and the second communication processor 214 may be implemented in a single chip or a single package. According to various embodiments, the first communication processor 212 or the second communication processor 214 may be implemented in a single chip or a single package together with the processor 120 , the auxiliary processor 123 , or the communication module 190 .

[0053] In the case of transmission, the first RFIC 222 may convert a baseband signal generated by the first communication processor 212 into a radio frequency (RF) signal for the first network 292 (e.g., a legacy network) in the range of about 700 MHz to 3 GHz. In the case of reception, an RF signal is obtained from the first network 292 (e.g., a legacy network) through an antenna (e.g., the first antenna module 242), and the RF signal may be pre-processed by an RFFE (e.g., the first RFFE 232). The first RFIC 222 may convert the pre-processed RF signal into a baseband signal so that the baseband signal is processed by the first communication processor 212.

[0054] In the case of transmission, the second RFIC 224 may convert a baseband signal generated by the first communication processor 212 or the second communication processor 214 into an RF signal (hereinafter referred to as a 5G Sub6 RF signal) of a Sub6 frequency band (e.g., about 6 GHz or lower) for a second network 294 (e.g., a 5G network). In the case of reception, a 5G Sub6 RF signal is obtained from the second network 294 (e.g., a 5G network) through an antenna (e.g., a second antenna module 244) and may be pre-processed by an RFFE (e.g., a second RFFE 234). The second RFIC 224 may convert the pre-processed 5G Sub6 RF signal into a baseband signal so that the signal may be processed by a corresponding communication processor in the first communication processor 212 or the second communication processor 214.

[0055] The third RFIC 226 may convert the baseband signal generated by the second communication processor 214 into an RF signal (hereinafter, 5G Above6 RF signal) of a 5G Above6 frequency band (e.g., about 6 GHz to 60 GHz) to be used in the second network 294 (e.g., 5G network). In the case of reception, the 5G Above6 RF signal is received from the second network 294 (e.g., 5G network) through an antenna (e.g., antenna 248) and may be pre-processed by the third RFFE 236. The third RFIC 226 may convert the pre-processed 5G Above6 RF signal into a baseband signal so that the signal is processed by the second communication processor 214. According to an embodiment, the third RFFE 236 may be implemented as a part of the third RFIC 226.

[0056] According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may include a fourth RFIC 228 that is separate from or as part of the third RFIC 226. In this case, the fourth RFIC 228 may convert a baseband signal generated by the second communication processor 214 into an RF signal (hereinafter, IF signal) of an intermediate frequency band (e.g., approximately 9 GHz to 11 GHz), and may transmit the IF signal to the third RFIC 226. The third RFIC 226 may convert the IF signal into a 5G Above 6 RF signal. In the case of reception, a 5G Above 6 RF signal may be received from a second network 294 (e.g., a 5G network) through an antenna (e.g., antenna 248), and the third RFFE 226 may convert it into an IF signal. The fourth RFIC 228 may convert the IF signal into a baseband signal so that the baseband signal is processed by the second communication processor 214.

[0057] According to an embodiment, the first RFIC 222 and the second RFIC 224 may be implemented as at least a portion of a single chip or a single package. According to an embodiment, the first RFFE 232 and the second RFFE 234 may be implemented as at least a portion of a single chip or a single package. According to an embodiment, at least one of the first antenna module 242 or the second antenna module 244 may be omitted or may be combined with another antenna module to process RF signals of multiple frequency bands.

[0058] According to an embodiment, the third RFIC 226 and the antenna 248 may be arranged on the same substrate, and the third antenna module 246 may be formed. For example, the wireless communication module 192 or the processor 120 may be arranged in a first substrate (e.g., a main PCB). In this case, the third RFIC 226 is arranged on a portion (e.g., a lower portion) of a second substrate (e.g., a sub-PCB) different from the first substrate, and the antenna 248 is arranged on another portion (e.g., an upper portion), so that the third antenna module 246 may be formed. By arranging the third RFIC 226 and the antenna 248 on the same substrate, the length of the transmission line between them can be reduced. For example, this can reduce the loss (e.g., attenuation) caused by the transmission line of the high-frequency band signal (e.g., about 6 GHz to 60 GHz) for 5G network communication. Therefore, the electronic device 101 can improve the quality or speed of communication with the second network 294 (e.g., a 5G network).

[0059] According to an embodiment, the antenna 248 may be implemented as an antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements, which may be used for beamforming. In this case, for example, the third RFIC 226 may include a plurality of phase shifters 238 corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements as part of the third RFFE 236. In the case of transmission, each of the plurality of phase shifters 238 may shift the phase of a 5G Above 6 RF signal to be transmitted to the outside of the electronic device 101 (e.g., a base station of a 5G network) via the corresponding antenna element. In the case of reception, each of the plurality of phase shifters 238 may shift the phase of a 5G Above 6 RF signal received from the outside through the corresponding antenna element to the same or substantially the same phase. This may enable transmission or reception between the electronic device 101 and the outside via beamforming.

[0060] The second network 294 (e.g., a 5G network) may operate independently of the first network 292 (e.g., a traditional network) (e.g., standalone (SA)), or may operate by being connected to the first network 292 (e.g., non-standalone (NSA)). For example, in a 5G network, only an access network (e.g., a 5G radio access network (RAN) or a next generation RAN (NG RAN)) may exist, while a core network (e.g., a next generation core (NGC)) may not exist. In this case, the electronic device 101 may access the access network of the 5G network and may access an external network (e.g., the Internet) under the control of a core network (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC)) of the traditional network. Protocol information for communicating with a traditional network (e.g., LTE protocol information) or protocol information for communicating with a 5G network (e.g., new radio (NR) protocol information) may be stored in the memory 230 and may be accessed by other components (e.g., the processor 120, the first communication processor 212, or the second communication processor 214).

