Patent ID: 8862127

Claim:
A multi-SIM portable terminal holding multiple subscriber identification cards, comprising: a transmitter/receiving unit for establishing a communication link with at least one base station; a processor in communication with a memory, the memory including code, which when accessed by the processor causes the processor to: determine which of the subscriber identification cards are associated with the same base station and which of the subscriber identification cards are registered in different base stations; responsive to all the subscriber identification cards being determined to be associated with the same base station, conduct frequency scanning and measurement for a selected one of the subscriber identification cards and register all the subscriber identification cards with the same base station based on results of the frequency scanning and measurement for the selected one of the subscriber identification cards; responsive to determining that any subscriber identification cards are associated with different base stations, perform a frequency scan and measurement for only one of each subscriber identification card determined to be associated with each of the different base stations; share results of the frequency scan and measurement for each of the subscriber identification cards determined to be associated with a respective one of the different base stations; receive a call message, through the transmitter/receiver, from a base station associated with at least one of the subscriber identification cards; and transmit, through the transmitter/receiver, a release message to each base station associated with a subscriber identification card not associated with the call message.