User equipment supporting dual subscriber identity module dual active and operating method thereof

Abstract

A method of operating a user equipment supporting Dual Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Dual-Domain (DSDA), the method comprising: performing a first communication with a first base station via a first network through a radio frequency (RF) transmission path allocated to a first SIM, the transmission path being included in a set of RF transmission paths of the user equipment; determining, in response to a resource allocation request from a second SIM corresponding to a second communication with a second base station via a second network, whether the set of RF transmission paths includes more than the RF transmission paths; and, in response to determining that the set of RF transmission paths does not include more than the RF transmission paths, allocating at least one of the RF transmission paths to each of the first SIM and the second SIM based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention concept relates to wireless communication, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) wireless communication. [Cross-reference to Related Applications]

[0002] This application is based on and claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0022694, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on February 19, 2021, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0066490, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on May 24, 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Prior Art

[0003] Multi-SIM devices (such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, and laptop computers) may include two or more SIM cards. Each SIM card may include international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) information and key information, which enables the user of the multi-SIM device to be checked and authenticated by a service provider.

[0004] Multi-SIM wireless communication may enable a terminal to access two different network services. For example, a terminal may include multiple SIMs (or multiple SIM cards), and the multiple SIMs may correspond to different accounts and / or phone numbers respectively. The terminal may be implemented using multiple protocol stacks to drive multiple wireless communications corresponding to the multiple SIMs.

[0005] When a multi-SIM user equipment is a dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) device, multiple SIMs share one radio frequency (RF) resource, and thus when the RF resource usage cycles of the SIMs overlap, the communication performance of the multi-SIM device on the SIMs without allocated RF resources decreases. On the other hand, when a multi-SIM user equipment is a dual SIM dual active (DSDA) device, since multiple RF sources are allocated to each of the multiple SIMs, better communication performance can be provided compared to the case where the user equipment is a DSDS device. However, due to the use of additional hardware resources or software resources, the cost of manufacturing the multi-SIM device and the power consumption of the multi-SIM device increase. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present inventive concept provides a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) device and an operation method thereof. The multi-SIM device and the operation method thereof efficiently support network services for multiple SIMs using fewer radio frequency (RF) transmission paths than the conventional dual SIM dual active (DSDA) scheme, so as to provide improved communication performance and reduce power consumption compared to a conventional DSDS device while reducing costs compared to a conventional DSDA device.

[0007] According to an aspect of the present inventive concept, there is provided an operation method of a user equipment supporting dual subscriber identity module (SIM) dual active (DSDA). The operation method includes: performing a first communication with a first base station via a first network through a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmission paths allocated to a first SIM, the plurality of RF transmission paths being included in a set of RF transmission paths of the user equipment; determining whether the set of RF transmission paths includes more than the plurality of RF transmission paths in response to a resource allocation request from a second SIM, the resource allocation request corresponding to a second communication with a second base station via a second network; and allocating at least one of the plurality of RF transmission paths to each of the first SIM and the second SIM based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme in response to determining that the set of RF transmission paths does not include more than the plurality of RF transmission paths.

[0008] According to aspects of the present invention concept, there is provided a user equipment supporting dual subscriber identity module (SIM) dual standby (DSDA), the user equipment comprising: a first SIM and a second SIM; a transmitter configured to form a set of radio frequency (RF) transmission paths; and a processing circuitry configured to: allocate a plurality of RF transmission paths to the first SIM to effect a first communication with a first base station via a first network, the plurality of RF transmission paths being included in the set of RF transmission paths; in response to a resource allocation request from the second SIM, determine whether the set of RF transmission paths includes more than the plurality of RF transmission paths, the resource allocation request corresponding to a second communication with a second base station via a second network; and in response to determining that the set of RF transmission paths does not include more than the plurality of RF transmission paths, allocate at least one of the plurality of RF transmission paths to each of the first SIM and the second SIM based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme.

[0009] According to aspects of the present invention concept, there is provided a user equipment supporting multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) multi-standby (MSMA), the user equipment comprising: a first SIM configured to use packet data network (PDN) services on a first network; a second SIM configured to use Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) PDN services on a second network; a transmitter configured to form a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmission paths; and a processing circuitry configured to: reallocate at least one of the plurality of RF transmission paths from the first SIM to the second SIM based on a transmission resource allocation request from the second SIM; and output Internet data from the first SIM and call data from the second SIM while both the first SIM and the second SIM are in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention concept will be more clearly understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a wireless communication system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a user equipment including a plurality of multi-subscriber identity modules (SIMs) according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a multi-SIM device according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a user equipment (UE) capability controller according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the UE capability controller shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a transmission controller according to an embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an example of the operation of the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6. FIGS. 8A and 8B show an embodiment of a transmission resource response message transmitted by the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6. FIGS. 10A and 10B are flowcharts showing an embodiment of the operation of the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a hardware controller according to an embodiment. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a transmission resource sharing system of a user equipment according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the multi-SIM device shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment. Embodiments

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a wireless communication system 10 according to an embodiment.

[0013] Referring to FIG. 1, the wireless communication system 10 may include a first network 150, a second network 160, and a user equipment (UE) 100.

[0014] In an embodiment, the wireless communication system 10 may include a fifth-generation new radio wireless communication (5G NR) system, a fourth-generation long-term evolution wireless communication (4G LTE) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) system, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, or another wireless communication system, and may additionally include a wireless communication system in which a combination of the above-mentioned multiple wireless communication systems is included.

[0015] The UE 100 may be a wireless communication device and may be defined as a primary agent for communicating with a base station (e.g., base stations 151 and / or 161) or another UE. The UE 100 may be fixed or may be portable and may represent a device for wirelessly communicating with base stations 151 and / or 161 to transmit or receive data and / or control information. For example, the UE 100 may be referred to as a UE, a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a user terminal (UT), a subscriber station (SS), a wireless device, and / or a handheld device. As shown in FIG. 1, the UE 100 may include an antenna array 110, a transceiver 120, a multi-SIM device 130, a first SIM 141, and / or a second SIM 142.

[0016] Base stations 151 and / or 161 can be the master agents that communicate with UE 100 and allocate communication network resources to UE 100, and can represent fixed stations that communicate with UE 100 and / or another base station. Additionally, for example, base station 151 can communicate with base station 161 to exchange data and control information. For example, base stations 151 and / or 161 can be referred to as Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation node B (gNB), sector, site, base transceiver system (BTS), access point (AP), relay node, remote radio head (RRH), radio unit (RU), and / or small cell. In this document, a base station or a cell can be interpreted in a comprehensive sense, which represents a certain area or function covered by a CDMA-based base station controller (BSC), a WCDMA-based Node B, a 4G LTE-based eNB, and a 5G NR-based gNB or sector (site), and can include all various coverage areas, such as mega-cell, macro-cell, micro-cell, pico-cell, femto-cell, relay node, RRH, RU, and small cell communication ranges.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the first base station 151 may be included in the first network 150, and the second base station 161 may be included in the second network 160. The UE 100 may access the first network 150 through the first base station 151 and may access the second network 160 through the second base station 161. The UE 100 may communicate with the first network 150 and the second network 160 based on a radio access technology (RAT). For example, in an embodiment, in a 5G NR system and a 4G LTE system, the UE 100 may communicate with the first network 150 and the second network 160 based on another RAT. In an embodiment, the UE 100 may communicate with the first network 150 and the second network 160 based on the same RAT or a similar RAT. In an embodiment, the UE 100 may communicate with the first network 150 and the second network 160 based on different RATs. The UE 100 may transmit information through the first network 150 or the second network 160 based on various multiple access schemes such as: code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-FDMA, OFDM-TDMA, and OFDM-CDMA. In such a case, the UE 100 and the base stations 151 and 161 may communicate with each other and may transmit or receive signals (or data) through various channels.

