Method and apparatus for selecting wireless local area network to be accessed by a user equipment within a cell in a mobile communication system

An apparatus for selecting a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) to be accessed by a User Equipment (UE) within a cell in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising:

• a transceiver configured to receive, from a serving Evolved Node B (ENB), a request for information regarding wireless LAN Access Points (APs) within the cell;
• a controller configured to control, when the transceiver receives the request for the information regarding the wireless LAN APs, the transceiver to perform a search for the wireless LAN APs, to transmit a report about a search result to the serving ENB, and to receive updated information on the wireless LAN APs based on the transmitted report from the serving ENB, determine whether to perform a re-search for the wireless LAN APs based on the updated information on the wireless LAN APs, and select, in response to a determination to perform the re-search, wireless LAN APs to be accessed based on a result of the re-search.

A serving Evolved Node B (ENB) for selecting a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) to be accessed by a User Equipment (UE) within a cell in a mobile communication system, the serving ENB comprising:

• a transceiver configured to transmit, to the UE, a request for information regarding wireless LAN (Access Points) APs within the cell;
• and
• a controller configured to update, when a result of a search for the wireless LAN APs is received from the UE, pre-stored information regarding the wireless LAN APs based on the search result, and control the transceiver to transmit the updated information regarding the wireless LAN APs to the UE.

The serving ENB of claim 16, wherein the request for the information regarding the wireless LAN APs includes identifiers of wireless LAN APs included in a list of wireless LAN APs managed by the serving ENB and wireless LAN channel numbers.