CN108886828B - System and method for performing multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) functions on a wireless communication device over the same carrier frequency - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and devices for implementing physical layer resource sharing to improve performance on a multi-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) wireless communication device may include: detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with a first SIM using a first component carrier; determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM is connected to the network on the first component carrier; in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to the network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM.

Description

System and method for performing multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) functions on a wireless communication device over the same carrier frequency

Background

Wireless communication networks have been widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, packet data, broadcast, messaging, and so on. Wireless networks are capable of supporting communication for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. This sharing of available network resources may be achieved by using one or more multiple access wireless communication protocols, such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). In addition, these wireless networks may also use various radio technologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) as CDMA2000, Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), High Data Rate (HDR) technologies, and so forth.

A continuing goal of mobile communications is to achieve high rates of data transmission and reception while minimizing the amount of power consumed. Thus, the wireless communication device may operate on the network using the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, which enhances GSM, UMTS, and/or CDMA2000 by improving the support for mobile broadband internet access. Such improved support may be based, for example, on the integration of the capacity and speed of wireless data networks with other standards and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technologies.

multi-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) wireless communication devices are becoming increasingly popular due to the versatility they provide, particularly in countries where many service providers exist. For example, a multi-SIM multi-standby (MSMS) device enables at least two SIMs to be in an idle mode waiting for communication to begin, and only one SIM is allowed to engage in active communication at a time due to sharing of a single Radio Frequency (RF) resource (e.g., transceiver). As such, during active communication on one SIM, the wireless device may periodically tune to a network associated with another SIM to monitor for signals or to acquire a connection (e.g., page decode).

Disclosure of Invention

Various embodiments include methods and wireless communication devices having a Radio Frequency (RF) resource shared by at least a first SIM and a second SIM, involving: detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with a first SIM using a first component carrier; determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM is connected to the network on the first component carrier; in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to the network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM.

In some embodiments, performing the carrier frequency alignment may include: it is determined whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in idle mode. In these embodiments, performing the carrier frequency alignment may include: in response to determining that a modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode, identifying a serving cell for communication activity on the first SIM, and triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM. In some embodiments, the preset target cell may be a serving cell for communication activity on the first SIM. In some embodiments, performing the carrier frequency alignment may include: determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode; selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in response to determining that a modem stack associated with the second SIM is not operating in an idle mode; identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; identifying a serving cell associated with a high priority SIM; prompting to switch the connection on the default low priority SIM to an intended target cell. In some embodiments, the intended target cell may be the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

In some embodiments, prompting to switch the connection on the default low priority SIM to the intended target cell may comprise: accessing uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM; adjusting the accessed uplink measurement report data to indicate poor network conditions of the connected serving cell on the default low priority SIM and favorable network conditions of the intended target cell. Furthermore, some embodiments may further comprise: determining whether the handover to the intended target cell on the default low priority SIM is successful; prompting a handover on the high priority SIM to connect to the translated intended target cell. In some embodiments, the translated intended target cell may be a serving cell of the connection on the default low priority SIM.

Furthermore, some embodiments may further comprise: determining whether the handover of the connection to the converted intended target cell on the high priority SIM is successful; in response to determining that the handover of the connection on the high priority SIM to the converted intended target cell is unsuccessful, releasing the connection on the default low priority SIM; and triggering the cell to reselect to a preset target cell aiming at the default low-priority SIM. In some embodiments, the preset target cell may be the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM. In some embodiments, the first component carrier may be a primary component carrier associated with the first SIM.

Furthermore, some embodiments may further comprise: selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in response to determining that a modem stack associated with the second SIM is connected to the network on the first component carrier; identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; disabling carrier aggregation on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM. In some embodiments, disabling carrier aggregation on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM may comprise: transmitting uplink capability information to the network indicating a lack of carrier aggregation support.

Furthermore, some embodiments may further comprise: determining whether modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are each configured with a secondary component carrier in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is connected to a network on the first component carrier.

Furthermore, some embodiments may further comprise: in response to determining that modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are each configured with a secondary component carrier, determining whether the configured secondary component carrier is activated on the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs; determining whether an activated secondary component carrier on a modem stack associated with the first SIM matches an activated secondary component carrier on a modem stack associated with the second SIM; performing secondary component carrier alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs in response to determining that the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the first SIM and the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the second SIM do not match.

In some embodiments, performing the secondary component carrier alignment may comprise: selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM; identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; prompting, on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM, transmission of degraded channel state information for the activated secondary component carrier. In some embodiments, the degraded channel state information may be configured to: triggering deactivation of the activated secondary component carrier on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM. In some embodiments, the first SIM and the second SIM may also be associated with a shared baseband modem processor.

Various embodiments include a wireless communication device configured to use at least a first SIM associated with one RF resource and including a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations of the above-described method. Furthermore, various embodiments also include a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of a wireless communication device to perform operations of the above-described method. Various embodiments include a wireless communication device having means for performing the functions of the method described above.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitute part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description given and the detailed description, explain the features herein.

Fig. 1A is a communication system block diagram of a network suitable for use with various embodiments.

Fig. 1B is a system block diagram of an Evolved Packet System (EPS) suitable for use in conjunction with various embodiments.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 3 is a system architecture diagram illustrating an exemplary protocol layer stack implemented by the wireless communication device of fig. 2.

Fig. 4A-4C are process flow diagrams illustrating methods for implementing physical layer resource sharing for component carriers on a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 5 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method for implementing physical layer resource sharing for aggregated component carriers on a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 6A and 6B are process flow diagrams illustrating another method for implementing physical layer resource sharing for aggregated component carriers on a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a component diagram of an exemplary wireless device suitable for use in conjunction with various embodiments.

Fig. 8 is a component diagram of another exemplary wireless device suitable for use in conjunction with various embodiments.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments are now described in detail with reference to the drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. References to specific examples and implementations are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the claims.

Modern wireless communication devices may now include multiple SIM cards that enable a user to connect to different mobile networks using the same mobile communication device. Each SIM card is used to identify and authenticate a user using a particular mobile communication device, and each SIM card is associated with only one subscription. For example, the SIM card may be associated with a subscription for one of GSM, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000, and/or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems. Further, multi-SIM operation may be applicable to any of a variety of wireless communication systems that use various multiple access schemes such as, but not limited to: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), or Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA).

Ordinary RF resource arbitration may be employed to schedule the use of shared RF resources between SIMs on the MSMS wireless communication device. While such sharing may be limited to transmit and/or receive functionality, in some MSMS wireless communication devices, such sharing may extend to functionality associated with a baseband modem processor. Examples of baseband modem processor functions that may be shared depend on the particular access technology, but may include downlink/uplink common channel processing, downlink/uplink common signal processing, receive/transmit signal processing, and so forth.

In an MSMS device where a shared RF resource is used for active LTE communications on a first SIM, the second SIM may be in idle mode and not actively contending for access to the RF resource. However, the MSMS device may maintain a connection with the serving network associated with the second SIM by performing limited communication activities (i.e., "idle mode activities"). Examples of idle mode activity may include, according to a communication protocol: monitoring system information, receiving paging messages, measuring signal strength of neighboring cells, and the like. During active LTE communications on the first SIM, performing idle mode activity for the second SIM may involve: discontinuous Reception (DRX) is implemented on the second SIM card. During the "awake" period of the DRX cycle, the shared RF resource may tune away from communications on the first SIM, and tune to a network that supports subscriptions enabled by the second SIM to perform idle mode activity, and then tune back to communications on the first SIM. However, if the duration of such tune away is too long, the MSMS device may experience a radio link failure of the LTE communication on the first SIM.

Some MSMS wireless communication devices use a remotely provisioned virtual SIM ("VSIM") application to provide legacy subscription features similar to a physical SIM. In these devices, authentication of the remote SIM may be required in order to use normal SIM functionality on the VSIM application. The authentication process on the remote SIM typically requires the use of a shared RF resource to connect to the authentication server. This procedure may also result in a radio link failure on the first SIM if the duration of the authentication procedure is too long.

Radio link failure and subsequent link re-establishment procedures for active communications, resulting in reduced throughput and wasted power consumption on the device (whether the radio link failure originated from tuning away from the second SIM or the remote SIM authentication procedure).

Various embodiments enable simultaneous active communication by physical layer resource sharing between multiple SIMs on an MSMS wireless communication device (e.g., a Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) device) in order to reduce the occurrence of radio link failures. In particular, physical layer resource sharing in various embodiments may involve: both SIMs are connected to the serving network using the same carrier frequency/channel while maintaining independent processing above the physical layer (i.e., in the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and higher layers). In various embodiments, physical layer resource sharing may include simultaneous active reception and/or simultaneous active transmission. In some embodiments, the receipt of simultaneous activities may involve: separating symbols from one downlink signal into two received data streams, while simultaneously active transmission may involve: symbols for transmission from both data streams are combined onto the same uplink resource. In this manner, simultaneous communication activities may be achieved on multiple SIMs without requiring additional hardware or power consumption.