[0018] The UE 100 can support multi-SIM wireless communication. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the UE 100 can perform a first wireless communication 11 associated with the first SIM 141 with the first base station 151 included in the first network 150, and can perform a second wireless communication 12 associated with the second SIM 142 with the second base station 161 included in the second network 160. Specifically, in the case of performing two wireless communications associated with the two SIMs 141 and 142, the UE 100 can be referred to as a dual-SIM device. The first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 can be respectively referred to as the first connection and the second connection or the first subscription and the second subscription. Additionally, in an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, two SIMs 141 and 142 (e.g., dual-SIM wireless communication) will be mainly described, but it can be understood that the embodiment is applicable to multi-SIM wireless communication including three or more SIMs.

[0019] In an embodiment, the UE 100 can support multi-SIM multi-active (MSMA). That is, in the UE 100, the transmit RF path and the receive RF path provided by the transceiver 120 can be used simultaneously (or concurrently) by the first SIM 141 and the second SIM 142, and the first SIM 141 and the second SIM 142 can transmit and receive signals simultaneously (or concurrently). Here, each of the transmit RF path and the receive RF path can be implemented using hardware (e.g., located in the transceiver 120), and can represent the path through which radio resources move, and specifically, the transmit RF path can be referred to as a transmit module (Tx module) or a transmit RF chain (Tx RF chain).

[0020] In the case where the UE 100 uses the transceiver 120 to transmit signals to simultaneously (or concurrently) use the network services of each of the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12, the UE 100 can transmit or receive signals based on a transmit resource sharing scheme.

[0021] For example, it can be assumed that the transceiver 120 provides two RF transmission paths. The first wireless communication 11 is 5G NR stand-alone (SA) communication involving at least two RF transmission paths, and the second wireless communication 12 is 4G LTE communication involving at least one RF transmission path. And the first SIM 141 transmits signals (for example, the first transmission signal transmitted through the first RF transmission path and the second transmission signal transmitted through the second RF transmission path), because in the state where the first wireless communication 11 is connected by the two RF transmission paths through the RRC layer, all the two RF transmission paths are allocated to the first SIM 141. In this case, in the case where the second SIM 142 uses the transmission resources to perform wireless communication with the second base station 161, the multi-SIM device 130 can allocate the transmission resources such that the second wireless communication 12 associated with the second SIM 142 uses one of the two RF transmission paths that the first wireless communication 11 is using, and can transmit a transmission resource response message including information associated with the usage right of the RF transmission path to the protocol stack used by the first SIM 141 and / or the second SIM 142. In an embodiment, based on whether each of the multiple RF transmission paths is available, some of the multiple RF transmission paths can be allocated to each SIM, and the UE 100 can allocate the corresponding RF transmission paths to the first SIM 141 and / or the second SIM 142 based on a time-division multiplexing (TDM) scheme. Such a scheme can be defined as a transmission resource sharing scheme.

[0022] In the traditional DSDA scheme, a transmission module equal to the sum of the transmission modules using two SIMs can be equipped in the UE 100 for simultaneous (or synchronous) transmission of the two SIMs. In this case, from the perspective of software operation, the UE 100 can be more easily implemented and can be used without degradation (or with lower degradation) of the performance of each SIM. However, from the perspective of hardware operation, the implementation cost may be relatively high, and from the perspective of current consumption, the UE 100 may be less efficient. Specifically, in the UE based on the traditional DSDA scheme, one of the two SIMs included may only use the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) packet data network (PDN), and the other SIM using the Internet (INT) PDN may have a lower transmission time than the one SIM, but adding a transmission module for the DSDA scheme may be less efficient.

[0023] On the other hand, in an embodiment, in a case where the UE 100 allocates transmission resources based on the above-described transmission resource sharing scheme, since the first SIM 141 may not transmit a second transmission signal during the time when the second SIM 142 transmits a signal using the second RF transmission path which is one of the two RF transmission paths, the communication efficiency with the first network 150 may be slightly reduced. However, since the duration for allocating transmission resources in the SIM that only uses the IMS PDN is relatively short, there may not be a large difference in performance. Therefore, as described below with reference to FIG. 2, the multi-SIM device 130 included in the UE 100 according to the embodiment may support the following transmission resource sharing scheme: the transmission resource sharing scheme prevents the connection between the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 from being disconnected (or reduces the occurrence of such a situation) without changing additional hardware (e.g., the transceiver 120), and thus the UE 100 can transmit signals simultaneously (or synchronously).

[0024] The antenna array 110 may include at least one antenna and may receive RF signals from the first base station 151 and / or the second base station 161 or may transmit RF signals to the first base station 151 and / or the second base station 161. In an embodiment, the antenna array 110 may include a plurality of antennas for multi-input multi-output (MIMO).

[0025] The transceiver 120 may be a hardware device coupled to the antenna array 110 and the multi-SIM device 130 and may provide RF transmission resources and RF reception resources for wireless communication. For example, the transceiver 120 may process the RF signals received by the antenna array 110 to provide a received signal RX as a baseband signal to the multi-SIM device 130, or may process a transmission signal TX as a baseband signal to provide an RF signal to the antenna array 110. The transmitter (not shown) included in the transceiver 120 may be controlled by the multi-SIM device 130 and may include, in an embodiment, an RF transmission path that includes a plurality of switches, a plurality of matching circuits, a plurality of filters, a plurality of amplifiers, and / or a plurality of mixers.

[0026] In an embodiment, the transceiver 120 may support carrier aggregation (CA) using multiple carriers. For example, the UE 100 may transmit data to and / or receive data from the first base station 151 and / or the second base station 161 by simultaneously (or synchronously) using two or more carriers, each of the two or more carriers being referred to as a component carrier (CC). The transceiver 120 may form RF transmission paths and RF reception paths corresponding to the CCs used in CA, and may process signals transmitted and received via the RF transmission paths and RF reception paths. In an embodiment, the transceiver 120 may support multi-connectivity (MC), and thus may support multiple independent RF transmission paths and RF reception paths. Specifically, in a case where the transceiver 120 forms two independent RF paths, the transceiver 120 may be referred to as supporting dual connectivity (DC). As described above, the transceiver 120 may provide RF transmission paths and RF reception paths, and the first SIM 141 or the second SIM 142 may use the RF transmission paths and RF reception paths and the allocated transmission resources and reception resources to transmit signals to or receive signals from the first network 150 or the second network 160.

[0027] The multi-SIM device 130 may communicate with the transceiver 120 via baseband signals RX and TX and may be coupled to the first SIM 141 and the second SIM 142. The first SIM 141 may include information for accessing the first network 150 via the first wireless communication 11, and the second SIM 142 may include information for accessing the second network 160 via the second wireless communication 12. As described below with reference to FIG. 4, the multi-SIM device 130 may have an architecture for processing connections associated with the first SIM 141 and connections associated with the second SIM 142. Additionally, as described below with reference to FIG. 4, the multi-SIM device 130 may use the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 to simultaneously (or synchronously) transmit signals based on RF transmission paths provided by hardware components (e.g., the transceiver 120). Based on a transmission resource sharing scheme, the multi-SIM device 130 may control the transceiver 120 to allocate at least one RF transmission path to the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12. In an embodiment, the multi-SIM device 130 may include a hardware block designed by logic synthesis, a software block including a series of instructions, a processing unit including at least one processor for executing the series of instructions, and / or a combination thereof. In an embodiment, the multi-SIM device 130 may include a modem or a baseband processor.