[0061] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example protocol stack structure of a network for traditional communications and / or 5G communications according to various embodiments.

[0062] Reference Figure 3 , the network 100 according to the embodiment may include an electronic device 101, a traditional network 392, a 5G network 394 and a server 108.

[0063] The electronic device 101 may include an Internet protocol 312, a first communication protocol stack 314, and a second communication protocol stack 316. The electronic device 101 may communicate with the server 108 via a traditional network 392 and / or a 5G network 394.

[0064] According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may use an Internet protocol 312 (e.g., TCP, UDP, or IP) to perform Internet communications associated with the server 108. The Internet protocol 312 may be implemented by, for example, a main processor (e.g., Figure 1 main processor 121) to execute.

[0065] According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may perform wireless communication with the legacy network 392 using the first communication protocol stack 314. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may perform wireless communication with the 5G network 394 using the second communication protocol stack 316. For example, the first communication protocol stack 314 and the second communication protocol stack 316 may be implemented by one or more communication processors (e.g., Figure 1 The wireless communication module 192) is used to execute.

[0066] The server 108 may include an Internet protocol 322. The server 108 may perform transmission or reception of data related to the Internet protocol 322 with the electronic device 101 through the traditional network 392 and / or the 5G network 394. According to an embodiment, the server 108 may include a cloud computing server existing outside the traditional network 392 or the 5G network 394. According to an embodiment, the server 108 may include an edge computing server (or a mobile edge computing (MEC) server) located inside at least one of the traditional network 392 or the 5G network 394.

[0067] The legacy network 392 may include an LTE base station 340 and an EPC 342. The LTE base station 340 may include an LTE communication protocol stack 344. The EPC 342 may include a legacy NAS protocol 346. The legacy network 392 may perform LTE wireless communication with the electronic device 101 using the LTE communication protocol stack 344 and the legacy NAS protocol 346.

[0068] The 5G network 394 may include an NR base station 350 and a 5GC 352. The NR base station 350 may include an NR communication protocol stack 354. The 5GC 352 may include a 5G NAS protocol 356. The 5G network 394 may perform NR wireless communication with the electronic device 101 using the NR communication protocol stack 354 and the 5G NAS protocol 356.

[0069] According to an embodiment, the first communication protocol stack 314, the second communication protocol stack 316, the LTE communication protocol stack 344, and the NR communication protocol stack 354 may include a control plane protocol for sending or receiving a control message, and a user plane protocol for sending or receiving user data. The control message may include, for example, a message related to at least one of security control, bearer setting, authentication, registration, or mobility management. The user data may include, for example, the remaining data that does not include the control message.

[0070] According to an embodiment, the control plane protocol and the user plane protocol may include a physical (PHY) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, or a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. For example, the PHY layer may perform channel coding and modulation on data received from a higher layer (e.g., a MAC layer) and send it to a wireless channel, and may perform demodulation and decoding on data received via a wireless channel and send it to a higher layer. The PHY layer included in the second communication protocol stack 316 and the NR communication protocol stack 354 may further perform operations related to beamforming. The MAC layer may, for example, logically / physically map data to a wireless channel to be sent or received, and may perform a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for error correction. The RLC layer may perform connection, segmentation, or reorganization of data, may identify the order of data, may perform reordering, and may perform redundancy checking. The PDCP layer may perform operations such as encrypting control data and user data, and operations related to data integrity. The second communication protocol stack 316 and the NR communication protocol stack 354 may also include a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). SDAP may manage, for example, radio bearer allocation based on quality of service (QoS) of user data.

[0071] According to various embodiments, the control plane protocol may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer. The RRC layer may process control data related to, for example, radio bearer establishment, paging, or mobility management. The NAS may process control messages related to, for example, authentication, registration, and mobility management.

[0072] According to various embodiments, the electronic device may include multiple user identification modules (e.g., a first user identification module and a second user identification module), and may communicate with the traditional network 392 and / or the 5G network 394 using user information (e.g., an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI)) stored in each user identification module.

[0073] According to various embodiments, the electronic device may further include a third communication protocol stack 318 and a fourth communication protocol stack 319. The third communication protocol stack 318 may correspond to the first communication protocol stack 314, and may include various protocols for wireless communication with the legacy network 392. The fourth communication protocol stack 319 may correspond to the second communication protocol stack 316, and may include various protocols for wireless communication with the 5G network 394.

[0074] According to various embodiments, when performing communication using the first user identification module, the electronic device may perform wireless communication with the legacy network 392 using the first communication protocol stack 314, and may perform wireless communication with the 5G network 394 using the second communication protocol stack 316. In addition, when performing communication using the second user identification module, the electronic device may perform wireless communication with the legacy network 392 using the third communication protocol stack 318, and may perform wireless communication with the 5G network 394 using the fourth communication protocol stack 319.

[0075] Figure 4A is a diagram showing an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments, Figure 4B is a diagram showing an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments, and Figure 4C is a diagram showing an example wireless communication system providing a traditional communication network and / or a 5G communication network according to various embodiments.

