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EP-4738935-A1 - ELECTRONIC DEVICE PERFORMING NETWORK SEARCH, AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

EP4738935A1EP 4738935 A1EP4738935 A1EP 4738935A1EP-4738935-A1

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device checks overlapping radio access technologies (RATs) between a first RAT list stored in a subscriber identification module (SIM) of the electronic device and a second RAT list stored in memory of the electronic device. Here, the first RAT list refers to a list of RATs for a first public land mobile network (PLMN), and the second RAT list refers to a list of RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority. The electronic device generates a third RAT list including the overlapping RATs, sorts the third RAT list generated based on the priority, and performs a network search based on the sorted third RAT list.

Inventors

  • KIM, Huiyeon
  • JUNG, DONGSUK

Assignees

  • Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20250630

Claims (15)

  1. An electronic device (101, 201, 301) comprising: a subscriber identification module (SIM) (196, 330) storing a first radio access technology (RAT) list for a first public land mobile network (PLMN); memory (130, 310) storing instructions and storing a second RAT list in which RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority; and at least one processor (120, 210, 320) comprising processing circuitry, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: check for overlapping RATs between the first RAT list and the second RAT list, generate a third RAT list comprising the overlapping RATs, sort the third RAT list based on the priority, and perform a network search based on the sorted third RAT list.
  2. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to add at least one remaining RAT among RATs in the first RAT list and the second RAT list, excluding the overlapping RATs, to the sorted third RAT list.
  3. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to determine whether the electronic device has a valid registered PLMN (RPLMN) and a registered RAT.
  4. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: select the first PLMN when it is determined that the electronic device does not have the valid RPLMN and the registered RAT, and perform the checking, the generating, the sorting, and the performing after selecting the first PLMN.
  5. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 3 or 4, wherein the determining of whether electronic device has the valid RPLMN and the registered RAT comprises at least one of: determining that the electronic device does not have the valid RPLMN when information of the valid RPLMN is not stored in a first field of the SIM; determining that the electronic device does have the valid RPLMN when the information of the valid RPLMN is stored in the first field, and a country code in a system information message received from a network matches a country code of the information of the valid RPLMN; and determining that the electronic device does not have the registered RAT when information of the registered RAT is not stored in the memory, and determining that the electronic device does have the registered RAT when the information of the registered RAT is stored in the memory.
  6. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to determine whether the electronic device is in a roaming state when it is determined that the electronic device does not have the valid RPLMN and the registered RAT.
  7. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to perform the checking, the generating, the sorting, and the performing when the electronic device is determined to not be in the roaming state.
  8. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 6 or 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: obtain a RAT list for a second PLMN from the SIM when the electronic device is determined to be in the roaming state, and generate a fourth RAT list for a network search of the electronic device in the roaming state, based on the obtained RAT list for the second PLMN, the first RAT list, and the second RAT list.
  9. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 8, wherein, in the generated fourth RAT list, RATs in the obtained RAT list for the second PLMN have a highest priority, the overlapping RATs have a lower priority than the RATs in the obtained RAT list, and remaining RATs among RATs in the first RAT list and the second RAT list, excluding the RATs in the obtained RAT list and the overlapping RATs, have a lower priority than the overlapping RATs.
  10. The electronic device (101, 201, 301) of claim 8 or 9, wherein the first PLMN comprises a home PLMN (HPLMN), and the second PLMN comprises a preferred PLMN (PPLMN).
  11. An operating method of an electronic device (101, 201, 301), the operating method comprising: checking for overlapping radio access technologies (RATs) between a first RAT list stored in a subscriber identification module (SIM) of the electronic device and a second RAT list stored in memory of the electronic device, wherein the first RAT list refers to a list of RATs for a first public land mobile network (PLMN), and the second RAT list refers to a list of RATs supported by the electronic device and sorted by priority; generating a third RAT list comprising the overlapping RATs; sorting the third RAT list based on the priority; and performing a network search based on the sorted third RAT list.
  12. The operating method of claim 11, further comprising: adding at least one remaining RAT among RATs in the first RAT list and the second RAT list, excluding the overlapping RATs, to the sorted third RAT list.
  13. The operating method of claim 11 or 12, further comprising: determining whether the electronic device has a valid registered PLMN (RPLMN) and a registered RAT; and determining whether the electronic device is in a roaming state when it is determined that the electronic device does not have the valid RPLMN and the registered RAT.
  14. The operating method of claim 13, further comprising: performing the checking, the generating, the sorting, and the performing when the electronic device is determined to not be in the roaming state.
  15. The operating method of claim 13 or 14, further comprising: obtaining a RAT list for a second PLMN from the SIM when the electronic device is determined to be in the roaming state; and generating a fourth RAT list for a network search of the electronic device in the roaming state, based on the obtained RAT list for the second PLMN, the first RAT list, and the second RAT list; wherein, in the generated fourth RAT list, RATs in the obtained RAT list have a highest priority, the overlapping RATs have a lower priority than the RATs in the obtained RAT list, and remaining RATs among RATs in the first RAT list and the second RAT list, excluding the RATs in the obtained RAT list and the overlapping RATs, have a lower priority than the overlapping RATs.