[0028] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a UE 200 including multiple SIMs according to an embodiment. Hereinafter, the UE 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 2, the UE 200 according to an embodiment may include an antenna array 210, an RF integrated circuit (RFIC) 220 including multiple RF chains 222_1, 222_2, 224_1, and 224_2, multiple digital-to-analog converters (DACs) 226_1 and 226_2, multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 228_1 and 228_2, a baseband processor 240, multiple SIMs (e.g., a first SIM and a second SIM) 241 and 242, and / or a SIM detector 250.

[0030] The transceiver 120 shown in FIG. 1 may be referred to as a transmitter and a receiver, each of which is configured with the RFIC 220, the DACs 226_1 and 226_2, and / or the ADCs 228_1 and 228_2 shown in FIG. 2. And in FIG. 2, a transmitter configured with two RC chains 222_1 and 222_2 and two DACs 226_1 and 226_2 is illustrated as an example. However, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and the transmitter may be configured with two or more RF chains and two or more DACs.

[0031] According to an embodiment, the UE 200 may provide two RF transmission paths (RF Tx path 1 and RF Tx path) 230_1 and 230_2. Each of the first SIM 241 and the second SIM 242 may use the services of each of the first network (150 shown in FIG. 1) and the second network (160 shown in FIG. 1) to transmit signals using RF transmission resources. For example, the UE 200 may include a first SIM 241 connected to 5G NR SA communication and using two RF transmission paths, and a second SIM 242 connected to 4G LTE communication and using one RF transmission path.

[0032] The baseband processor 240 may allocate RF transmission resources to the first SIM 241 and the second SIM 242 based on information about the first network and information about the second network. For ease of explanation, the operation of communicating with base stations (151 and 161 shown in FIG. 1) implemented by the baseband processor 240 using multiple SIMs (e.g., 241 and 242) may be referred to as the operation of communicating with base stations (151 and 161 shown in FIG. 1) implemented by the multiple SIMs (e.g., 241 and 242).

[0033] After the baseband processor 240 allocates RF transmission resources, the baseband signal may be converted into an analog signal by the DAC 226_1 or 226_2, and the analog signal may pass through filters, mixers, and amplifiers respectively included in the RF chain 222_1 or 222_2 and may be transmitted as an RF signal.

[0034] The SIM detector 250 may detect the multiple SIMs 241 and 242 installed on the slot. Accordingly, the SIM detector 250 may detect the SIM inserted into the slot and may determine the number of inserted SIMs. A detailed embodiment of the operation of the SIM detector 250 will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

[0035] Although not shown in FIG. 2, the UE 200 may include a memory (not shown), and the memory may store information about the first network corresponding to the first SIM 241, information about the second network corresponding to the second SIM 242, and / or information about the capabilities of the UE 200. For example, the information about the first network may include configuration information about the first network received by the first SIM 241 from the first network, and the information about the second network may include configuration information about the second network received by the second SIM 242 from the second network.

[0036] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a multi-SIM device 300 according to an embodiment. Hereinafter, for the sake of helping understanding, the exemplary details shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0037] The multi-SIM device 300 according to an embodiment may include a UE capability controller 302, a transmit controller (Tx controller) 304, and / or a hardware controller 306.

[0038] In an embodiment, the UE capability controller 302, the transmission controller 304, and / or the hardware controller 306 may be implemented as software logic that is stored as multiple instruction patterns in the multi-SIM device 300 and executed by a baseband processor (240 shown in FIG. 2). This is only an example, and for example, the UE capability controller 302, the transmission controller 304, and / or the hardware controller 306 may be implemented as a combination of hardware logic and software logic or may be implemented as various types of logic.

[0039] In an embodiment, the UE capability controller 302 may generate UE capability information that includes capability information regarding the ability of a UE (e.g., UE 200) to use a transmission resource sharing scheme according to an embodiment. The UE capability controller 302 may use a SIM detector (250 shown in FIG. 2) to generate SIM detection information corresponding to information about the number of inserted SIMs. For example, when two or more SIMs are detected as being inserted, the SIM detector (250 shown in FIG. 2) may transmit the SIM detection information to the protocol stack associated with each SIM. In such a case, according to an embodiment, when the number of RF transmission paths to be used by the detected multi-SIMs is more than two RF transmission paths included in the UE, the multi-SIM device 300 may set a transmission resource sharing scheme. In such a case, the UE capability controller 302 may generate UE capability information (the UE capability information includes information indicating that the UE including the multi-SIM 300 can use the transmission resource sharing scheme) and may provide the UE capability information to each network. The detailed operation of the UE capability controller 302 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0040] When a transmission resource request is received from at least one SIM (e.g., when a transmission resource allocation request is received), the transmission controller 304 may check the usage of the RF transmission paths and may determine the usage rights of the RF transmission paths. For example, the transmission controller 304 may feedback a result corresponding to the response to the transmission resource request to each SIM to change the RF transmission resource allocation state of each SIM (e.g., (re)allocate RF transmission resources, change RF transmission paths, and / or remove the allocated RF transmission resources) based on the determined usage rights. Examples of the operation of the transmission controller 304 may vary based on the correlation between the type of wireless communication system connected to each SIM and the RF transmission paths included in the UE or whether the RF transmission paths are occupied when a transmission resource request is received. The detailed operation examples of the transmission controller 304 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 10.

[0041] The hardware controller 306 may include a stack manager 307, and may be controlled based on the hardware configuration of the response when receiving a response to a transmission request.

[0042] The stack manager 307 may be implemented separately for each SIM, or may be integrated to manage all multiple SIMs. The stack manager 307 may set multiple SIMs, a baseband processor, and / or multiple RF transmission paths based on the response received from the transmission controller 304.

[0043] For example, when the hardware controller 306 receives from the transmission controller 304 a response "allocate the RF transmission path corresponding to a specific frequency band to the second SIM", the baseband processor may allocate the RF transmission path to the second SIM based on the command of the transmission controller 304 and may specify the port number 1 (Tx port #1) of the RF transmission path corresponding to the specific frequency band. The port number of the RF transmission path may represent the number assigned to correspond to each RF transmission path and may be predetermined or alternatively a value given for each RF transmission path.

[0044] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a protocol stack system according to an embodiment.

[0045] Specifically, FIG. 4 shows the control plane of each of a first protocol stack 401 and a second protocol stack 402 according to an embodiment, and shows an example of a UE capability controller 400, where the UE capability controller 400 includes a protocol stack system implemented using the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402. In an embodiment, the UE capability controller 400 including the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented in the multi-SIM device 130 shown in FIG. 1. The multi-SIM device 130 may use the UE capability controller 400 shown in FIG. 4 to perform operations for wireless communication, and may additionally use a transmission controller (304 shown in FIG. 3) or a hardware controller (306 shown in FIG. 3) to perform operations for wireless communication.

[0046] In an embodiment, at least some of the blocks shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented as hardware logic, and in an embodiment may be implemented as software modules executed by at least one processor. Hereinafter, FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 4, the UE capability controller 400 may include a first protocol stack 401 and a second protocol stack 402 associated with the first SIM 403 and the second SIM 404 respectively. As described above, each of the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 may support a RAT. In an embodiment, the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 may interact with a shared upper layer (e.g., an application layer), and the upper layer may obtain information about the first wireless communication 11 and the second wireless communication 12 or may provide an interface corresponding to a program for providing commands. The upper layer may be implemented in the multi-SIM device 130 or may be implemented in another device separate from the multi-SIM device 130. Additionally, the UE capability controller 400 may include a hardware interface 406 shared by the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402. The hardware interface 406 may provide an interface corresponding to the hardware (e.g., the transceiver 120 shown in FIG. 1), and the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 may provide signals to the transceiver 120 or may obtain signals from the transceiver 120 through the hardware interface 406. In an embodiment, the hardware interface 24 may be referred to as a driver of the transceiver 120.

