METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SWITCHING OF CONNECTION TO AN ACCESS POINT OF A WIRELESS NETWORK BASED ON INFORMATION OF ACCESS POINTS OF THE NETWORK

摘要

A wireless communication terminal according to the present invention, if it is found that an access point (AP) is available from searching a wireless communication network, for example, a Wi-Fi network, checks whether the AP is registered in a list of delayed access points. If the access point in included in the list of delayed access points, the wireless communication terminal re-searches the Wi-Fi network after a predetermined waiting time is passed. If the AP is unavailable, connection to a current mobile communication network is maintained whereas, if the AP is still available, the wireless communication terminal switches connection from a mobile communication network to the AP. If not registered in a list of delayed access points, the wireless communication terminal immediately switches connection from a mobile communication network to the AP without the waiting time.

主权项

1. A wireless communication terminal capable of using a data service provided by a wireless communication network, comprising:
an information acquisition unit configured to search a wireless communication network for an available access point; and a connection management unit, if the information acquisition unit discovers an available access point of the wireless communication network, configured to carry out a delayed selective connection switching operation or cause connection of the wireless communication terminal to be switched to the available access point, based on whether the access point is listed in a pre-specified access point list, wherein the delayed selective connection switching operation comprises:
a first operation of re-searching the wireless communication network after a predetermined waiting time; anda second operation of keeping the wireless communication terminal in a current connection state in case it is found from the re-searching that the access point is unavailable, and of causing connection of the wireless communication terminal to be switched to the access point in case the access point is found to be available.