Description

BACKGROUND 1. Field The disclosure relates to an electronic device performing a network search and an operating method thereof. 2. Description of Related Art A radio access technology (RAT) list for a home public land mobile network (HPLMN) of an electronic device may be stored in a subscriber identification module (SIM) of the electronic device, for example in an element file (EF)_HPLMN selector with access technology (HPLMNwAcT) field of the SIM. The electronic device, when searching the HPLMN, may search an RAT according to the RAT list stored in SIM (e.g. in the EF_HPLMNwAcT field). In the RAT list stored in the SIM (e.g. in the EF_HPLMNwAcT field), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) or global system for mobile communication (GSM) may have a higher priority than that of long-term evolution (LTE) or new radio (NR). In this case, the electronic device may search WCDMA or GSM first before LTE or NR. SUMMARY Typically, when an electronic device searches a lower (e.g. older) radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) or global system for mobile communication (GSM)) first before a higher (e.g. newer) RAT (e.g., new radio (NR) or long-term evolution (LTE)) according to a RAT list stored in a SIM, (for example in an element file (EF)_HPLMN selector with access technology (HPLMNwAcT) field), the time required for the electronic device to be connected to the higher (e.g. newer) network (e.g., an NR network or an LTE network) may be longer. An aspect of various embodiments of the present disclosure provides an electronic device searching a higher RAT (or a higher network) first before a lower RAT (or a lower network). In the present disclosure the terms 'higher' and 'lower' used in "higher RAT" and "higher network" may refer to the generation/version of the RAT/network. That is, a higher RAT/network may be a later or newer (i.e. more recent) generation/version of the RAT/network, and a lower RAT/network may be an earlier or older (i.e. less recent) generation/version. According to an embodiment, an electronic device includes a subscriber identification module (SIM) storing a first RAT list for a first public land mobile network (PLMN), memory storing instructions and storing a second RAT list in which RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority and at least one processor including processing circuitry. The instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to check overlapping RATs between the first RAT list and the second RAT list, generate a third RAT list including the overlapping RATs, sort the third RAT list generated based on the priority, and perform a network search based on the sorted third RAT list. According to an embodiment, an electronic device includes a SIM storing a first RAT list for a first PLMN, memory storing instructions and storing a second RAT list in which RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority, and at least one processor including processing circuitry. The instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to determine whether a registered PLMN (RPLMN) and a registered RAT are included in the electronic device, select the first PLMN when determining that the RPLMN and the registered RAT are not included, check overlapping RATs between the first RAT list and the second RAT list after selecting the first PLMN, generate a third RAT list including the overlapping RATs, sort the third RAT list generated based on the priority, and perform a network search based on the sorted third RAT list. According to an embodiment, an electronic device comprises a SIM storing a first RAT list for a first PLMN; memory storing instructions and storing a second RAT list in which RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority; and at least one processor comprising processing circuitry. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to check for overlapping RATs between the first RAT list and the second RAT list, generate a third RAT list comprising the overlapping RATs, sort the third RAT list based on the priority, and perform a network search based on the sorted third RAT list. According to an embodiment, an operating method of an electronic device includes checking overlapping RATs between a first RAT list stored in a SIM of the electronic device and a second RAT list stored in memory of the electronic device, in which the first RAT list refers to a list of RATs for a first PLMN, and the second RAT list refers to a list of RATs supported by the electronic device are sorted by priority, generating a third RAT list including the overlapping RATs, sorting the third RAT list generated based on the priority, and performing a network search based on the sorted third RAT list. According to an embodiment, an operating method of an ele