The terms "wireless device" and "wireless communication device" are used interchangeably herein to refer to any or all of the following: cellular telephones, smart phones, personal or mobile multimedia players, Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tablet computers, smartbooks, palmtop computers, wireless email receivers, multimedia internet enabled cellular telephones, wireless game controllers, and similar personal electronic devices that include programmable processors and memory, as well as circuitry for establishing wireless communication paths and transmitting/receiving data via wireless communication paths.

As used herein, the terms "SIM," "SIM card," and "subscriber identity module" may interchangeably refer to memory that is an integrated circuit or is embedded in a removable card, stores International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), related key values, and/or other information used to identify and/or authenticate a wireless device on a network, and enables communication services with the network. Examples of SIMs include a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) provided for the LTE 3GPP standard and a removable user identity module (R-UIM) provided for the 3GPP2 standard. Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is another term used for SIM. Further, SIM may also refer to a Virtual SIM (VSIM), which may be implemented as a remote SIM profile that is loaded in some application on the wireless device and that implements ordinary SIM functionality on the wireless device.

Since the information stored in the SIM enables the wireless device to establish a communication link for a particular communication service or set of services with a particular network, the term "SIM" is also used herein as a shorthand reference to the associated communication service and the communication service implemented by the information stored in the particular SIM, and the services and subscriptions supported by that SIM and communication network, and to each other. Similarly, the term SIM may also be used as: a shorthand reference to protocol stacks and/or modem stacks and communication procedures used in establishing and conducting communication services with subscriptions and networks implemented with information stored in a particular SIM.

As used herein, the term "RF resource" refers to components in a communication device that transmit, receive, and decode radio frequency signals. In general, an RF resource includes a plurality of components, referred to herein as a "transmit chain," coupled together for transmitting RF signals, and a plurality of components, referred to herein as a "receive chain," coupled together for receiving and processing RF signals. In some embodiments, an RF resource may refer to a component that also performs functions associated with a baseband modem processor (e.g., modulating and demodulating RF signals, packetizing incoming and outgoing data).

As used herein, the terms "multi-SIM, multi-standby communication device" and "MSMS wireless device" may interchangeably describe a wireless communication device configured with more than one SIM that allows idle mode operation to be performed on two networks simultaneously using a single RF resource. A dual SIM dual standby communication device is an example of one type of MSMS communication device.

As used herein, the terms "network," "system," "wireless network," "cellular network," and "wireless communication network" may interchangeably refer to a subscription on a wireless device and/or a portion or all of a wireless network of an operator associated with the wireless device. The techniques described herein may be used for CDMA, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), FD, for exampleVarious wireless communication networks such as MA, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), and others. In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support at least one radio access technology capable of operating on one or more frequencies or frequency ranges. For example, a CDMA network may implement Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which includes WCDMA standards, CDMA2000, which includes IS-2000, IS-95, and/or IS-856 standards, and so on. In another example, a TDMA network may implement enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). In another example, an OFDMA network may implement evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), which includes LTE standards, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11(WiFi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, a,

And so on. Reference may be made to wireless networks using the LTE standard, and thus the terms "evolved universal terrestrial radio access", "E-UTRAN" and "eNodeB" may be used interchangeably herein to refer to a wireless network. However, such references are provided as examples only, and are not intended to exclude wireless networks using other communication standards.

References herein to "first" and "second" SIMs, subscriptions, and networks are arbitrary and are used only for convenience in describing the various embodiments. For convenience, subscriptions associated with a SIM that is in an active data communication session on a network are referred to as a "first subscription" or a "first SIM" communicating on a "first network", while all other subscriptions and SIMs (i.e., subscriptions/SIMs performing tuning away to another network) are referred to as a "second subscription" and a "second SIM" communicating with an associated "second network". Thus, reference to a first SIM and a second SIM is not intended to limit the scope of the claims to only two SIMs, as the various embodiments are also applicable to multi-SIM wireless communication devices that support three or more SIMs. Furthermore, references to "first SIM" and "second SIM" are intended to be limited to temporary conditions of a particular active communication session, since at a later point in time, a previously active subscription in idle mode may begin an active communication session (which causes the previously active subscription to enter idle mode). The multi-SIM wireless communication device processor may assign any indicator, name, or other designation to distinguish one or more SIMs from an associated modem stack. Although various embodiments are described with reference to LTE, the embodiments may be extended to other telecommunication standards employing other modulation and multiple access techniques.

Various embodiments may be implemented in a wide variety of communication systems, such as the exemplary communication system 100 shown in fig. 1A. The communication system 100 may include one or more wireless devices 102, a wireless communication network 104, and a web server 106 coupled to the wireless communication network 104 and the internet 108. In some embodiments, the network server 106 may be implemented as a server in the network infrastructure of the wireless communication network 104.

A typical wireless communication network 104 may include a plurality of cellular base stations 110 coupled to a network operations center 112, where the network operations center 112 is used to connect voice and data calls between wireless devices 102 (e.g., tablets, laptops, cell phones, etc.) and other network destinations, for example, via telephone landlines (e.g., POTS (plain old telephone system) network, not shown) and the internet 108. In addition, the wireless communication network 104 may also include one or more servers 116 coupled to the network operations center 112, or one or more servers 116 located in the network operations center 112, wherein the network operations center 112 provides connectivity to the internet 108 and/or the network servers 106. Communication between the wireless device 102 and the wireless communication network 104 may be accomplished via a bi-directional wireless communication link 114 such as GSM, UMTS, EDGE, fourth generation (4G), 3G, CDMA, TDMA, LTE and/or other communication technologies.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support one or more radio access technologies that may operate on one or more frequency bands (also referred to as carriers, channels, frequency channels, etc.) in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different radio access technologies.

Upon power up, the wireless device 102 may search for wireless networks that the wireless device 102 is capable of receiving communication services. In various embodiments, the wireless device 102 may be configured to prefer the LTE network (when it is available) by specifying a priority list in which LTE frequencies occupy the highest position. The wireless device 102 may perform a registration process on one of the identified networks, referred to as the serving network, and the wireless device 102 may operate in a connected mode to effectively communicate with the serving network.

Alternatively, the wireless device 102 may operate in an idle mode and reside on the serving network if the active communication session is inactive on the wireless device 102. In idle mode, the wireless device 102 may identify all Radio Access Technologies (RATs) that the wireless device 102 is able to discover "suitable" cells in a normal scenario or "acceptable cells" in an emergency scenario, such as, for example, LTE; improved Universal Radio Access (E-UTRA); user Equipment (UE) procedure in idle mode "(2008, 5) specified in an LTE standard such as 3GPP Technical Specification (TS)36.304 release 8.2.0 release 8, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Fig. 1B illustrates a network architecture 150 that includes an Evolved Packet System (EPS). Referring to fig. 1A-1B, in this network architecture 150, a wireless device 102 may connect to an LTE access network (e.g., an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) 152). In various embodiments, the E-UTRAN 152 may be a network (e.g., 110 in fig. 1A) of LTE base stations (i.e., enodebs) that may be connected to one another via an X2 interface (e.g., backhaul) (not shown).

Each eNodeB in E-UTRAN 152 may provide an access point for an LTE core network (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 154). The EPC 154 may include at least one Mobility Management Entity (MME)162, a Serving Gateway (SGW)160, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 163. E-UTRAN 152 may connect to EPC 154 by connecting to SGW 160 and MME 162 in EPC 154. The MME 162 (which may also be logically connected to the SGW 160) may handle tracking and paging of the wireless device 102, as well as security for E-UTRAN access on the EPC 154. MME 162 may be linked to Home Subscriber Server (HSS)156, which may support a database containing user subscription, profile, and authentication information. In addition, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management for user Internet Protocol (IP) packets communicated through the SGW 160.

SGW 160 may route incoming and outgoing IP packets for wireless device 102 via the LTE access network and an external IP network (i.e., a Packet Data Network (PDN)). Furthermore, the SGW 160 may also provide an anchor point for handover between enodebs. SGW 160 may be logically connected to a PDN Gateway (PGW)163, which may route packets to and from PDNs to form connections between the EPC and the various PDNs. PGW 163 may be logically connected to a Policy Charging and Rules Function (PCRF), a software component that enforces minimum quality of service parameters, and manages and controls data sessions. In addition, PGW 163 may also provide connectivity to other public or private networks (e.g., the Internet, etc.).

Network architecture 150 may include a Circuit Switched (CS) network and an additional Packet Switched (PS) network. The wireless device 102 may connect to a CS and/or PS packet-switched network by connecting to a legacy second generation (2G)/third generation (3G) access network 164. For example, the 2G/3G access network 164 may be one or more of UTRAN, GSM enhanced data rates for Global evolution (EDGE) radio access network (GERAN), CDMA 20001 x radio transmission technology (1xRTT), CDMA2000 evolution data optimized (EV-DO), and so forth. The 2G/3G access network 164 may include a network of base stations (e.g., Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), node bs, Radio Base Stations (RBSs), etc.) (e.g., 110), and at least one Base Station Controller (BSC) or Radio Network Controller (RNC). The 2G/3G access network 164 may be connected to a circuit-switched network via an interface with (or a gateway to) a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) and an associated Visitor Location Register (VLR), which may be implemented together as an MSC/VLR 166. In a CS network, the MSC/VLR 166 may be connected to a CS core 168, which may be connected to an external network (e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)) via a gateway MSC (gmsc) 170.

