CN117294318A - Radio frequency module in terminal equipment and terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A radio frequency module in a terminal device and the terminal device are provided. The radio frequency module comprises: a set of primary FEM channels including a plurality of primary FEM channels; the sub-FEM channel set includes a plurality of sub-FEM channels; an RFIC channel resource pool comprising at least three radio frequency channels; a switching device; a first one of the plurality of primary FEM channels is switched between at least a first radio frequency channel and a second radio frequency channel by a switching device, and a first one of the plurality of sub-FEM channels is switched between at least a first radio frequency channel and a third radio frequency channel by a switching device. Therefore, the embodiment of the disclosure can realize flexible connection between the radio frequency channel and the main FEM channel and/or the sub-FEM channel through the switching device, thereby improving the resource utilization rate, avoiding service delay or service interruption caused by conflict and improving the user experience.

Description

Radio frequency module in terminal equipment and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a radio frequency module in a terminal device and the terminal device.

Background

In a terminal device equipped with at least two subscriber identity modules (Subscriber Identity Module, SIM), different SIM cards communicate with corresponding network devices through the same radio frequency transceiver channel. In the process of sharing radio frequency resources, resource conflict easily occurs, and how to fully and effectively utilize the radio frequency resources at this time is one of the problems to be solved at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a radio frequency module in terminal equipment and the terminal equipment.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a radio frequency module in a terminal device, including: a main radio frequency Front End Module (FEM) channel set, including a plurality of main FEM channels supporting a plurality of frequency bands; a sub-FEM channel set including a plurality of sub-FEM channels supporting a plurality of frequency bands; a radio frequency integrated circuit (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit, RFIC) channel resource pool comprising at least three radio frequency channels, each radio frequency channel supporting at least two of a plurality of frequency bands; a switching device; wherein a first main FEM channel of the plurality of main FEM channels is switched between at least a first and a second of the at least three radio frequency channels by a switching device, and a first sub FEM channel of the plurality of sub FEM channels is switched between at least a first and a third of the at least three radio frequency channels by a switching device.

In this way, the embodiment of the disclosure can realize flexible connection between the radio frequency channel and the main FEM channel and/or the sub-FEM channel through the switching device, so that on one hand, the resource utilization rate is improved, on the other hand, service delay or service interruption caused by collision is avoided, and user experience is improved.

In some examples, the first primary FEM channel may be any one of a plurality of primary FEM channels and the first partial FEM channel may be any one of a plurality of partial FEM channels. Illustratively, any one of the primary FEM channels may be switched between at least two radio frequency channels by a switching device. Illustratively, any of the sub-FEM channels may be switched between at least two radio frequency channels by a switching device.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, a first SIM card is provided on the terminal device and communicates through the main FEM channel set and the sub FEM channel set.

In this way, the terminal device can realize single-card communication, for example, when the first SIM card is already equipped and the second SIM card is not, the first SIM card can use both the main FEM channel set and the sub FEM channel set, which can make full use of the diversity scheme, so that multiple input multiple output (Multi Input Multi Output, MIMO) can be supported.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the terminal device is provided with a first SIM card and a second SIM card, the first SIM card communicates through a first main FEM channel, the first main FEM channel is connected to the first radio frequency channel through the switching device, the second SIM card communicates through a first sub FEM channel, and the first sub FEM channel is connected to the third radio frequency channel through the switching device. In this way, different SIM cards can communicate through different radio frequency channels, thereby enabling dual card communication.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first SIM card and the second SIM card operate simultaneously and the operating frequency bands are the same.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first SIM card further communicates through a second primary FEM channel of the set of primary FEM channels, the second primary FEM channel being connected to the second radio frequency channel through a switching device. In this way, the first SIM card can support dual-carrier or multi-carrier communication while ensuring that the second SIM card communicates.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the switching device is configured to: such that each primary FEM channel of the set of primary FEM channels is connected to any of the at least three radio frequency channels and such that each sub-FEM channel of the set of sub-FEM channels is connected to any of the at least three radio frequency channels. In this way, both the main FEM channel and the sub FEM channels can be connected to either radio frequency channel via the switching device, thereby maximizing flexible connection and utilization of radio frequency resources.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the number of the plurality of main FEM channels, the number of the plurality of sub FEM channels, and the number of radio frequency channels in the at least three radio frequency channels are equal to each other.

In some embodiments of the first aspect, the switching device comprises a first device corresponding to the main FEM channel set and a second device corresponding to the split FEM channel set, wherein the first device is a double pole double throw switch or a multiple pole multiple throw switch and the second device is a double pole double throw switch or a multiple pole multiple throw switch. In this way, flexible connection between the channels and the radio frequency channels of the transceiver can be achieved through the switching device, so that normal communication under each working frequency band of the two SIM cards is ensured, and for example, the maximum MIMO specification can be supported by both the two cards.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method applied to a terminal device equipped with a first SIM card, a second SIM card, and a radio frequency module including a main FEM channel set, a sub-FEM channel set, an RFIC channel resource pool, and a switching device, the method including: when the first SIM card works, a first main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set is controlled to be connected to a first radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through a switching device, so that the first SIM card is enabled; and when the second SIM card works, controlling a first sub-FEM channel in the sub-FEM channel set to be connected to a third radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through a switching device so as to enable the second SIM card to communicate, wherein the RFIC channel resource pool comprises at least three radio frequency channels, a first main FEM channel is switched between at least the first radio frequency channel and the second radio frequency channel through the switching device, and the first sub-FEM channel is switched between at least the first radio frequency channel and the third radio frequency channel through the switching device.

In some embodiments of the second aspect, the first SIM card and the second SIM card operate simultaneously and the operating frequency band is the same.

In some embodiments of the second aspect, further comprising: and controlling the first SIM card to communicate through a second main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set, wherein the second main FEM channel is connected to a second radio frequency channel through a switching device.