[0048] Each of the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 for the control plane may include multiple layers. As shown in FIG. 4, the first protocol stack 401 may include a first layer L1, a second layer L2, and / or a third layer L3, and the first layer L1, the second layer L2, and the third layer L3 may correspond to three lower layers of the open system interconnection (OSI) model. For example, in LTE or 5G NR, in the first layer L1, a physical (PHY) layer may be included, in the second layer L2, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer may be included, and in the third layer L3, a radio resource control (RRC) layer and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer may be included. Similar to the first protocol stack 401, the second protocol stack 402 may include a first layer L1, a second layer L2, and / or a third layer L3.

[0049] The RRC layer of the third layer L3 can control radio resources and can exchange RRC messages with the RRC layer of a base station (e.g., 151 or 161 shown in FIG. 1). When an RRC connection is established between the RRC layer of a UE (100 shown in FIG. 1) (or a multi-SIM device (130 shown in FIG. 1)) and the RRC layer of a base station (e.g., 151 or 161 shown in FIG. 1), the RRC layer of the UE (100 shown in FIG. 1) (or the multi-SIM device (130 shown in FIG. 1)) can change to an RRC connected state (or an RRC connected mode). In this document, the RRC connected state can be referred to as a connected state of wireless communication, and for example, when the RRC connected state is maintained by the RRC layer included in the first protocol stack 401, the first wireless communication (11 shown in FIG. 1) can be referred to as being in a connected state. Similarly, by using the RRC layer included in the second protocol stack 402, the second wireless communication (12 shown in FIG. 1) can be referred to as being in a connected state. Hereinafter, it can be assumed that the first wireless communication (11 shown in FIG. 1) associated with the first SIM 403 and the second wireless communication (12 shown in FIG. 1) associated with the second SIM 404 are in a connected state.

[0050] It can be assumed that the first wireless communication (11 shown in FIG. 1) associated with the first SIM 403 is 5G NR SA communication involving at least two RF transmission paths, and the second wireless communication (12 shown in FIG. 1) associated with the second SIM 404 is 4G LTE communication involving at least one RF transmission path. In such a case, the UE capability controller 400 can generate SIM detection information corresponding to information about the number of inserted SIMs from the SIM detector 405, and the generated SIM detection information can be transmitted to the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 through the hardware interface 406. For example, when information indicating that two SIMs have been detected is transmitted to the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402, the first SIM 403 connected to the first wireless communication (11 shown in FIG. 1) corresponding to 5G NR SA communication can use two RF transmission paths, and thus the UE capability controller 400 can generate UE capability information, which includes capability information about the UE's ability to use the transmission resource sharing scheme according to the embodiment.

[0051] Table 1 shows an example of a part of the pseudocode representing the generation of UE capability information corresponding to the first SIM 403.

[0052] [Table 1] If multi-SIM information == true, then configure 1T4R; and else Configure 2T4R; …

[0053] In an embodiment, the UE capability information corresponding to the first SIM 403 may be configured based on the pseudocode shown in Table 1, where the sounding reference signal (SRS) support scheme is set to use 1T4R with one RF transmission path 1Tx and the UL rank of the uplink is set to 2. According to the embodiment, the UE capability information may include at least one of information about the SRS support scheme or information about the UL rank. This is only an example, and the UE capability information may be configured based on another scheme. However, the inventive concept is not limited thereto. In MIMO transmission, the number of transmission layers may be one or the maximum (e.g., highest) number of transmission antennas based on the state of the channel, and in such a case, the number of transmission layers may be defined as the rank order. In other words, the number of transmission layers may represent the maximum (e.g., highest) value such that different information can be transmitted through the channel.

[0054] The UE 100 may support one transmission antenna and four reception antennas using the UE capability controller 400, and may generate UE capability information including capability information representing the maximum value (e.g., upper limit) supporting two transmission layers, and the generated UE capability information may be transmitted to the first network 150 or the second network 160 through the second layer L2 and the layer L1.

[0055] On the other hand, the second SIM 404 connected to the second wireless communication corresponding to 4G LTE communication (12 shown in FIG. 1) may use one RF transmission path, and thus, the UE capability information corresponding to the UE capability controller 400 may be undesirable.

[0056] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the UE capability controller shown in FIG. 4.

[0057] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, FIG. 5 shows a method of operating the UE capability controller (400 shown in FIG. 4) to generate UE capability information corresponding to the first SIM (403 shown in FIG. 4).

[0058] In operation S502, the UE capability controller may detect that two or more SIMs (multi-SIM) are inserted into the UE using the SIM detector.

[0059] In operation S504, the UE capability controller may use the SIM detector to transmit SIM detection information to each of the first protocol stack and the second protocol stack associated with the first SIM and the second SIM, respectively.

[0060] In operation S506, the UE capability controller may use the third layer of the first protocol stack to change the configuration of the UE's capabilities. As shown in Table 1, the configuration may be changed such that when multi-SIM (e.g., dual-SIM) is detected, the SRS support scheme is set to 1T4R, and otherwise (e.g., in a single SIM), the SRS support scheme is set to 2T4R.

[0061] In operation S508, the UE capability controller may generate UE capability information based on the changed configuration.

[0062] In operation S510, the UE capability controller may transmit the generated UE capability information to the first network (150 shown in FIG. 1) or the second network (160 shown in FIG. 1) via the second layer (L2 shown in FIG. 4) and the first (L1 shown in FIG. 4).

[0063] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a transmission controller 600 according to an embodiment.

[0064] Referring to FIGS. 4 to 6, the description of the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 shown in FIG. 4 can be applied to the first protocol stack 601 and the second protocol stack 602 shown in FIG. 6, and repeated description thereof is omitted.

[0065] The transmission controller 600 according to an embodiment may perform wireless communication (e.g., first wireless communication (11 shown in FIG. 1) and second wireless communication (12 shown in FIG. 1)) continuously or intermittently with each of the first layers L1 of the first protocol stack 601 and the second protocol stack 602 associated with each SIM. For example, when radio resources are used in the first layer L1, the first protocol stack 601 (or the first layer L1) may request transmission resource allocation from the transmission controller 600.

[0066] When the transmission controller 600 receives a message (Tx resource request) requesting allocation of radio resources, the transmission controller 600 may check the usage of the RF transmission path and may determine the usage authority of the RF transmission path.

[0067] The transmission controller 304 can feedback a response message (Tx resource response) corresponding to the transmission resource request (e.g., authorize, reject, or wait for one or two RF transmission resources) to the protocol stack associated with the corresponding SIM based on the determined usage rights, and then respond to the corresponding SIM that has sent the transmission resource allocation request. According to an embodiment, the transmission controller 304 can send a response message (Tx resource change response) requesting to change radio resources to change the transmission resource allocation status to the protocol stack associated with another SIM that has not sent the transmission resource allocation request (e.g., add RF transmission resources, change the RF transmission path, and / or remove the allocated RF transmission resources).

[0068] FIG. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an example of the operation of the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6. FIGS. 8A and 8B show embodiments of the transmission resource response message transmitted by the transmission controller shown in FIG. 6.

[0069] Referring to FIG. 7, an example of a transmission resource sharing scheme among a transmission controller 700, a first protocol stack 701 associated with a first SIM, and a second protocol stack 702 associated with a second SIM is schematically shown. It can be assumed that all RF transmission paths are not used by the first SIM or the second SIM before operation S70.