The 2G/3G access network 164 may be connected to the PS network via an interface with (or gateway to) a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)172, where the SGSN 172 may be connected to a PS core 174. In a PS network, the PS core 174 may be connected to external PS networks (e.g., the internet and the operator's IP services 158) through a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) 176.

High speed access networks (e.g., E-UTRAN) may use modulation and radio access schemes, and the modulation and radio access schemes may vary depending on the particular communication standard being deployed. For example, in LTE applications, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) may be supported using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) on the uplink.

An access network entity (e.g., an eNodeB) may have multiple antennas supporting MIMO technology, enabling the eNodeB to utilize the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing may be used to transmit different data streams simultaneously on the same frequency. In some embodiments, these data streams may be transmitted to a single wireless device to increase the data rate, while in other instances, these data streams may be transmitted to multiple wireless devices to increase the overall system capacity.

Although various embodiments are described herein with reference to LTE, various embodiments may be extended to other communication standards using other modulation and multiple access techniques. By way of example, the various embodiments may be extended to EV-DO and/or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), each of which is an air interface standard promulgated by the third generation partnership project 2(3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family to provide broadband internet access to wireless devices. Furthermore, various embodiments may also be extended to flash OFDM using IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and/or OFDMA. The actual wireless communication standard and access technology used will depend on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

Various embodiments may be implemented in LTE wireless networks that use carrier aggregation, which is standardized as part of LTE release 10 (which is also referred to as LTE advanced). While early LTE standards (e.g., LTE release 8) supported radio link bandwidths of up to 20MHz, LTE advanced may support bandwidths of up to 100 MHz. The improved LTE resources available for use by compatible systems and devices are divided into release 8 compatible parts, referred to as "component carriers. An improved LTE device and system may combine two or more component carriers to enable higher bandwidth and higher data rate transmissions than are possible in LTE release 8 systems. This combination (i.e., carrier aggregation) allows data transmission over multiple component carriers that together may cover up to 100MHz of the frequency spectrum. Systems supporting carrier aggregation may remain compatible with LTE release 8, since these devices use one of the 20-MHz component carriers.

An LTE-advanced system may support up to five aggregated component carriers, each of which may be one of six possible bandwidths. In particular, each component carrier may have a bandwidth of 1, 4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20MHz corresponding to 6, 15, 25, 50, 75, or 100 LTE resource blocks. The LTE-advanced system may use in-band carrier aggregation, where in this case all component carriers belong to the same 3GPP operating band. These intra-band component carriers may be contiguous or non-contiguous. The LTE-advanced system may use inter-band carrier aggregation, where in this case at least one component carrier is in a different 3GPP operating band.

Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 200 suitable for implementing various embodiments. Referring to fig. 1A-2, the wireless communication device 200 may be similar to the wireless device 102 and may be a multi-SIM wireless communication device (e.g., an MSMS wireless communication device). Wireless device 200 may include at least one SIM interface 202 that may receive a first SIM ("SIM-1") 204a associated with a first subscription. The at least one SIM interface 202 may be implemented as a multi-SIM interface 202, where the multi-SIM interface 202 may receive at least a second SIM ("SIM-2") 204b associated with at least a second subscription.

The SIM in various embodiments may be a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) configured with SIM and/or USIM applications, which enable access to GSM and/or UMTS networks. In addition, the UICC may also provide storage for a phone book and other applications. Alternatively, in a CDMA network, the SIM may be a UICC removable subscriber identity module (R-UIM) or a CDMA Subscriber Identity Module (CSIM) on the card.

Each SIM 204a, 204b may have CPU, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, and/or I/O circuitry. One or more of the first and second SIMs 204a, 204b used in various embodiments may contain user account information, an IMSI, a SIM Application Toolkit (SAT) command set, and storage space for phonebook contacts. In addition, one or more of the first and second SIMs 204a, 204b may also store a home identifier (e.g., a system identification number (SID)/network identification Number (NID) pair, a home plmn (hplmn) code, etc.) to indicate the SIM network operation provider. An Integrated Circuit Card Identification (ICCID) SIM serial number may be printed on one or more SIMs 204 for identification. An additional SIM may be provided for use on wireless device 200 via a VSIM application (not shown). For example, the VSIM application may implement a remote SIM on wireless device 200 by providing a corresponding SIM profile.

Further, the wireless communication device 200 can also include at least one VSIM application 230, which can be stored in the memory 214 of the wireless communication device 200 and configured to support subscriptions in a manner similar to the physical SIMs 204a, 204 b. In various embodiments, the VSIM may represent any one of a plurality of SIM profiles obtained through SIM configuration/registration, as described above. Each SIM 204a, 204b may have CPU, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, and/or I/O circuitry.

The wireless device 200 may include at least one controller, such as a general purpose processor 206, coupled to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 208. In turn, the CODEC 208 can be coupled to a speaker 210 and a microphone 212. The general purpose processor 206 may also be coupled to at least one memory 214. The memory 214 may be a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium for storing processor-executable instructions. For example, the instructions may include routing subscription-related communication data through transmit and receive chains of respective baseband RF resource chains. The memory 214 may store an Operating System (OS), as well as user application software and executable instructions. The general purpose processor 206 and the memory 214 may be coupled to at least one baseband modem processor 216. Each SIM 204a, 204b and VSIM application 230 in the wireless device 200 may be associated with a baseband-RF resource chain that includes at least one baseband modem processor 216 and at least one RF resource 218.

In various embodiments, the wireless device 200 may be an MSMS device (e.g., a DSDS device) where the SIMs 204a, 204b and/or VSIMs 230 share a single baseband RF resource chain that includes a baseband modem processor 216 (which may perform baseband/modem functions to communicate with and/or control the radio access technology) and RF resources 218. In some embodiments, the shared baseband RF resource chain may include separate baseband modem processor 216 functions (e.g., BB1 and BB2) for each of the first and second SIMs 204a, 204b and/or VSIM applications 230. The RF resources 218 may be coupled to at least one antenna 220 and may perform transmit/receive functions for wireless services associated with each SIM 204a, 204b of the wireless device 200. RF resource 218 may implement separate transmit and receive functions or may include a transceiver that combines transmitter and receiver functions.

In some embodiments, the general purpose processor 206, the memory 214, the baseband modem processor 216, and the RF resources 218 may be included in a system-on-chip device 222. The first and second SIMs 204a and 204b and their respective interfaces 202 may be external to the system-on-chip device 222. In addition, various input and output devices may be coupled to components (e.g., interfaces or controllers) of the system-on-chip device 222. Exemplary user input components suitable for use in wireless device 200 may include, but are not limited to, a keypad 224 and a touch screen display 226.

In some embodiments, the keypad 224, the touch screen display 226, the microphone 212, or a combination thereof, may perform functions for receiving a request to initiate an outgoing call. For example, the touch screen display 226 may receive a selection of a contact in a contact list or receive a telephone number. In another example, either or both of the touch screen display 226 and the microphone 212 may perform functions for receiving a request to initiate an outgoing call. For example, the touch screen display 226 may receive a selection of a contact in a contact list or receive a telephone number. As another example, the request to initiate the outgoing call may be in the form of a voice command received via the microphone 212. Interfaces may be provided between the various software modules and functions in wireless device 200 to enable communication therebetween, as is known in the art.

The baseband modem processor of the wireless communication device may be configured to: software is executed that includes at least one modem stack associated with at least one SIM. The SIMs and associated modem stacks may be configured to support a variety of communication services for meeting different user needs. In addition, information for performing different signaling procedures may be provided to particular SIMs to access domains of the core network associated with these services and process data thereof.

As described above, the wireless communication device in various embodiments may support multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs). For example, the wireless technologies may include wide area networks (e.g., using third generation partnership project (3GPP) LTE, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), bluetooth, etc.). Multiple antennas and/or receive modules may be provided to facilitate multi-mode communication with various combinations of antennas and receiver/transmitter configurations. Each wireless technology may transmit or receive signals via one or more antennas.

In various embodiments, RF resource 218 may be configured with receiver and transmitter circuitry to support multiple radio access technologies/wireless networks operating according to different wireless communication protocols. These circuits may allow RF resource 218 to process signals associated with different communication standards and may include or provide connections for different sets of amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters, analog-to-digital converters, filters, voltage control.

