METHOD OF UE ASSISTED ENABLEMENT FROM UE TO NETWORK ON PREFERRED RESOURCE IN A MULTI-SIM DEVICE

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques that may help optimize performance of a multi-SIM UE. According to certain aspects, the multi-SIM UE may determine a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle and provide, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for a mechanism to provide an indication of a preferred resource in a multi-subscriber identity module (MSIM) user equipment (UE).

Description of Related Art

SUMMARY

Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communications by a user-equipment (UE). The method generally includes determining a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle and providing, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity.

Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communications by a network entity. The method generally includes receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource and taking one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

Certain aspects provide a user-equipment (UE). The UE generally includes means for determining a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle and means for providing, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity.

Certain aspects provide a network entity. The network entity generally includes means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource and means for taking one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

Certain aspects provide a user-equipment (UE). The UE generally includes a processing system configured to determine a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle, an interface configured to provide, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource, and a transmitter configured to transmit the indication a network entity.

Certain aspects a network entity. The network entity generally includes a receiver configured to receive, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource, and a processing system configured to take one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a user-equipment (UE). The apparatus generally includes a processing system configured to determine a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle and an interface configured to provide, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a user-equipment (UE). The apparatus generally includes a receiver configured to receive, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource and a processing system configured to take one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a user equipment. The computer-readable medium generally includes codes executable to determine a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle and provide, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a network entity. The computer-readable medium generally includes codes executable to obtain, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource and take one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide means for, apparatus, processors, and computer-readable mediums for performing the methods described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for a multi-subscriber identity module (MSIM) UE to provide an indication of a preferred resource for MSIM operation. The preferred resource may be indicated, for example, as UE-assistance information. The preferred resource may be selected in an effort to optimize data delivery in MSIM scenarios.

FIG.1illustrates an example wireless communication network100in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, a UE120amay support (or operate with) multiple SIMS and may have a SIM controller122aconfigured perform (or assist UE120ain performing) operations500ofFIG.5. Similarly, a BS110aserving such a UE may be configured perform to perform operations600ofFIG.6. As will be described in greater detail below, operations500and600may allow an MSIM UE to provide an indication of a preferred resource for MSIM operation, which may help optimize MSIM data delivery.

Wireless communication network100may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station110r), also referred to as relays or the like, that receive a transmission of data and/or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS110aor a UE120r) and sends a transmission of the data and/or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE120or a BS110), or that relays transmissions between UEs120, to facilitate communication between devices.

A network controller130may couple to a set of BSs110and provide coordination and control for these BSs110. The network controller130may communicate with the BSs110via a backhaul. The BSs110may also communicate with one another (e.g., directly or indirectly) via wireless or wireline backhaul.

FIG.2illustrates example components of BS110aand UE120a(e.g., in the wireless communication network100ofFIG.1), which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. For example, one or more processors of UE120amay support (or operate with) multiple SIMS and may have a SIM controller122aconfigured perform (or assist UE120ain performing) operations500ofFIG.5. Similarly, one or more processors of BS110amay be configured perform to perform operations600ofFIG.6.

At the BS110a, a transmit processor220may receive data from a data source212and control information from a controller/processor240. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor220may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor220may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and cell-specific reference signal (CRS). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor230may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs)232a-232t. Each modulator232may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators232a-232tmay be transmitted via the antennas234a-234t, respectively.

The memories242and282may store data and program codes for BS110aand UE120a, respectively. A scheduler244may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

The controller/processor280and/or other processors and modules at the UE120amay perform or direct the execution of processes for the techniques described herein. For example, as shown inFIG.2, the controller/processor280of the UE120ahas a SIM controller122a, which is configured to implement one or more techniques described herein with reference toFIG.5.

In some examples, the communication between the UEs120and BSs110is referred to as the access link. The access link may be provided via a Uu interface. Communication between devices may be referred as the sidelink.

Various sidelink channels may be used for sidelink communications, including a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The PSDCH may carry discovery expressions that enable proximal devices to discover each other. The PSCCH may carry control signaling such as sidelink resource configurations, resource reservations, and other parameters used for data transmissions, and the PSSCH may carry the data transmissions. The PSFCH may carry feedback such as CSI related to a sidelink channel quality. In some systems (e.g., NR Release 16), a two stage SCI may be supported. Two stage SCI may include a first stage SCI (SCI-1) and a second stage SCI (e.g., SCI-2). SCI-1 may include resource reservation and allocation information, information that can be used to decode SCI-2, etc. SCI-2 may include information that can be used to decode data and to determine whether the UE is an intended recipient of the transmission. SCI-1 and/or SCI-2 may be transmitted over PSCCH.

