Patent ID: 7640012

Claim:
A method for controlling a communication mode of a mobile communication terminal, the method comprising: receiving a deactivation time for deactivating the communication mode of the mobile communication terminal, wherein the mobile communication terminal can be configured to be used for data communication, but not used for voice communication when the communication mode is deactivated while the mobile communication terminal can be used for voice communication to at least one designated contact even when the communication mode is deactivated; receiving a reactivation time for reactivating the communication mode; deactivating the communication mode upon reaching the deactivation time; displaying time remaining until the reactivation time; prompting to confirm or deny reactivation of the communication mode upon reaching the reactivation time; determining whether a mobile communication service is available by scanning a communication channel responsive to an input confirming the reactivation of the communication mode; reactivating the communication mode upon the reaching the reactivation time and determining that the mobile communication service is available; and delaying the reactivation of the communication mode when mobile communication service is unavailable or the reactivation of the communication mode is denied, wherein features of the mobile communication terminal that are unrelated to the communication mode are usable when the communication mode is deactivated, the features that are unrelated to the communication mode comprising at least one of a game function and a multimedia function.