[0070] In operation S70, the first protocol stack 701 can send a transmission resource request message (Tx resource request) requesting to allocate at least one transmission resource to the transmission controller 700. For example, the first protocol stack 701 can send a transmission resource request message requesting to allocate one transmission resource to the transmission controller 700.

[0071] In operation S71, in response to the transmission resource request message, the transmission controller 700 can check the usage of the RF transmission path and can identify available RF transmission resources (or available RF transmission paths). For example, since all RF transmission paths are not used by the first SIM or the second SIM (e.g., no RF transmission path is in use), the transmission controller 700 can identify the availability of two RF transmission resources. Additionally, the operation of identifying the available RF transmission resources of the transmission controller 700 can be performed periodically or aperiodically during the time when the transmission resource sharing scheme is implemented, but is not limited thereto.

[0072] The transmission controller 700 may determine a response to a transmission resource request in operation S72 and may transmit a transmission resource response message (Tx resource response) to the first protocol stack 701 based on the determined response in operation S73. Referring to FIG. 8A, an example of a response message (Tx resource response) transmitted by the transmission controller 700 in response to a transmission resource request to the first protocol stack 701 is shown. For example, the transmission controller 700 may transmit a response message to the first protocol stack 701 as follows: the response message includes information indicating the allocation of Tx port #0 corresponding to port number 0 of the RF transmission path (e.g., 1. Tx port 0 authorized).

[0073] In operation S74, when the allocation of Tx port #0 to the first protocol stack 701 is completed, the second protocol stack 702 may transmit a transmission resource request message requesting the allocation of at least one transmission resource to the transmission controller 700. For example, the second protocol stack 702 may transmit a transmission resource request message requesting the allocation of one transmission resource to the transmission controller 700.

[0074] In operations S75 and S76, the same operations (or similar operations) as in operations S71 and S72 may be performed and the repeated description is omitted.

[0075] For example, the response determined in operation S76 may be that one of the transmission resources previously allocated to the first protocol stack 701 is removed (deallocated from the first protocol stack 701) and the removed transmission resource is allocated to the second protocol stack 702.

[0076] In operation S77, the transmission controller 900 may transmit a transmission resource change request message (Tx resource change request) to the first protocol stack 701 based on the determined response. In an embodiment, referring to FIG. 8B, the transmission controller 700 may transmit a response message to the first protocol stack 701 as follows: the response message includes information indicating the removal of Tx port #0 allocated to the first protocol stack 701 (e.g., 5. Remove Tx port 0).

[0077] In operation S78, when the removal of Tx port #0 is completed, the first protocol stack 701 that has received the transmission resource change request message may transmit a response message (Tx resource change response) including information indicating the completion of the change to the transmission controller 700.

[0078] In operation S79, the transmit controller 700 may transmit a response message (Tx resource response) to the second protocol stack 702, which includes information indicating that the removed Tx port #0 is allocated to the second protocol stack 702.

[0079] In an embodiment, although not shown in FIG. 7, the response determined in operation S76 may be that the transmit resources are not allocated to the second protocol stack 702. Referring to FIG. 8A, the transmit controller 700 may transmit a transmit response message (Tx resource response) to the second protocol stack 702 as follows: the transmit response message includes information indicating that no RF path is allocated to it (e.g., 4. Reject). For example, when the second protocol stack 702 requests to allocate the RF transmit port 0 that was previously allocated to the first protocol stack 701 and the priority of the second protocol stack 702 is the lower priority based on the priority algorithm of each stack, a response message including rejection may be transmitted. However, this is only an example and the inventive concept is not limited thereto. In an embodiment, a response message including rejection may not be transmitted.

[0080] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the transmit controller shown in FIG. 6.

[0081] In FIG. 9, it may be assumed that the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM and the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM are 5G NR SA communications, and before operation S90_1, all RF transmit paths are not used by the first SIM or the second SIM (e.g., no RF transmit path is in use). Hereinafter, for ease of explanation, descriptions that are the same or similar to those given above with reference to FIG. 7 may be omitted, and FIG. 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B.

[0082] In operation S90_1, the first protocol stack 901 may transmit a transmit resource request message (Tx resource request) to the transmit controller 900, requesting to allocate two transmit resources (2Tx).

[0083] In operation S91_1, since all RF transmit paths are not used by the first SIM or the second SIM, the transmit controller 900 may identify the availability of two RF transmit resources and thus determine the response to the transmit resource request.

[0084] In operation S92_1, the transmit controller 900 may transmit a transmit resource response message (Tx resource request) to the first protocol stack 901 based on the determined response.

[0085] For example, referring to FIG. 8A, the transmission controller 900 may transmit a response message to the first protocol stack 901 in response to a transmission resource request as follows: the response message includes information indicating the allocation of Tx port #0 corresponding to port number 0 of the RF transmission path and Tx port #1 corresponding to port number 1 of the RF transmission path (e.g., 3. Tx port 0 and Tx port 1 are authorized).

[0086] In operation S90_2, when the allocation of Tx port #0 and Tx port #1 to the first protocol stack 901 is completed, the second protocol stack 902 may transmit a transmission resource request message (Tx resource request) requesting the allocation of two transmission resources to the transmission controller 900.

[0087] In operation S91_2, the same operation (or a similar operation) as in operation S91_1 may be performed and repeated descriptions are omitted. For example, the determined response may be that one of the two transmission resources previously allocated to the first protocol stack 901 is removed and the removed one transmission resource is allocated to the second protocol stack 902.

[0088] In operation S92_2, the transmission controller 900 may transmit a transmission resource change request message (Tx resource change request) to the first protocol stack 901 based on the determined response. In an embodiment, referring to FIG. 8B, the transmission controller 900 may transmit a response message to the first protocol stack 901 as follows: the response message includes information indicating the removal of Tx port #1 allocated to the first protocol stack 901 (e.g., 6. Remove Tx port 1).

[0089] In operation S93_2, when the removal of Tx port #1 is completed, the first protocol stack 901 that has received the transmission resource change request message may transmit a response message (Tx resource change response) including information indicating the completion of the change to the transmission controller 900.

[0090] In operation S94_2, the transmission controller 900 may transmit the following response message (Tx resource response) to the second protocol stack 902: the response message includes information indicating that the removed Tx port #1 is allocated to the second protocol stack 902.

[0091] At this time, the first protocol stack 901 can use Tx port #0 and the second protocol stack 902 can use Tx port #1 (each stack using 1Tx). According to an embodiment, the transmit controller 900 can use the allocated transmit resources to simultaneously (or synchronously) generate signals and / or transmit the signals to the first base station 151 and the second base station 161 via the first protocol stack 901 (e.g., the first SIM) and the second protocol stack 902 (e.g., the second SIM), respectively. According to an embodiment, the transmit controller 900 can use the allocated transmit resources to simultaneously (or synchronously) receive signals from the first base station 151 and the second base station 161 via the first protocol stack 901 (e.g., the first SIM) and the second protocol stack 902 (e.g., the second SIM) and / or demodulate the signals.

[0092] In operation S95, the second protocol stack 902 can transmit a message (release Tx resource) including information indicating that the used Tx port #1 is released to the transmit controller 900.

[0093] In operation S96, the transmit controller 900 can transmit a transmit resource change request message (Tx resource change request) to the first protocol stack 901. For example, referring to FIG. 8B, the transmit controller 900 can transmit a response message to the first protocol stack 901, the response message including information indicating that the Tx port #1 released by the second protocol stack 902 is additionally allocated to the first protocol stack 901 (e.g., 4. Add Tx port 1).

[0094] In operation S97, when the addition of Tx port #1 is completed, the first protocol stack 901 that has received the transmit resource change request message can transmit a response message (Tx resource change response) including information indicating that the change is completed to the transmit controller 900.