[0076] 4A, 4B, and 4C, network environments 100A, 100B, and 100C may include at least one of a conventional network and a 5G network. For example, a conventional network may include a 3GPP standard-based 4G or LTE base station 440 (e.g., eNodeB (eNB)) supporting wireless access to an electronic device 101, and an evolved packet core (EPC) 442 managing 4G communications. For example, a 5G network may include a new wireless (NR) base station (e.g., gNodeB (gNB)) 450 supporting wireless access to an electronic device 101, and a fifth generation core (5GC) 452 managing 5G communications of the electronic device 101.

[0077] According to various embodiments, the electronic device 101 may send or receive control messages and user data through traditional communication and / or 5G communication. For example, the control message may include a message related to at least one of security control, bearer setting, authentication, registration, or mobility management associated with the electronic device 101. For example, the user data may be user data that is not included in the control message sent or received between the electronic device 101 and the core network 430 (e.g., EPC 442 of FIG. 4C ).

[0078] 4A , the electronic device 101 according to an embodiment may use at least a portion of a conventional network (e.g., an LTE base station 440 or an EPC 442 of FIG. 4C ) and at least a portion of a 5G network (e.g., an NR base station 450 or a 5GC 452 of FIG. 4C ) to perform sending or receiving of at least one of a control message or user data.

[0079] According to various embodiments, the network environment 100a may include a network environment that provides wireless communication dual connectivity (multi-RAT (radio access technology) dual connectivity (MR-DC)) to an LTE base station 440 and an NR base station 450, and performs sending or receiving of control messages with the electronic device 101 via a core network 430 corresponding to one of the EPC 442 or 5GC452.

[0080] According to various embodiments, in the MR-DC environment, one of the LTE base station 440 or the NR base station 450 may serve as a master node (MN) 410 and the other may serve as a secondary node (SN) 420. The MN 410 may be connected to the core network 430 and may send or receive control messages. The MN 410 and the SN 420 are connected via a network interface and may perform transmission or reception of messages related to management of wireless resources (e.g., communication channels) therebetween.

[0081] According to various embodiments, the MN 410 may be implemented as an LTE base station 440, the SN 420 may be implemented as an NR base station 450, and the core network 430 may be implemented as an EPC 442. For example, control messages may be sent or received through the LTE base station 440 and the EPC 442, and user data may be sent or received through the LTE base station 440 and the NR base station 450.

[0082] 4B , according to various embodiments, the 5G network may perform transmission or reception of control messages and user data independently from the electronic device 101 .

[0083] 4C, the conventional network and the 5G network according to various embodiments may independently provide data transmission or reception. For example, the electronic device 101 and the EPC 442 may perform transmission or reception of control messages and user data through the LTE base station 440. As another example, the electronic device 101 and the 5GC 452 may perform transmission or reception of control messages and user data via the NR base station 450.

[0084] According to various embodiments, the electronic device 101 may register with at least one of the EPC or the 5GC 452 and may send or receive a control message.

[0085] According to various embodiments, the EPC 442 or the 5GC 452 may communicate with each other to manage the communication of the electronic device 101. For example, the movement information 452 of the electronic device 101 may be sent or received via the interface between the EPC 442 and the 5GC 452.

[0086] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of a user equipment (UE) according to various embodiments.

[0087] Reference Figure 5 , a user equipment (UE) 500 may include a first user identification module 512, a second user identification module 514, a wireless communication circuit 520, a processor (eg, including a processing circuit) 530, and a memory 540. According to various embodiments, the UE 500 may include Figure 1 At least a portion of the elements and / or functions of the electronic device 101 and may be capable of implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure, although Figure 1 or Figure 5 Some of the elements may be omitted or replaced.

[0088] According to various embodiments, the wireless communication circuit 520 may include various circuit structures for modulating and / or demodulating signals in the UE 500. For example, the wireless communication circuit 520 may modulate a baseband signal into a radio frequency (RF) band signal so that the signal is output through an antenna (not shown), or may demodulate an RF band signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal and send it to the processor 530. The wireless communication circuit 520 may include various RFICs (e.g., Figure 2 222, the second RFIC 224, the third RFIC 236 and the fourth RFIC 228) and / or an RF front-end module (e.g., Figure 2 The elements of the wireless communication circuit 520 may all be included in the same chip, or some of them may be included in different chips.

[0089] According to various embodiments, the memory 540 may include a volatile memory (eg, Figure 1 volatile memory 132 and non-volatile memory (e.g., Figure 1 According to various embodiments, the memory 540 may store various instructions that may be executed by the processor 530 (eg, the application processor 530). The memory 540 may store Figure 1 of the program 140.

[0090] According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may include various processing circuits (including an application processor (e.g., including a processing circuit) 532 and a communication processor (e.g., including a processing circuit) 534. The operations performed by the processor 530 described in the present disclosure may be performed by the application processor 532 or by the communication processor 534. Some operations may be performed by the application processor 532 and the communication processor 534, respectively. The application processor 532 and the communication processor 534 may be included in the same chip, or one of them may be included in another chip. The processor 530 may be functionally, operationally and / or electrically connected to the internal elements of the UE 500 (including the first user identification module 512, the second user identification module 514, the wireless communication circuit 520, and the memory 540).

[0091] According to various embodiments, the application processor 530 may include Figure 1 The application processor 532 may be configured to perform at least a portion of the elements and / or functions of the main processor 121 as an element capable of performing operations and data processing associated with control and / or communication of each element of the UE 500. The operations performed by the application processor 532 may be performed by loading instructions stored in the memory 540.