Figure 3 illustrates an example of a software architecture with a layered radio protocol stack that may be used in data communications on an MSMS wireless communication device. Referring to fig. 1A through 3, a wireless communication device 200 may have a layered software architecture 300 to communicate over an access network associated with a SIM. Software architecture 300 may be distributed across one or more processors, such as baseband modem processor 216. In addition, the software architecture 300 may also include a non-access stratum (NAS)302 and an Access Stratum (AS) 304. NAS 302 may include functionality and protocols to support traffic and signaling between each SIM of wireless communication device 200 (e.g., SIM-1204a, SIM-2204 b, and VSIM 230) and its corresponding core network. The AS 304 may include functionality and protocols for supporting communication between each SIM (e.g., SIM-1204a, SIM-2204 b, and VSIM 230) and entities of their respective access networks (e.g., MSCs in GSM networks, eNodeBs in LTE networks, etc.).

In the wireless communication device 200, the AS 354 may include multiple protocol stacks, each of which may be associated with a different SIM. For example, the AS 304 may include protocol stacks 306a, 306b associated with the SIMs 204a, 204b (and/or VSIM applications 230). Although described below with reference to a GSM-type communication layer, the protocol stacks 306a, 306b may support any of a variety of standards and protocols for wireless communication. In particular, AS 304 may include at least three layers, each of which may contain various sub-layers. For example, each protocol stack 306a, 306b may include a Radio Resource (RR) sublayer 308a, 308b, respectively, AS part of layer 3(L3) of AS 304 in the GSM or LTE signaling protocols. The RR sublayers 308a, 308b may monitor establishment of a link between the wireless communication device 200 and an associated access network. In various embodiments, the NAS 302 and RR sublayers 308a, 308b may perform various functions to search for wireless networks, and to establish, maintain, and terminate calls. Further, the RR sublayers 308a, 308b may provide functions including: broadcasting system information, paging, and establishing and releasing Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling connections between the multi-SIM wireless communication device 200 and an associated access network.

Although not shown, software architecture 300 may include additional layer 3 sub-layers, as well as various upper layers above layer 3. For example, additional sub-layers may include a Connection Management (CM) sub-layer (not shown) that routes calls, selects a service type, prioritizes data, performs QoS functions, and so forth.

Below the layer 3 sublayer (RR sublayer 308a, 308b), the protocol stacks 306a, 306b may also include a data link layer 310a, 310b, which may be part of layer 2 in the GSM or LTE signaling protocols. The data link layers 310a, 310b may provide functionality for processing incoming and outgoing data through the network, e.g., dividing the outgoing data into data frames and analyzing the incoming data to ensure that the data is successfully received. In some embodiments, each data link layer 310a, 310b may contain various sublayers (e.g., a MAC sublayer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) sublayer, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sublayer), each of which forms a logical connection that terminates at the access network. In various embodiments, the PDCP sublayer may provide uplink functionality including: multiplexing between different radio bearers and logical channels, sequence number incrementing, handover data handling, integrity protection, ciphering and header compression. In the downlink, the PDCP sublayer may provide functions including: in-order delivery of data packets, duplicate data packet detection, integrity verification, decryption, and header decompression.

In the uplink, the RLC sublayer may provide segmentation and concatenation of upper layer data packets, retransmission of lost data packets, and automatic repeat request (ARQ). In the downlink, the RLC sublayer functions may include: the data packets are reordered to compensate for out-of-order reception, reassembly of upper layer data packets, and ARQ.

In the uplink, the MAC sublayer may provide functions including: multiplexing between logical channels and transport channels, random access procedures, logical channel priorities, and hybrid arq (harq) operations. In downlink, the MAC layer functions may include channel mapping, demultiplexing, DRX, and HARQ operations in a cell.

Below the data link layers 310a, 310b, the protocol stacks 306a, 306b may also include physical layers 312a, 312b, which physical layers 312a, 312b may establish connections over the air interface and manage network resources for the wireless communication device 200. In various embodiments, the physical layers 312a, 312b may monitor functions for implementing transmission and/or reception over the air interface. Examples of these physical layer functions may include Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) attachment, coding blocks, scrambling and descrambling, modulation and demodulation, signal measurement, MIMO, and so forth.

While the protocol stacks 306a, 306b provide functionality for transmitting data over a physical medium, the software architecture 300 may also include at least one host layer 314 to provide data transfer services to various applications in the wireless communication device 200. In other embodiments, the application-specific functionality provided by the at least one host layer 314 may provide an interface between the protocol stacks 306a, 306b and the general purpose processor 206. In some embodiments, the protocol stacks 306a, 306b may include one or more higher logical layers (e.g., transport layer, session layer, presentation layer, application layer, etc.) that provide host layer functionality. For example, in some embodiments, software architecture 300 may include a network layer (e.g., an IP layer) in which logical connections terminate at a gateway (e.g., PGW 163). In some embodiments, software architecture 300 may include an application layer in which a logical connection is terminated at another device (e.g., end-user device, server, etc.). In some embodiments, software architecture 300 may also include a hardware interface 316 between physical layers 312a, 312b and communication hardware (e.g., one or more RF resources) in AS 304.

In various embodiments, the protocol stacks 306a, 306b of a layered software architecture may be implemented to allow the modem to operate using information provided on multiple SIMs. Thus, the protocol stack that may be executed by the baseband modem processor is interchangeably referred to herein as a modem stack.

The modem stack in various embodiments may support any of a variety of current and/or future protocols to enable wireless communications. For example, the modem stack in various embodiments may support the network using radio access technologies described in 3GPP standards (e.g., GSM, UMTS, LTE, etc.), 3GPP2 standards (e.g., 1xRTT/CDMA2000, EV-DO, UMB, etc.), and/or IEEE standards (WiMAX, Wi-Fi, etc.).

In communications in an LTE network, a wireless communication device (or a modem stack associated with a SIM in the wireless communication device) may receive downlink data by decoding packets on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Although reference is made herein to a wireless device to a connection to an LTE network, it should be understood that in an LTE system, the connection is established on a modem stack associated with the IMSI (i.e., SIM). That is, the reference of the wireless communication device and/or the communication with the network in the various processes may be a general reference of the user equipment associated with the subscription in the network. Accordingly, SIMs delivered to different user devices may be characterized as the same wireless communication device for purposes of network connectivity.

A wireless communication device may access an LTE network (i.e., E-UTRAN) by connecting to a serving cell using a single uplink carrier and a single downlink carrier. Such connectivity in LTE involves performing an initial access procedure, which may involve: the method comprises the steps of cell search and cell selection, derivation of system information and random access.

In various embodiments, the cell search may involve: a hierarchical search is performed for LTE radio cells identified by Physical Cell Identity (PCI). In particular, the wireless communication device may tune to each supported LTE channel and measure a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) on each supported LTE channel. These channels may be determined based on the LTE bands supported by the operator, which may be stored in the SIM or in non-volatile memory on the device. Channels having an RSSI greater than a threshold value may be identified and the device may decode the synchronization signal and the reference signal to discover the physical cell identity of each identified channel.

In particular, a wireless communication device may decode a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), which is transmitted on the last OFDM symbol of a first subframe and carries a physical layer identity of a cell. The PSS may be used to achieve time synchronization, identify the center of the channel bandwidth in the frequency domain, and determine to which of the three physical layer identities the cell belongs. That is, the PCIs are organized into three groups, and the PSS identifies the location of the PCI in the group. Further, the wireless communication device may also decode a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), wherein the SSS is transmitted in a symbol prior to the PSS. The SSS may be used to achieve radio frame synchronization and discover which PCI group is used for the cell. Thus, using PSS and SSS, the PCI for a cell may be determined.

The wireless communication device may decode a System Information Block (SIB) to determine a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for the identified cell (i.e., in SIB 1). As a result, the wireless device may have a list of frequencies, PCIs, and PLMNs for each identified cell from which a cell for camping may be selected. In particular, the device may discover an appropriate cell by discovering a cell (based on a value decoded from the SIB) that transmits a sufficiently strong power that can be detected by the wireless device, where the cell is not barred and has a PLMN match with the selected PLMN.

In this manner, the wireless communication device can camp on the serving cell and transition between the two states (RRC idle state and RRC connected state) specified by the RRC protocol. In the RRC idle state, the wireless communication device is not known in the E-UTRAN, but the wireless communication device may receive broadcast system information and data, monitor the paging channel to detect incoming calls, perform neighbor cell measurements and perform cell reselection. In the RRC connected state, the wireless communication device is able to transmit and receive data from the network over the RRC connection established with the serving eNodeB, which handles mobility and handover. For example, a wireless communication device that initiates a contention-based random access procedure may initiate establishment of an RRC connection.

In various embodiments, after an initial access procedure, a wireless communication device may be configured with additional component carriers in the downlink and/or uplink depending on the device and network capabilities. In various embodiments, the serving cell to which the device connects using initial access may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), while other serving cells configured for the wireless communication device after initial access may be referred to as secondary cells (scells). In various embodiments, the LTE carrier frequency (i.e., channel) associated with the PCell is referred to as the primary component carrier, while the LTE carrier frequency associated with the SCell is referred to as the secondary component carrier.

