Capability indication, determination method and apparatus, communication apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a capability indication method and apparatus, a determining method and apparatus, an electronic device and a storage medium, wherein the capability indication method comprises: sending capability information to a network side device, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching. According to the present disclosure, the terminal can report the capability for multi-SIM card connection switching as the capability information to the network side device, so that the network side device can determine the specific support of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information, and then make appropriate configuration for the terminal, which is conducive to efficient use of communication resources.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular, to a capability indication method, a capability determination method, a capability indication apparatus, a capability determination apparatus, a communication apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In a multi-card terminal, multiple SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards can be provided, and the terminal can communicate through the multiple SIM cards. For example, a terminal is provided with a SIM card #1 and a SIM card #2, and the terminal can perform a communication operation using the SIM card #1 or perform a communication operation using the SIM card #2.

[0003] However, in some scenarios, the terminal needs to use the SIM card #2 to communicate while using the SIM card #1 to communicate, which requires the terminal to perform multi-SIM card connection switching from using the SIM card #1 to communicate to using the SIM card #2 to communicate. However, the capabilities of different terminals are different. If all terminals are assumed to support multi-SIM card connection switching by default, the base station may have problems when making configurations for terminals that do not support multi-SIM card connection switching. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a capability indication method, a capability determination method, a capability indication apparatus, a capability determination apparatus, a communication apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium to solve the technical problems in the related art.

[0005] According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, a capability indication method is provided, which is performed by a terminal, and the method comprises: sending capability information to a network side device, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of the terminal for performing multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0006] According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, a capability determination method is provided, which is performed by a network side device, and the method comprises: receiving capability information sent by a terminal; and determining a capability of the terminal for performing multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information.

[0007] According to a third aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, a capability indication apparatus is provided, which comprises one or more processors, and the processor is configured to perform: sending capability information to a network side device, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of the terminal for performing multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0008] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a capability determining apparatus is provided, comprising one or more processors configured to perform: receiving capability information sent by a terminal; and determining, according to the capability information, a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM connection switching.

[0009] According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program; wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the above-mentioned capability indicating method.

[0010] According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program; wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the above-mentioned capability determining method.

[0011] According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the above-mentioned capability indicating method.

[0012] According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the above-mentioned capability determining method.

[0013] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal can report the capability for multi-SIM connection switching as capability information to the network side device, so that the network side device can determine the specific support of the terminal for multi-SIM connection switching according to the capability information, and then make appropriate configuration for the terminal, which is conducive to efficient use of communication resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0014] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings needed in the embodiment description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic flow chart of a capability indicating method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of another capability determining method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of a capability determining method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of another capability determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for capability indication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for capability determination according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, but not all the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0022] The terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure. The singular forms "a", "an" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims are intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0023] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. can be used in the embodiments of the present disclosure to describe various information, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another type of information. For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first SIM card can also be referred to as the second SIM card, and similarly, the second SIM card can also be referred to as the first SIM card. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein can be interpreted as "when" or "upon" or "in response to determining".

[0024] For the purpose of brevity and understanding, the terms "greater than" or "less than", "higher than" or "lower than" are used herein when characterizing the size relationship. However, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that the term "greater than" also covers the meaning of "greater than or equal to", and the term "less than" also covers the meaning of "less than or equal to"; the term "higher than" covers the meaning of "higher than or equal to", and the term "lower than" also covers the meaning of "lower than or equal to".

[0025] Figure 1is a schematic flow chart of a capability indication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The capability indication method shown in this embodiment can be performed by a terminal, which includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of Things device, and the like. The terminal can communicate with a network side device as a user equipment, which includes but is not limited to a network side device in a 4G, 5G, 6G, and the like communication system, such as a base station, a core network, and the like.

[0026] In one embodiment, the terminal can be provided with multiple SIM cards, which can be traditional SIM cards or eSIM cards, i.e. embedded SIM cards.

[0027] The technical solutions of the present disclosure are exemplarily described below mainly in the case where the multiple SIM cards include a first SIM card and a second SIM card. The first SIM card and the second SIM card are not specific to a certain SIM card, but are used to represent any two different SIM cards in the multiple SIM cards. The first SIM card and the second SIM card can belong to the same operator or belong to different operators, which can be selected as needed.

[0028] As shown in Figure 1 The capability indication method can include the following steps:

[0029] In step S101, capability information is sent to a network side device, the capability information being used to indicate the capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0030] In one embodiment, in the case where the terminal is provided with multiple SIM cards including at least a first SIM card and a second SIM card, the multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching to the second SIM card for communication operation when the communication operation is performed through the first SIM card (in this case, the communication operation performed by the first SIM card can be interrupted). It should be noted that the multi-SIM card connection switching is not limited to the above case, for example, it can also include starting the second SIM card for communication operation at the same time when the communication operation is performed through the first SIM card (in this case, the communication operation performed by the first SIM card can not be interrupted). The technical solutions of the present disclosure are exemplarily described below mainly in the case where the multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching to the second SIM card for communication operation when the communication operation is performed through the first SIM card.

[0031] In one embodiment, when the terminal performs communication operation using the first SIM card, a situation can occur that the communication operation needs to be switched to the second SIM card.

[0032] For example, after the terminal establishes a communication connection with the first base station using the first SIM card, the terminal needs to use the second SIM card to perform a communication operation in a process of communicating through the communication connection, where the communication operation using the second SIM card includes but is not limited to receiving a paging message sent by the second base station using the second SIM card, receiving a system message sent by the second base station using the second SIM card, and sending information to the second base station using the second SIM card.