[0092] According to various embodiments, the communication processor 534 may perform various operations for wireless communication on a cellular network. For example, the communication processor 530 may establish a communication channel of a frequency band to be used for wireless communication with a cellular network, and may support wireless communication through the established communication channel.

[0093] According to various embodiments, the subscriber identity modules (SIMs) 512 and 514 may store identification information (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI)) used for access, authentication, billing, security, etc. in a cellular network. The UE 500 may recognize the identification information stored in the SIMs 512 and 514 and may transmit the identification information to a base station during a cellular network access procedure (e.g., RRC signaling).

[0094] According to various embodiments, the SIMs 512 and 514 may be implemented as IC cards and may be installed in a slot prepared in the UE 500. According to various embodiments, at least one of the SIMs 512 and 514 may be implemented as an embedded SIM (or an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC)) directly embedded in the UE 500. In the case where the SIM 512 or 514 is implemented as an embedded SIM, a security chip for storing the SIM 512 or 514 is soldered on a circuit board of the UE during manufacturing and installed in the UE through remote SIM configuration.

[0095] According to various embodiments, the UE 500 may include two or more SIMs. Although the present disclosure describes that the UE 500 includes two SIMs (eg, the first SIM 512 and the second SIM 514), the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0096] According to various embodiments, the UE 500 may perform wireless communications through a first cellular network (e.g., a first LTE network and / or a first NR network) and a second cellular network (e.g., a second LTE network and / or a second NR network) operated by different operators (or mobile carriers) using the first SIM 512 and the second SIM 514, respectively. For example, the UE 500 may wirelessly access a base station of the first cellular network using the first identification information stored in the first SIM 512 when accessing the first cellular network, and may wirelessly access a base station of the second cellular network using the second identification information stored in the second SIM 514 when accessing the second cellular network.

[0097] According to various embodiments, the first cellular network and / or the second cellular network may support EN-DC. The EUTRA NR dual connection (EN-DC) or non-independent (NSA) system may use two radio access technologies (RATs) to provide uplink and / or downlink transmissions, for example, the UE 500 of the EN-DC system may use resources of a 4G LTE cellular network and a 5G NR cellular network at the same time. To this end, the first cellular network may include a first LTE network and a first NR network, and the second cellular network may include a second LTE network and a second NR network. According to various embodiments, the communication processor 530 may include a first communication processor 530 that performs processing for wireless communications on an LTE network and a second communication processor 530 that performs processing for wireless communications on an NR network.

[0098] According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may access the first cellular network and the second cellular network simultaneously using the first SIM 512 and the second SIM 514. However, in this case, the processor 530 may be able to perform data communications associated with only one cellular network. For example, the UE 500 may obtain an Internet Protocol (IP) address for voice communication assigned from an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and an IP address assigned for data communication. In this case, the UE 500 may receive all IP addresses of the IMS associated with both the first cellular network and the second cellular network, and may use both the first identification information and the second identification information to receive voice communication services on the first cellular network and the second cellular network. In the case of data communication of Internet data, the UE 500 may receive an IP address of one of the first cellular network or the second cellular network, and may receive data communications via only one network. Reference will be made to Figure 6Give a detailed description.

[0099] According to various embodiments, the UE 500 may determine one of the first SIM 512 and the second SIM 514 as a SIM to be used for data communication based on user selection. For example, if the first SIM 512 is selected by user selection, data communication and IMS communication may be performed with the first cellular network using the first identification information of the first SIM 512, and only IMS communication may be performed with the second cellular network using the second identification information of the second SIM 514.

[0100] According to various embodiments, the UE 500 may change the SIM for data communication. For example, while performing data communication using the first SIM 512, the processor 530 may detect an activity that triggers data communication via the second cellular network. Here, a user setting or a situation in which communication with the second cellular network is temporarily changed to use data communication may be an example of an activity. For example, a user may change a setting on a menu to change the SIM to the second SIM 514 while performing Internet data communication with the first cellular network. If an application (e.g., Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)) that temporarily changes the Internet data setting in the second SIM 514 (using only IMS) is used, a data communication connection may be temporarily established with the second cellular network using the second identification information.

[0101] As described above, if the SIM to be used for Internet data communication is changed, the UE capabilities reported to the cellular network are changed, and the operation for registering with the cellular network may occur frequently. Therefore, the performance of UE 500 may be slowed down, and the number of messages exchanged between UE 500 and the cellular network may increase.

[0102] According to various embodiments, in response to detecting an activity that triggers data communication via the second cellular network, the processor 530 may perform a data communication connection procedure with the second cellular network using the second identification information of the second SIM 514. The processor 530 may disconnect the EPS bearer that has been connected to the first cellular network through the PDN disconnection procedure, and may delete the IP address information related thereto, etc. In addition, the processor 530 may connect the EPS bearer to the second cellular network through the PDN connection procedure using the second identification information, and may obtain an IP address to be used for data communication.

[0103] According to various embodiments, during the PDN disconnection process performed for the first cellular network, the connection with the IMS may be maintained. For example, during the PDN disconnection process performed for the first cellular network, the processor 530 may send a request to release the EPS bearer and an IP address for data communication with the first cellular network (e.g., a base station of the first LTE network). In this case, the connection with the IMS may be maintained as an RRC connection state, or may be disconnected, and RRS signaling for a new IMS may be performed.

