Abstract:
The present invention provides a method for supporting multiple communication systems in a mobile communication device. The method includes providing at least two communication channels, each communication channel comprising a communication module; receiving a communication request; directing the communication request to a selected communication channel among the at least two communication channels according to a communication type information; and transmitting data associated with the communication request through the selected communication channel. Wherein each communication module of the at least two communication channels supports different transmission protocol.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional No. 61/549,203 filed on Oct. 19, 2011. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to phone systems, and particularly to systems and methods for supporting multiple phone systems. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Mobile communication device typically feature high-end mobile processors and a large touch screen, such as smartphone, PDA, tablet, etc. Most mobile communication device users purchase a data plan in addition to a mobile phone plan in order to access content on the Internet through a browser or through various applications (apps) that can be installed on the mobile communication device. Numerous operating systems (OS) have been developed for use with mobile communication devices, including Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, and/or others. 
         [0006]    Typically, these operating systems provide single-standby telephony architecture. Only one communication system is enabled at a time to provide communication functionality. If another communication system needs to be used, the original communication system is terminated by selecting a desired communication mode configuration. Communication system performance however depends on desired signal strength. The applications/services that require communication service may suffer from delay or cannot be executed properly if the communication system keeps searching for service in a poor signal area. As a result, it may be preferred to switch the current communication system to another with better communication quality. During the communication system switch, both communication systems may have no access temporarily, so that phone calls can not be dialed or received, and browsing and sending/receiving of MMS (Multimedia Message Service) can not be performed. If the mobile communication device switches communication system at often, this impacts the user experience seriously. 
         [0007]    Among these operating systems, Android is developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google.  FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of communication architecture of Android OS. An Android communication system  10  includes applications  100 , an application framework  110 , libraries  120 , a kernel  130 , and a baseband layer  140 . The applications  100  may include phone application. The application framework  110  may include telephony and radio interface layer (RIL). The libraries  120  may include an RIL Daemon (RILD) and a vendor RIL. The baseband layer  140  may include a modem. As can be seen from  FIG. 1 , the communication architecture can only support one communication system in the application framework layer, as well as the radio interface layer (RIL). Therefore, in order to support multiple communication systems, the mobile device requires two separate sets of the same architecture as shown in  FIG. 1  which might increase cost and processing complexity. Therefore, there exists a need for multiple-mode multiple-standby communication systems for use in a mobile communication device. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present invention provides a method for supporting multiple communication systems in a mobile communication device. The method comprises providing at least two communication channels, each communication channel comprising a communication module; receiving a communication request; directing the communication request to a selected communication channel among the at least two communication channels according to a communication type information; and transmitting data associated with the communication request through the selected communication channel. Wherein each communication module of the at least two communication channels supports different transmission protocol. 
         [0009]    The present invention further provides a mobile communication apparatus. The mobile communication apparatus comprises a first communication system for providing a first communication channel; a second communication system for providing a second communication channel; an interface unit, configured to receive an input for initiating a communication access; and a processing unit, configured to process the communication access through the first communication channel or the second communication channel according to the received input. 
         [0010]    The present invention further provides a method for supporting multiple communication systems. The method comprises setting one of a plurality communication channels as a preferred communication channel; establishing a transmission request; attaching an identifier to the transmission request; determining whether the identifier attached to the transmission request corresponds to the preferred communication channel; and in response to the identifier corresponds to the preferred communication channel, performing transmission through the preferred communication channel according to the transmission request. 
         [0011]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an Android communication system architecture. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing a mobile communication device of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a dual-mode dual-standby communication system architecture of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating an interface for selecting the communication channel. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating another interface for selecting the communication channel. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing a method for supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart showing another method for supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    Generally, when supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device, data transmission charge and power consumption may be increased due to the multiple phone systems both have different fee plan and require separate power supply. The data transmission charge may be increased since data transmission services provided by the multiple phone systems are charged respectively. Besides, since the connections of the multiple phone systems are implemented by multiple hardware circuits/units, the power consumption is increased. 
         [0020]    In order to save the data transmission charge and power consumption, the present invention provides a method and a mobile communication device capable of supporting multiple phone systems. Please refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram showing a mobile communication device of the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating multiple-mode multiple-standby communication system architecture of the present invention. The multiple-mode multiple-standby communication system architecture can be implemented into the mobile communication device of the present invention for supporting multiple phone systems. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the mobile communication device  20  comprises a first phone system  210 , a second phone system  220 , an interface unit  230 , and a processing unit  240 . The first phone system  210  is for providing a first communication channel. The second phone system  220  is for providing a second communication channel. Each of the communication channels comprises a communication module  212 ,  222  (such as a baseband chip), and the communication modules  212 ,  222  of the two communication channels support different transmission protocols (such as CDMA and GSM protocols). The interface unit  230  is configured to receive an input for initiating a communication. For example, the interface unit  230  can receive a touch input from a touch screen and initiate a data communication for uploading data according to the touch input. The processing unit  240  is configured to process the communication through the first communication channel or the second communication channel according to the received input. 
