Patent ID: 7860063

Claim:
A wireless access terminal configured to monitor signals from at least two different access networks configured to use different communication technologies, the wireless access terminal comprising: a modem configured to transition between the different communication technologies to monitor signals from the at least two different access networks; and a protocol module configured to process commands associated with a first communication technology associated with a selected one of the at least two different access networks, the protocol module further configured to enter a specific state in response to the modem tuning away from the selected access network to monitor a second access network using a second communication technology and to resume processing commands associated with the first communication technology, without the need to reinitialize, in response to the modem tuning back to the selected access network, wherein the protocol module executes: an idle state protocol to provide sleep/monitor state control for the wireless access terminal after it has acquired one of the at least two different access networks, before it has established a connection with the acquired access network, an initialization state protocol to enable the wireless access terminal to acquire the one of the at least two different access networks, and a modem controller protocol to enable the wireless access terminal to control the modem; wherein one of the idle state protocol, initialization state protocol, or modem controller protocol is configured to store at least some state information for the first communication technology, when the protocol module tunes away from the acquired access network to monitor for signals from another of the at least different two access networks.