[0033] In this case, if the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation while performing a communication operation through the first SIM card, it can be determined that the terminal supports performing multi-SIM connection switching. In the following, in order to avoid redundancy, switching to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation while the terminal performs a communication operation through the first SIM card is referred to as multi-SIM connection switching.

[0034] However, the specific multi-SIM connection switching capability supported by the terminal in the case of determining to support performing multi-SIM connection switching can be different for different terminals, that is, different terminals can have different specific support for multi-SIM connection switching.

[0035] In one embodiment, the capability of the terminal to perform multi-SIM connection switching includes whether the terminal can perform the multi-SIM connection switching when a first condition is met, where the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0036] The first SIM card leaves the connected state; and the first SIM card remains in the connected state.

[0037] For example, some terminals only support performing multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card leaves the connected state, that is, when a communication operation needs to be switched to the second SIM card while performing a communication operation through the first SIM card, the first SIM card needs to leave the connected state to switch to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation.

[0038] For example, some terminals only support performing multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connected state, that is, when a communication operation needs to be switched to the second SIM card while performing a communication operation through the first SIM card, the first SIM card can remain in the connected state to switch to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation.

[0039] It can be seen that different terminals have different specific support for multi-SIM connection switching, that is, the capability of multi-SIM connection switching is different.

[0040] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal can report the capability of performing multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device, such as a base station, a core network, etc., as the capability information, so that the network side device can determine the specific support of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information, and then make appropriate configuration for the terminal, which is beneficial to efficient use of communication resources.

[0041] For example, the network side device determines, according to the capability information reported by the terminal, that the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card leaves the connected state, and does not support switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card remains in the connected state, and then determines the configuration of the communication operation of the first SIM card according to the configuration of the communication operation of the second SIM card.

[0042] For example, it can be determined that the time domain resources required by the second SIM card for communication operation are t1 to t2, and when configuring the time domain resources for the communication operation of the first SIM card, time domain resources other than t1 to t2 can be configured, so as to avoid the terminal switching from the first SIM card to the second SIM card for communication between t1 and t2, resulting in waste of resources configured for the first SIM card during this period.

[0043] For example, the network side device determines, according to the capability information reported by the terminal, that the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card remains in the connected state, and then determines, when the terminal uses the second SIM card for communication operation, that the context of the communication operation of the first SIM card is still retained, so as to quickly recover the communication with the first SIM card. Of course, it should be understood that the context of the communication operation of the first SIM card can also be deleted to reduce the occupation of the storage space of the network side device.

[0044] In one embodiment, the first SIM card leaving the connected state includes that the first SIM card leaves the connected state based on an access layer (Access Stratum, AS); and / or the first SIM card leaves the connected state based on a non-access layer (Non-Access Stratum, NAS).

[0045] That is, the first SIM leaving the connected state can be leaving the connected state according to the indication of the access layer signaling, such as leaving the connected state according to the signaling sent by the base station, or leaving the connected state according to the signaling of the non-access layer, such as leaving the connected state according to the signaling sent by the core network.

[0046] In one embodiment, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state includes that the first SIM card remains in the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card remains in the connected state based on a non-access layer.

[0047] That is, the first SIM card remains in the connected state, which can be maintained in the connected state according to the indication of the access layer signaling, for example, maintained in the connected state according to the signaling sent by the base station, or maintained in the connected state according to the non-access layer signaling, for example, maintained in the connected state according to the signaling sent by the core network.

[0048] In one embodiment, the network side device includes a New Radio (NR) network side device, and the capability information is carried in user equipment NR capability signaling; and / or

[0049] The network side device includes an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) network side device, and the capability information is carried in user equipment E-UTRAN capability signaling.

[0050] In one embodiment, the network side device can be a base station or a core network. Taking an NR base station as an example, the terminal can carry the capability information in user equipment NR capability (UE-NR-Capability) signaling and send it to the base station. Taking an E-UTRAN base station as an example, the terminal can carry the capability information in user equipment E-UTRAN capability (UE-EUTRA-Capability) signaling and send it to the base station.

[0051] In one embodiment, the network side device includes an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) network side device, and when the first SIM card and / or the second SIM card in the multi-SIM connection switching communicates based on NR, the capability information is carried in a new information element of the user equipment E-UTRAN capability signaling.

[0052] In the case where the network side device includes an E-UTRAN network side device, if the communication operation of the first SIM card or the second SIM card in the multi-SIM connection switching indicated by the capability information involves communication operation based on NR, since the UE-EUTRA-Capability signaling is generally used to indicate the related capability based on EUTRA communication, and is not used to indicate the related capability based on NR communication, the UE-EUTRA-Capability signaling can be expanded, for example, a new information element is added in the UE-EUTRA-Capability signaling to carry the capability information.

[0053] For example, the new information element is IRAT-ParametersNR-r17 signaling, which can include the following content:

[0054]

[0055]

[0056] Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of another capability indication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2 the method further includes:

[0057] In step S201, configuration signaling sent by the network side is received.

[0058] In step S202, the configuration signaling is used to determine the configuration of the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching reported to the network side device by the terminal.

[0059] In one embodiment, after the terminal reports the capability information to the network side device, the terminal can also report the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when performing the multi-SIM card connection switching. In this case, the network side device can send configuration signaling, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration signaling, to the terminal after receiving the capability information, and the configuration signaling carries the corresponding configuration. The configuration can include time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources, and the terminal can report the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching based on the configuration.