In some embodiments of the second aspect, further comprising: the terminal equipment sends a first message and a second message to the network equipment, wherein the first message is used for indicating the capability of the first SIM card, and the second message is used for indicating the capability of the second SIM card, and the capability of the first SIM card is the same as the capability of the second SIM card.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal device, including: a radio frequency module as in the first aspect or any embodiment thereof; and a power module for supplying power to the radio frequency module.

In some embodiments of the third aspect, the terminal device is provided with a first SIM card. Optionally, the terminal device is further provided with a second SIM card.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement operations according to the method in the second aspect or any embodiment thereof described above.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a chip or chip system is provided. The chip or chip system comprises processing circuitry configured to perform operations according to the method in the second aspect or any embodiment thereof described above.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program or computer program product is provided. The computer program or computer program product is tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium and comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed, implement operations in accordance with the method in the second aspect or any embodiment thereof described above.

Drawings

The above and other features, advantages and aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals designate like or similar elements, and wherein:

fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a terminal device is in communication connection with a network device;

fig. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a radio frequency module in a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

3A-3D illustrate schematic diagrams of radio frequency modules according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

figures 4A-4C illustrate schematic diagrams of radio frequency modules according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a radio frequency module according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates a schematic flow diagram of a process for communication based on a radio frequency front end in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic flow diagram of a communication method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an example device that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In describing embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "comprising" and its like should be taken to be open-ended, i.e., including, but not limited to. The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first," "second," and the like, may refer to different or the same object. Other explicit and implicit definitions are also possible below.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol, including, but not limited to, third generation (3rd Generation,3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), etc. cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as institute of electrical and electronics engineers (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE) 802.11, etc., and/or any other protocols now known or later developed.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure are applied to communication systems following any suitable communication protocol, such as: general packet Radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution, EDGE), universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service, UMTS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, wideband code Division multiple access system (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), code Division multiple access 2000 system (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA 2000), time Division-Synchronization Code Division Multiple Access, TD-SCDMA), frequency Division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) system, time Division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), fifth or New Radio (NR), sixth, seventh generation of future evolution communication system, and so forth.

The term "terminal device" in this disclosure refers to any terminal device capable of wired or wireless communication with a network device or with each other. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a User Equipment (UE). The terminal device may be any type of mobile terminal, fixed terminal or portable terminal. As examples, the Terminal devices may include Mobile handsets, sites, units, devices, mobile Terminals (MT), subscription tables, portable subscription tables, internet nodes, communicators, desktop computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, personal communication system devices, personal navigation devices, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDAs), positioning devices, radio broadcast receivers, electronic book devices, gaming devices, internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT) devices, vehicle devices, aircraft, virtual Reality (VR) devices, augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in a 5G network or any Terminal devices in an evolved public land Mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN), other devices available for communication, or any combination of the above. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this regard.

The term "network device" in the present disclosure is an entity or node that may be used for communication with a terminal device, e.g. an access network device. The access network device may be an apparatus deployed in a radio access network to provide wireless communication functionality for mobile terminals, and may be, for example, a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) network device. The access network device may include various types of base stations. As an example, access network devices may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, pico base stations, femto base stations, relay stations, access points, remote Radio units (Remote Radio Unit, RRU), radio heads (Radio heads, RH), remote Radio heads (Remote Radio Head, RRH), and so forth. In systems employing different radio access technologies, the names of access network devices may vary, e.g. in long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) networks referred to as evolved NodeB, eNB or eNodeB, in 3G networks as NodeB, NB, in 5G networks as G NodeB (gNB) or NR NodeB (NR NB), etc. In some scenarios, the access network device may contain a Centralized Unit (CU) and/or a Distributed Unit (DU). The CUs and DUs may be placed in different places, for example: DU is far-pulled, placed in the area of high traffic, CU is placed in the central machine room. Alternatively, the CU and DU may be placed in the same machine room. The CU and DU may also be different components under one shelf. For convenience of description, in the subsequent embodiments of the present disclosure, the above devices for providing a wireless communication function for a terminal device are collectively referred to as an access network device, and embodiments of the present disclosure are not specifically limited.

With the development of communication technology, the popularity of terminal devices such as smart phones is increasing. And along with the diversified demands of people, many terminal devices (such as smart phones and the like) have a dual-card dual-standby function, wherein the dual-card dual-standby refers to that two SIM cards are simultaneously installed in one terminal device, and the two SIM cards can be simultaneously standby on the network. One mode of dual-card dual-standby is dual-card dual-standby single-pass (Dual SIM Dual Standby, DSDS), and a set of receiving and transmitting radio frequency channels are configured in the terminal equipment. In the standby condition, two SIM cards can monitor paging in a time-sharing manner. However, when one SIM card uses the transceiver radio frequency channel to transmit voice data, the other SIM card has no available radio frequency resource, which results in failure to receive the paging request.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a scenario 100 in which a terminal device is in communication connection with a network device. In scenario 100, terminal device 110 is installed with two SIM cards, such as SIM card 112 and SIM card 114. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 may be connected to two network devices 180 and 190, respectively. Illustratively, network device 180 and network device 190 may belong to the same operator, or may belong to different operators.

Typically the two SIM cards correspond to different modems, e.g., SIM card 112 corresponds to modem 122 and SIM card 114 corresponds to modem 124. The frequency band and network timing at which modem 122 and modem 124 operate are not necessarily the same, but modem 122 and modem 124 share radio frequency transceiver channel 132. Since modem 122 operates independently of modem 124, there must be a conflict in sharing the radio frequency resources. How to resolve the collision and how to fully utilize the radio frequency resources and increase the rate of the downlink data traffic is a problem that needs to be resolved at present.

It should be noted that the scenario 100 shown in fig. 1 is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, in other scenarios, two SIM cards of the terminal device 110 may be connected to the same network device, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and other potential problems, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a radio frequency module in a terminal device, which can switch a radio frequency front end between different radio frequency channels, so as to ensure the utilization rate of radio frequency resources.

Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a radio frequency module 200 in a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The radio frequency module 200 includes a main FEM channel set 210, a sub-FEM channel set 220, an RFIC channel resource pool 230, and a switching device 240.

The main FEM channel set 210 includes a plurality of main FEM channels, such as main FEM channel 210-1 to main FEM channel 210-N1 in fig. 2, and the plurality of main FEM channels correspond to a plurality of frequency bands, and different main FEM channels support different frequency bands. The sub-FEM channel set 220 includes a plurality of sub-FEM channels, such as sub-FEM channels 220-1 to 220-N2 in fig. 2, and the plurality of sub-FEM channels correspond to a plurality of frequency bands, and different sub-FEM channels support different frequency bands. In some embodiments, the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220 may have peer-to-peer functions, specifically, n1=n2, and the multiple frequency bands supported by the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220 are the same. As another expression, channels supporting a certain frequency band include one main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set 210 and one sub FEM channel in the sub FEM channel set 220. Alternatively, the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub-FEM channel set 220 may be referred to as a first FEM channel resource pool and a second FEM channel resource pool, respectively.

Switching device 240 may be implemented as any component capable of switching, for example, switching device 240 may include one or more switches, such as single pole single throw switches, single pole double throw switches, single pole multiple throw switches, double pole double throw switches, double pole multiple throw switches, multiple pole multiple throw switches, and the like, as the disclosure is not limited in this regard.

The RFIC channel resource pool 230 includes at least three radio frequency channels, such as radio frequency channel 230-1 through radio frequency channel 230-N3 in fig. 2. In the embodiment of the disclosure, the function of the radio frequency channel is to realize down-conversion of radio frequency signals and complete conversion from analog to digital. Alternatively, the RFIC channel resource pool 230 may also be implemented as part of a transceiver, and at least three radio frequency channels may be collectively referred to as a set of radio frequency channels, for example, and the like, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, each radio frequency channel supports at least two different frequency bands, e.g., for any one radio frequency channel, the frequency band supported by the device corresponds to the frequency band supported by one or more of the main FEM channels 210 and one or more of the sub FEM channels 220 of the main FEM channel set 210 to which it can be connected via the switching device 240. In some embodiments, each radio frequency channel supports multiple frequency bands as described above.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, any of the main FEM channels 210-1 to 210-N1 and the sub FEM channels 220-1 to 220-N2 can be connected to any of at least two radio frequency channels via the switching device 240.

In some scenarios, the terminal device may be equipped with (or otherwise installed with) at least two SIM cards, such as a first SIM card and a second SIM card. Alternatively, the first SIM card may be referred to as a primary card and the second SIM card as a secondary card. A priority of the primary card may be defined to be higher than a priority of the secondary card and the first SIM card may communicate through the primary FEM channel set 210 and the second SIM card may communicate through the split FEM channel set 220. That is, the primary card may be made to preferentially use the primary FEM channel set 210 and the secondary card may be made to preferentially use the split FEM channel set 220.

In some scenarios, only the first SIM card may be installed on the terminal device, and the first SIM card may implement communication through the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220. In this way, the first SIM card may exclusively share the resources of the radio frequency channel.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of main FEM channels N1 in the main FEM channel set 210, the number of sub FEM channels N2 in the sub FEM channel set 220, and the number of radio frequency channels N3 may be equal, i.e., n1=n2=n3. As a non-limiting example, the following embodiments are described in more detail by taking n1=n2=n3=5 as an example.

Fig. 3A illustrates a schematic diagram of a radio frequency module 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3A, the main FEM channel set 210 includes main FEM channels 210-1 to 210-5, the sub-FEM channel set 220 includes sub-FEM channels 220-1 to 220-5, and each main FEM channel and each sub-FEM channel includes a respective low noise amplifier (Low Noise Amplifier, LNA) 212 and filter 222.

In connection with fig. 3A, the main FEM channel set 210 may be connected to a first antenna 310, and the sub-FEM channel set 220 may be connected to a second antenna 320, such that a transmission diversity scheme can be implemented through multiple antennas. It should be noted that the first antenna 310 and the second antenna 320 are only logical divisions, and in an actual scenario, do not necessarily correspond to two different physical entities. In some examples, the first antenna 310 may be referred to as a main set and the second antenna 320 may be referred to as diversity.

Illustratively, the supported plurality of frequency bands may include n1, n3, n41, n28, and n78. Specifically, main FEM channel 210-1 and sub FEM channel 220-1 may support n1, main FEM channel 210-2 and sub FEM channel 220-2 may support n3, main FEM channel 210-3 and sub FEM channel 220-3 may support n41, main FEM channel 210-4 and sub FEM channel 220-4 may support n28, and main FEM channel 210-5 and sub FEM channel 220-5 may support n78. It should be understood that the various frequency bands listed in this disclosure are only illustrative, and should not be construed as limiting embodiments of this disclosure, for example, in a practical scenario, other frequency bands may also be included, and table 1 below shows some example frequency bands and corresponding bandwidths, etc.

TABLE 1

Frequency band	Uplink bandwidth range (MHz)	Downstream Bandwidth Range (MHz)	Bandwidth size (MHz)
				n1	1920-1980	2110-2170	60
n2	1850-1910	1930-1990	60
				n3	1710-1785	1805-1880	75
n5	824-849	869-894	25
				n7	2500-2570	2620-2690	70
n8	880-915	925-960	35
				n20	832-862	791-821	30
n28	703-748	758-803	45
				n38	2570-2620	2570-2620	50
n41	2496-2690	2496-2690	194
				n50	1432-1517	1432-1517	85
n51	1427-1432	1427-1432	5
				n66	1710-1780	2110-2200	70/90
n70	1695-1710	1995-2020	15/25
				n71	663-698	617-652	35
n74	1427-1470	1475-1518	43
				n75	-	1432-1517	85
n76	-	1427-1432	5
				n77	3300-4200	3300-4200	900
n78	3300-3800	3300-3800	500
				n79	4400-5000	4400-5000	600
n80	1710-1785	-	75
				n81	880-915	-	35
n82	832-862	-	30
				n83	703-748	-	45
n84	1920-1980	-	60

As shown in fig. 3A, the RFIC channel resource pool 230 includes radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5, and each radio frequency channel includes a respective Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) 231, a mixer 232, and an amplifier 233. Illustratively, each radio frequency channel supports multiple frequency bands, namely n1, n3, n41, n28, and n78. It will be appreciated that each radio frequency channel in fig. 3A includes two mixers 232 and two amplifiers 233, which can correspond to two different antennas. For example, 1A through 5A of the radio frequency channels as in fig. 3A may be connected to a first antenna 310, while 1B through 5B of the radio frequency channels may be connected to a second antenna 320.