NR concurrent radio-access technology (RAT) operation generally refers to operating multiple simultaneous active connections with at least one connection being on NR. For example, the two connections may involve LTE and NR connections, or both NR connections. Multi-SIM devices are able to connect to multiple networks independently without network awareness. Different UE behaviors may occur based on different implementations like dual-SIM dual active (DSDA) or dual-SIM dual standby (DSDS). DSDS generally refers to a dual-SIM deployment where the two SIM cards of the UE may be unable to simultaneously generate traffic. DSDA on the other hand refers to a dual-SIM deployment where both SIM cards of the UE may be active at the same time. As used herein, a SIM generally refers to both virtual and hardware implementations of a SIM. In other words, each SIM may be implemented using hardware (e.g., a physical SIM card) on the multi-SIM device, or implemented virtually using a remote database.

Dual SIM receivers allow the different SIMS to support a variety of different combination options. For example, dual-SIM (DSIM) devices could support the following:SA-NR+SA-NR: both SIMS could support standalone (SA) NR (SA-NR);NSA-NR+LTE: one SIM supports non-standalone (NSA) while another SIM supports LTE;LTE+LTE: both SIMS support LTE;LTE+W: one SIM supports LTE, the other supports wideband CDMA; or any other combination (X RAT+X RAT both SIMS the same RAT or X RAT+Y RAT the SIMS support different RATs).

In some cases, in a multi-SIM deployment, each SIM of the UE can belong to the same network carrier. For example, two or more SIMS (also referred to herein as subscribers or SUBs) belonging to the same operator can be in the following modes:(1) Idle+Idle: 2 or more SUBs in Idle camp to the same cell(2) Connected+Idle: 1 SUB in Idle and 1 Sub Connected camp to the same cell

In conventional multi-SIM deployments, in scenarios where the UE is performing a low priority activity via a first SIM and another high priority activity is triggered on the same or different SIM of the UE, the high priority activity may be delayed, significantly impacting the performance of the UE. For example, assume an out of service indication is triggered on a SIM while another (or same) SIM is performing CSG autonomous search function. In this example, the recovery from the out of service may be delayed due to the CSG autonomous search, which may involve performing measurements for multiple CSG cells, performing a full band scan to obtain a given CSG cell, etc. These measurements and band scans may utilize RF resources of the UE, causing tune aways and increasing the delay time for out of service recovery on the SIM in which the out of service indication is triggered on.

In some examples, in scenarios where a PS call/throughput is triggered on a SIM while another (or same) SIM is performing CSG autonomous search function, the triggered SIM may experience throughput degradation due to the CSG autonomous search function. In some examples, in scenarios where a SIM is not running throughput but the network sends measurement to the SIM for NR addition while another (or same) SIM is performing CSG autonomous search function, there may be a delay in NR measurements, additions/deletions/configurations, etc., in the triggered SIM, due to tune aways triggered from the CSG autonomous search function. In some examples, in scenarios where a network is running a timer for a given NR configuration on a SIM and there is a delay on that configuration, the network may delete NR object(s) and deactivate NR from that SIM.

Example Method of UE Assisted Enablement from UE to Network on Preferred Resource in an MSIM Device

FIG.3illustrates an example multi-SIM (MSIM) deployment, in which a UE supports multiple SIMS (SIM1 and SIM2), which may support the same or different radio access technologies (RATs). At any given time, the multiple SIMS may concurrently be in an idle state and may support different modes of operation. For example, a UE with a single receiver may support a Single Receive Dual SIM Dual Standby (SR-DSDS) mode, where only one RAT is received at a time. In a Dual Receive (DR)-DSDS mode, the MSIM UE may simultaneously multiple RATs at a time.

