Patent Description:
At present, there are more and more terminals capable of supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards. A typical application scenario is illustrated below.

A commercial user has one private SIM card and one commercial SIM card, which are both placed in a same terminal; or, a common user has multiple private SIM cards and may select which SIM card is to be used based on service.

The multiple SIM cards supported by a same terminal may come from a same operator or different operators.

Sometimes, a terminal supporting multiple SIM cards may have the following problems.

Firstly, after a terminal has already establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a corresponding base station through a first SIM card, when the terminal reads a paging message for paging a base station corresponding to a second SIM card or performs a corresponding measurement, a short interval of about <NUM> milliseconds between the terminal and the base station corresponding to the first SIM card will be generated. If the terminal supports multiple SIM cards, a cumulative long interval may be generated in each paging period.

Secondly, when deciding to switch to a cell corresponding to the second SIM card, the terminal needs to read corresponding system information, which may lead to a long interval of about <NUM> second between the terminal and the base station corresponding to the first SIM card. The base station corresponding to the first SIM card will regard it as an error. Till now, how the terminal and the base station will handle such situation is still pending.

Furthermore, when the terminal performs tracking area update (TAU) through the second SIM card, a longer time interval between the terminal and the base station corresponding to the first SIM card will be generated.

<CIT> discloses a method and apparatus for improved multi subscription operation.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatuses for reporting an error cause.

The technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present disclosure have the following beneficial effects.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal supporting multiple SIM cards records a target error cause of disconnecting an RRC connection with the first base station due to a target operation, and reports the target error cause to the first base station after completing the target operation and establishing a new RRC connection with the first base station. In this way, the first base station will no longer perform recovery for the target error cause, thus reducing network errors statistics.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the target operation executed by the second SIM card in an idle state in the terminal may include any one of reading a paging message from a second base station, reading a system message from the second base station, performing measurement and performing tracking area update. Because the terminal disconnects the RRC connection with the first base station due to execution of the above target operation, the terminal may record the target error cause to avoid triggering the first base station to perform a recovery mechanism for the target operation subsequently.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal may report the recorded target error cause to a non-access stratum of the terminal, and subsequently report the target error cause to the first base station through the non-access stratum after re-establishing a new RRC connection with the first base station, leading to high availability.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, after receiving the target error cause reported by the terminal supporting multiple SIM cards, the first base station may remove the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal, and thus perform recovery only for other error causes. In the above process, the number of times that the first base station performs recovery for the target error cause is eliminated, thereby reducing network errors statistics.

It should be understood that the above general descriptions and the subsequent detailed descriptions are merely illustrative and explanatory rather than limiting of the present disclosure.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present description, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure together with the description.

Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, with the illustrations thereof represented in the drawings. When the following descriptions involve the drawings, like numerals in different drawings refer to like or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure.

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

It is to be understood that although different information may be described using the terms such as first, second, third, etc. in the present disclosure, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish the same type of information from each other. For example, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when" or "as" or "determining in response to".

A method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is firstly introduced below from a terminal side.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method of reporting an error cause, which may be applied to a terminal supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards. <FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may include the following steps.

At step <NUM>, after a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first base station is established, whether the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of a target operation is detected.

The first base station is a base station accessed by a first SIM card of the terminal, and the target operation is an operation executed by a second SIM card in an idle state in the terminal.

At step <NUM>, if the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of the target operation, it is recorded that a target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection is resulted from the target operation.

At step <NUM>, after the target operation is completed, if a new RRC connection with the first base station is established, the recorded target error cause is reported to the first base station through the new RRC connection.

In the above embodiment, the terminal supporting multiple SIM cards records the target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection with the first base station due to the target operation, and reports the target error cause to the first base station after completing the target operation and establishing the new RRC connection with the first base station. In this way, the first base station will no longer perform recovery for the target error cause, thus reducing network errors statistics.

For the above step <NUM>, if the terminal supporting multiple SIM cards already establishes a RRC connection with the first base station through the first SIM card, when the terminal detects that the RRC connection with the first base station is disconnected, the terminal may determine whether the disconnection is resulted from execution of the target operation.

The target operation is an operation executed by the second SIM card which is in an idle state and different from the first SIM card in the terminal. In some examples, the target operation may be an operation performed by the terminal to read a paging message from a second base station to be accessed by the second SIM card, or an operation for reading a system message from the second base station, or a measurement operation performed by using the second SIM card, or a tracking area update (TAU) operation performed by using the second SIM card.

The first SIM card and the second SIM card may belong to a same operator or different operators, which is not limited herein.

For the above step <NUM>, if the terminal determines that the RRC connection with the first base station is disconnected due to execution of the target operation, the terminal records that the target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection is resulted from the target operation.

For the above step <NUM>, if the terminal completes the target operation and re-establishes a new RRC connection with the first base station, the terminal reports the previous target error cause to the first base station through the new RRC connection.

After receiving the target error cause, the first base station removes the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal and performs recovery only for other error causes based on a recovery mechanism.