As shown in fig. 3A, switching device 240 includes a multi-pole, multi-throw switch (e.g., 5P 5T), such as switch 241 corresponding to main FEM channel set 210 and switch 242 corresponding to sub-FEM channel set 220. Each of the main FEM channels 210-1 to 210-5 may be connected to any one of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 via a switch 241, as shown in fig. 3A to 1A. Each of the sub-FEM channels 220-1 to 220-5 may be connected to any one of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 via a switch 242, as shown in fig. 3A as 1B to 5B.

It should be noted that the connection relationship between FEM channels and radio frequency channels implemented via the switching device 240 is shown in fig. 3A only to represent functions that can be implemented by the switching device 240 or the configuration of the switching device 240, and in a practical scenario, a certain FEM channel may be connected to only one radio frequency channel or not to any radio frequency channel, without being connected to two or more radio frequency channels at the same time.

In this way, through the multi-pole multi-throw switch, under the condition of supporting 5 frequency bands, there can be 60 optional combinations at most, so that the supporting capacity of the frequency bands can be increased, and the scene conflict is avoided.

For example, assume that a first SIM card and a second SIM card are installed on the terminal device, where the operating frequency band of the first SIM card includes frequency bands n1, n3, and n78, and the operating frequency band of the second SIM card includes frequency bands n41 and n28. The first SIM card may be connected to any three of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 through the switch 241 through the main FEM channel 210-1, the main FEM channel 210-2, and the main FEM channel 210-5. The second SIM card may be connected to the other two of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 through the sub FEM channels 220-3 and 220-4 via the switch 242. As an example, as shown in fig. 3B, the first SIM card may be connected to 1A of the radio frequency channel 230-1, 2A of the radio frequency channel 230-2, and 3A of the radio frequency channel 230-3 through the main FEM channel 210-1, the main FEM channel 210-2, and the main FEM channel 210-5, respectively, via the switch 241. The second SIM card may be connected to 4B of the radio frequency channel 230-4 and 5B of the radio frequency channel 230-5 via switches 242 through the sub-FEM channel 220-3 and the sub-FEM channel 220-4, respectively. In this way, the RFIC channel resource pool can be shared by the first SIM card and the second SIM card, and both the first SIM card and the second SIM card can support multicarrier communication.

It should be understood that although in the illustration herein it is assumed that the operating frequency bands of the first SIM card and the second SIM card are not identical, in a practical scenario it is not limited thereto, e.g. the first SIM card and the second SIM card may belong to the same operator, e.g. the operating frequencies of the first SIM card and the second SIM card may be all or partly identical.

For example, assume that a first SIM card and a second SIM card are installed on the terminal device, and the operating frequency band of the first SIM card and the operating frequency band of the second SIM card are both frequency bands n41 and n28. The first SIM card may be connected to any two of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 through the main FEM channel 210-3 and the main FEM channel 210-4 via the switch 241. The second SIM card may be connected to the other two of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 through the sub FEM channels 220-3 and 220-4 via the switch 242. As an example, as shown in fig. 3C, the first SIM card may be connected to 1A of the radio frequency channel 230-1 and 2A of the radio frequency channel 230-2 through the main FEM channel 210-3 and the channel 210-4 via the switch 241, respectively. The second SIM card may be connected to 3B of the radio frequency channel 230-3 and 4B of the radio frequency channel 230-4 through the sub FEM channel 220-3 and the sub FEM channel 220-4, respectively, via the switch 242.

In this way, by means of the multiple pole multiple throw switch, a flexible connection between the FEM channel and the radio frequency channel of the transceiver can be achieved, ensuring normal communication in the respective operating frequency bands of the two SIM cards, for example, enabling both cards to support the maximum multiple in multiple out (Multi Input Multi Output, MIMO) specification.

It will be appreciated that fig. 3B and 3C above illustrate a scenario in which two cards communicate simultaneously, and in some scenarios, only one SIM card is installed on the terminal device, for example, only the first SIM card is installed, and the second SIM card is not installed, where the first SIM card may communicate through the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub-FEM channel set 220. For example, assume that the operating frequency band of the first SIM card includes frequency bands n1, n3, and n78. As shown in fig. 3D, the first SIM card may be connected to 1A of the radio frequency channel 230-1, 2A of the radio frequency channel 230-2, and 3A of the radio frequency channel 230-3 through the main FEM channel 210-1, the main FEM channel 210-2, and the main FEM channel 210-5, respectively, via the switch 241. The first SIM card may also be connected to 1B of radio frequency channel 230-1, 2B of radio frequency channel 230-2, and 3B of radio frequency channel 230-3 via switches 242 through sub-FEM channel 220-1, sub-FEM channel 220-2, and sub-FEM channel 220-5, respectively. In this way, when the terminal device uses a single card for communication, the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220 can be used simultaneously, and the radio frequency channel resources can be shared exclusively.

Fig. 4A illustrates a schematic diagram of a radio frequency module 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4A, switching device 240 includes double pole double throw switches (e.g., 2P 2T), such as a first switch group 243 corresponding to main FEM channel set 210 and a second switch group 244 corresponding to sub-FEM channel set 220.

