Patent ID: 8565762

Claim:
A method for scanning a Home Public Land Mobile Network (Home PLMN) in a mobile communication terminal, comprising: if a Home PLMN scanning timer expires, determining an operation mode of the mobile communication terminal; if the mobile communication terminal is determined to be in a non-idle mode, setting a flag to indicate that the Home PLMN scanning timer has expired; if a service request is detected during Home PLMN scanning, terminating the Home PLMN scanning, providing a service according to the service request, and, upon a completion of the provided service, resuming the terminated Home PLMN scanning without re-starting the Home PLMN scanning timer and without waiting for another expiration of the PLMN scanning timer; if the mobile communication terminal returns to an idle mode, determining whether the flag is set, and, upon a determination that the flag is set, performing the Home PLMN scanning; and if the Home PLMN scanning ends upon expiration of the Home PLMN scanning timer, re-starting the Home PLMN scanning timer and initializing the flag, wherein the Home PLMN scanning timer is stored in a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).