Patent ID: 8214536

Claim:
A method in a mobile communication device for use in selecting a wireless communication network for communications, the method comprising: maintaining access to a plurality of software applications stored in memory of the mobile communication device, the plurality of software applications including an Internet browser application, an electronic mail (e-mail) communication application, and an audio or video player application, each software application having a bandwidth requirement, a delay requirement, and a delay loss requirement associated therewith; scanning to identify a plurality of wireless communication networks available in a coverage area of the mobile communication device; for each one of the plurality of wireless communication networks: receiving, through the wireless communication network or through use thereof, available quality of service data for the wireless communication network, wherein the available quality of service data includes at least a bandwidth criterion, a delay criterion, and a data loss criterion made available by the wireless communication network; storing, in memory of the mobile communication device, the available quality of service data in association with a system identification of the wireless communication network; for each one of the software applications including the Internet browser application, the e-mail communication application, and the audio or the video player application: causing the software application to be executed; comparing, at the mobile communication device, the bandwidth, the delay, and the data loss requirements associated with the executed software application with the bandwidth, the delay, and the data loss criterions stored in the memory in association with the system identifications of the wireless communication networks; selecting, at the mobile communication device based on the comparing, one of the wireless communication networks that is associated with the bandwidth, the delay, and the data loss criterions that best match the bandwidth, the delay, and the data loss requirements associated with the executed software application; and prioritizing an attempt from the mobile communication device for system acquisition of the selected wireless communication network over the other wireless communication networks for communication using the executed software application.