Each of the main FEM channels 210-1 to 210-5 may be connected to two of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 via three switches in the first switch group 243, such as the main FEM channel 210-1 being connectable to 1A or 2A via the first switch group 243, the main FEM channel 210-2 being connectable to 2A or 3A via the first switch group 243, the main FEM channel 210-3 being connectable to 3A or 4A via the first switch group 243, the main FEM channel 210-4 being connectable to 4A or 5A via the first switch group 243, and the main FEM channel 210-5 being connectable to 5A or 1A via the first switch group 243.

Each of the sub-FEM channels 220-1 to 220-5 may be connected to two of the radio frequency channels 230-1 to 230-5 via three switches in the second switch group 244, such as the sub-FEM channel 220-1 being connectable to 1B or 2B via the second switch group 244, the sub-FEM channel 220-2 being connectable to 2B or 3B via the second switch group 244, the sub-FEM channel 220-3 being connectable to 3B or 4B via the second switch group 244, the sub-FEM channel 220-4 being connectable to 4B or 5B via the second switch group 244, the sub-FEM channel 220-5 being connectable to 5B or 1B via the second switch group 244.

With respect to fig. 4A, like reference numerals refer to the description previously described in connection with fig. 3A and are not repeated here in order to avoid repetition. In addition, it is understood that two radio frequency channels to which one FEM channel is connected in fig. 4A are only illustrative, and in a practical scenario, a certain FEM channel may be connected to any two radio frequency channels, not limited to the example in fig. 4A.

It should be noted that the connection relationship between FEM channels and radio frequency channels implemented via the switching device 240 is shown in fig. 4A only to represent functions that can be implemented by the switching device 240 or the configuration of the switching device 240, and in a practical scenario, a certain FEM channel may be connected to only one radio frequency channel or not to any radio frequency channel, and need not be connected to two radio frequency channels at the same time.

In this way, by means of the double pole double throw switch, the hardware implementation of the switching device can be simplified, thereby reducing the hardware cost while guaranteeing as much as possible a double card communication of the terminal device.

For example, assume that a first SIM card and a second SIM card are installed on the terminal device, where the operating frequency band of the first SIM card includes frequency bands n1, n3, and n78, and the operating frequency band of the second SIM card includes frequency bands n41 and n28. It may be assumed that the terminal device detects the first SIM card first, for example, the network of the operator where the first SIM card is located is searched first in the network searching process after power-on, and then the terminal device may enable the first SIM card to work based on the switching device. Illustratively, as shown in FIG. 4B or 4C, the first SIM card may be connected to 1A of the radio frequency channel 230-1, 3A of the radio frequency channel 230-3, and 5A of the radio frequency channel 230-5, respectively, through the first switch set 243 by the main FEM channel 210-1, the main FEM channel 210-2, and the main FEM channel 210-5. The terminal device may then continue to search the network for the carrier network in which the second SIM card is located, where for the second SIM card, it may be connected to 4B of the radio frequency channel 230-4 via the second switch set 244 through the sub-FEM channel 220-3 (as shown in fig. 4B), or to 4B of the radio frequency channel 230-4 via the second switch set 244 through the sub-FEM channel 220-4 (as shown in fig. 4C). That is, the second SIM card can support only one frequency band of n28 or n 41. In this way, the RFIC channel resource pool can be shared by the first SIM card and the second SIM card, and the first SIM card can support multi-carrier communication, so that communication of the main card can be preferentially ensured. Since RFIC resources are limited in this case (compared to the scenario shown in fig. 3A), for the second SIM card, communication of its primary carrier (e.g. n28 in fig. 4B or n41 in fig. 4C) may be guaranteed preferentially, while the secondary carrier of low priority (e.g. n41 in fig. 4B or n28 in fig. 4C) may be released. By way of example, embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the manner in which priority of the primary carrier and the secondary carrier is assessed, and may be determined based on, for example, bandwidth, signal quality, number of streams, and the like.

It should be understood that although in the illustrations of fig. 4B and 4C, it is assumed that the operating frequency bands of the first SIM card and the second SIM card are not identical, in a practical scenario, for example, the first SIM card and the second SIM card may belong to the same operator, for example, the operating frequencies of the first SIM card and the second SIM card may be all or partially identical.

Optionally, in other embodiments of the present disclosure, the switching device 240 may further implement adjustment (or adaptation) of the connection relationship between the FEM channel and the radio frequency channel based on the frequency band requirements of the first SIM card and the second SIM card.

Specifically, if the first SIM card establishes a communication connection before the second SIM card, and if the second SIM card cannot perform a communication connection or cannot perform a multi-carrier communication connection, part or all of the operating frequency bands of the first SIM card may be reconnected based on the function of the switching device, or part of the operating frequency bands of the first SIM card may be disconnected to ensure normal communication of the second SIM card.

In connection with the foregoing example of fig. 4B or 4C, in the case where the first SIM card may be connected to 1A of the radio frequency channel 230-1, 3A of the radio frequency channel 230-3, and 5A of the radio frequency channel 230-5 through the first switch group 243 through the main FEM channel 210-1, the main FEM channel 210-2, and the main FEM channel 210-5, respectively, the operating frequency of the second SIM card includes n41 and n28. As can be determined based on fig. 4A, the partial FEM channel 220-3 corresponding to n41 may be connected to 3B or 4B through the second switch group 244, and the partial FEM channel 220-4 corresponding to n28 may be connected to 4B or 5B through the second switch group 244. However, 3A belonging to the same radio frequency channel as 3B has been occupied by the first SIM card, and 5A belonging to the same radio frequency channel as 5B has been occupied by the first SIM card, so that at this time, for the second SIM card, it is possible to connect to 4B only through one of the sub FEM channels 220-3 or 220-4 through the second switch group 244. That is, the operating frequencies n41 and n28 of the second SIM card cannot be simultaneously realized. Then the master FEM channel 210-2 in the master FEM channel set 210 may be controlled to disconnect from the 3A of the radio frequency channel 230-3 to release the channel resources of the radio frequency channel 230-3. So that the second SIM card can be connected to 3B of the radio frequency channel 230-3 and 4B of the radio frequency channel 230-4 through the second switch set 244 through the sub FEM channel 220-3 and the sub FEM channel 220-4, respectively. Also, as shown in fig. 5, the sub-FEM channel 210-2 may also be connected to 2A of the radio frequency channel 230-2 via the first switch set 243. In this way, the second SIM card can realize dual carrier communication in the operating frequency bands n41 and n28, and a higher rate can be obtained because of the larger bandwidth of n41 therein.

