摘要 |
A subscriber terminal (10) initiates an authentication procedure with a supporting wireless communications system (12) in response to either a timer expiration based trigger, a state change based trigger, or a combination timer/state based trigger. With respect to the timer expiration based trigger, a countdown timer is set (18, 18') by either the subscriber terminal or the supporting system and thereafter monitored (20, 20') for expiration to trigger authentication (22). For the state change based trigger, the subscriber terminal monitors for any transition (58) from an operating state wherein use of an air interface connection with the supporting system has been suspended to trigger authentication (22). Furthermore, for the combination timer/state based trigger, the subscriber terminal sets a countdown timer (82, 82') and monitors (84, 84') for an operating state transition (86, 86') that occurs subsequent to timer expiration to trigger authentication (22). |