Patent ID: 7920838

Claim:
A communication device, comprising: a multimode wireless transceiver for accessing a plurality of wireless access technologies; a controller for managing operations of the multimode wireless transceiver, wherein the controller is programmed to enable the multimode wireless transceiver to scan a select one of the wireless access technologies when the communication device detects that it is near a known location of a wireless access point, wherein prior to the enabling step the multimode wireless transceiver is disabled to scan the select one of the access technologies in order to conserve energy; and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, wherein the controller is programmed to: monitor a location of the communication device; transmit the location of the communication device to an NMS; receive an indication from the NMS that the communication device is near the wireless access point according to the location of the communication device; and enable scanning in response to said indication, and wherein when a location given by the communication device is not within communication range of a wireless access point, the controller is programmed to check for wireless access point location updates.