In various embodiments, the wireless communication device may transmit a capability information element to the serving eNodeB indicating the supported frequency bands (which include the combination of frequency bands). In the title "Evolved Universal Radio Access (E-UTRA); radio Resource Control (RRC); the content and use of this information element is described in 3GPP TS 36.331v.9.10.0 of Protocol Specification ", and its detailed information is hereby incorporated by reference. As part of the signaling of supported band combinations, the device may also indicate the type of bandwidth applied, and whether MIMO is supported, in a capability information element. Further, the capability information element may also include a device class, where the device class may be specific to a particular LTE release.

In various embodiments, after RRC connection establishment, RRC signaling may be used to configure the SCell for the wireless communication device. In particular, the RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be used to add an SCell to a PCell or a set of serving cells. The RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be performed after the serving eNodeB receives the capability information element and a measurement report from the wireless communication device indicating that the carrier frequency on the potential SCell is above a certain threshold. In particular, the E-UTRAN (i.e., the serving eNodeB) may send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the wireless communication device on the PDSCH. The RRC connection reconfiguration message may contain a number of fields with information for configuring the modem stack to establish carrier aggregation. In various embodiments, the E-UTRAN may also use the RRC connection reconfiguration message to release and subsequently add an already configured SCell (if the relevant system information for the SCell changes).

To configure a new SCell, the RRC connection reconfiguration message may provide an "scells _ Index" field to identify/address the SCell being configured and a "Cell _ Identification" field (which provides the PCI and downlink carrier frequency (e.g., EARFCN)). Further, the message may also contain a "RadioResourceConfig _ dedicatedsell" field with a wireless device-specific (dedicated) configuration for the SCell. In addition, the message may further include a "RadioResourceConfig _ commonsecc" field containing all system information related to operation in the RRC-connected mode (e.g., uplink bandwidth, uplink carrier frequency, uplink power control information, common information of a physical channel, Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) common information, etc.). In some embodiments, the system information parameter value configured via dedicated signaling may be different from the value broadcast in the system information of the SCell.

After receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the wireless communication device may send a HARQ ACK to the E-UTRAN to acknowledge receipt of the message. In some embodiments, after the necessary establishment, the wireless communication device may send a scheduling request message to the E-UTRAN over a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) to request an uplink grant (i.e., Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) to send an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message. In response, the E-UTRAN may transmit an uplink grant message to the wireless communication device by transmitting Downlink Control Information (DCI) on the PUSCH. In an LTE system, the E-UTRAN may use a specific DCI format (e.g., DCI-0) for uplink grants, which may provide information needed for devices to transmit a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). After the uplink grant, the wireless communication device may send an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message on the granted PUSCH indicating that the RRC carrier aggregation configuration (i.e., the addition of the SCell) was successful.

In various embodiments, during handover in LTE, RRC connection reconfiguration procedures may also be used to add, delete, or reconfigure scells for use with the target PCell. Furthermore, SCell addition may also occur during handover from another RAT (e.g., GERAN, UTRAN, etc.). When the PCell remains activated for the wireless communication device, the configured SCell may be activated and deactivated as needed. That is, due to the relatively slow speed of RRC signaling, a device may be configured with multiple component carriers (even if not all component carriers are currently used). While configuration and de-configuration of scells may be performed using RRC signaling, SCell activation and deactivation may be performed through MAC layer signaling (e.g., transmitting MAC control element (MAC CE)) for the wireless device.

Once the SCell is configured on the wireless communication device, a secondary component carrier may be activated to enable the device to receive data on the SCell (e.g., via PDSCH/PDCCH), or to provide an uplink grant to the SCell. The activation may be performed via MAC signaling. In particular, the E-UTRAN (i.e., by the serving eNodeB) may transmit a MAC control element (MAC CE) to the wireless communication device to activate the secondary component carrier. As described above, SCell may be activated and deactivated as needed, both of which may be performed using MAC CE.

In various embodiments, the wireless communication device may monitor system information and decode security and NAS mobility information (only on the PCell). Although the uplink Secondary Component Carrier (SCC) does not have a PUCCH, in various embodiments, the wireless communication device may transmit hybrid arq (harq), Acknowledgement (ACL), Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), and Channel State Information (CSI) for the SCell on the PUCCCH of the PCell.

A handover procedure may be used to change a PCell (or a modem stack associated with a SIM in a wireless communication device) for the wireless communication device. During handover, all scells configured for the wireless communication device being handed over may be deactivated. A target eNodeB (which may be the same as the source eNodeB) may determine whether to configure and activate one or more different scells using the same SCell or group of scells, or to de-configure an SCell.

In various embodiments, MSMS wireless communication device performance may be improved by having multiple SIMs use the same physical layer network resources (i.e., carrier frequency alignment). In some embodiments, one or more SIMs of the MSMS device or one or more SIM-supported networks may not be able to use carrier aggregation, and thus carrier frequency alignment may be performed with respect to non-aggregated (i.e., single) component carriers. In other embodiments, the SIMs and their respective networks may not all support carrier aggregation, and thus carrier frequency alignment may be performed with respect to aggregated (i.e., multiple) component carriers.

Figures 4A-4C illustrate a method 400 for implementing sharing of physical layer resources between two SIMs on an MSMS wireless communication device using single component carrier alignment, in accordance with various embodiments. Referring to fig. 1A through 4C, the operations of method 400 may be implemented by one or more processors of a wireless device (e.g., wireless communication device 200). For example, the one or more processors may include the general purpose processor 206 and/or the baseband modem processor 216, or may be a separate controller (not shown) that may be coupled to the memory 214 and the baseband modem processor 216.

In various embodiments, single component carrier alignment may refer to alignment of one or both of an uplink component carrier and a downlink component carrier. In some embodiments, a single component carrier may be a carrier frequency (i.e., a frequency range in the downlink and/or uplink LTE spectrum) employed by a network connection that does not support carrier aggregation. As described above, carrier aggregation may not be supported, e.g., due to limitations in device or subscription capabilities, limitations in network capabilities, current system conditions, etc. In some embodiments, a single component carrier may alternatively refer to a primary component carrier employed by a carrier aggregation enabled network connection. While the description of various embodiments addresses physical resource layer sharing between two SIMs associated with one RF resource, various embodiment processes may also be implemented for SIM functionality on more than two SIMs (e.g., three SIMs, four SIMs, etc.). In various embodiments, the use of more than two SIMs may also involve: more than one RF resource is shared (e.g., two shared RF resources, three shared RF resources, etc.). Furthermore, while physical resource layer sharing is described with reference to RF resources in various embodiments, various embodiments may also relate to sharing of functionality of a baseband modem processor, as described above. Thus, the single RF resource referred to in various embodiments may be a single baseband-RF resource chain.

In block 402, the processor may detect communication activity on a first SIM ("SIM-1"). As described above, the wireless communication device (e.g., 102, 200) may be an MSMS wireless device, wherein at least two SIMs share access to a single RF resource. In various embodiments, detecting communication activity on the first SIM may involve: an active data session is detected on an RRC connection established for a modem stack associated with a first SIM in a serving network.

In determination block 404, the processor may determine whether the component carrier used for the connection on the first SIM is aligned with a component carrier associated with a second SIM ("SIM-2"). That is, the processor may determine whether modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM are using the same channel (i.e., component carrier) to access the LTE network (i.e., connected to the E-UTRAN). References to a first SIM ("SIM-1") and associated modem stack and a second SIM ("SIM-2") and associated modem stack are arbitrary and are used only for convenience in describing embodiments. The processor may assign any designator, name, or other designation to distinguish between SIMs, associated modem stacks, and network resources. Some embodiments may apply the same principles regardless of the mobility state of each SIM and/or communication activity on the modem stack associated with each SIM.

In response to determining that the component carriers for the connection on the first SIM are aligned with the component carriers associated with the second SIM (i.e., determination block 404 — yes), the processor may end method 400 since carrier frequency alignment has been completed.

In response to determining that the component carriers for the connection on the first SIM and the component carrier associated with the second SIM are not aligned (i.e., determination block 404 ═ no), in determination block 406, the processor may determine whether the second SIM is currently operating in an RRC idle mode. As described above, operation in RRC idle mode may involve: idle mode activity is performed, e.g., periodically measuring signal strength of neighbor cells, decoding paging channels, etc.

In response to determining that the second SIM is currently operating in RRC idle mode (i.e., determining that block 406 is yes), the processor may begin operations to align component carriers associated with the second SIM with connected component carriers on the first SIM in block 408. In various embodiments, each carrier frequency may correspond to a cell of an eNodeB that requires the first SIM and the second SIM to reside on the same cell of the serving eNodeB in order to achieve this alignment. In particular, in block 408, the processor may identify a connected serving cell and eNodeB on the first SIM. This identification may be made, for example, using system information received in the downlink on the modem stack associated with the first SIM.

In various systems, a processor or device in RRC idle mode may autonomously handle mobility to determine a cell to camp on. In block 410, the processor may trigger a cell reselection procedure for the second SIM, wherein the identified serving cell for the first SIM is preset as the target cell. In some embodiments, triggering reselection to the preset target cell may involve: direct instructions are passed to a modem stack associated with the second SIM. In other embodiments, triggering reselection to the predetermined target cell may be performed, for example, by accessing mobility information for the second SIM. In various embodiments, the mobility information may include a neighbor cell list and associated selection and ordering criteria, which may be calculated based on measurements of the serving cell and neighbor cells. Cell reselection may be triggered, for example, as a result of adding an entry for a preset target cell, or existing mobility information covering the preset target cell. After the cell reselection procedure, the processor may end the method 400.