FIG.4shows various example scenarios for SR-DSDS and DR-DSDS when SIM1 and SIM2 are active at the same time for SR-DSDS, SR-DSDS. As illustrated, in the SR-DSDS examples, the transmitter may be alternately off to service the different SIMS or the UE may suspend operations on one SIM to tune-away and monitor for transmission on the other SIM. In the DR-DSDS case, the transmitter may be active during a tune-away. For data transmissions, there is the potential to tune-away from one SIM to monitor an idle SIM (tech) for reception. For voice applications, the idle SIM may be completely suspended (while serving voice on the active SIM)

For an MSIM device, if two subscribers (SUBs-corresponding to the two SIMS) camp on the same cell with the same RAT, it is possible to leverage one protocol stack to perform idle activities of the other SUB. This approach may have benefits, for example, if a packet switched (PS) data SUB by avoiding radio frequency (RF) conflict and tuning overhead in many cases.

However, for some cases, such as when the connected SUB serving cell is not the best cell for idle camping (for the idle SUB), it may be suboptimal for the UE to have the idle SUB blindly follow the connected SUB.

Another case where it may be suboptimal for the UE to have the idle SUB blindly follow the connected SUB is when the connected SUB active bandwidth part (BWP) does not contain the idle SUB paging resource at all. This scenario would be complex at UE to cover two BWPs (the active and idle SUB BWPs) at the same time.

Aspect of the present disclosure, however, provide an option if a UE prefers to balance both the connected SUB performance and the idle SUB performance by indicating, to the network, a preferred resource setting for MSIM operation. As will be described herein, the indication may be provided using a standard framework, such as UE assistance information signaling.

FIG.5illustrates example operations500for wireless communication by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations400may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE120ain the wireless communication network100) equipped with multiple SIMS.

Operations500begin, at502, by determining a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle. For example, as will be described in greater detail below, a UE configured with multiple BWPs may select one or more of the configured BWPs that provides a better balance of service for both SIMs than other BWPs and/or results in reduced complexity (e.g., BWP switching).

At504, the UE provides, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity. For example, the UE may provide the indication using extension bits of a UE Assistance information element (IE).

FIG.6illustrates example operations600for wireless communication by a network entity that may be considered complementary to operations500ofFIG.5. For example, operations600may be performed by a gNB to receive and process an indication of preferred MSIM resources provided by a UE performing operations500ofFIG.5.

Operations600begin, at602, by receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource. As noted above, the indication may be received as UE assistance information.

At604, the network entity takes one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource. For example, the network entity may configure the UE according to the preferred frequency resource (e.g., configured the UE with and/or switching the UE to an indicated preferred BWP).

The techniques presented herein may help balance the performance both connected SUB and the idle SUB, which could be on the same serving cell and, in some cases, may help simplify implementation (e.g., reducing signaling and/or switching overhead).

FIG.7Aillustrates an example call flow diagram showing how UE Assistance Information may be used to convey preferred frequency resource for MSIM operation, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The preferred frequency resource may be, for example, a preferred target serving cell (or corresponding frequencies) or preferred BWPs. The preferred frequency resource may be selected based on an aggregated evaluation of the two (or more) SUBs in the MSIM device. The UE Assistance information may be conveyed, for example, via a connected SUB.

A UE Assistance Information procedure is intended to indicate various UE information to the network, such as a defined delay budget report, connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) length, and/or overheating assistant information.

In some cases, an existing field, such as a nonCriticalExtension field shown inFIG.7B, in an information element (IE) defined for a UE Assistance Information procedure may be used to indicate, to the network on the connected SUB, the preferred frequency resource. In such cases, the UE and network may agree on the specific extension on the bits/strings in the UE Assistance Information and their corresponding meanings.

FIGS.8A and8Billustrate an example of how a UE may be handed over to a different cell based on an indication of a preferred frequency resource for MSIM operation, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

The example assumes, inFIG.8A, that a connected SUB1 is on cell A and idle SUB2 is on cell-B. The UE may indicate, via UE Assistance information, a preferred cell by sending the index of the configured measurement object. The network may configure a measurement object corresponding to a preferred cell (frequency), which may be used to indicate the preferred cell in the non critical extension as follows:

As shown inFIG.8B, based on the preferred target cell, the network may handover SUB1 from Cell A to Cell B. As noted above, in some cases, the UE may indicate the preferred target cell by indicated the measurement object ID (measId) for corresponding carrier frequency. As shown above, as an alternative or in addition, the UE may also indicate the preferred cell id (such as the physical cell ID of the SUB2 serving cell, cell-B in this example). In response, the network may sends a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message to handover the UE (from Cell A to Cell B).