[0060] In one embodiment, the configuration indication can be carried in the configuration signaling, which is used to indicate the sub-signaling in the configuration signaling for carrying the configuration. Taking the RRC reconfiguration signaling as the configuration signaling for example, the configuration can be carried in the OtherConfig signaling of the RRC reconfiguration signaling. Then the terminal can be informed by the configuration indication to obtain the configuration in the OtherConfig signaling of the RRC reconfiguration signaling.

[0061] In one embodiment, the terminal reports the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching when the terminal is about to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching, or reports the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching in the process of performing the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0062] In one embodiment, the configuration includes at least one of the following:

[0063] whether the terminal is allowed to report the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching;

[0064] whether the terminal is allowed to report the information about the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition;

[0065] The terminal reports the length of the blocking timer of the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; for example, when the multi-SIM card connection switching meets the second condition, the terminal reports the length of the blocking timer of the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, that is, the configuration can include the length of the blocking timer of the connection switching message reported by the terminal to leave the RRC connected state and / or the length of the blocking timer of the connection switching message reported by the terminal to remain in the RRC connected state.

[0066] The terminal uses the third condition of the blocking timer, for example, the configuration can include the condition of the blocking timer of the connection switching message reported by the terminal to leave the RRC connected state and / or the condition of the blocking timer of the connection switching message reported by the terminal to remain in the RRC connected state.

[0067] The network side device supports the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal.

[0068] In one embodiment, the network side device can make various configurations as needed for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, and the configuration can indicate how the terminal reports the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0069] In one embodiment, the method further comprises: reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device according to the configuration when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed. When the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching, it can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device according to the configuration of the network side device.

[0070] For example, the network side device can configure whether to allow the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching. If the terminal determines according to the configuration that it is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, it can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, and in this case, the configuration can also indicate the time domain resource and the frequency domain resource used by the terminal for reporting; if the terminal determines according to the configuration that it is not allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, it does not report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0071] For example, the network side device can configure whether to allow the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition, that is, the network side device can further limit the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition in the case of configuring to allow the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, for example, the second condition and an indication bit can be carried in the configuration, and the indication bit is 1, indicating that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition is allowed to be reported, and the indication bit is 0, indicating that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition is not allowed to be reported.

[0072] When the terminal determines according to the configuration that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is allowed to be reported, the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is performed; when the terminal determines according to the configuration that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is not allowed to be reported, the terminal does not need to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is performed, and can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying other conditions is performed.

[0073] For example, the network side device can configure the terminal with a duration of a blocking timer for reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, further can configure the duration of the blocking timer for reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfies the second condition, and can set the duration of the blocking timer for reporting for multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying different conditions respectively. After the terminal determines the duration of the blocking timer according to the configuration, when reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device, the terminal can start the blocking timer, and will not report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching again within the duration of the blocking timer, i.e., before the blocking timer expires.

[0074] On this basis, the network side device can further configure a third condition for the terminal to use the blocking timer, and the terminal uses the blocking timer only when the third condition is satisfied, and does not use the blocking timer when the third condition is not satisfied. For example, the third condition includes a first target type of the first SIM card performing a communication operation, a second target type of the second SIM card performing a communication operation, etc., so that when the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching, if the type of the first SIM card performing the communication operation is the first target type, and / or the type of the second SIM card performing the communication operation is the second target type, the terminal can use the blocking timer, otherwise, the terminal does not use the blocking timer.

[0075] It should be noted that the second condition and the third condition can be set as needed, which can be the same condition as the first condition, or can be a different condition from the first condition. For example, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the first SIM card leaving the connected state, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state; for example, the third condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is performing or will perform the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0076] In addition, since the performance of the network side device is also different, the support capability of different network side devices for the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal can also be different, for example, some network side devices support the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching when the first SIM card leaves the connection state, and some network side devices support the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connection state. Therefore, the network side device can carry the support capability in the configuration and send it to the terminal, so that the terminal decides whether to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching according to the configuration.

[0077] For example, in the case of determining that the network side device only supports the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connection state, if the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching when the first SIM card leaves the connection state, the terminal does not need to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, so as to avoid wasting communication resources (because in this case, even if the information of the multi-SIM connection switching is reported, the network side device cannot make reasonable configuration for the process of the multi-SIM connection switching of the terminal), and if the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connection state, the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0078] In one embodiment, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching reported by the terminal includes at least one of the following:

[0079] Information to be switched to the second SIM card during the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal, for example, an identifier of the second SIM card;

[0080] Information of a communication operation performed after switching to the second SIM card, for example, a type of the communication operation performed after switching to the second SIM card, a duration of the communication operation, etc.

[0081] In one embodiment, after the network side device receives the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, the network side device can make appropriate configuration for the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal, for example, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching includes a second type of the communication operation to be performed after switching to the second SIM card, since a first type of the communication operation being performed by the first SIM card is known to the network side device, after determining the second type, the network side device can make appropriate configuration for the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal based on the first type and the second type.

[0082] For example, if the priority of the first type is higher than that of the second type, the network side device can configure the terminal not to be allowed to switch to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation, for example, if the priority of the second type is higher than that of the first type, the network side device can configure the terminal to be allowed to switch to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation.

[0083] The first type and the second type can refer to service types, and the priorities corresponding to the service types can be related to the allowed latency of the service types. For example, the lower the allowed latency, the higher the priority.

[0084] In addition to the above configuration manner for the terminal multi-SIM card connection switching process, other manners can also be considered, for example, the allowed latency of the first type and the second type can be considered. For example, the allowed latency corresponding to the first type is relatively large, for example, greater than a latency threshold, and then the network side device can configure the terminal to switch to the second SIM card for communication. For example, the allowed latency corresponding to the first type is relatively small, for example, less than the latency threshold, and then the network side device can configure the terminal not to switch to the second SIM card for communication.

