1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable terminals, and more particularly, to a portable terminal on which multiple Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) are capable of being mounted, and a method of selecting a SIM from the multiple SIMs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a SIM is a card which can be used in a portable terminal, such as a smart phone, a mobile phone, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player, and a personal navigation device, and stores personal information in order to enable the provision of various services, such as the authentication of a subscriber, charging a fee, and security functions. The SIM has been developed in order to enable a user to freely use mobile communication by using his/her own telephone number in any area regardless of mobile communication technology standards, such as a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) scheme and a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) scheme.
The SIM can be manufactured in the form of a smart card, and can be inserted into a portable terminal that, when booted, performs an initialization process including an authentication process by reading subscriber information stored in the SIM. The portable terminal can be used only with an authenticated SIM. Typically, a portable terminal that can use one SIM has been mainly used, but a Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) portable terminal, which can combine and use multiple SIMs together, has recently been introduced. The DSDS portable terminal can combine and use together two SIMs of two different business operators or an identical business operator. Accordingly, the user can use two telephone numbers in one DSDS portable terminal.
In the portable terminal on which the multiple SIMs can be mounted as described above, a SIM is used in such a manner as to be selectively set according to the user's need, among the multiple SIMs. For example, the multiple SIMs may be distinguished as a main SIM and a subordinate SIM according to the user's setting. The two SIMS are combined and used together because a service charging system is different for each business operator and for each region, and use (e.g., business use/personal use) is different for each SIM. Accordingly, the user changes the setting of the main SIM and the subordinate SIM, and thereby can use a SIM of a business operator having a charging system satisfying the user, and can use the SIM suitable for the user's purposes.
In this regard, a particular application or service may be executed by using only a SIM of a particular type, or it may be more appropriate to select the SIM of the particular type. However, a great deal of inconvenience is caused when the user directly and manually changes the setting of a SIM depending on an application/service, as described above.