On basis of <FIG> is a flowchart illustrating another method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, after step <NUM> is completed, the method further includes step <NUM>.

At step <NUM>, the target error cause is reported to a non-access stratum of the terminal.

In this step, the terminal reports the target error cause to a high layer of the terminal, for example, the non-access stratum (NAS), after recording the target error cause.

Correspondingly, the step <NUM> specifically includes:
reporting, by the non-access stratum, the recorded target error cause to the first base station.

In the above embodiment, the terminal reports the target error cause to the non-access stratum of the terminal, and subsequently report the target error cause to the first base station through the non-access stratum after re-establishing a new RRC connection with the first base station, which brings about high availability.

A method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is introduced below from a base station side.

Based on the above method of reporting an error cause, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method of reporting an error cause, which may be applied to a base station. The base station herein may be a first base station accessed by a first SIM card of a terminal. <FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may include the following steps.

At step <NUM>, a target error cause reported by a terminal supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards through a first SIM card is received.

The target error cause indicates that the terminal previously disconnects a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station due to a target operation, where the target operation is an operation executed by a second SIM card in an idle state in the terminal.

At step <NUM>, the target error cause is removed from all error causes reported by the terminal.

At step <NUM>, recovery is performed for other error causes than the removed target error cause.

In the above embodiment, after receiving the target error cause reported by the terminal supporting multiple SIM cards, the first base station removes the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal, and thus perform recovery only for other error causes. In the above process, the number of times that the first base station performs recovery for the target error cause is eliminated, thereby reducing network errors statistics.

For the above step <NUM>, after completing the target operation and re-establishing a new RRC connection with the first base station, the terminal reports the target error cause to the first base station by the NAS through the new RRC connection and the first base station directly receives the target error cause.

The target operation is an operation executed by the second SIM card which is in an idle state and different from the first SIM card in the terminal. In some examples, the target operation may be an operation for reading a paging message from a second base station to be accessed by the second SIM card, or an operation for reading a system message from the second base station, or a measurement operation performed by using the second SIM card, or a tracking area update (TAU) operation performed by using the second SIM card.

For the above step <NUM>, the first base station removes the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal during a detection period of a preset time length.

For the above step <NUM>, the first base station will no longer performs recovery for the RRC connection between the first base station and the terminal for the target error cause but for other error causes than the target error cause. Sometimes, the recovery is performed based on a recovery mechanism.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method of reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the method includes the following steps.

At step <NUM>, after establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first base station, a terminal supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards detects whether the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of a target operation.

The target operation may include any one of reading a paging message from a second base station, reading a system message from the second base station, performing measurement and performing tracking area update. The second base station is a base station to be accessed by the second SIM card.

At step <NUM>, if the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of the target operation, the terminal records that a target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection is resulted from the target operation.

At step <NUM>, the terminal reports the target error cause to a non-access stratum (NAS) of the terminal.

At step <NUM>, after completing the target operation, and re-establishing a new RRC connection with the first base station through the first SIM card, the terminal reports the target error cause to the first base station by the NAS through the RRC connection.

At step <NUM>, the first base station removes the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal.

At step <NUM>, the first base station performs recovery for other error causes than the removed target error cause.

In the above embodiment, the terminal records the target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection with the first base station due to the target operation, and reports the target error cause to the first base station by the NAS through a new RRC connection after completing the target operation and establishing the new RRC connection with the first base station. The first base station removes the target error cause from all error causes reported by the terminal and performs recovery only for other error causes, thus eliminating the number of times that the first base station performs recovery for the target error cause and reducing the network errors statistics.

Corresponding to the above method embodiments for realizing application functions, the present disclosure further provides embodiments of an apparatus for realizing application function and corresponding sender and receiver.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus is applied to a terminal supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards, and includes:.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating another apparatus for reporting an error cause based on the embodiment shown in <FIG>. The apparatus further includes:
a second reporting module <NUM>, configured to report the target error cause to a non-access stratum (NAS) of the terminal.

The first reporting module <NUM> includes:
a reporting sub-module <NUM>, configured to report the recorded target error cause to the first base station through the NAS.

In some examples, the target operation includes any one of:
reading a paging message from a second base station, reading a system message from the second base station, performing measurement and performing tracking area update.

The second base station is a base station to be accessed by the second SIM card.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating another apparatus for reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus is applied to a first base station and includes:.

Since the apparatus embodiments substantially correspond to the method embodiments, a reference may be made to part of the descriptions of the method embodiments for the related part. The apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, where the units described as separate members may be or not be physically separated, and the members displayed as units may be or not be physical units, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed to a plurality of network units. Part or all of the modules may be selected according to actual requirements to implement the objectives of the solutions in the embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand and carry out them without creative work.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure further provides a computer readable storage medium storing computer programs. The computer programs are configured to implement any one of the above methods of reporting an error cause at the side of the terminal supporting multiple SIM cards.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure further provides a computer readable storage medium storing computer programs. The computer programs are configured to implement any one of the above methods of reporting an error cause at the side of the first base station.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure further provides an apparatus for reporting an error cause, not being part of the present invention. The apparatus is applied to a terminal supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards and includes:.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device <NUM> supporting multiple subscriber identification module (SIM) cards according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the electronic device <NUM> may be smart phone, tablet computer, electronic book reader, multimedia player, wearable device and vehicle-mounted terminal and the like.