[0104] According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may maintain the support of EN-DC of UE capabilities for the first cellular network even if the SIM stack for data communication is changed to the second SIM 514. For example, although EN-DC is not used for data communication in the first cellular network, the processor 530 may maintain the RRC signaling process, or may maintain the support of EN-DC of UE capabilities periodically sent to the first cellular network (e.g., the first LTE base station).

[0105] According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may be configured to not perform measurement operations for a first NR network (e.g., a base station of the first NR network) of the first cellular network if a measurement configuration is received from the first cellular network and the processor 530 maintains support for EN-DC of the UE capability for the first cellular network.

[0106] For example, the MME connected to the first cellular network may identify that support for EN-DC is included in the UE capabilities sent from the UE 500, and based on the user information sent from the Home User Service (HSS), may identify that the UE 500 is a 5G service user. The MME may transmit to the base station of the first LTE network that the UE 500 is capable of performing an EN-DC connection. The base station of the first LTE network may send a measurement configuration to the UE 500 to enable the UE 500 to measure and report the NR access performance of the base station of the first NR network (which will act as a secondary node).

[0107] In this case, even if the measurement configuration is received, the processor 530 may not perform a measurement operation on the base station of the first NR network. For example, the processor 530 may not perform a series of operations, such as measuring a service signal of the first NR network base station in the frequency band defined in the measurement configuration, and sending a measurement report.

[0108] According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may be configured to return a failure of the cell addition or switching to the first cellular network if a determination of a cell addition or switching associated with a first NR network of the first cellular network is received from the first cellular network while the processor 530 maintains support for EN-DC of the UE capabilities for the first cellular network.

[0109] If UE 500 receives a measurement configuration from a cellular network, UE 500 can measure the service signal of the neighboring cell based on the measurement results, and can send a measurement report to the base station. In this case, the LTE event type is defined in the measurement report, and examples of the LTE event type may be events A1 to A6 or events B1 to B2. Event B1 may be a situation where the signal of the currently connected NR cell becomes higher than a predetermined value. If event B1 is provided as a measurement report, the LTE base station may request to add the corresponding NR cell or switch to the corresponding NR cell. Although event B1 is not provided as a measurement report, if the wireless environment of the currently connected cell is poor, the LTE base station may request to add the NR cell or switch to the NR cell even if another neighboring cell is not identified in a switching situation.

[0110] As described above, in a state where the processor 530 maintains support for EN-DC of the UE capability for the first cellular network, the processor 530 may not perform measurement operations for the first NR network. However, when the wireless environment is poor, etc., the first LTE base station may request to add the first NR network or switch to the first NR network even if the event B1 measurement report is not provided. In this case, the processor 530 may process the add or switch request of the first LTE base station as "failure" and return "failure" in response to the add or switch request, thereby not initiating an access (attachment) process for the first NR network. Therefore, even when the first cellular network supports EN-DC and the UE capability continues to report EN-DC support, the UE 500 may not initiate a connection to the first NR base station of the first cellular network.

[0111] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example network access method for each SIM protocol stack of a UE according to an example embodiment.

[0112] According to various embodiments, a UE (e.g., Figure 5 The UE 500 may include a first subscriber identity module (SIM) 612 and a second subscriber identity module (SIM) 614, and may perform data communication using one of them. Figure 6 The case where the UE uses the first SIM 612 to access the Internet is shown.

[0113] Reference Figure 6, the UE accesses the first cellular network using the first SIM 612, and can receive an IP address (IP1) for IMS services such as voice communication and an IP address (IP2) for Internet data communication. The first cellular network can support EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC). The UE can perform access using only the first LTE network for IMS, and can perform access using dual connectivity of the first LTE network and the first NR network for Internet data communication. For example, if voice communication associated with the first identification information of the first SIM 612 is received through the IMS network, the voice communication can be received through the first LTE base station 651. If Internet data is received in the PDN, the UE can receive the same data through the first LTE base station 651 and the first NR base station 652.

[0114] The UE may perform data communication using one of the first SIM 612 and the second SIM 614, and therefore, the second SIM 614 may be connected only to the IMS. To this end, the UE may access the second cellular network using the second SIM 614, and may receive an IP address (IP 1) for the IMS service. The second cellular network may be able to support EN-DC. However, Internet data communication may not be performed in the second cellular network, and therefore, the UE may not connect data communication with the second NR base station 654, and may access the second LTE base station 653 using only IP 1.

[0115] When initially accessing the first cellular network using the first SIM 612, the UE may perform a PDN connection with respect to the Internet PDN and / or the IMS PDN during the attachment process, and after the attachment process, the UE may additionally connect to the Internet PDN and / or the IMS PDN, and may communicate with the first cellular network in a state of being connected to two or more PDNs. In addition, at least partially simultaneously, when accessing the second cellular network using the second SIM 614, the UE may perform a PDN connection with respect to the Internet PDN and / or the IMS PDN during the attachment process, and after the attachment process, may additionally connect to the Internet PDN and / or the IMS PDN, and may communicate with the first cellular network in a state of being connected to two or more PDNs. Subsequently, if the SIM stack used is changed from the first SIM (SIM1) 612 to the second SIM (SIM2) 614, the Internet PDN of the first SIM 612 may be disconnected, an NR measurement request is received via the IMS PDN connection, and the bearer is changed to an SN bearer.

[0116] although Figure 6The case where the UE uses the first SIM 612 to access the Internet is shown, but the UE can access the Internet using the second SIM 614. For example, in response to an activity that triggers data communication via the second cellular network (for example, user settings, or the communication with the second cellular network is temporarily changed to use data communication), the UE can perform the following process: Use the second identification information of the second SIM 614 to connect data communication with the second cellular network.