[0085] Figure 3 A schematic flowchart of a capability determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The capability determination method shown in the embodiment can be performed by a network side device, such as a base station, a core network, etc. The network side device can communicate with a terminal, which includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of Things device, etc. The network side device includes but is not limited to a network side device in a 4G, 5G, 6G, etc. communication system.

[0086] In one embodiment, the terminal can be provided with multiple SIM cards, which can be traditional SIM cards or eSIM cards, i.e. embedded SIM cards.

[0087] The technical solutions of the present disclosure are mainly illustrated in the case where the multiple SIM cards include a first SIM card and a second SIM card. The first SIM card and the second SIM card do not specifically refer to a certain SIM card, but are used to represent any two different SIM cards in the multiple SIM cards. The first SIM card and the second SIM card can belong to the same operator or belong to different operators, which can be selected as needed.

[0088] As shown in Figure 3 The capability determination method can include the following steps:

[0089] In step S301, the capability information sent by the terminal is received.

[0090] In step S302, the capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching is determined according to the capability information.

[0091] In one embodiment, in the case that a plurality of SIM cards are provided in the terminal, the plurality of SIM cards at least including a first SIM card and a second SIM card, the multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation (in this case, the communication operation performed by the first SIM card can be interrupted) when the communication operation is performed by the first SIM card. It should be noted that the multi-SIM card connection switching is not limited to the above case, for example, it can also include starting the second SIM card to perform the communication operation (in this case, the communication operation performed by the first SIM card can not be interrupted) when the communication operation is performed by the first SIM card. The technical solutions of the present disclosure will be exemplarily described below mainly in the case that the multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation when the communication operation is performed by the first SIM card.

[0092] In one embodiment, when the terminal performs the communication operation using the first SIM card, the situation that the terminal needs to switch to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation can occur.

[0093] For example, after the terminal establishes the communication connection with the first base station using the first SIM card, in the process of performing the communication through the communication connection, the second SIM card needs to be used to perform the communication operation, wherein the communication operation using the second SIM card includes but is not limited to receiving the paging message sent by the second base station using the second SIM card, receiving the system message sent by the second base station using the second SIM card, sending the information to the second base station using the second SIM card, etc.

[0094] In this case, if the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation when the communication operation is performed by the first SIM card, it can be determined that the terminal supports the multi-SIM card connection switching, and in order to avoid redundancy, the switching to the second SIM card to perform the communication operation when the communication operation is performed by the first SIM card will be referred to as the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0095] However, in the case that the terminal determines to support the multi-SIM card connection switching, the specific multi-SIM card connection switching capability supported by the terminal can be different for different terminals, that is, the specific support of the multi-SIM card connection switching can be different for different terminals.

[0096] In one embodiment, the determining the capability of the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information includes: determining whether the terminal can perform the multi-SIM card connection switching under the condition that a first condition is met according to the capability information, wherein the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0097] The first SIM card leaves the connected state; the first SIM card remains in the connected state.

[0098] For example, some terminals only support multi-SIM card connection switching in the case that the first SIM card leaves the connected state, that is, when the first SIM card is used for communication operation, if it is needed to switch to the second SIM card for communication operation, the first SIM card needs to leave the connected state, and then the second SIM card can be used for communication operation.

[0099] For example, some terminals only support multi-SIM card connection switching in the case that the first SIM card remains in the connected state, that is, when the first SIM card is used for communication operation, if it is needed to switch to the second SIM card for communication operation, the first SIM card can remain in the connected state, and then the second SIM card can be used for communication operation.

[0100] It can be seen that different terminals have different specific support for multi-SIM card connection switching, that is, the capabilities of multi-SIM card connection switching are different.

[0101] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal can report the capability of multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device, such as a base station, a core network, etc., as capability information, so that the network side device can determine the specific support of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information, and then make appropriate configuration for the terminal, which is beneficial to efficient use of communication resources.

[0102] For example, the network side device determines, according to the capability information reported by the terminal, that the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card leaves the connected state, and does not support switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card remains in the connected state, and then determines the configuration for the first SIM card for communication operation according to the configuration for the second SIM card for communication operation.

[0103] For example, it can be determined that the time domain resources required by the second SIM card for communication operation are t1 to t2, and when configuring the time domain resources for the communication operation of the first SIM card, time domain resources other than t1 to t2 can be configured, so as to avoid the waste of resources configured for the first SIM card due to the switching of the terminal from the first SIM card to the second SIM card for communication between t1 and t2.

[0104] For example, the network side device determines, according to the capability information reported by the terminal, that the terminal supports switching to the second SIM card for communication operation in the case that the first SIM card remains in the connected state, and then determines, when the terminal uses the second SIM card for communication operation, that the context of the first SIM card for communication operation is still retained, so as to quickly recover the communication with the first SIM card. Of course, it should be understood that the context of the first SIM card for communication operation can also be deleted to reduce the occupation of the storage space of the network side device.

[0105] In an embodiment, the first SIM card leaving the connected state comprises the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on a non-access layer.

[0106] That is, the first SIM leaving the connected state can be leaving the connected state according to an indication of access layer signaling, such as leaving the connected state according to signaling sent by a base station, or leaving the connected state according to non-access layer signaling, such as leaving the connected state according to signaling sent by a core network.

[0107] In an embodiment, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state comprises the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on a non-access layer.

[0108] That is, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state can be remaining in the connected state according to an indication of access layer signaling, such as remaining in the connected state according to signaling sent by a base station, or remaining in the connected state according to non-access layer signaling, such as remaining in the connected state according to signaling sent by a core network.

