APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING A NETWORK IN A WIRELESS TERMINAL

• US 20110106930A1
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHOO, Hee-Jeong, LEE, Keum-Koo, KWAHK, Ji-Young, SUNG, Ju-Yun
• Granted Patent: US 8,621,055 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

An apparatus and method for quickly searching for an accessible network in a wireless terminal. A wireless terminal registers information about a current location and information used to access a network in an access history table, when it succeeds in accessing the network. Thereafter, when accessing a network, the wireless terminal attempts to access a network that it previously accessed, using information about a current location and the access history table.

Claims

1. A method for accessing an Access Point (AP) in a terminal supporting Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication, the method comprising:

searching for an accessible AP in pre-registered access history information, using information about a current location of the terminal;

detecting an accessible AP; and

attempting to access the detected AP.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein searching for the accessible AP comprises:

searching the pre-registered access history information for information about a location with a predetermined distance to the current location;

identifying an AP associated with the information about the location that the terminal has previously accessed at the location; and

selecting the AP as the accessible AP.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, updating the access history information using the information about the current location and information about the detected AP, if attempting to access the detected AP is successful.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that roaming to another AP is needed while the terminal is connected to the detected AP; and

searching for a target AP for roaming, using the pre-registered access history information and updated current location information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-registered access history information includes information about locations at which the terminal previously accessed APs and information about the previously accessed APs.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information about an adjacent AP from the detected AP, after accessing; and

updating the access history information using the information about the adjacent AP.

7. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program executable by a computer for performing a method for accessing an Access Point (AP) in a terminal supporting Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication, the method comprising:

searching for an accessible AP in pre-registered access history information, using information about a current location of the terminal;

detecting an accessible AP; and

attempting to access the detected AP.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein searching for the accessible AP comprises:

searching the pre-registered access history information for information about a location with a predetermined distance to the current location;

identifying an AP associated with the information about the location that the terminal has previously accessed at the location; and

selecting the AP as the accessible AP.

9. The medium of claim 7, further comprising, updating the access history information using the information about the current location and information about the detected AP, if attempting to access the detected AP is successful.

10. The medium of claim 7, further comprising:

determining that roaming to another AP is needed while the terminal is connected to the detected AP; and

searching for a target AP for roaming, using the pre-registered access history information and updated current location information.

11. The medium of claim 7, wherein the pre-registered access history information includes information about locations at which the terminal previously accessed APs and information about the previously accessed APs.

12. The medium of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving information about an adjacent AP from the detected AP, after accessing; and

updating the access history information using the information about the adjacent AP.

13. A terminal apparatus for searching for an Access Point (AP), comprising:

a memory for storing pre-registered access history information;

an AP detector for searching for an accessible AP in the pre-registered access history information, using information about a current location of the terminal; and

a communication module for attempting to access an AP detected by the AP detector.

14. The terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein the AP detector searches for information about a location within a predetermined distance to the current location in the pre-registered access history information, identifies an AP associated with the information about the location that the terminal has previously accessed at the location;

and selects the AP as the accessible AP.

15. The terminal apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a controller that updates the access history information using the information about the current location and information about an accessed AP.

16. The terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein if roaming to another AP is needed while the terminal is connected to the detected AP, the AP detector searches for a target AP for roaming, using the pre-registered access history information and updated current location information.

17. The terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein the pre-registered access history information stored in the memory includes information about locations at which the terminal previously accessed APs and information about the previously accessed APs.

18. The terminal apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a controller that receives information about an adjacent AP from an accessed AP and updates the access history information using the information about the adjacent AP.