[0117] Figure 7 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a wireless communication process of a cellular network and a UE 710 according to various embodiments.

[0118] The first cellular network 720 and the second cellular network 730 may support EN-DC.

[0119] According to various embodiments, the UE 710 may establish a data connection using a first subscriber identity module (SIM) 712 (or a communication protocol stack corresponding thereto: SIM stack 1 (ST1)) in operation 771. For example, the UE 710 may connect an EPS bearer to the first cellular network 720 through a PDN connection procedure for a data service, and may receive an IP address for data transmission or reception.

[0120] For example, the UE 710 may attempt initial access (initial attachment) when turned on. After being turned on, the UE 710 may immediately synchronize with the PLMN in the RRC idle state, and may synchronize with the first cellular network 720 after a cell search process, may send an attach request message including the first identification information (e.g., IMSI) of the first SIM to the MME of the first cellular network 720, and may enter the RRC connected state. When authentication using the first identification information is successfully performed, the MME may generate an EPS session and a default EPS bearer, may allocate an IP address for data communication, and may provide it to the UE 710.

[0121] According to various embodiments, the UE 710 may receive an IP address for an IMS service and an IP address for Internet data communication from the first cellular network 720. In addition, the UE 710 may receive an IP address for an IMS service from the second cellular network 720 using the second SIM 714, and may not perform Internet data communication through the second cellular network 730. The first cellular network 720 and the second cellular network 730 may be wireless communication networks operated by different operators.

[0122] According to various embodiments, the UE 710 may perform data communication and IMS communication with the first cellular network 720 in operation 772, and may perform IMS communication with the second cellular network 730 in operation 773. Figure 6 The network access structure is described.

[0123] According to various embodiments, the UE 710 may detect an activity that triggers data communication via the second cellular network 730 (e.g., user settings, or a situation in which communication with the second cellular network 730 is temporarily changed to use data communication), or may detect an activity that triggers a data connection using the second SIM 714 or a communication protocol stack (stack 2 (ST2)) corresponding thereto at operation 781.

[0124] In this case, even when the SIM stack for data communication is changed to the second SIM, the UE 710 may maintain support for EN-DC of the UE capability for the first cellular network 720d at operation 782. For example, although EN-DC is not used for data communication in the first cellular network 720, the processor may maintain the RRC signaling process, or may maintain support for EN-DC of the UE capability periodically transmitted to the first cellular network 720 (e.g., a base station of the first LTE network).

[0125] According to various embodiments, if activity is detected, the UE 710 may perform a PDN disconnection procedure associated with the Internet data connection on the first cellular network 720 in operation 783. For example, the UE 710 may disconnect the EPS bearer that has been connected to the first cellular network 720, and may delete the IP address information associated therewith. In addition, at operation 784, the processor 710 may connect the EPS bearer to the second cellular network 720 through the PDN connection procedure using the second identification information, and may obtain an IP address to be used for data communication.

[0126] According to an embodiment, the UE 710 may not perform the PDN disconnection process 783 associated with the Internet data connection on the first cellular network 720, and may maintain the PDN connection state. In this case, during data communication, the UE 710 may not use the IP address obtained during the Internet PDN connection process, and may not use the first SIM 712 to perform Internet data communication.

[0127] According to various embodiments, the UE 710 may receive a measurement configuration associated with a higher RAT (e.g., NR) from the first cellular network 720 (e.g., a first LTE base station) in operation 791. For example, the first LTE base station may send the measurement configuration to the UE 710 to enable the UE 710 to measure and report the NR access performance of a base station of the first NR network (which will act as a secondary node).

[0128] According to various embodiments, in operation 792, even if the measurement configuration is received, the UE 710 may not perform a measurement operation on the base station of the first NR network. For example, the UE 710 may not perform a series of operations, such as measuring a service signal of the first NR network base station in the frequency band defined in the measurement configuration, and sending a measurement report.

[0129] According to various embodiments, a decision on cell addition or handover (HO) of the first NR network of the first cellular network 720 may be received from the first cellular network 720 in operation 793. For example, if the wireless environment of the currently connected cell is poor, the first LTE base station may request to add an NR cell or handover to an NR cell even if event B1 is not provided as a measurement report.

[0130] According to various embodiments, in operation 794, UE 710 may process the add or handover request from the first LTE base station as "failure" and may return "failure" in response to the request, thereby not initiating an access (attachment) procedure associated with the first NR network. Therefore, even when the first cellular network 720 supports EN-DC and the UE capability continues to report EN-DC support, UE 710 may not initiate a connection to the first NR base station of the first cellular network 720.

[0131] According to various example embodiments, the UE may include: a first SIM corresponding to a first cellular network; a second SIM corresponding to a second cellular network; a wireless communication circuit; and a processor operably connected to the first SIM, the second SIM, and the wireless communication circuit. The processor may be configured to: control the UE to perform data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) through the wireless communication circuit using first identification information of the first SIM; detect an activity that triggers data communication through the second cellular network; and in response to detecting the activity, perform a process of connecting data communication with the second cellular network through the wireless communication circuit using the second identification information of the second SIM, and maintain support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability.

[0132] According to various example embodiments, the first cellular network may include a first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and a first New Radio (NR) network.

[0133] According to various example embodiments, the processor may be configured to, while the processor maintains support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability, not perform measurement operations for the first NR network of the first cellular network based on receiving a measurement configuration from the first cellular network.