It should be appreciated that although in the illustration of fig. 5, the adjustment enables the first SIM card to still be able to communicate in all three operating frequency bands, and the second SIM card to be able to achieve dual carrier communication in both operating frequency bands, this is not limiting in a practical scenario. For example, in some scenarios, due to resource conflict, resources of an operating frequency band corresponding to a certain secondary carrier of the first SIM card may be released, or only single carrier communication of the second SIM card may be ensured, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

The radio frequency module described by the embodiment of the disclosure can flexibly allocate the connection relationship between the RFIC channel and the FEM channel, thereby achieving higher benefit.

It will be appreciated that although in the scenario of dual card simultaneous communication shown in fig. 4B to 5, in some scenarios only one SIM card is installed on the terminal device, for example only the first SIM card is installed and the second SIM card is not installed, the first SIM card may communicate through the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220. And will not be described in detail herein. It is further understood that in the examples of fig. 3A-5, the description regarding switching device 240 is merely an example, and in a practical scenario, switching device 240 may be implemented in other forms, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates a schematic flow diagram of a process 600 for communication based on a radio frequency front end in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 600 is performed by a terminal device, such as a terminal device that includes the aforementioned radio frequency front end.

At block 610, at least one operating band of the SIM card 1 is determined based on the SIM card 1 determined during the network searching process. Alternatively, the SIM card 1 may report its capability information on the protocol side, e.g. the terminal device may send UE radio capability (UE Radio Capability) information to the network device to report its capability information.

At block 620, at least one FEM channel corresponding to at least one operating frequency band of the SIM card 1 is connected to at least one radio frequency channel via a switching device based on a channel resource pool to which the SIM card 1 is connected.

In some examples, the SIM card 1 may implement single carrier communication with only one operating band of the SIM card 1. In other examples, the number of operating frequency bands of the SIM card 1 is 2 or more, and the SIM card 1 may implement dual-carrier or multi-carrier communication.

Alternatively, the SIM card 1 may communicate through the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220. In this way, when the terminal device performs single-card communication using the SIM card 1, the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220 can be used simultaneously, and the radio frequency channel resources can be shared exclusively.

In this way, the SIM card 1 can be connected to at least one radio frequency channel via the switching device through at least one FEM channel (main FEM channel and/or sub FEM channel), so that the terminal device can realize single card communication through the SIM card 1. In this way, the terminal device performs a single-card communication service through the SIM card 1, and RFIC channel resources can be shared exclusively by the SIM card 1.

At block 630, a determination is made as to whether SIM card 2 was searched. Illustratively, if the SIM card 2 is not installed or there are no up and down transactions for the SIM card 2, then a determination may be made as "no" at block 630. Illustratively, if the SIM card 2 has already been installed and there are also up and down transactions to be performed by the SIM card 2 (e.g., later than the SIM card 1), then the determination at block 630 may be yes and proceed to block 640.

Alternatively, if the SIM card 1 uses both the main FEM channel set 210 and the sub FEM channel set 220 and the determination at block 630 is yes, the SIM card 1 may be caused to release (not shown in fig. 6) part of the channel resources based on the priority. For example, the priority of the primary card is higher than the priority of the secondary card. If SIM card 1 is the master card, then sub-FEM channel set 220 is released. If SIM card 1 is a secondary card, then primary FEM channel set 210 is released.

Alternatively, the SIM card 2 may report its capability information on the protocol side, e.g. the terminal device may send UE radio capability (UE Radio Capability) information to the network device to report its capability information. In some examples, the capability information of SIM card 1 and the capability information of SIM card 2 reported by the terminal device to the network device may be the same, e.g. the capability information may be reported on the protocol side. It is to be appreciated that reference may be made to the prior art for capability information reporting, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

At block 640, at least one operating band of the SIM card 2 is determined. At block 650, it is determined whether the number of operating frequency bands of the SIM card 2 is 1. If so, proceed to block 652, otherwise proceed to block 660.

At block 652, it is determined whether a FEM channel (e.g., a sub-FEM channel) corresponding to the operating frequency band of the SIM card 2 can be connected to another radio frequency channel not occupied by the SIM card 1 via the switching device. If it is determined that a connection is possible, then a connection is established at block 654. If it is determined that connection is not possible, the radio frequency channel to which the SIM card 1 is connected is adjusted at block 656 so that both the SIM card 1 and the SIM card 2 are enabled for communication. Illustratively, at block 656, since the radio frequency channel to which each FEM channel is connected via the switching device is not fixed, the radio frequency channel to which it is connected (e.g., the main FEM channel) may be adjusted for the FEM channel corresponding to one or several operating frequency bands of the SIM card 1, e.g., one of the radio frequency channels to which the FEM channel corresponding to the operating frequency band of the SIM card 2 is released (e.g., the sub-FEM channel) can be connected via the switching device, so as to ensure the communication of the SIM card 2.

It will be appreciated that if SIM card 1 is single carrier communication, then after adjustment at block 656, both SIM card 1 and SIM card 2 are capable of single carrier communication. It will be appreciated that if SIM card 1 is dual-carrier or multi-carrier communication, then SIM card 2 is capable of single-carrier communication after adjustment at block 656, and SIM card 1 may still be capable of dual-carrier or multi-carrier communication, or the number of carriers SIM card 1 is capable of communicating minus 1 (e.g., adjusted to be released for use in SIM card 2), depending on the configuration of the switching device, that is, depending on the flexibility in which radio frequency resources are configured. Optionally, in some examples, the adjusting at block 656 may include: if the SIM card 1 is dual-carrier or multi-carrier, then adjustments may be made based on bandwidth, for example, to release the smallest bandwidth band resources among the multiple operating bands in the SIM card 1. In this way, it is possible to realize as large a use of bandwidth as possible, thereby ensuring communication efficiency.