In response to determining that the second SIM is not currently operating in the RRC idle mode (i.e., determination block 406 is no), the processor may select a "high priority" SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in block 412. In various embodiments, selecting a high priority SIM may be based, for example, on a pre-specified prioritization policy (which takes into account current communication activity on each modem stack). In various embodiments, the prioritization policy may give greater priority to activities that are generally considered more important than activities that are capable of being delayed. For example, the prioritization policy may give higher ordering to activities including: receiving Mobile Terminated (MT) calls, placing Mobile Originated (MO) calls, receiving real-time streaming data, participating in interactive programming, and the like. In contrast, the prioritization policy may give lower rankings to activities including: background data transfers, asynchronous messaging applications (e.g., email), and the like. Furthermore, since the SIM may be connected to different networks and/or enodebs, in some embodiments, the prioritization policy may have differences in quality of service or other metrics related to the strength of the RRC connection. In some embodiments, the processor may access a default prioritization policy set by the operator and/or manufacturer. In some embodiments, the prioritization policy may be user defined. In various embodiments, SIMs that are not selected as high priority SIMs may be referred to herein as "low priority SIMs".

The processor may identify an intended target cell for carrier frequency alignment. In various embodiments, the identification of the intended target cell may be performed by identifying the connected serving cell on the selected high priority SIM in block 414. That is, if a first SIM is selected, connected enodebs and serving cells on the first SIM may be identified, and if a second SIM is selected, connected enodebs and serving cells on the second SIM may be identified.

To move to a new component carrier (i.e., change serving cell) while in RRC connected mode, the serving eNodeB can typically initiate a handover based on information received from the wireless communication device or (a modem stack associated with the RRC connection). In particular, the serving eNodeB configures the measurement procedure according to the area restriction information, and may receive uplink measurement reports from the wireless communication device. The measurement report may provide various types of mobile-related measurements (e.g., Reference Symbol Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), etc.) to the E-UTRAN. Based on the measurement report, the serving eNodeB may decide whether to perform handover. In inter-eNodeB handover, the serving eNodeB may communicate necessary information (e.g., E-UTRAN radio access bearer (E-RAB) attributes, RRC context, etc.) to the target eNodeB. In both inter-eNodeB and intra-eNodeB handovers, a wireless communication device may use a dedicated Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble to enable contention-free access to a target cell via the RACH.

Based on the LTE-implemented handover procedure, moving to a particular target cell may require the presence of some handover conditions (which are identified by the serving eNodeB of the low priority SIM, or the presence of such handover conditions is reported). In various embodiments, in block 415, the processor may access uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the low priority SIM.

In block 416, the processor may increment the current value of the target cell counter. The target cell counter (which may have a starting value of zero) is described in further detail with reference to block 418-426.

In block 418, the processor may adjust the accessed measurement report data to prompt handover of the associated connection to the intended target cell. That is, the processor may intentionally bias the measurements for uplink reporting, for example, to indicate some expected loss or failure of the current serving cell for a low priority SIM, and/or to indicate parameters of the serving cell in favor of a high priority SIM (i.e., the expected target cell).

In block 420, the processor may increment a retry counter. In determination block 422, the processor may determine whether component carrier alignment with respect to the intended target cell is achieved for the first SIM and the second SIM. That is, the processor may determine whether the desired handover for the intended target cell was successful.

In response to determining that component carrier alignment with respect to the intended target cell is complete (i.e., determination block 422 — yes), the processor may end method 400.

In response to determining that frequency carrier alignment with respect to the intended target cell has not been completed (i.e., determination block 422 ═ no), the processor may determine whether the current value of the retry counter is greater than a threshold value in determination block 424. In various embodiments, the threshold value for the retry counter may be set by the device manufacturer or a network operator associated with one or both SIMs, which may provide a limited number of additional opportunities for aligning carrier frequencies on the serving cells of high priority SIMs.

In response to determining that the current value of the retry counter is not greater than the threshold value (i.e., "no" at decision block 424), the processor may further adjust the accessed uplink measurement report data to prompt a handover of the associated connection to the intended target cell in block 418.

In response to determining that the current value of the retry counter is greater than the threshold value (i.e., determining that block 424 is yes), the processor may reset the retry counter in block 426. In determination block 428, the processor may determine whether the current value of the target cell counter is greater than a threshold value (fig. 4C). In various embodiments, the threshold value for the target cell counter may be based on the number of SIMs in the wireless communication device (i.e., the threshold value corresponding to a DSDS device is "2"). In this way, the wireless device may engage in a limited number of attempts for component carrier alignment during RRC connected state on both SIMs.

In response to determining that the current value of the target cell counter is not greater than the threshold value (i.e., determination block 428 no), the processor may switch the intended target cell for carrier frequency alignment in block 430. In some embodiments, the conversion may involve: the serving cell and eNodeB for the connection on the low priority SIM are identified. That is, after unsuccessfully attempting to trigger a handover of a connection for a low priority SIM to a serving cell associated with a high priority SIM, the processor may attempt to trigger a handover of a connection for a high priority SIM to a serving cell associated with a low priority SIM.

In block 432, the processor may access uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the high priority SIM. In block 416, the processor may increment the target cell counter (fig. 4A), repeat the operations in blocks 418, 420, and 426, and determination blocks 422, 424, and 428 (fig. 4B through 4C), while in block 418, adjust the accessed uplink measurement report data to prompt switching of the associated connection to the desired target cell (fig. 4B). That is, the processor may intentionally bias the measurements for uplink reporting, for example, to indicate some expected loss or failure of the current serving cell for a high priority SIM, and/or to indicate parameters of the serving cell in favor of a low priority SIM.

In response to determining that the current value of the target cell counter is greater than the threshold value (i.e., determining block 428 is yes), the processor may perform a local release of the RRC connection release on the low priority SIM in block 434, thereby causing the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM to transition to an RRC idle state.

In block 436, the processor may identify connected enodebs and serving cells on the high priority SIM. In block 438, the processor may trigger a cell reselection on the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM, wherein the serving cell for the high priority SIM connection is preset as the target cell. After reselection, the processor may end the method 400.

Figure 5 illustrates a method 500 for sharing physical layer resources between two SIMs on an MSMS wireless communication device using aggregated component carrier alignment, in accordance with various embodiments. Referring to fig. 1A through 5, the operations of method 500 may be implemented by one or more processors of a wireless device (e.g., wireless communication device 200). For example, the one or more processors may include the general purpose processor 206 and/or the baseband modem processor 216, or may be a separate controller (not shown) that may be coupled to the memory 214 and the baseband modem processor 216.

In various embodiments, aggregated component carrier alignment may refer to: the bundled set of carrier frequencies may be made when both the serving network and the wireless device (or a modem stack associated with a SIM on the wireless device) support carrier aggregation. In various embodiments, the aggregated component carriers may include a primary component carrier and at least one secondary component carrier.

In block 502, the processor may detect communication activity on a first SIM ("SIM-1"). As described above, the wireless communication device (e.g., 102, 200) may be a multi-SIM multi-standby (MSMS) device, where at least two SIMs support LTE using access to a single RF resource. In various embodiments, detecting communication activity may involve: an RRC connection established between a modem stack associated with the first SIM and a serving network is detected.

In determination block 504, the processor may determine whether a primary component carrier ("PCC") for a connection on a first SIM is aligned with a primary component carrier associated with a second SIM ("SIM-2"). That is, the processor may determine whether the same wireless device resides in the same PCell on a modem stack associated with the first SIM and the second SIM. As noted above, references to the first SIM ("SIM-1") and associated modem stack and the second SIM ("SIM-2") and associated modem stack are arbitrary and are used only for convenience in describing embodiments. The processor may assign any designator, name, or other designation to distinguish between SIMs, associated modem stacks, and network resources. Some embodiments may apply the same principles regardless of the mobility state of each SIM and/or communication activity on the modem stack associated with each SIM.

In response to determining that the primary component carrier for the connection on the first SIM is not aligned with the primary component carrier associated with the second SIM (i.e., determination block 504 no), in block 506 the processor may perform operations such that the primary component carriers are aligned between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs. In various embodiments, such alignment of primary component carriers may be performed by implementing the method 400 (fig. 4A-4C), where the primary component carrier is treated as a single component carrier corresponding in the operation of the method 400.

In response to determining that the primary component carrier for the connection on the first SIM is aligned with the primary component carrier associated with the second SIM (i.e., determining that block 504 is yes), or after the primary component carrier alignment in block 506, the processor may select a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in block 508. In various embodiments, the high priority SIM may be selected based on a prioritization policy in a similar manner to the operation in block 412 (fig. 4A). In various embodiments, the prioritization policy may also take into account RRC state differences, since the wireless device may be in RRC connected mode and may also be in idle mode for the first SIM and the second SIM. Further, the prioritization policy may include an ordering for RRC idle mode activity. As described above, the at least one SIM that is not selected as a high priority SIM may be referred to as a low priority SIM.