[0095] FIGS. 10A and 10B are flowcharts showing embodiments of the operations of the transmit controller shown in FIG. 6.

[0096] In FIG. 10A, it can be assumed that the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM is 5G NR SA communication involving at least two RF transmit paths and the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM (e.g., using the second protocol stack 1002a) is 4G LTE communication involving at least one RF transmit path. Before operation S100a, it can be assumed that one RF transmit path is being used by the second SIM (using 1Tx).

[0097] In operation S100a, the first protocol stack 1001a may transmit a transmission resource request message (Tx resource request) requesting allocation of two transmission resources (2Tx) to the transmission controller 1000a. In operations S101a and S102a, since one RF transmission path is being used by the second SIM, the transmission controller 1000a may identify the availability of one RF transmission resource and may determine that the response to the transmission resource request indicates allocation of one RF transmission resource. Thus, in operation S103a, the transmission controller 1000a may transmit a transmission resource response message (Tx resource response) to the first protocol stack 1001a.

[0098] As described above, the operation of identifying available RF transmission resources (operation S104a) may be performed periodically or aperiodically during the time when the transmission resource sharing scheme is implemented, and thus, for example, the transmission controller 1000a may identify available RF transmission resources. For example, it may be identified that one RF transmission path is being used by the first SIM, another RF transmission path is being used by the second SIM, and there are no available RF transmission resources.

[0099] In operation S105a, when the use of the one RF transmission resource by the first SIM is completed, the first protocol stack 1001a may transmit a message (release Tx resource) including information indicating that the allocation of the corresponding RF transmission resource is released to the transmission controller 1000a.

[0100] In FIG. 10B, it may be assumed that the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM (e.g., using the first protocol stack 1001b) and the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM are 5G NR SA communications. Before operation S100a, it may be assumed that one RF transmission path is being used by the second SIM (using 1Tx).

[0101] The operations performed in operations S100b to 105b may be substantially the same as the operations performed in operations S100a to 105b shown in FIG. 10A, and repeated operations are omitted.

[0102] According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 10B, different from FIG. 10A, the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM may be 5G NR SA communication involving at least two RF transmission paths, and thus in operation S106B, a transmission resource request message (Tx resource request) requesting allocation of one transmission resource may be additionally transmitted to the transmission controller 1000b.

[0103] In operations S107b and S108b, the transmit controller 1000b may identify the availability of an RF transmission resource and may determine that a response to a request for a transmission resource represents an allocation of an RF transmission resource.

[0104] Accordingly, in operation S109b, the transmit controller 1000b may transmit a transmission resource response message (Tx resource response) to the second protocol stack 1002b.

[0105] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a hardware controller according to an embodiment. For ease of explanation, FIG. 11 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4 to 6.

[0106] Referring to FIGS. 4 to 11, the first protocol stack 401 and the second protocol stack 402 shown in FIG. 4 may be applied to the first protocol stack associated with the first SIM 1101 shown in FIG. 11 and the second protocol stack associated with the second SIM 1102 shown in FIG. 11, and repeated descriptions thereof are omitted. Additionally, referring to FIGS. 2 to 11, the baseband processor 240 and the two RF transmission paths 230_1 and 230_2 shown in FIG. 2 may be applied to the baseband processor 1104 and the two RF transmission paths 1105 and 1106 shown in FIG. 11, and repeated descriptions thereof are omitted. In an embodiment, at least some of the blocks shown in FIG. 11 may be implemented as hardware logic and may be implemented as software modules executed by at least one processor in an embodiment.

[0107] Hereinafter, it may be assumed that a UE (e.g., UE 200) according to an embodiment includes two RF transmission paths, the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM is 5G NR SA communication involving at least two RF transmission paths, and the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM is 4G LTE communication involving at least one RF transmission path.

[0108] Referring to FIG. 11, the hardware controller 1100 may include a first SIM 1101, a second SIM 1102, a stack manager 1103, a baseband processor 1104, and / or two RF transmission paths 1105 and 1106.

[0109] For example, when the hardware controller 1100 receives a transmission resource response message (Tx resource response) from a transmission controller (600 shown in FIG. 6), the hardware controller 1100 can configure the hardware on the transmission side (Tx HW) based on each protocol stack associated with each SIM. For example, in response to an RF transmission path allocation request transmitted by the first SIM 1101 to the transmission controller (600 shown in FIG. 6), the transmission controller (600 shown in FIG. 6) can transmit the following transmission resource response message to the first SIM 1101: the transmission resource response message includes information indicating that RF Tx path 1 1105 is allocated to the first SIM 1101.

[0110] The hardware controller 1100 (or the stack manager 1103) can receive a command and can change the configuration of RF Tx path 1 1105 including a matching circuit, a filter, an amplifier, a mixer, and / or a baseband processor 1104 based on the command. For example, the hardware controller 1100 or the stack manager of the first SIM that manages the first protocol stack can correct the hardware settings so that the first SIM 1101 uses RF Tx path 1 1105. According to an embodiment, the hardware controller 1100 can perform similar operations for the second SIM 1102 and / or RF Tx path 2 1106.

[0111] FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a transmission resource sharing scheme of a user equipment according to an embodiment.

[0112] Hereinafter, it can be assumed that the UE according to an embodiment includes two RF transmission paths, the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM is 5G NR SA communication involving at least two RF transmission paths, and the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM is 4G LTE communication involving at least one RF transmission path. In addition, it can be assumed that the first SIM uses INT PDN and the second SIM only uses IMS PDN.

[0113] The transmission resource sharing system 1200 according to an embodiment may include a first SIM 1201, a second SIM 1202, a transmission controller 1204, and / or two RF transmission paths 1105 and 1106. The transmission resource sharing system 1200 according to an embodiment may be applied to a situation where the maximum (or highest) number of RF transmission paths that can be allocated to the first SIM 1201 (for example, the first wireless communication associated with the first SIM 1201 is 5G NR SA communication, and thus the maximum value is two) and the maximum (or highest) number of RF transmission paths that can be allocated to the second SIM 1202 (for example, the second wireless communication associated with the second SIM 1202 is 4G LTE communication, and thus the maximum value is one) sum is less than the number of RF transmission paths that the UE (for example, UE 200) can support (for example, can be supported by the UE) (for example, two RF transmission paths).

[0114] The multi-SIM device (300 shown in FIG. 3) according to an embodiment may use the transmission resource sharing system 1200 to control a transmission resource sharing scheme, which will be described below.

[0115] Referring to FIG. 12, the first SIM 1201 may output two pieces of data Data_11 and Data_12 within time T0 (for example, within each time period), and the second SIM 1202 may output one piece of data Data_2 within time T0 (for example, within each time period). For example, the multiple pieces of data Data_11 and Data_12 may be Internet data for communication based on an INT PDN, and the data Data_2 may be voice over LTE (VoLTE) call data or voice over NR (VoNR) call data based on an IMS PDN.

[0116] In a traditional DSDA device, three RF transmission paths may be used for the simultaneous (or synchronous) operation of the first SIM 1201 and the second SIM 1202. On the other hand, the transmission resource sharing system 1200 included in the UE according to an embodiment may support the simultaneous (or synchronous) connection state of multiple SIMs using only two RF transmission paths, and thus may reduce multiple hardware devices for configuring RF chains of the RFIC, thereby providing a more cost-effective method.

[0117] For example, in a case where the transmission controller 1204 operates in a state where the first SIM 1201 using the INT PDN and the second SIM 1202 using the IMS PDN are connected to each other simultaneously (or synchronously), for example, scheduling can be implemented such that in period T1 or T2, the first SIM 1201 uses RF Tx path 1 and the second SIM 1201 uses RF Tx path 2. In such a case, the RF Tx path 2 allocated for operating in the state connected to the second SIM 1202 can be referred to as the target RF transmission path.