         [0021]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , in order to support multiple phone systems, two phone objects corresponding to the two communication modules  212 ,  222  are built and registered to a phone manager  310  within the telephony framework  310 . During creation of the phone objects, two sets of phone notifiers PhoneNotifier 1 , PhoneNotifier 2  are generated with respect to each communication module  212 ,  222 . The output of the phone manager  312  is fed to the input of a phone proxy  314  within the telephony framework  310 . The phone proxy  314  brings out two different RIL daemons to connect with two RIL drivers RIL 1 , RIL 2 . The two RIL drivers RIL 1 , RIL 2  are connected to two different modems Modem 1 , Modem 2  of the communication modules  212 ,  222  respectively. In the above arrangement, requests, responses and indications could be sent or received simultaneously via the two different communication modules  212 ,  222 . 
         [0022]    When the interface unit  230  receives an input to set one of the communication channels as a preferred communication channel, the processing unit  240  enables the phone system providing the selected communication channel for various transmissions (such as voice call, multimedia call, text message, multimedia message, internet connection and data upload/download), and disables the other phone system. Thereafter, when a user tries to initiate a transmission through the interface unit  230 , a transmission request is established and an identifier is attached to the transmission request within the telephony framework  310 . The identifier attached to the transmission request corresponds to communication type information (e.g. CDMA or GSM) of the phone system. The phone proxy  314  then checks whether the identifier attached to the transmission request corresponds to any of the communication channels. If the identifier corresponds to one of the communications channel, the phone proxy  314  directs the transmission request to the selected communication channel, for performing transmission through the selected communication channel according to the transmission request. 
         [0023]    In the above embodiment, there are different ways to set the preferred communication channel. For example, the preferred communication channel can be predefined through the interface unit  230 ; the preferred communication channel can be set by the user when initiating the communication; or the preferred communication channel can be determined according to signal strength of the communication modules. 
         [0024]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 , and refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  as well.  FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating an interface for selecting the communication channel. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the interface unit  230  can provide an interface  232  displaying selectable options corresponding to the first phone system (such as CDMA) and the second phone system (such as GSM) when initiating the communication access. The user can directly select the preferred transmission channel to make a call or perform other communication operation. 
         [0025]    In addition, different kind of transmission activities can be conducted through different communication channels. For example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the user can respectively predefined the preferred communication channels for the transmission activities of voice call, multimedia message service (MMS), and Internet connection. When the preferred communication channel of Internet connection (Mobile Network) is different from the preferred communication channel of voice call (Dial Network) or multimedia message service (SMS Network), the processing unit  240  can constantly enable the preferred communication channel of Internet connection, and temporarily disable the preferred communication channel for voice call or multimedia message service. In this way, the mobile communication device  20  can transmit data through the communication channel with lower data transmission fee, and the user will not be charged for unnecessary transmission through the unselected communication channel. When the user tries to make a voice call or send a multimedia message, the preferred communication channel of voice call or multimedia message service can be enabled shortly and then be disabled again when the voice call is ended or the multimedia message is sent. 
         [0026]    Please refer to  FIG. 2  again, the mobile communication device  20  can further comprise a timer  250  for counting a predetermined time from the preferred communication channel of voice call or multimedia message service is enabled. And the processing unit then disables the preferred communication channel of voice call or multimedia message service upon the timer  250  is expired. 
         [0027]    According to the above arrangement, the transmission charge through the mobile network can be reduced, and the dial network or the MMS network can be flexibly enabled and disabled for further decreasing power consumption. 
         [0028]    Please refer to  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 6  is a flowchart  600  showing a method for supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device of the present invention. The flowchart  600  comprises the following steps: 
         [0029]    Step  610 : Provide at least two communication channels, wherein each communication channel comprises a communication module; 
         [0030]    Step  620 : Receive a communication request; 
         [0031]    Step  630 : Direct the communication request to a selected communication channel among the at least two communication channels according to a communication type information; and 
         [0032]    Step  640 : Transmit data through the selected communication channel. 
         [0033]    Please refer to  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 7  is a flowchart  700  showing another method for supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device of the present invention. The flowchart  700  comprises the following steps: 
         [0034]    Step  710 : Establish a transmission request; 
         [0035]    Step  720 : Attach an identifier to the transmission request; 
         [0036]    Step  730 : Determine whether the identifier attached to the transmission request corresponds to the preferred communication channel; if yes, go to step  740 ; if not, go to step  735 ; 
         [0037]    Step  735 : Select the correct communication type of the data transmission request; 
         [0038]    Step  740 : The phone proxy directs the transmission request to the preferred communication channel; and 
         [0039]    Step  750 : Transmit data through the modem of the preferred communication channel. 
         [0040]    Basically, to achieve the same result, the steps of the flowcharts  600 ,  700  need not be in the exact order shown and need not be contiguous, that is, other steps can be intermediate. 
         [0041]    In contrast to the prior art, the present invention provides a method for supporting multiple phone systems in a mobile communication device. The method and the mobile communication device of the present invention can constantly enable the selected communication channel and flexibly disable the unselected communication channel, so as to reduce the data transmission charge as well as the power consumption. 
         [0042]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.