Method for automatically searching wireless lan acces point and terminal for processing the same

In a terminal for automatically searching a wireless LAN AP (access point), a terminal comprising:

• a mobile communication module for performing wireless communication with a base station, performing a location register/update operation with the base station when the terminal reaches a service area of the base station, and acquiring location information of the wireless LAN AP provided in the service area of the base station;
• an AP location information storage unit for storing location information of the wireless LAN AP acquired by the mobile communication module;
• a GPS receiving module for tracking location information of the terminal through a GPS satellite;
• and
• a wireless LAN module for detecting a beacon signal periodically output from the wireless LAN AP and searching a wireless LAN AP when the drive is started through a comparison of location information of the wireless LAN AP stored in the AP location information storage unit with location information of the terminal tracked by the GPS receiving module.

In a computer readable recording medium for realizing a program including instructions executable by a computer for performing a method for searching a wireless LAN AP (access point) by a terminal having a wireless LAN module, a mobile communication module, and a GPS receiving module installed therein, the method comprising:

• (a) acquiring location information of the wireless LAN AP provided in a service area of a base station from the base station connected through the mobile communication module;
• (b) consecutively tracking a current location of the terminal through the GPS receiving module;
• (c) determining a driving start time of the wireless LAN module through the location information of the wireless LAN AP acquired in (a) and the current location information of the terminal tracked in (b);
• and
• (d) driving the wireless LAN module to detect a beacon signal periodically output by the wireless LAN AP.