As shown in <FIG>, the electronic device <NUM> may include one or more of a processing component <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, a power supply component <NUM>, a multimedia component <NUM>, an audio component <NUM>, an input/output (I/O) interface <NUM>, a sensor component <NUM>, and a communication component <NUM>.

The processing component <NUM> usually controls overall operations of the electronic device <NUM>, such as operations associated with displaying, phone call, data communication, camera operation, and recording operation. The processing component <NUM> may include one or more processor <NUM> to execute instructions to complete all or part of the steps of the above methods. Further, the processing component <NUM> may include one or more modules to facilitate interaction between the processing component <NUM> and other components. For example, the processing component <NUM> may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component <NUM> and the processing component <NUM>. For another example, the processing component <NUM> may read executable instructions from the memory to implement the steps of the method of reporting an error cause according to the above embodiments.

The memory <NUM> is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of the electronic device <NUM>. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operated on the electronic device <NUM>, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and so on. The memory <NUM> may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage devices or a combination thereof, such as a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic or compact disk.

The power supply component <NUM> supplies power for different components of the electronic device <NUM>. The power supply component <NUM> may include a power supply management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing and distributing power for the electronic device <NUM>.

The multimedia component <NUM> includes a screen that provides an output interface between the electronic device <NUM> and a user. When the electronic device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data. Each of the front and rear cameras may be a fixed optical lens system or have a focal length and an optical zoom capability.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive an external audio signal when the electronic device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may be further stored in the memory <NUM> or transmitted via the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> also includes a loudspeaker for outputting an audio signal.

The I/O interface <NUM> provides an interface between the processing component <NUM> and a peripheral interface module which may be a keyboard, a click wheel, a button, or the like. These buttons may include, but are not limited to a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.

The sensor component <NUM> includes one or more sensors for providing a status assessment in various aspects to the electronic device <NUM>. For example, the sensor component <NUM> may detect an open/closed state of the electronic device <NUM>, and the relative positioning of components, for example, the component is a display and a keypad of the electronic device <NUM>. The sensor component <NUM> may also detect a change in position of the electronic device <NUM> or a component of the electronic device <NUM>, the presence or absence of contact between a user and the electronic device <NUM>, the orientation or acceleration/deceleration of the electronic device <NUM> and a change in temperature of the electronic device <NUM>. In some embodiments, the sensor component <NUM> may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the electronic device <NUM> and other devices. The electronic device <NUM> may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM> or a combination thereof. In an embodiment, the communication component <NUM> receives broadcast signals or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an embodiment, the communication component <NUM> also includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA) technology, an ultrawide band (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an embodiment, the electronic device <NUM> may be implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor or other electronic elements for performing the above methods.

In an embodiment, there is further provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions, for example, the memory <NUM> including instructions. The above instructions may be executed by the processor <NUM> of the electronic device <NUM> to implement the above method of reporting an error cause. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, floppy disk, or optical data storage device or the like.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure further provides an apparatus for reporting an error cause, not being part of the invention. The apparatus is applied to a first base station and includes:.

<FIG> is a structural schematic diagram illustrating an apparatus <NUM> for reporting an error cause according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus <NUM> may be provided as a base station. As shown in <FIG>, the apparatus <NUM> includes a processing component <NUM>, a wireless transmission/receiving component <NUM>, an antenna component <NUM>, and signal processing part specific to a wireless interface. The processing component <NUM> may further include one or more processors.

One processor of the processing component <NUM> may be configured to implement any one of the above methods of reporting an error cause at the side of the first base station.

Claim 1:
A method of reporting an error cause, characterized by comprising:
after establishing a radio resource control, RRC, connection between a terminal with a first base station, detecting (<NUM>), by the terminal, whether the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of a target operation; wherein the terminal supports multiple subscriber identification module, SIM, cards, the first base station is a base station accessed by a first SIM card of the terminal, and the target operation is an operation executed by a second SIM card in an idle state in the terminal;
if the RRC connection is disconnected due to execution of the target operation, recording (<NUM>), by the terminal, that a target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection is resulted from the target operation;
after the target operation is completed, if a new RRC connection with the first base station is established via the first SIM card, reporting (<NUM>), by the terminal, the recorded target error cause to the first base station via the first SIM card through the new RRC connection;
wherein after recording that the target error cause of disconnecting the RRC connection is resulted from the target operation, the method further comprises:
reporting internally in the terminal the target error cause to a non-access stratum of the terminal;
wherein reporting the recorded target error cause to the first base station comprises:
reporting, by the non-access stratum, the recorded target error cause to the first base station.