[0118] In addition, in a case where the transmission controller 1204 does not operate in a state where the first SIM 1201 using the INT PDN and the second SIM 1202 using the IMS PDN are connected to each other simultaneously (synchronously), for example, scheduling can be implemented such that in periods T3, T4, or T5, the first SIM 1201 uses all (e.g., both) of RF Tx path 1 and RF Tx path 2. Such a scheme can be referred to as a transmission resource sharing scheme (e.g., time-division multiplexing).

[0119] Therefore, the UE (e.g., UE 200) can select at least one RF transmission path from among multiple RF transmission paths as the target RF transmission path, and can alternately allocate the target RF transmission path to the first SIM 1201 and the second SIM 1202 based on the communication period of the second network (e.g., periods T1 and T2). Thus, according to the transmission resource sharing scheme, in an embodiment, the RF transmission path can be allocated to at least one SIM, and wireless communication can be implemented. For example, according to an embodiment, time-division multiplexing can be implemented for the target RF transmission path between the first SIM 1201 and the second SIM 1202, where the allocation of the target RF transmission path alternates periodically (e.g., according to the communication period) between the first SIM 1201 and the second SIM 1202.

[0120] The transmission resource sharing system 1200 shown in FIG. 12 is only an example, and the inventive concept can include a UE having three or more RF transmission paths, and can be applied to other wireless communications involving three or more RF transmission paths, and thus can have forward compatibility.

[0121] In an embodiment, when it is assumed that the UE includes three or more RF transmission paths and the first wireless communication is associated with a first SIM involving three or more RF transmission paths, two or more target RF transmission paths may be selected for the second SIM. In such a case, one or more target RF transmission paths may be provided based on the channel state of the first wireless communication (e.g., a measure of channel quality such as signal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-interference and noise ratio, received signal strength indicator, reference signal received power, etc.). For example, when it is determined that the channel state of the first wireless communication is at a specific level (e.g., a threshold level) or higher, two target RF transmission paths may be selected. Otherwise, one target RF transmission path may be selected. As another alternative, when the channel state of the first wireless communication is less than a reference level, the above-described transmission resource sharing scheme may not be implemented and no target RF transmission path may be selected.

[0122] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the multi-SIM device shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment.

[0123] As shown in FIG. 13, the multi-SIM device 1300 may include at least one processor 1302 and a memory 1304, and the at least one processor 1302 and the memory 1304 may be connected to each other to enable communication between the at least one processor 1302 and the memory 1304.

[0124] The at least one processor 1302 may execute code including instructions and may thus perform desired operations. For example, the at least one processor 1302 may be referred to as a hardware-implemented data processing device that includes operations expressed as instructions and / or code included in a program and includes circuitry physically structured to perform the desired operations. In an embodiment, as a non-limiting example, the hardware-implemented data processing device may include a central processing unit (CPU), a processor core, a multi-core processor, a multi-processor, an application processor (AP), a communication processor (CP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and / or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0125] The memory 1304 can be accessed by the at least one processor 1302 and, as shown in FIG. 13, can include a UE capability controller 1305, a transmission controller 1306, a hardware controller 1307, and / or a hardware configuration 1308. As a non-limiting example, the memory 1304 can include types of memory that can be accessed by the at least one processor 132, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and / or combinations thereof. In an embodiment, the UE capability controller 1305, the transmission controller 1306, the hardware controller 1307, and / or the hardware configuration 1308 can be stored in different memory devices separately from each other.

[0126] The at least one processor 1302 can execute at least one of the UE capability controller 1305, the transmission controller 1306, and / or the hardware controller 1307 stored in the memory 1304 and, thus, can perform at least some of the operations of the multi-SIM device (130 shown in FIG. 1) operations described above with reference to the figures. For example, the at least one processor 132 can execute the UE capability controller 1305 and, thus, can detect multiple SIMs to generate UE capability information to support a transmission resource sharing scheme and can transmit the UE capability information to the network. Additionally, the at least one processor 1302 can execute the transmission controller 1306 and, thus, can receive a transmission resource request message with reference to the hardware configuration 1308 stored in the memory 1304, check the usage of the RF transmission path in response to the transmission resource request message, and determine the usage rights of the RF transmission path for each SIM. For example, the hardware configuration 1308 can include information about the RF resources provided by the transceiver 120 shown in FIG. 1 and can include, for example, information about the configuration of CA and / or MC or the bands supported by each Tx port.

[0127] Conventional devices for implementing the dual SIM dual active (DSDA) scheme include sufficient RF transmission paths such that all SIMs (e.g., two SIMs) of the device can communicate simultaneously (or concurrently) using the maximum number of RF transmission paths available for the corresponding communication protocol utilized by the SIMs. Such conventional devices are costly to manufacture and consume excessive resources (e.g., hardware, power, bandwidth, processor, memory, etc.).

[0128] However, according to embodiments, an improved apparatus for implementing the DSDA scheme is provided. For example, the improved apparatus allows two or more SIMs to share one or more of the RF transmission paths (e.g., using time division multiplexing, reducing the number of RF transmission paths for communication protocols involving multiple RF transmission paths, etc.). Accordingly, the improved apparatus overcomes the deficiencies of conventional apparatuses to implement at least the DSDA scheme while reducing manufacturing costs and resource consumption (e.g., hardware, power, bandwidth, processor, memory, etc.).

[0129] According to embodiments, operations described herein as being performed by the following components may be performed by processing circuitry: UE 100, first base station 151, second base station 161, transceiver 120, multi-SIM device 130, UE 200, RFIC 220, RF chains 222_1, 222_2, 224_1, and / or 224_2, DACs 226_1 and / or 226_2, ADCs 228_1 and / or 228_2, baseband processor 240, SIM detector 250, multi-SIM device 300, UE capability controller 302, transmit controller 304, hardware controller 306, UE capability controller 400, first protocol stack 401, second protocol stack 402, hardware interface 406, SIM detector 405, first protocol stack 601, second protocol stack 602, transmit controller 600, transmit controller 700, first protocol stack 701, second protocol stack 702, first protocol stack 901, transmit controller 900, second protocol stack 902, first protocol stack 1001a, transmit controller 1000a, second protocol stack 1002a, first protocol stack 1001b, transmit controller 1000b, second protocol stack 1002b, hardware controller 1100, stack manager 1103, baseband processor 1104, transmit resource sharing system 1200, transmit controller 1204, multi-SIM device 1300, and / or the at least one processor 1302. As used herein, the term "processing circuitry" may refer to, for example: hardware, including logic circuitry; a hardware / software combination, such as a processor executing software; or a combination thereof. For example, more specifically, processing circuitry may include but is not limited to a central processing unit (CPU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a system-on-chip (SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.

[0130] The various operations of the above method can be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the operations (such as the processing circuitry discussed above). For example, as described above, the operations of the above method can be performed by various hardware and / or software implemented in some form of hardware (such as, a processor, an ASIC, etc.).

[0131] Software may include an ordered list of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, and may be implemented in any “processor-readable medium” for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device (such as, a single-core or multi-core processor or a system including a processor).

[0132] The methods or algorithms and functional blocks or operations described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented directly in hardware, implemented in software modules executed by a processor, or implemented in a combination of the two. If implemented in software, the functions can be stored on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium or transmitted by a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. The software modules can reside in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

[0133] The actions and symbolic representations of operations (such as, in the form of a flowchart, a process diagram, a data flow diagram, a structural diagram, a block diagram, etc.) that can be implemented with reference to the units and / or devices discussed in more detail below can be used to illustrate the embodiments. Although discussed in a specific manner, the functions or operations specified in a particular block can be implemented differently from the processes specified in a flowchart, a process diagram, etc. For example, functions or operations shown to be performed consecutively in two consecutive blocks can actually be performed synchronously, simultaneously, concurrently, or in some cases in the reverse order. The term “and / or” as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0134] Although the inventive concept has been specifically shown and described with reference to embodiments of the inventive concept, it should be understood that various changes in form and detail may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.