In block 510, the processor may send uplink capability information for a low priority SIM indicating a lack of carrier aggregation support. That is, the processor may send information (e.g., a capability information element) to the serving eNodeB signaling that the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM is not capable of communicating aggregated component carriers. In this way, the processor may prompt the serving eNodeB to de-configure (e.g., via RRC signaling) any SCCs associated with low priority SIMs, which effectively removes the requirement of aligning with secondary component carriers for high priority SIMs. In various embodiments, the serving eNodeB may be an eNodeB of the PCell that provides the first SIM and the second SIM alignment. The processor may end the method 500.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate a method 600 for sharing physical layer resources between two SIMs on an MSMS wireless communication device using aggregated component carrier alignment, in accordance with various embodiments. Referring to fig. 1A-6B, the operations of method 600 may be implemented by one or more processors of a wireless device (e.g., wireless communication device 200). For example, the one or more processors may include the general purpose processor 206 and/or the baseband modem processor 216, or may be a separate controller (not shown) that may be coupled to the memory 214 and the baseband modem processor 216.

As described above, the aggregated component carriers may include a primary component carrier and at least one secondary component carrier. As noted above, references to the first SIM ("SIM-1") and associated modem stack and the second SIM ("SIM-2") and associated modem stack are arbitrary and are used only for convenience in describing embodiments. The processor may assign any designator, name, or other designation to distinguish between SIMs, associated modem stacks, and network resources. Furthermore, the embodiment methods may apply the same principles regardless of the mobility state of each SIM and/or communication activity on the modem stack associated with each SIM.

Method 600 may begin at block 502, block 504, and decision block 506 of method 500 (fig. 5) as described above. In response to determining that the primary component carrier for the connection on the first SIM ("SIM-1") and the primary component carrier associated with the second SIM ("SIM-2") are aligned (i.e., determination block 504 ═ yes "), or after the primary component carrier alignment in block 506, the processor may determine whether the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are both configured with secondary component carriers (" SCCs ") in determination block 602. In some embodiments, the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM are each configured with more than one (e.g., up to 4) secondary component carriers.

In response to determining that the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are not configured with secondary component carriers (i.e., determination block 602 no), the processor may send uplink capability information corresponding to each SIM associated with a modem stack that does not have a configured secondary component carrier in block 604. In various embodiments, the uplink capability information may indicate support for carrier aggregation, and specific frequency bands and/or component carrier combinations that may be used. In various embodiments, the capability information may be formatted into one or more capability information elements that are transmitted to the serving eNodeB (i.e., the eNodeB of the PCell).

In determination block 606, the processor may determine whether an RRC connection configuration message is received in response to the uplink capability information. In various embodiments, the received RRC connection configuration message may provide instructions and other information for configuring use of the SCC on a modem stack associated with the first SIM or the second SIM. As long as the RRC connection configuration message is not received (i.e., determination block 606 is no), the processor may continue operation without the secondary component carrier configured for communication on the at least one SIM in block 608.

In response to determining that an RRC connection configuration message is received in response to the uplink capability information (i.e., determination block 606 is yes), the processor may again determine whether the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM are both configured with secondary component carriers in determination block 602.

In response to determining that the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are each configured with secondary component carriers (i.e., determination block 602 — yes), in determination block 610, the processor may determine whether the configured secondary component carriers are activated for each of the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs (fig. 6B).

In response to determining that no configured secondary component carriers are activated for each of the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM (i.e., determination block 610 — no), the processor may end method 600. That is, since at least one SIM does not use its configured secondary component carrier, the need for another SIM to align with the configured secondary component carrier is effectively eliminated.

In response to determining that the configured secondary component carrier is activated for each of the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs (i.e., determination block 610 — yes), in determination block 612, the processor may determine whether the configured secondary component carriers are aligned between the first and second SIMs. That is, the processor may determine whether the wireless device is camped on the same SCell (or a group of scells) for both modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM. In response to determining that the configured secondary component carriers are aligned between the first SIM and the second SIM (i.e., determining block 612 — yes), the processor may end method 600.

In response to determining that the configured secondary component carriers are not aligned between the first SIM and the second SIM (i.e., determination block 612 ═ no), the processor may select a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in block 614. In various embodiments, the selection of the high priority SIM may be performed in the same or similar manner as the operations in block 508 of method 500 described above. As described above, at least one SIM that is not selected as a high priority SIM may be referred to as a low priority SIM.

In block 616, the processor may prompt a modem stack associated with the low priority SIM to send degraded channel state information for the secondary component carrier to the serving eNodeB. For example, the processor may adjust the value of the channel quality indicator for the secondary component carrier to be sent in an uplink report on a modem stack associated with the low priority SIM. In some embodiments, after receiving downlink information on the secondary component carrier, the processor may prompt the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM to send a NACK in response, regardless of whether the data was successfully received. In this way, the processor may cause the serving eNodeB to deactivate a secondary component carrier (or a set of secondary component carriers) configured for the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM.

In determination block 618, the processor may determine whether a secondary component carrier deactivation message is received for a modem stack associated with the low priority SIM. In various embodiments, the secondary component carrier deactivation message may be a command from the serving eNodeB to deactivate the MAC layer for the secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM.

In response to determining that the secondary component carrier deactivation message is not received (i.e., determination block 618 — no), in block 616, the processor may again prompt the modem stack associated with the low priority SIM to send degraded channel state information for the secondary component carrier to the serving eNodeB.

In response to determining that a secondary component carrier deactivation message is received (i.e., determination block 618 — yes), the processor may end method 600.

Although the access network is referenced as an E-UTRAN and/or eNodeB, these applications are merely illustrative examples and the various embodiments may be implemented to receive data in any of a wide variety of high speed networks (e.g., HSPA +, DC-HSPA, EV-DO, etc.).

Various embodiments (including but not limited to those discussed above with reference to fig. 4A-6B) may be implemented in any of a wide variety of wireless devices, an example of which is shown at 700 in fig. 7. Referring to fig. 1A-7, a wireless device 700 (which may correspond to wireless devices 102 and/or 200 of fig. 1A-2, for example) may include a processor 702 coupled to a touchscreen controller 704 and an internal memory 706. The processor 702 may be one or more multi-core ICs designed to perform general or specific processing tasks. The internal memory 706 may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, and may also be secure and/or encrypted memory, or non-secure and/or non-encrypted memory, or any combination thereof.

The touchscreen controller 704 and the processor 702 can also be coupled to a touchscreen panel 712, e.g., a resistive-sensing touchscreen, a capacitive-sensing touchscreen, an infrared-sensing touchscreen, and so forth. The wireless device 700 may have one or more wireless signal transceivers 708 for transmitting and receiving signals (e.g.,

Wi-Fi, RF radio) and an antenna 710 coupled to each other and/or to the processor 702. The transceiver 708 and antenna 710 may be used in conjunction with the above-mentioned circuitry to implement various wireless transmission protocol stacks and interfaces. The wireless device 700 may include a cellular network wireless modem chip 716 that is communicatively coupled to the processor via a cellular network. The wireless device 700 may include a peripheral connection interface 718 coupled to the processor 702. Peripheral device connection interface 718 may be separately configured to interface withAre connected by one type, or are multiply configured to accept multiple types of physical and communicative connections, common or proprietary connections (e.g., USB, firewire, Thunderbolt, or PCIe). Peripheral device connection interface 718 may also be coupled to a similarly configured peripheral device connection port (not shown). In addition, the wireless device 700 may include a speaker 714 for providing audio output. In addition, the wireless device 700 may also include a housing 720 constructed using plastic, metal, or a combination of materials to contain all or some of the components discussed herein. The wireless device 700 may include a power supply 722, such as a disposable or rechargeable battery, coupled to the processor 702. The rechargeable battery may also be coupled to the peripheral device connection port to receive a charging current from a source external to the wireless device 700.