[0109] Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of another capability determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4 The method further comprises:

[0110] In step S401, configuration signaling is sent to the terminal, the configuration signaling being used to instruct the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device.

[0111] In an embodiment, after the terminal reports the capability information to the network side device, the terminal can also report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when performing the multi-SIM card connection switching. In this case, the network side device can send configuration signaling, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration signaling, to the terminal after receiving the capability information, and the configuration signaling carries corresponding configuration. The configuration can include time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources, and the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching based on the configuration.

[0112] In an embodiment, the configuration indication can be carried in the configuration signaling, and is used to indicate sub-signaling in the configuration signaling for carrying the configuration. Taking the RRC reconfiguration signaling as the configuration signaling for example, the configuration can be carried in the OtherConfig signaling of the RRC reconfiguration signaling, and the terminal can be informed through the configuration indication to obtain the configuration in the OtherConfig signaling of the RRC reconfiguration signaling.

[0113] In an embodiment, the terminal reports the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching. The reporting can be performed when the terminal is about to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching, or can be performed during the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0114] In an embodiment, the configuration comprises at least one of the following:

[0115] whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching;

[0116] whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets the second condition;

[0117] a length of a blocking timer for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; for example, when the multi-SIM card connection switching meets the second condition, the length of the blocking timer for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, that is, the configuration can comprise a length of a blocking timer for the terminal to report a connection switching message for leaving the RRC connected state and / or a length of a blocking timer for the terminal to report a connection switching message for remaining in the RRC connected state;

[0118] a third condition for the terminal to use the blocking timer; for example, the configuration can comprise a condition for the terminal to report a connection switching message for leaving the RRC connected state and / or a condition for the terminal to report a connection switching message for remaining in the RRC connected state;

[0119] a support capability of the network side device for the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0120] In an embodiment, the network side device can make various configurations as needed for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, and the configurations can indicate how the terminal reports the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0121] In an embodiment, the method further comprises: reporting, to the network side device, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching according to the configuration when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed. The terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device according to the configuration of the network side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed.

[0122] For example, the network side device can configure whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching. When the terminal determines according to the configuration that the reporting of the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching is allowed, the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching. In this case, the configuration can further indicate time domain resources and frequency domain resources for the terminal to report. When the terminal determines according to the configuration that the reporting of the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching is not allowed, the terminal does not report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0123] For example, the network-side device can configure whether to allow the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition, that is, the network-side device can further limit the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition in the case of configuring to allow the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, for example, the second condition and an indication bit can be carried in the configuration, and the indication bit is 1, indicating that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is allowed to be reported, and the indication bit is 0, indicating that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is not allowed to be reported.

[0124] When the terminal determines according to the configuration that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is allowed to be reported, the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network-side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is performed; when the terminal determines according to the configuration that the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is not allowed to be reported, the terminal does not need to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network-side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying the second condition is performed, and can report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network-side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying other conditions is performed.

[0125] For example, the network-side device can configure the duration of the blocking timer for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, and further can configure the duration of the blocking timer for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfies the second condition, and can respectively set the duration of the blocking timer for the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying different conditions for blocking reporting. After the terminal determines the duration of the blocking timer according to the configuration, the terminal can start the blocking timer when reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network-side device, and will not report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching again within the duration of the blocking timer, that is, without timing out.

[0126] On this basis, the network-side device can further configure a third condition for the terminal to use the blocking timer, and the terminal uses the blocking timer only when the third condition is satisfied, and does not use the blocking timer when the third condition is not satisfied. For example, the third condition includes a first target type of the first SIM card performing a communication operation, a second target type of the second SIM card performing a communication operation, etc., so that when the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching, if the type of the first SIM card performing the communication operation is the first target type, and / or the type of the second SIM card performing the communication operation is the second target type, the blocking timer can be used, otherwise the blocking timer is not used.

[0127] It should be noted that the second condition and the third condition can be set as needed, and can be the same condition as the first condition or a different condition from the first condition. For example, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the first SIM card leaves the connected state, and the first SIM card remains in the connected state. For example, the third condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is performing or will perform the multi-SIM connection switching.

[0128] In addition, the performance of the network side device also varies, and the support capability of different network side devices for the multi-SIM connection switching of the terminal can also vary. For example, some network side devices support the terminal to perform the multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card leaves the connected state, and some network side devices support the terminal to perform the multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connected state. Therefore, the network side device can carry the support capability in the configuration and send it to the terminal, so that the terminal decides whether to report the information of the multi-SIM connection switching according to the configuration.

[0129] For example, in the case of determining that the network side device only supports the terminal to perform the multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connected state, the terminal does not need to report the information of the multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card leaves the connected state, so as to avoid wasting communication resources (because in this case, even if the information of the multi-SIM connection switching is reported, the network side device cannot make reasonable configuration for the process of the multi-SIM connection switching of the terminal), and the terminal can report the information of the multi-SIM connection switching when the first SIM card remains in the connected state.

[0130] In one embodiment, the information of the multi-SIM connection switching reported by the terminal includes at least one of the following:

[0131] The information of the terminal to be switched to the second SIM card in the process of the multi-SIM connection switching, for example, the identifier of the second SIM card;

[0132] The information of the communication operation performed by the terminal after being switched to the second SIM card, for example, the type of the communication operation performed by the terminal after being switched to the second SIM card, the duration of the communication operation, and the like.

