A system and method for controlling the operation of a mobile communication terminal
capable of providing a high-speed data rate (HDR) service. The mobile communication
terminal comprises a first antenna mounted to a terminal body, a second antenna
detachably mounted to the terminal body, a first radio frequency (RF) module connected
to the first antenna and having an RF transmitter and an RF receiver, and a second
RF module connected to the second antenna and having a dedicated RF receiver. If
the second antenna is connected to the second RF module, a first query message
is sent to a user of the terminal to confirm whether the connection of the second
antenna has been made for the HDR service. If an external terminal is connected
to the mobile communication terminal under the above condition, a second query
message is sent to the external terminal to confirm whether the connection of the
external terminal has been made for the HDR service. If there is a response from
at least one of the external terminal and terminal user to the first and second
query messages, battery power is supplied to both the first and second RF modules
and signal processes associated with the first and second RF modules are performed.
If there is no response to the first and second query messages, a determination
is made as to whether a current mode of the mobile communication terminal is a
traffic mode for the HDR service. If the current terminal mode is the traffic mode
for the HDR service, the battery power is supplied to both the first and second
RF modules, and the signal processes associated with the first and second RF modules
are performed. If the current terminal mode is not the traffic mode for the HDR
service, the supply of the battery power is blocked to the second RF module, and
the signal process associated with the first RF module is performed.