[0134] According to various example embodiments, the processor may be configured to return a failure of a cell add or switch to the first cellular network based on a determination of a cell add or switch associated with a first NR network of the first cellular network received from the first cellular network while the processor maintains support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for UE capabilities.

[0135] According to various example embodiments, the processor may be configured to maintain support for EN-DC associated with a first cellular network for UE capabilities based on the second cellular network supporting EN-DC and including a second Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and a second New Radio (NR) network.

[0136] According to various example embodiments, the processor may be configured to identify whether the second cellular network supports EN-DC based on upperLayerIndication-r15 of a system information block (SIB) 2 received from the second cellular network.

[0137] According to various example embodiments, the activity is generated based on: a configuration change to perform data communication using the second cellular network; or based on communication with the second cellular network being temporarily changed to use data communication.

[0138] According to various example embodiments, the first cellular network and the second cellular network may be operated by different operators.

[0139] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of controlling wireless communication by a UE according to various embodiments.

[0140] This method can be referred to by Figure 5 The UE described is executed, and the technical features described above are not repeated here.

[0141] In operation 810, the UE may establish a data connection using the SIM stack 1 (ST1). In this case, the UE may perform data communication and IMS communication with the first cellular network, and may perform IMS communication with the second cellular network.

[0142] The first cellular network and the second cellular network may support EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC), the first cellular network may include a first LTE network and a first NR network, and the second cellular network may include a second LTE network and a second NR network. In this case, some cells of the first cellular network and the second cellular network may not support EN-DC and may cover one of LTE or NR. Therefore, as the UE moves, the UE may access a cell that supports EN-DC, or may access a cell that supports only one of LTE or NR.

[0143] In operation 815, the UE may detect an activity of changing the data connection configuration to SIM stack 2 (ST2). For example, a case where a user setting or communication with a second cellular network is temporarily changed to use data communication may be an example of the activity.

[0144] In operation 820, the UE may identify whether the first cellular network supports EN-DC. Alternatively, the UE may identify whether SIM stack 1 supports a feature of using only resources of a higher RAT, such as EN-DC.

[0145] If the first cellular network does not support EN-DC ("No" in operation 820), in operation 825, a packet data protocol (PDP) connection associated with SIM stack 1 may be deactivated, and a PDP connection associated with SIM stack 2 may be activated. In this case, operations after operation 830 described below are not performed, and data communication may be performed based on SIM stack 2. According to an embodiment, the UE may not perform a deactivation process for the PDP connection associated with SIM stack 1, and may maintain a PDN connection state. In this case, during data communication, the UE may not use an IP address obtained through SIM stack 1 during an Internet PDN connection process. If the first cellular network supports EN-DC, in operation 830, the UE may maintain support for EN-DC for the first cellular network for UE capabilities in SIM stack 1. For example, although EN-DC is not used for data communication in the first cellular network, the UE may maintain an RRC signaling process, or may maintain support for EN-DC for UE capabilities periodically sent to the first cellular network (e.g., a base station of a first LTE network).

[0146] In operation 835, the UE may deactivate the PDP connection associated with SIM stack 1 and may activate the PDP connection associated with SIM stack 2. According to an embodiment, the UE may not perform a deactivation procedure on the PDP connection associated with SIM stack 1 and may maintain the PDN connection state. In this case, during data communication, the UE may not use the IP address obtained through SIM stack 1 during the Internet PDN connection process.

[0147] In operation 840, the UE may identify whether a configuration associated with the EN-DC feature is received from a second cellular network (e.g., a second LTE base station). Alternatively, based on information received from the second cellular network, the UE may identify whether a serving cell accessed by the UE using SIM stack 2 supports EN-DC.

[0148] For example, based on upperLayerIndication-r15 of SIB 2 received from a second cellular network (e.g., a second LTE base station), the UE can identify whether the second cellular network supports EN-DC. In this case, if upperLayerIndication-r15 of SIB 2 is true, the UE can identify that the second cellular network currently accessed by the UE supports EN-DC and there is a neighboring second NR base station.

[0149] Alternatively, by recognizing that "restrictions on users with NR dual connection" transmitted from the cellular network is "use of NR dual connection is unrestricted" during the access (attachment) process, or by recognizing that NR-config-r15 information or NR-radiobearerConfig-r15 information is included in the RRC reconfiguration, the UE can recognize whether the cellular network supports EN-DC. The method by which the UE recognizes whether the second cellular network supports EN-DC may not be limited to the above example, and various information described in the EPS network feature support information of the 3GPP24.301 standardization specification may be used.

[0150] In operation 845, the UE may identify whether a data radio bearer (DRB) of EN-DC is connected in SIM stack 1. For example, the UE may perform a PDN disconnection procedure for an Internet data connection on the first cellular network. Although the PDN disconnection of the first cellular network has been completed, the UE may still support EN-DC of the UE capability.

[0151] If the identification of operation 845 shows that the DRB of EN-DC is not connected (“No” in operation 845 ), the UE may receive a measurement configuration from the first cellular network in operation 850 .

[0152] In operation 855, despite receiving the measurement configuration, the UE may not perform a measurement operation for the first NR network (e.g., a base station of the first NR network) of the first cellular network. For example, the UE may not perform a series of operations, such as measuring a service signal of the first NR network base station in a frequency band defined in the measurement configuration, and sending a measurement report.

[0153] In operation 860, the UE may receive a request for adding a predetermined cell to the first cellular network or handover (HO). For example, if the wireless environment of the currently connected cell is poor, a request may be made to add a NR cell or handover to a NR cell, even if event B1 is not provided as a measurement report.