[0133] In an embodiment, after the network-side device receives the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching, the network-side device can make appropriate configuration for the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal. For example, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching includes the second type of the communication operation to be performed by the second SIM card after the switching. Since the first type of the communication operation being performed by the first SIM card is known to the network-side device, the network-side device can make appropriate configuration for the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal based on the first type and the second type after determining the second type.

[0134] For example, the first type has a higher priority than the second type, and the network-side device can configure the terminal to not be allowed to switch to the second SIM card for communication. For example, the second type has a higher priority than the first type, and the network-side device can configure the terminal to be allowed to switch to the second SIM card for communication.

[0135] The first type and the second type can refer to service types, and the priority corresponding to the service types can be related to the allowed latency of the service types. For example, the lower the allowed latency, the higher the priority.

[0136] In addition to the above-mentioned configuration of the process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal, other methods can also be considered. For example, the allowed latency of the first type and the second type can be considered. For example, the allowed latency corresponding to the first type is relatively large, for example, greater than a latency threshold, and the network-side device can configure the terminal to be allowed to switch to the second SIM card for communication. For example, the allowed latency corresponding to the first type is relatively small, for example, less than a latency threshold, and the network-side device can configure the terminal to not be allowed to switch to the second SIM card for communication.

[0137] Corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiments of the capability indication method and the capability determination method, the present disclosure also provides embodiments of a capability indication apparatus and a capability determination apparatus.

[0138] The present disclosure also provides an embodiment of a capability indication apparatus. The capability indication apparatus shown in the embodiment can be applied to a terminal, which includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of Things device, and the like. The terminal can communicate with a network-side device as a user equipment, and the network-side device includes but is not limited to a network-side device in a 4G, 5G, 6G, or the like communication system, such as a base station, a core network, and the like.

[0139] In an embodiment, the terminal can be provided with multiple SIM cards, which can be traditional SIM cards or eSIM cards, i.e., embedded SIM cards.

[0140] The technical solutions of the present disclosure are exemplarily described below mainly in the case that multiple SIM cards include a first SIM card and a second SIM card. The first SIM card and the second SIM card are not specific to a certain SIM card, but are used to represent any two different SIM cards in multiple SIM cards. The first SIM card and the second SIM card can belong to the same operator, or can belong to different operators, which can be selected as needed.

[0141] In an embodiment, the capability indication apparatus includes one or more processors configured to perform: sending, to a network side device, capability information used to indicate a capability of the terminal for performing the multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0142] In an embodiment, the terminal is provided with multiple SIM cards, and the multiple SIM cards include at least a first SIM card and a second SIM card. The multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching from the first SIM card to the second SIM card for communication operation.

[0143] In an embodiment, the capability of the terminal for performing the multi-SIM card connection switching includes whether the terminal can perform the multi-SIM card connection switching under a first condition, wherein the first condition includes at least one of the following: the first SIM card leaves a connected state; and the first SIM card remains in the connected state.

[0144] In an embodiment, the first SIM card leaving the connected state includes that the first SIM card leaves the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card leaves the connected state based on a non-access layer.

[0145] In an embodiment, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state includes that the first SIM card remains in the connected state based on the access layer; and / or the first SIM card remains in the connected state based on the non-access layer.

[0146] In an embodiment, the network side device includes a new radio (NR) network side device, and the capability information is carried in user equipment (UE) NR capability signaling; and / or the network side device includes an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) network side device, and the capability information is carried in UE E-UTRAN capability signaling.

[0147] In an embodiment, the network side device includes an E-UTRAN network side device, and when the first SIM card and / or the second SIM card in the multi-SIM card connection switching performs communication operation based on NR, the capability information is carried in a newly added information element of the UE E-UTRAN capability signaling.

[0148] In an embodiment, the processor is further configured to perform: receiving configuration signaling sent by the network side; and determining, according to the configuration signaling, a configuration of reporting, by the terminal, information of the multi-SIM connection switching to the network side device.

[0149] In an embodiment, the configuration includes at least one of: whether the terminal is allowed to report information of the multi-SIM connection switching; whether the terminal is allowed to report information of the multi-SIM connection switching that satisfies a second condition; a time length of a blocking timer for the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM connection switching when the multi-SIM connection switching satisfies a second condition; a third condition for the terminal to use the blocking timer; or a support capability of the network side device for the multi-SIM connection switching of the terminal.

[0150] In an embodiment, the processor is further configured to perform: reporting, according to the configuration, information of the multi-SIM connection switching to the network side device when the multi-SIM connection switching is performed.

[0151] Embodiments of the present disclosure also propose a capability determination apparatus. The capability determination apparatus shown in the embodiments can be applied to a network side device, such as a base station, a core network, etc., which can communicate with a terminal, including but not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of Things device, etc., and the network side device includes but is not limited to a network side device in a 4G, 5G, 6G, etc., communication system.

[0152] In an embodiment, the terminal can be provided with multiple SIM cards, which can be traditional SIM cards or eSIM cards, i.e., embedded SIM cards.

[0153] The technical solutions of the present disclosure are mainly described below by way of example in the case where multiple SIM cards include a first SIM card and a second SIM card. The first SIM card and the second SIM card are not specific to a certain SIM card, but are used to represent any two different SIM cards in multiple SIM cards. The first SIM card and the second SIM card can belong to the same operator or belong to different operators, which can be selected as needed.

[0154] In an embodiment, the capability determination apparatus includes one or more processors, which are configured to perform: receiving capability information sent by a terminal; and determining, according to the capability information, a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM connection switching.

[0155] In an embodiment, the terminal is provided with a plurality of SIM cards, the plurality of SIM cards at least including a first SIM card and a second SIM card, and the multi-SIM card connection switching includes switching to the second SIM card for communication operation when the first SIM card is in communication operation.

