Method for managing acquisition lists for wireless local area networks

A method for acquiring a system in a wireless communication device having a first transceiver associated with a wireless area network and a second transceiver associated with a wireless local area network, the wireless communication device further including an acquisition list comprising a first category of entries and a second category of entries, the method comprising:

• determining which of the first category of entries and the second category of entries has a higher priority and a lower priority, wherein the first category of entries includes,
• a carrier category managed by a service provider that provisions the wireless communication device to include a plurality of carrier access points,
• a carrier authentication profile associated with the carrier category that is stored in an authentication profile table,
• wherein the second category of entries includes,
• a user category that enables the user to connect to a user access point that is not associated with the carrier access points,
• a user authentication profile associated with the user category that is stored in the authentication profile table;
• attempting to acquire via the second transceiver a first system according to the higher priority one of the first category and the second category;
• attempting to acquire a second system via the second transceiver according to the lower priority one of the first category and the second category;
• and
• enabling the updating in the carrier category while not modifying the user category;
• and
• encrypting the authentication profile table, each entry of the authentication profile table identifying:
• an encryption type;
• an authentication type;
• a key value;
• and
• login data.

A wireless communication device, comprising

• a processor coupled to a memory;
• input means communicably coupled to the processor;
• a first transceiver associated with a wireless area network communicably coupled to the processor;
• a second transceiver associated with a wireless local area network communicably coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store an acquisition list that includes,
• a first category of entries that further includes,
• a carrier category managed by a service provider that provisions the wireless communication device to include a plurality of carrier access points,
• a carrier authentication profile associated with the carrier category that is stored in an authentication profile table, and
• a second category of entries that further includes,
• a user category that enables the user to connect to a user access point that is not associated with the carrier access points,
• a user authentication profile associated with the user category that is stored in the authentication profile table;
• the processor configured to update the acquisition list by:
• updating the first category of entries of the acquisition list via communications received over a wide area network via the first transceiver,
• updating the second category of entries of the acquisition list by a user through the input means on the wireless communication device, and
• enabling the updating in the carrier category while not modifying the user category;
• wherein the authentication profile table is encrypted, each entry of the authentication profile table identifying:
• an encryption type;
• an authentication type;
• a key value;
• and
• login data.