[0154] In operation 865, the UE may return "failure" in response to the cell addition or handover request. For example, although the RRC connection reconfiguration request is received from the base station, the UE may send SCG failure information to the base station.

[0155] Therefore, the access (attachment) process may not be initiated for the first NR network. Even when the first cellular network supports EN-DC and the UE capabilities continue to report EN-DC support, the UE may not initiate a connection to the first NR base station of the first cellular network.

[0156] According to various example embodiments, a method performed by a UE may include: performing data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) using first identification information of a first user identification module; detecting an activity that triggers data communication through a second cellular network; and in response to detecting the activity, performing a process of detecting data communication with the second cellular network using second identification information of a second user identification module, and maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability.

[0157] According to various example embodiments, the first cellular network may include a first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and a first New Radio (NR) network.

[0158] According to various example embodiments, while maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for UE capabilities, the method does not perform measurement operations for a first NR network of the first cellular network based on receiving a measurement configuration from the first cellular network.

[0159] According to various example embodiments, the method may further include returning a failure of the cell addition or handover to the first cellular network based on a determination of receiving from the first cellular network that a cell addition or handover is associated with a first NR network of the first cellular network while maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability.

[0160] According to various example embodiments, the method may further include identifying whether the second cellular network supports EN-DC and includes a second Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and a second New Radio (NR) network.

[0161] According to various example embodiments, the identifying may include identifying whether the second cellular network supports EN-DC based on upperLayerIndication-r15 of a system information block (SIB) 2 received from the second cellular network.

[0162] According to various example embodiments, the detecting activity is performed based on: a configuration being changed by a user setting to perform data communication using the second cellular network; or a communication with the second cellular network being temporarily changed to use data communication.

[0163] According to various example embodiments, the first cellular network and the second cellular network may be operated by different operators.

[0164] Although the present disclosure has been illustrated and described with reference to various exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the various exemplary embodiments are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will further understand that various changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the true spirit and full scope of the present disclosure, including the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A user equipment UE, the UE include: a wireless communication circuit configured to perform data communication via a first cellular network or a second cellular network; a processor operably connected to the wireless communication circuitry; and a memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the UE to: performing data communication with the first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity EN-DC by using the first identification information of the first user identification module associated with the UE through the wireless communication circuit; In response to detecting an activity triggering data communication using a second user identification module associated with the UE, connecting an Internet packet data network (PDN) with the second cellular network for the data communication using second identification information of the second user identification module through the wireless communication circuit, and In response to connecting the Internet PDN with the second cellular network, limiting measurement operations of the first NR network for the first cellular network while maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for UE capabilities.

2. The UE according to claim 1, in, When the instructions are executed by the processor, the UE is caused to: when the processor maintains support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability, based on receiving a measurement configuration from the first cellular network, not perform measurement operations for a first NR network of the first cellular network.

3. The UE according to claim 1, in, The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the UE to: return a failure of cell addition or switching to the first cellular network based on a determination of cell addition or switching associated with a first NR network of the first cellular network received from the first cellular network, while the processor maintains support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capability.

4. The UE according to claim 1, in, The memory stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the UE to: maintain support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network of the UE capability based on the second cellular network supporting the EN-DC and including a second LTE network and a second NR network.

5. The UE according to claim 4, in, The memory stores instructions, which, when executed by the processor, enable the UE to: identify whether the second cellular network supports the EN-DC based on upperLayerIndication-r15 of the system information block SIB 2 received from the second cellular network.

6. The UE according to claim 1, in, The activity is generated by: changing the configuration by the user to perform the data communication by using the second cellular network; or The communication based on the second cellular network is temporarily changed to use the data communication.

7. The UE according to claim 1, in, The first cellular network and the second cellular network are operated by different operators.

8. A method performed by a user equipment UE, the method include: Perform data communication with a first cellular network supporting EUTRA NR dual connectivity EN-DC by using first identification information of a first user identification module associated with the UE; In response to detecting an activity triggering data communication using a second user identification module associated with the UE, connecting an Internet packet data network (PDN) with a second cellular network for data communication using second identification information of the second user identification module, and In response to connecting the Internet PDN with the second cellular network, limiting measurement operations of the first NR network for the first cellular network while maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for UE capabilities.

9. The method according to claim 8, in, While maintaining support for EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capabilities, based on receiving a measurement configuration from the first cellular network, not performing the measurement operation for a first NR network of the first cellular network.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: include: While maintaining support for the EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capabilities, based on receiving from the first cellular network a determination of a cell addition or handover associated with a first NR network of the first cellular network, returning a failure of the cell addition or handover to the first cellular network.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: include: identifying whether the second cellular network supports the EN-DC and includes a second LTE network and a second NR network, and Based on the second cellular network supporting the EN-DC and including the second LTE network and the second NR network, maintaining support for the EN-DC associated with the first cellular network for the UE capabilities.

12. The method according to claim 11, in, The identification includes: Based on upperLayerIndication-r15 of the system information block SIB 2 received from the second cellular network, it is identified whether the second cellular network supports the EN-DC.

13. The method according to claim 8, in, Detecting the activity is performed based on: based on a configuration being changed by a user to perform the data communication using the second cellular network; or The communication based on the second cellular network is temporarily changed to use the data communication.

14. The method according to claim 8, in, The first cellular network and the second cellular network are operated by different operators.

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