FIGS.9A and9Billustrate an example of how a UE may be configured with BWPs based on an indication of a preferred frequency resource for MSIM operation, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

The example assumes that the MSIM UE SUB1 is in SUB1 in RRC_CONNECTED with multiple BWPs configured. In such cases, via DCI-based BWP switching, the BWP for the UE may change relatively frequently, which may create some challenges. For example, if the active BWP (of the connected SUB) does not contain the idle paging frequency resource (of the idle SUB), it would be more complex in implementation for the MSIM device to monitor the connected SUB BWP and the idle SUB BWP simultaneously (e.g., may require additional BWP switching).

This is illustrated by the example ofFIG.9A, which assumes up to four BWP #1, #2, #3, #4 are configured in connected SUB1. The example further assumes that the idle SUB2 CORESET (e.g., defined by pagingSearchSpace in SIB1) is located in BWP #1 and BWP #3, but NOT in BWP #2 or BWP #4.

Thus, via UEAsistanceInformation, the connected SUB1 could indicate, to the network that only BWP #1 and BWP #3 are preferred. In other words, using these BWPs, the DCI based BWP switch would be on the BWPs with idle SUB2 paging resource available, which would allow the MSIM UE to monitor the active BWP and idle SUB2 paging simultaneously. This indication of preferred BWPs may be provided via the non critical extension as follows as follows:

As described above, the techniques presented herein may help balance the performance both connected SUB and the idle SUB by specifying a preferred frequency resource, such as a preferred target serving cell or preferred BWPs.

FIG.10illustrates a communications device1000that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated inFIG.5. The communications device1000includes a processing system1002coupled to a transceiver1008. The transceiver1008is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device1000via an antenna1010, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system1002may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device1000, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device1000.

The processing system1002includes a processor1004coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory1012via a bus1006. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory1012is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor1004, cause the processor1004to perform the operations illustrated inFIG.5, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory1012stores code1014for determining a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle; and code1016for providing, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity. In certain aspects, the processor1004has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory1012. The processor1004includes circuitry1026for determining a preferred frequency resource for the UE to support at least two subscriber identity modules (SIMs), at least one of which is connected and one of which is idle; and circuitry1028for providing, via the at least one connected SIM, an indication of the preferred frequency resource to a network entity.

FIG.11illustrates a communications device1100that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated inFIG.6. The communications device1100includes a processing system1102coupled to a transceiver1108. The transceiver1108is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device1100via an antenna1110, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system1102may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device1100, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device1100.

The processing system1102includes a processor1104coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory1112via a bus1106. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory1112is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor1104, cause the processor1104to perform the operations illustrated inFIG.5, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory1112stores code1114for obtaining, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource; and code1116for taking one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource. In certain aspects, the processor1104has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory1112. The processor1104includes circuitry1126for obtaining, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a preferred frequency resource; and circuitry1128for taking one or more actions to move the UE to the preferred frequency resource.

The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and/or 5G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems.

A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices. Also, the wireless node can be a UE or a BS or a network entity.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. In NR, a subframe is still 1 ms, but the basic TTI is referred to as a slot. A subframe contains a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . . slots) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The NR RB is 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz and other subcarrier spacing may be defined with respect to the base subcarrier spacing, for example, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc. The symbol and slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. The CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing. Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. In some examples, MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. In some examples, multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells.

The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s) and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering. For example, processors258,264and266, and/or controller/processor280of the UE120aand/or processors220,230,238, and/or controller/processor240of the BS110ashown inFIG.2may be configured to perform operations500ofFIG.5and/or operations600ofFIG.6.

Means for receiving may include a transceiver, a receiver or at least one antenna and at least one receive processor illustrated inFIG.2. Means for transmitting, means for sending or means for outputting may include, a transceiver, a transmitter or at least one antenna and at least one transmit processor illustrated inFIG.2. Means for determining, means for providing, means for taking one or more actions, means for selecting, and means for simultaneously monitoring may include a processing system, which may include one or more processors, such as processors258,264and266, and/or controller/processor280of the UE120aand/or processors220,230,238, and/or controller/processor240of the BS110ashown inFIG.2.

In some cases, rather than actually transmitting a frame a device may have an interface to output a frame for transmission (a means for outputting or means for providing). For example, a processor may output a frame, via a bus interface, to a radio frequency (RF) front end for transmission. Similarly, rather than actually receiving a frame, a device may have an interface to obtain a frame received from another device (a means for obtaining). For example, a processor may obtain (or receive) a frame, via a bus interface, from an RF front end for reception.