At block 660, it is determined whether a plurality of FEM channels (e.g., sub-FEM channels) corresponding to a plurality of operating frequency bands of the SIM card 2 can all be connected to another plurality of radio frequency channels not occupied by the SIM card 1 via the switching device. If it is determined that both connections are possible, then a connection is established at block 654. In this way, multicarrier communication of the SIM card 2 can be achieved, and communication of the SIM card 1 is not affected.

If it is determined at block 660 that connections cannot all be established, then the radio frequency channel to which the SIM card 1 is connected is adjusted to enable dual card communication at block 662. Specifically, it may be determined first whether the SIM card 2 is a master card. If the SIM card 2 is the master, the radio frequency channel to which the SIM card 1 is connected is adjusted at block 662 to establish a connection for the SIM card 1 with the SIM card 2 ensured. If the SIM card 2 is a secondary card, the radio frequency channel to which the SIM card 1 is connected is adjusted at block 662 to establish a connection for the SIM card 2 with the SIM card 1 secured. One example of the adjustment at block 662 is shown in fig. 5, above. Alternatively, the primary card may be capable of single-carrier or dual-carrier or multi-carrier communication, and the secondary card may be capable of at least single-carrier communication, depending on the configuration of the switching device, that is, depending on the flexibility in which the radio frequency resources are configured. Optionally, the adjustment at block 662 may be similar to the adjustment at block 656 described above, e.g., the adjusted bandwidth may be made larger, which is not described in detail herein.

In this way, the embodiment of the disclosure can realize flexible connection between the RFIC radio frequency channel and the FEM channel through the switching device, so that communication of the dual SIM card can be ensured, on one hand, the resource utilization rate is improved, on the other hand, service delay or service interruption caused by conflict is avoided, and the user experience is improved.

Fig. 7 illustrates a schematic flow diagram of a communication method 700 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 700 may be applied to a terminal device equipped with a first SIM card, a second SIM card, and a radio frequency module including a main FEM channel set, a sub-FEM channel set, an RFIC channel resource pool, and a switching device.

At block 710, when the first SIM card is operating, a first master FEM channel in the set of master FEM channels is controlled to connect to a first radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through a switching device, enabling the first SIM card. At block 720, when the second SIM card is operating, a first sub-FEM channel in the set of sub-FEM channels is controlled to connect to a third radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through a switching device, enabling the second SIM card to communicate. The RFIC channel resource pool comprises at least three radio frequency channels, the first main FEM channel is switched between at least a first radio frequency channel and a second radio frequency channel by a switching device, and the first sub FEM channel is switched between at least the first radio frequency channel and a third radio frequency channel by a switching device.

In some embodiments, the first SIM card and the second SIM card operate simultaneously and the operating frequency bands are the same. For example, the first radio frequency channel and the third radio frequency channel both support the operating frequency band.

In some embodiments, the method 700 may further comprise: and controlling the first SIM card to communicate through a second main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set, wherein the second main FEM channel is connected to a second radio frequency channel through a switching device. This enables dual carrier communication of the first SIM card.

Optionally, the terminal device may further send a first message and a second message to the network device, where the first message is used to indicate the capability of the first SIM card, and the second message is used to indicate the capability of the second SIM card, and the capability of the first SIM card and the capability of the second SIM card are the same.

It should be understood that in embodiments of the present disclosure, "first," "second," "third," etc. are merely intended to indicate that multiple objects may be different, but at the same time do not exclude that the objects are identical. The terms "first," "second," "third," and the like should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present disclosure in any way.

It should also be understood that the manner, case, category, and division of embodiments in the embodiments of the present disclosure are for descriptive convenience only and should not be construed as being particularly limiting, and that the features of the various manners, categories, cases, and embodiments may be combined with one another in a logical manner.

It should also be understood that the above is only intended to assist those skilled in the art in better understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Various modifications, variations, combinations, etc. may be made by those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. Such modifications, variations, or combinations are also within the scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should also be appreciated that the foregoing description focuses on differences between the various embodiments and that the same or similar features may be referred to or otherwise referred to herein for brevity and clarity.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of an example device 800 that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 800 may be implemented as or included in a terminal device as described above. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processors 810, and a communication module 840 coupled to the processors 810.

The communication module 840 may be used for bi-directional communication. The communication module 840 may have at least one communication interface for communication. The communication interface may include any interface necessary to communicate with other devices.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), or a controller-based multi-core controller architecture. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips, that are slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, at least one of: read-Only Memory 824, erasable programmable Read-Only Memory (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM), flash Memory, hard disk, compact Disc (CD), digital video Disc (Digital Versatile Disc, DVD), or other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, at least one of: random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) 822, or other volatile memory that does not last for the duration of the power outage.

The computer program 830 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. Program 830 may be stored in ROM 824. Processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 830 into RAM 822.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of program 830 such that device 800 may perform a process as discussed with reference to fig. 6 or fig. 7. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

Program 830 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in device 800 (such as in memory 820) or other storage device accessible by device 800. Program 830 may be loaded from a computer readable medium to RAM 822 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc.

In some embodiments, the communication module 840 in the device 800 may be implemented as a transmitter and a receiver (or transceiver), which may be configured to send/receive transmission data, etc. In addition, the device 800 may further include one or more of a scheduler, a controller, and a radio frequency/antenna, which are not described in detail herein.

