US-12621750-B2 - Geographic location-based SIM switching

Abstract

The disclosure relates to switching SIMs in a mobile telecommunications device based on geographic location. Example embodiments disclosed include a method of operating a mobile telecommunications device having a first SIM and a second SIM, the method comprising: identifying a geographic location of the device; operating the device using the first SIM to connect to a first network if the device is within a first geographic location; and operating the device using the second SIM to connect to a second network if the device is within a second geographic location and if a received signal strength indicator, RSSI, of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value.

Inventors

• Jan Grießbach
• Till Steffen Witt
• Javier Velasquez Gomez
• Nicolas Harmen Lehment

Assignees

• NXP B.V.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230623

Priority Date

20220722

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A method of operating a mobile telecommunications device having a first subscriber identification module (SIM) and a second SIM, the method comprising: identifying a geographic location of the device; operating the device using the first SIM to connect to a first network while the device is within a first geographic location, wherein the first geographic location is defined by a first plurality of coordinates defining a first geofence; and switching to operating the device using the second SIM to connect to a second network once the device leaves the first geolocation as defined by the first geofence and if a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographic location of the device is identified using a selected one of a local positioning module and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver on the device.
3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographic location of the device is identified using a local positioning module using UWB localization.
4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network corresponds to a second geographic location and the second geographic location is defined by a second plurality of coordinates defining a second geofence.
5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network corresponds to a second geographic location and the second geographic location is defined by being outside of the first geographic location.
6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second SIMs are provided in the device in a selected one of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), an embedded UICC and an integrated UICC.
7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network is a selected one of a LTE network, a 5G network and a 6G network.
8. 8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the second network is a selected one of an LTE network, a 5G network and a 6G network.
9. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined threshold value is relative to an RSSI of the first network.
10. 10 . A mobile telecommunications device comprising: a geographic location module; a controller; a first subscriber identification module (SIM); a second SIM; and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to: identify a geographic location of the device using the geographic location module; operate the device using the first SIM and the transceiver to connect to a first network if the device is within a first geographic location, wherein the first geographic location is defined by a first plurality of coordinates defining a first geofence; and switch to operate the device using the second SIM to connect to a second network once the device leaves the first geolocation as defined by the first geofence and if a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value.
11. 11 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the geographic location module comprises a selected one of a local positioning module and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver.
12. 12 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the geographic location module comprises a local positioning module using UWB localization.
13. 13 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the second network corresponds to a second geographic location and the second geographic location is defined by a second plurality of coordinates defining a second geofence.
14. 14 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the second network corresponds to a second geographic location and the second geographic location is defined by being outside of the first geographic location.
15. 15 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the first and second SIMs are provided in the device in a selected one of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), an embedded UICC and an integrated UICC.
16. 16 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the predefined threshold value is relative to an RSSI of the first network.
17. 17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first network and the second network are each a selected one of an LTE network, a 5G network and a 6G network.
18. 18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to cause a controller of a mobile telecommunications device having a first subscriber identification module (SIM) and a second SIM to: identify a geographic location of the device using a geographic location module; operate the device using the first SIM to cause a transceiver to connect to a first network if the device is within a first geographic location, wherein the first geographic location is defined by a first plurality of coordinates defining a first geofence; and switch to operate the device using the second SIM to cause the transceiver to connect to a second network once the device leaves the first geolocation as defined by the first geofence and if a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value.
19. 19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of coordinates defining the first geofence is stored in the mobile telecommunications device.
20. 20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network is a private network and the second network is a public network.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to European Patent Application No. 22186425.9, filed on Jul. 22, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. FIELD The disclosure relates to switching SIMs in a mobile telecommunications device based on geographic location. BACKGROUND Modern mobile telecommunications devices can be configured to operate using more than one subscriber identification module (SIM), enabling a device to switch between SIMs to operate under different networks. A dual SIM enabled device may for example automatically switch between first and second networks for respective first and second SIMs based on coverage of the networks. A device may for example switch between SIMs based on a radio signal strength indication, or RSSI, switching to a different network when a measured RSSI for one network becomes low and an alternative network RSSI is higher. A potential problem with this approach, however, is when two networks operate according to different cost structures, which can result in a device switching to a more costly network based only on RSSI when an existing network may still be adequate. Selecting which network to use based only on signal strength may not therefore always be the optimum solution. SUMMARY According to a first aspect there is provided a method of operating a mobile telecommunications device having a first subscriber identification module (SIM) and a second SIM, the method comprising: identifying a geographic location of the device;operating the device using the first SIM to connect to a first network if the device is within a first geographic location; andoperating the device using the second SIM to connect to a second network if the device is within a second geographic location and if a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value. The geographic location of the device may be identified using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver on the device. The geographic location may alternatively or additionally be identified using other methods such as UWB localization, which may be more accurate particularly for indoor localization. The first geographic location may be defined by a first plurality of coordinates defining a first geofence. The second geographic location may be defined by a second plurality of coordinates defining a second geofence. The second geographic location may alternatively be defined by being outside of the first geographic location. The first and second SIMs, and any additional SIMs, may be provided in the device in a removable Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) or in an embedded UICC (eUICC) or an integrated UICC (iUICC). Depending on the standards supported by the device, the first and/or second network may be LTE, 5G or eventually 6G. The first network and/or the second network may for example be a 5G network. The predefined threshold value may be relative to an RSSI of the first network. According to a second aspect there is provided a mobile telecommunications device comprising: a geographic location module;a controller;a first subscriber identification module (SIM);a second SIM; anda transceiver,wherein the controller is configured to:identify a geographic location of the device using the geographic location module;operate the device using the first SIM and the transceiver to connect to a first network if the device is within a first geographic location; andoperate the device using the second SIM to connect to a second network if the device is within a second geographic location and if a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the second network is greater than a predefined threshold value. The geographic location module may comprise a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. The first geographic location may be defined by a first plurality of coordinates defining a first geofence. The second geographic location may be defined by a second plurality of coordinates defining a second geofence or by being outside of the first geographic location. The first and second SIMs, and any additional SIMs, may be provided in the device in a removable Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) or in an embedded UICC (eUICC) or an integrated UICC (iUICC). The predefined threshold value may be relative to an RSSI of the first network. According to a third aspect there is provided a computer program comprising instructions to cause a controller of a mobile telecommunications device to perform the method according to the first aspect. There may be provided a computer program, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to configure any apparatus, including a circuit, controller, sensor, filter, or device disclosed herein or perform any method disclosed herein. The computer program may be a software implementation, and the computer may be considered as any appropriate hardware, including a d