The various embodiments herein (including but not limited to the embodiments discussed above with reference to fig. 4A and 4B) may also be implemented in a wide variety of personal computing devices, an example of which 800 is shown in fig. 8. Referring to fig. 1A-8, a laptop computer 800 (which may correspond to the wireless devices 102, 200 of fig. 1A-2, for example) may include a touchpad touch interface 817 that serves as a pointing device for the computer and may receive drag, scroll, and slide gestures (similar to those described above as being implemented on wireless computing devices equipped with touch screen displays). Generally, the laptop computer 800 includes a processor 811 coupled to volatile memory 812 and a large capacity non-volatile memory (e.g., hard disk drive 813 or flash memory). The computer 800 may also include a floppy disk drive 814 and a Compact Disc (CD) drive 815 coupled to the processor 811. In addition, the computer 800 may also include a number of connector ports coupled to the processor 811 for establishing data connections or receiving external memory devices (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) or USB)

A connector receptacle, or other network connection circuitry for coupling processor 811 to a network). In a notebook configuration, the computer housing includes all the couplersA touch pad 817, a keyboard 818, and a display 819 incorporated into the processor 811. Other configurations of the computing device may include a computer mouse or trackball coupled to the processor (e.g., via a USB input), as known to the public, which may also be used in conjunction with various embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1A through 8, the processors 702 and 811 may be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multiple processor chip or chipset that is configurable by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described above. In some devices, multiple processors may be provided, e.g., one processor dedicated to wireless communication functions and one processor dedicated to running other applications. Typically, software applications may be stored in internal memory 706, 812, and 813 before they are accessed and loaded into the processors 702 and 811. The processors 702 and 811 may include internal memory sufficient to store these application software instructions. In many devices, the internal memory may be volatile or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory) or a mixture of both. For the purposes of this description, a general reference to memory refers to memory accessible by the processors 702, 811, including internal or removable memory plugged into the device, as well as memory in the processors 702 and 811 themselves.

The above method descriptions and process flow diagrams are used merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed in the order presented. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the order of steps in the above-described embodiments may be performed in any order. Moreover, words such as "thereafter," "then," "next," etc. are not intended to limit the order of the steps; these words are merely descriptive of the method for guiding the reader through the method. Furthermore, any reference to claim elements in the singular (e.g., using the articles "a," "an," or "the") should not be construed as limiting the element to the singular.

Although the terms "first" and "second" are used herein to describe data transmission associated with a SIM and data reception associated with a different SIM, these identifiers are for convenience purposes only and are not meant to limit the various embodiments to a particular order, sequence, type of network or operator.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

A general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, configured to perform the functions described herein, may be used to implement or execute the hardware described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein to implement the various exemplary logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a number of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Alternatively, some steps or methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.

In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or a non-transitory processor-readable medium. The steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable software module, which may be located on a non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable storage medium. Non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable storage media may be any storage media that can be accessed by a computer or processor. By way of example, and not limitation, such non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of non-transitory computer-readable and processor-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a non-transitory processor-readable medium and/or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (27)

1. A method implemented in a multi-subscriber identity module, SIM, wireless communication device having at least a first SIM and a second SIM associated with a shared radio frequency, RF, resource, the method comprising:

detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier;

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs, wherein performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode;

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in the idle mode:

identifying a serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not operating in the idle mode:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM;

identifying a serving cell associated with the high priority SIM; and

prompting a handover of a connection on the default low priority SIM to an intended target cell, wherein the intended target cell includes the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prompting to switch the connection on the default low-priority SIM to the intended target cell comprises:

accessing uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM; and

adjusting the accessed uplink measurement report data to indicate poor network conditions of the connected serving cell on the default low priority SIM and favorable network conditions of the intended target cell.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the handover to the intended target cell on the default low priority SIM is successful; and

prompting a handover on the high priority SIM to connect to a translated intended target cell, wherein the translated intended target cell comprises the serving cell of the connection on the default low priority SIM.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining whether the handover of the connection to the converted intended target cell on the high priority SIM is successful;

in response to determining that the handover of the connection on the high priority SIM to the converted intended target cell is unsuccessful, releasing the connection on the default low priority SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the default low priority SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SIM and the second SIM are further associated with a shared baseband modem processor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component carrier is a primary component carrier associated with the first SIM.

7. A method implemented in a multi-subscriber identity module, SIM, wireless communication device having at least a first SIM and a second SIM associated with a shared radio frequency, RF, resource, the method comprising:

detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier;

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs, wherein performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in the idle mode:

identifying a serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM;

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is camped on a network that uses the first component carrier;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; and

disabling carrier aggregation on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first component carrier is a primary component carrier associated with the first SIM.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein disabling carrier aggregation on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM comprises: transmitting uplink capability information to the network indicating a lack of carrier aggregation support.

10. A method implemented in a multi-subscriber identity module, SIM, wireless communication device having at least a first SIM and a second SIM associated with a shared radio frequency, RF, resource, the method comprising:

detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier;

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs, wherein performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in the idle mode:

identifying a serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM;

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network that uses the first component carrier, determining whether the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM are both configured with secondary component carriers; and

in response to determining that the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are each configured with a secondary component carrier:

determining whether the configured secondary component carrier is activated on the modem stack associated with the first SIM and the second SIM;

determining whether an activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the first SIM matches an activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the second SIM; and

performing secondary component carrier alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs in response to determining that the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the first SIM and the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the second SIM do not match.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein performing the secondary component carrier alignment comprises:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; and

prompting, on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM, transmission of degraded channel state information for an activated secondary component carrier,

wherein the degraded channel state information is configured to: triggering deactivation of the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM.

12. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a radio frequency, RF, resource configured to connect to at least a first subscriber identity module, SIM, and a second SIM; and

a processor coupled to the RF resource and configured with processor-executable instructions to:

detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs, wherein performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not operating in the idle mode:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM;

identifying a serving cell associated with the high priority SIM; and

prompting a handover of a connection on the default low priority SIM to an intended target cell, wherein the intended target cell includes the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to perform the carrier frequency alignment by:

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in the idle mode:

identifying a serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to prompt switching the connection on the default low-priority SIM to the intended target cell by:

accessing uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM; and

adjusting the accessed uplink measurement report data to indicate poor network conditions of the connected serving cell on the default low priority SIM and favorable network conditions of the intended target cell.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

determining whether the handover to the intended target cell on the default low priority SIM is successful; and

prompting a handover on the high priority SIM to connect to a translated intended target cell, wherein the translated intended target cell comprises the serving cell of the connection on the default low priority SIM.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

determining whether the handover of the connection to the converted intended target cell on the high priority SIM is successful;

in response to determining that the handover of the connection on the high priority SIM to the converted intended target cell is unsuccessful, releasing the connection on the default low priority SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the default low priority SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the first component carrier is a primary component carrier associated with the first SIM.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is camped on a network that uses the first component carrier;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; and

disabling carrier aggregation on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

disabling carrier aggregation on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM by sending uplink capability information to the network indicating a lack of carrier aggregation support.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network that uses the first component carrier, determining whether the modem stacks associated with the first SIM and the second SIM are both configured with secondary component carriers; and

in response to determining that the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs are each configured with a secondary component carrier:

determining whether the configured secondary component carrier is activated on the modem stack associated with the first SIM and the second SIM;

determining whether an activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the first SIM matches an activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the second SIM; and

performing secondary component carrier alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs in response to determining that the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the first SIM and the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the second SIM do not match.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to perform the secondary component carrier alignment by:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM; and

prompting, on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM, transmission of degraded channel state information for an activated secondary component carrier,

wherein the degraded channel state information is configured to: triggering deactivation of the activated secondary component carrier on the modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the first SIM and the second SIM are further associated with a shared baseband modem processor.

23. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) resource associated with at least a first SIM and a second SIM;

means for detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

means for determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier; and

means for performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, wherein means for performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

means for determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode;

means for selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not operating in the idle mode;

means for identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM;

means for identifying a serving cell associated with the high priority SIM; and

means for prompting a handover of a connection on the default low priority SIM to an intended target cell, wherein the intended target cell includes the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

24. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of a wireless communication device having radio frequency, RF, resources configured to connect to at least a first subscriber identification module, SIM, and a second SIM to perform operations comprising:

detecting communication activity on a modem stack associated with the first SIM using a first component carrier;

determining whether a modem stack associated with the second SIM resides on a network using the first component carrier; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not connected to a network on the first component carrier, performing carrier frequency alignment between the modem stacks associated with the first and second SIMs, wherein performing the carrier frequency alignment comprises:

determining whether the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is not operating in the idle mode:

selecting a high priority SIM between the first SIM and the second SIM;

identifying a default low priority SIM based on the selected high priority SIM;

identifying a serving cell associated with the high priority SIM; and

prompting a handover of a connection on the default low priority SIM to an intended target cell, wherein the intended target cell includes the identified serving cell associated with the high priority SIM.

25. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause the processor of the wireless communication device to perform operations such that performing the carrier frequency alignment further comprises:

in response to determining that the modem stack associated with the second SIM is operating in the idle mode:

identifying a serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM; and

triggering cell reselection to a preset target cell for the second SIM, wherein the preset target cell comprises the serving cell for the communication activity on the first SIM.

26. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause the processor of the wireless communication device to perform operations such that prompting to switch the connection on the default low-priority SIM to the intended target cell comprises:

accessing uplink measurement report data on a modem stack associated with the default low priority SIM; and

adjusting the accessed uplink measurement report data to indicate poor network conditions of the connected serving cell on the default low priority SIM and favorable network conditions of the intended target cell.

27. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause the processor of the wireless communication device to perform operations further comprising:

determining whether the handover to the intended target cell on the default low priority SIM is successful; and

prompting a handover on the high priority SIM to connect to a translated intended target cell, wherein the translated intended target cell comprises the serving cell of the connection on the default low priority SIM.

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