By way of example, device 800 in fig. 8 may be implemented as an electronic device or a communication device, or may be implemented as a chip or chip system in an electronic device or a communication device, as embodiments of the disclosure are not limited in this regard.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a chip that may include an input interface, an output interface, and a processing circuit. In the embodiment of the disclosure, the interaction of the signaling or data can be completed by the input interface and the output interface, and the generation and the processing of the signaling or data information can be completed by the processing circuit.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a chip system including a processor for supporting a computing device to implement the functions referred to in any of the above embodiments. In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus on which the chip system is installed to implement the method referred to in any of the embodiments above. The chip system may be formed from one or more chips, and may include chips and other discrete devices, for example.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a processor for coupling with a memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the methods and functions referred to in any of the embodiments above.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the methods and functions involved in any of the embodiments described above.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the methods and functions referred to in any of the embodiments above.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, being executed in a device on a real or virtual processor of a target to perform the processes/methods as described above with reference to the figures. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Computer program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program code may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the computer, partly on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like. Examples of signals may include electrical, optical, radio, acoustical or other form of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, etc.

A computer readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More detailed examples of a computer-readable storage medium include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-Only Memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-Only Memory (EPROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Furthermore, although the operations of the methods of the present disclosure are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this is not required to or suggested that these operations must be performed in this particular order or that all of the illustrated operations must be performed in order to achieve desirable results. Rather, the steps depicted in the flowcharts may change the order of execution. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step to perform, and/or one step decomposed into multiple steps to perform. It should also be noted that features and functions of two or more devices according to the present disclosure may be embodied in one device. Conversely, the features and functions of one device described above may be further divided into multiple devices to be embodied.

The foregoing has described implementations of the present disclosure, and the foregoing description is exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the implementations disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the various implementations described. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of each implementation, the practical application, or the improvement of technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand each implementation disclosed herein.

Claims (16)

1. A radio frequency module in a terminal device, comprising:

the main radio frequency front end module FEM channel set comprises a plurality of main FEM channels supporting a plurality of frequency bands;

a sub-FEM channel set comprising a plurality of sub-FEM channels supporting the plurality of frequency bands;

a radio frequency integrated circuit, RFIC, channel resource pool comprising at least three radio frequency channels, each of said at least three radio frequency channels supporting at least two of said plurality of frequency bands; and

a switching device;

wherein a first main FEM channel of the plurality of main FEM channels is switched between at least a first radio frequency channel and a second radio frequency channel of the at least three radio frequency channels by the switching device, and a first sub FEM channel of the plurality of sub FEM channels is switched between at least a third radio frequency channel of the at least three radio frequency channels and the first radio frequency channel by the switching device.

2. A radio frequency module according to claim 1, characterized in that the terminal device is equipped with a first subscriber identity module, SIM, card and the first SIM card communicates through the main FEM channel set and the sub FEM channel set.

3. The radio frequency module according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is provided with a first SIM card and a second SIM card, the first SIM card communicates through the first main FEM channel, the first main FEM channel is connected to the first radio frequency channel through the switching device, the second SIM card communicates through the first sub FEM channel, and the first sub FEM channel is connected to the third radio frequency channel through the switching device.

4. A radio frequency module according to claim 3, wherein the first SIM card and the second SIM card operate simultaneously and in the same frequency band.

5. A radio frequency module according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the first SIM card also communicates through a second primary FEM channel of the set of primary FEM channels, the second primary FEM channel being connected to the second radio frequency channel through the switching device.

6. The radio frequency module of any of claims 1-5, wherein the switching device is configured to: such that each of the plurality of primary FEM channels connects any of the at least three radio frequency channels and such that each of the plurality of sub-FEM channels is connected to any of the at least three radio frequency channels.

7. The radio frequency module of claim 6, wherein each of the at least three radio frequency channels supports the plurality of frequency bands.

8. The radio frequency module according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the number of the plurality of main FEM channels, the number of the plurality of sub FEM channels, and the number of radio frequency channels in the at least three radio frequency channels are equal to each other.

9. The radio frequency module according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the switching device comprises a first device corresponding to the main FEM channel set and a second device corresponding to the sub-FEM channel set,

the first device is a double-pole double-throw switch or a multi-pole multi-throw switch, and the second device is a double-pole double-throw switch or a multi-pole multi-throw switch.

10. A communication method, characterized in that the communication method is applied to a terminal device, the terminal device is provided with a first subscriber identity module SIM card, a second SIM card and a radio frequency module, the radio frequency module includes a main radio frequency front end module FEM channel set, a sub FEM channel set, a radio frequency integrated circuit RFIC channel resource pool and a switching device, the method includes:

when the first SIM card works, a first main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set is controlled to be connected to a first radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through the switching device, so that the first SIM card communication is enabled; and

when the second SIM card works, a first sub-FEM channel in the sub-FEM channel set is controlled to be connected to a third radio frequency channel in the RFIC channel resource pool through the switching device, so that the second SIM card is enabled to communicate,

The RFIC channel resource pool comprises at least three radio frequency channels, the first main FEM channel is switched between at least the first radio frequency channel and the second radio frequency channel through the switching device, and the first sub-FEM channel is switched between at least the first radio frequency channel and the third radio frequency channel through the switching device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first SIM card and the second SIM card operate simultaneously and in the same frequency band.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, further comprising:

and controlling the first SIM card to communicate through a second main FEM channel in the main FEM channel set, wherein the second main FEM channel is connected to the second radio frequency channel through the switching device.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, further comprising:

the terminal equipment sends a first message and a second message to the network equipment, wherein the first message is used for indicating the capability of the first SIM card, and the second message is used for indicating the capability of the second SIM card, and the capability of the first SIM card is the same as the capability of the second SIM card.

14. A terminal device, comprising:

the radio frequency module of any one of claims 1 to 9; and

and the power supply module is used for supplying power to the radio frequency module.

15. Terminal device according to claim 14, characterized in that the terminal device is provided with a first subscriber identity module, SIM, card.

16. Terminal device according to claim 15, characterized in that the terminal device is further provided with a second SIM card.