[0135] 10: Wireless communication system 11: First wireless communication 12: Second wireless communication 100, 200: User Equipment (UE) 110, 210: Antenna array 120: Transceiver 130, 300, 1300: Multi-SIM device 141, 241: First SIM / SIM 142, 242: Second SIM / SIM 150: First network 151: Base station / First base station 160: Second network 161: Base station / Second base station 220: RF integrated circuit (RFIC) 222_1, 222_2, 224_1, 224_2: RF chain 226_1, 226_2: Digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 228_1, 228_2: Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 230_1, 1105: RF transmission path / RF Tx path 1 230_2, 1106: RF transmission path / RF Tx path 2 240, 1104: Baseband processor 250, 405: SIM detector 302, 400, 1305: UE capability controller 304, 600, 700, 900, 1000a, 1000b, 1204, 1306: Transmit (Tx) controller 306, 1100, 1307: Hardware controller 307, 1103: Stack manager 401, 601, 701, 901, 1001a, 1001b: First protocol stack 402, 602, 702, 902, 1002a, 1002b: Second protocol stack 403, 1101, 1201: First SIM 404, 1102, 1202: Second SIM 406: Hardware interface S70, S71, S72, S73, S74, S75, S76, S77, S78, S79, S90_1, S90_2, S91_1, S91_2, S92_1, S92_2, S93_2, S94_2, S95, S96, S97, S100a, S100b, S101a, S101b, S102a, S102b, S103a, S103b, S104a, S104b, S105a, S105b, S106b, S107b, S108b, S109b, 502, 504, 506, 508, 510: Operations 1200: Transmitting Resource Sharing System 1205, 1206: RF Transmitting Path 1302: Processor 1304: Memory 1308: Hardware Configuration Data_2, Data_11, Data_12: Data L1: First Layer L2: Second Layer L3: Third Layer T0: Time T1, T2, T3, T4, T5: Period Tx_1, Tx_2: Baseband Signal

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment supporting Dual Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Dual Active (DSDA), the method comprising: A first communication with a first base station is performed via a first network through multiple radio frequency (RF) transmission paths allocated to a first user identification module, the multiple RF transmission paths being included in a set of RF transmission paths of the user equipment, and the multiple RF transmission paths including a first RF transmission path and a second RF transmission path; in response to a resource allocation request from a second user identification module, it is determined whether a first number of RF transmission paths included in the set of RF transmission paths is equal to a second number of RF transmission paths included in the multiple RF transmission paths, the resource allocation request corresponding to a second communication with a second base station via a second network; a first allocation, in response to determining that the first number of RF transmission paths is equal to the second number of RF transmission paths, allocates the first RF transmission path to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme; And a second allocation, which simultaneously allocates the second radio frequency transmission path to the first user identification module at the same time as the first allocation.

2. The method of operation as described in claim 1, wherein the first number of radio frequency transmission paths is less than the sum of the maximum number of radio frequency transmission paths that can be assigned to the first user identification module and the maximum number of radio frequency transmission paths that can be assigned to the second user identification module.

3. The operating method as described in claim 1, wherein the first network includes a fourth-generation (4G) network or a standalone fifth-generation (5G) network; and the second network includes the fourth-generation network or the standalone fifth-generation network.

4. The method of operation as described in claim 1, wherein the first communication includes communication based on Internet Packet Data Network (PDN); and the second communication includes a Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) call or a Voice over New Radio (VoNR) call based on Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Packet Data Network.

5. The operating method as described in claim 1 further includes: Change the capability configuration of the user device, wherein the first allocation is based on the capability configuration; User equipment (UE) capability information is generated based on the aforementioned capability configuration; And transmit the user equipment capability information to the first base station and the second base station.

6. The method of operation as described in claim 5, wherein the user equipment capability information includes at least one of detection reference signal (SRS) support scheme information or uplink rank information.

7. The method of operation as described in claim 1, wherein the first allocation includes: Select the first radio frequency transmission path from the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths; And according to the communication cycle of the second network, the first radio frequency transmission path is alternately allocated to the first user identification module and the second user identification module.

8. The operating method as described in request item 1, wherein: The first allocation includes assigning at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module, wherein the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths includes the first radio frequency transmission path; and the method further includes: selecting at least one radio frequency transmission path from the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths; alternately assigning the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths to the first user identification module and the second user identification module according to the communication cycle of the second network; and determining the number of the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths based on the channel status of the first network.

9. The method of operation as described in claim 7, wherein the first allocation is performed based on the availability of each of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths.

10. A user equipment supporting Dual Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Dual Active (DSDA), the user equipment comprising: First user identification module and second user identification module; The transmitter is configured to form a set of radio frequency (RF) transmission paths; The system and processing circuitry are configured to: allocate multiple radio frequency (RF) transmission paths to the first user identification module for first communication with the first base station via a first network, the multiple RF transmission paths being included in a set of RF transmission paths, and the multiple RF transmission paths including a first RF transmission path and a second RF transmission path; determine, in response to a resource allocation request from the second user identification module, whether a first number of RF transmission paths included in the set of RF transmission paths is equal to a second number of RF transmission paths included in the multiple RF transmission paths, the resource allocation request corresponding to the second communication with the second base station via a second network; and perform a first allocation, the first allocation being based on a time-division multiplexing (TDM) scheme to allocate the first RF transmission path to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module in response to the determination that the first number of RF transmission paths is equal to the second number of RF transmission paths; and perform a second allocation, simultaneously with the first allocation, to allocate the second RF transmission path to the first user identification module.

11. The user equipment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first number of radio frequency transmission paths is less than the sum of the maximum number of radio frequency transmission paths that can be assigned to the first user identification module and the maximum number of radio frequency transmission paths that can be assigned to the second user identification module.

12. The user equipment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first network includes a fourth-generation (4G) network or a standalone fifth-generation (5G) network; and the second network includes the fourth-generation network or the standalone fifth-generation network.

13. The user equipment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first communication includes communication based on Internet Packet Data Network (PDN); and the second communication includes Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) calls or Voice over New Radio (VoNR) calls based on Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Packet Data Network.

14. The user equipment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: change the capability configuration of the user equipment, wherein the first allocation is based on the capability configuration to assign at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module; generate user equipment (UE) capability information based on the capability configuration; and transmit the user equipment capability information to the first base station and the second base station.

15. The user equipment as claimed in claim 14, wherein the user equipment capability information includes at least one of Detection Reference Signal (SRS) support scheme information or uplink rank information.

16. The user equipment of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to allocate the first radio frequency transmission path to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module by means of the first allocation: selecting the first radio frequency transmission path from the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths; and alternately allocating the first radio frequency transmission path to the first user identification module and the second user identification module according to the communication cycle of the second network.

17. The user equipment as claimed in claim 16, wherein, The first allocation assigns at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module, wherein the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths includes the first radio frequency transmission path; selects at least one radio frequency transmission path from the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths; alternately assigns the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths to the first user identification module and the second user identification module according to the communication cycle of the second network; and determines the number of the at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths based on the channel status of the first network.

18. The user equipment as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform the first allocation based on the availability of each of the plurality of radio frequency transmission paths, allocating the first radio frequency transmission path to each of the first user identification module and the second user identification module.

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