[0156] In an embodiment, the processor is configured to perform: determining, according to the capability information, whether the terminal is capable of performing the multi-SIM card connection switching under a first condition, wherein the first condition includes at least one of: the first SIM card leaving a connected state; and the first SIM card remaining in the connected state.

[0157] In an embodiment, the first SIM card leaving the connected state includes the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on an access stratum; and / or the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on a non-access stratum.

[0158] In an embodiment, the first SIM card remaining in the connected state includes the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the access stratum; and / or the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the non-access stratum.

[0159] In an embodiment, the processor is further configured to perform: sending, to the terminal, configuration signaling for instructing the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device.

[0160] In an embodiment, the configuration includes at least one of: whether to allow the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; whether to allow the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfying a second condition; a time length of a blocking timer for the terminal to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching when the multi-SIM card connection switching satisfies the second condition; a third condition for the terminal to use the blocking timer; or a support capability of the network side device for the terminal to perform multi-SIM card connection switching.

[0161] As to the apparatus in the above embodiments, specific manners in which various modules perform operations have been described in details in the embodiments of the method, and will not be described in details here.

[0162] For the apparatus embodiment, since it basically corresponds to the method embodiment, the relevant part can be referred to the part of the method embodiment. The apparatus embodiment described above is only illustrative, wherein the modules described as separate components can or can not be physically separated, and the components displayed as modules can or can not be physical modules, i.e., can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network modules. Part or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of the embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement without creative labor.

[0163] The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a communication device, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the capability indication method of any one of the above embodiments is realized.

[0164] The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a communication device, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the capability determination method of any one of the above embodiments is realized.

[0165] The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the capability indication method of any one of the above embodiments are realized.

[0166] The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the capability determination method of any one of the above embodiments are realized.

[0167] As Figure 5 shown, Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 500 for capability determination according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 500 can be provided as a base station. Referring to Figure 5 , the apparatus 500 comprises a processing component 522, a wireless transmit / receive component 524, an antenna component 526, and a signal processing part specific to the wireless interface, the processing component 522 can further comprise one or more processors. One of the processors in the processing component 522 can be configured to realize the capability determination method of any one of the above embodiments.

[0168] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 600 for capability indication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the apparatus 600 can be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging equipment, a game console, a tablet device, a medical device, a fitness device, a personal digital assistant, etc.

[0169] Referring to Figure 6 The device 600 can include one or more of the following components: a processing component 602, a memory 604, a power supply component 606, a multimedia component 608, an audio component 610, an input / output (I / O) interface 612, a sensor component 614, and a communication component 616.

[0170] The processing component 602 usually controls overall operations of the device 600, such as operations associated with display, phone call, data communication, camera operation and recording operation. The processing component 602 can include one or more processors 620 to execute instructions to complete all or part of steps of the above-mentioned method of indicating capability. Further, the processing component 602 can include one or more modules to facilitate interaction between the processing component 602 and other components. For example, the processing component 602 can include a multimedia module to facilitate the interaction between the multimedia component 608 and the processing component 602.

[0171] The memory 604 is configured to store various types of data to support operations of the device 600. Examples of these data include instructions for any application or method operating on the device 600, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, etc. The memory 604 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage devices or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic storage, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0172] The power supply component 606 provides power for various components of the device 600. The power supply component 606 can include a power supply management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing and distributing power for the device 600.

[0173] Multimedia component 608 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 600 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touchscreen to receive input signals from the user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touches, swipes, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensors may sense not only the boundaries of the touch or swipe action but also the duration and pressure associated with the touch or swipe operation. In some embodiments, multimedia component 608 includes a front-facing camera and / or a rear-facing camera. When the device 600 is in an operating mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front-facing camera and / or the rear-facing camera may receive external multimedia data. Each front-facing camera and rear-facing camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have focal length and optical zoom capabilities.

[0174] Audio component 610 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, audio component 610 includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when device 600 is in an operating mode, such as call mode, recording mode, and voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may be further stored in memory 604 or transmitted via communication component 616. In some embodiments, audio component 610 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0175] I / O interface 612 provides an interface between processing component 602 and peripheral interface modules, such as keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to, home buttons, volume buttons, power buttons, and lock buttons.

[0176] Sensor assembly 614 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessments of various aspects of device 600. For example, sensor assembly 614 may detect the on / off state of device 600, the relative positioning of components such as the display and keypad of device 600, changes in the position of device 600 or a component of device 600, the presence or absence of user contact with device 600, the orientation or acceleration / deceleration of device 600, and temperature changes of device 600. Sensor assembly 614 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. Sensor assembly 614 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, sensor assembly 614 may also include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

[0177] The communication component 616 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the device 600 and other devices. The device 600 can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR, or a combination thereof. In an example embodiment, the communication component 616 receives broadcast signals or broadcast-related information from external broadcast management systems via a broadcast channel. In an example embodiment, the communication component 616 further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module can be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) techniques, infrared data association (IrDA) techniques, ultra-wideband (UWB) techniques, Bluetooth (BT) techniques, and other techniques.

[0178] In an example embodiment, the device 600 can be implemented by one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components, for performing the above-described capability indication method.

[0179] In an example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions, such as the memory 604 including instructions, is also provided, which can be executed by the processor 620 of the device 600 to complete the above-described capability indication method. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium can be a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, and an optical data storage device, etc.

[0180] Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the features disclosed herein. The disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such features that are evident to those skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains. The specification and examples are to be regarded as illustrative only, and the true scope and spirit of the disclosure are indicated by the following claims.

[0181] It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures herein described and illustrated, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the claims that follow.

[0182] It is to be noted that, in the present text, relational terms such as first and second and the like can be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, exclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

[0183] The above describes in detail the method and device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The principles and implementation manners of the present disclosure are described by using specific examples. The above description of the embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present disclosure and its core idea. Meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present disclosure, the specific implementation manners and application ranges can be changed. In summary, the content of the present description should not be understood as a limitation of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A capability indication method, characterized by, The method is performed by a terminal, and the method comprises: sending, to a network side device, capability information, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching; receiving configuration signaling sent by the network side; determining, according to the configuration signaling, a configuration for reporting, to the network side device, information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; and reporting, to the network side device, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching according to the configuration when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed, the reported information of the multi-SIM card connection switching comprising a second type of communication operation to be performed by a second SIM card after switching to the second SIM card, so that the network device configures a process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal based on a first type of communication operation being performed by a first SIM card and the second type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The terminal is provided with a plurality of SIM cards, the plurality of SIM cards comprising at least the first SIM card and the second SIM card, and the multi-SIM card connection switching comprises switching to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation when the first SIM card performs the communication operation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The capability of the terminal for the multi-SIM card connection switching comprises whether the terminal can perform the multi-SIM card connection switching when a first condition is met, wherein the first condition comprises at least one of the following: the first SIM card leaves a connected state; and the first SIM card remains in the connected state.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first SIM card leaving the connected state comprises: the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on a non-access layer.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first SIM card remaining in the connected state comprises: the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the access layer; and / or the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the non-access layer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, The network side device comprises a new radio (NR) network side device, and the capability information is carried in user equipment (UE) NR capability signaling; and / or The network side device comprises an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) network side device, and the capability information is carried in user equipment (UE) E-UTRAN capability signaling.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The network side device comprises an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) network side device, and when the first SIM card and / or the second SIM card in the multi-SIM card connection switching performs a communication operation based on NR, the capability information is carried in a newly added information element of the user equipment (UE) E-UTRAN capability signaling.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein, The configuration comprises at least one of the following: whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets a second condition; a duration of a prohibit timer for the terminal to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; a third condition for the terminal to use the prohibit timer; or a support capability of the network side device for the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching. The second condition and the third condition are the same as or different from the first condition.

9. A capability determination method, characterized by, The method is performed by a network side device, and the method comprises: receiving capability information sent by a terminal; and determining a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching according to the capability information. sending configuration signaling to the terminal, the configuration signaling being used to indicate configuration of the terminal reporting information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device; receiving the terminal, and reporting, according to the configuration, information of the multi-SIM card connection switching when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed; the reported information of the multi-SIM card connection switching comprising a second type that the second SIM card is to perform a communication operation; configuring, based on the first type and the second type that the first SIM card is performing a communication operation, a process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The terminal is provided with a plurality of SIM cards, and the plurality of SIM cards at least comprise a first SIM card and a second SIM card, and the multi-SIM card connection switching comprises switching to the second SIM card to perform a communication operation when a communication operation is performed through the first SIM card.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The determining, according to the capability information, of the capability of the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching comprises: determining, according to the capability information, whether the terminal can perform the multi-SIM card connection switching under a first condition, wherein the first condition comprises at least one of the following: the first SIM card leaving a connected state; and the first SIM card remaining in the connected state.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, The first SIM card leaving the connected state comprises: the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on an access layer; and / or the first SIM card leaving the connected state based on a non-access layer.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein, The first SIM card remaining in the connected state comprises: the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the access layer; and / or the first SIM card remaining in the connected state based on the non-access layer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein, The configuration comprises at least one of the following: whether the terminal is allowed to report the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; whether the terminal is allowed to report information of the multi-SIM card connection switching that meets a second condition; a time length of a blocking timer of the terminal reporting the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; a third condition in which the terminal uses the blocking timer; or a support capability of the network side device for the terminal to perform the multi-SIM card connection switching; the second condition and the third condition are the same as or different from the first condition.

15. A capability indication device, characterized in that, The one or more processors are configured to perform: sending capability information to a network side device, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of a terminal to perform multi-SIM card connection switching; receiving configuration signaling sent by the network side; determining, according to the configuration signaling, configuration of the terminal reporting information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device; reporting, according to the configuration, information of the multi-SIM card connection switching to the network side device when the multi-SIM card connection switching is performed; the reported information of the multi-SIM card connection switching comprising a second type that the second SIM card is to perform a communication operation, so that the network device configures a process of the multi-SIM card connection switching of the terminal based on a first type and the second type that the first SIM card is performing a communication operation.

16. A capability determining apparatus, characterized by comprising: The one or more processors are configured to perform: receiving capability information sent by a terminal; and determining, according to the capability information, a capability of the terminal for multi-SIM card connection switching; sending configuration signaling to the terminal, the configuration signaling being used for indicating configuration of the terminal for reporting information of the multi-SIM card connection switching; receiving, from the terminal, the information of the multi-SIM card connection switching reported according to the configuration when the terminal performs the multi-SIM card connection switching; the reported information of the multi-SIM card connection switching comprising a second type of communication operation to be performed by the second SIM card after switching to the second SIM card; configuring a process of the terminal for the multi-SIM card connection switching based on the first type and the second type of communication operation being performed by the first SIM card.

17. A communications device, characterized by comprise: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the capability indication method in any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. A communications device, characterized by comprise: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the capability determination method in any one of claims 9 to 14.

19. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the steps in the capability indication method in any one of claims 1 to 8.

20. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, the computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the steps in the capability determination method in any one of claims 9 to 14.

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