JP2001274888A - mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a mobile phone which can easily and quickly perform a character input operation. SOLUTION: A required kana character or alphabet is divided into a plurality of character groups, each character group and each telephone operation key are stored in association with each other, and when one telephone operation key is selected, this key is selected. Is read from the storage means and displayed on the display means, a character is selected from the displayed character groups, and a character is input.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone having a character input mode capable of inputting at least a kana character or a Roman character.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile phones have been equipped with a function that requires frequent input of characters such as e-mails, etc. with the recent advancement of functions. Is becoming more desirable.
In a mobile phone, the size of the housing is limited from the viewpoint of portability, so it is difficult to mount many input keys for character input. For this reason, telephone operation keys (numeric keys) for dialing, making and receiving calls, etc.
Is generally used for character input.

Several character input systems using telephone operation keys have been devised, but a first conventional technique that has been widely used in the past is that a plurality of characters are assigned to each telephone operation key. There is a method in which a plurality of assigned characters are sequentially switched and input by pressing the same key a plurality of times. A second conventional technique, which is another typical method, is to convert a character to be input into a row / column number using a conversion table, and to input the number from a telephone operation key. There is a method to specify.

[0004]

The following problems have been encountered in a portable telephone provided with the above-described conventional character input system. In the first conventional technique, for example, when five characters “A”, “I”, “U”, “E”, and “O” are assigned to one telephone operation key, “O” is input. To do so, it was necessary to press the key five times. In other words, this conventional technique has a problem that, in order to input one character, it is necessary to repeatedly press a key until the order in which the character is displayed comes, and it takes a very long time and effort to input a sentence. there were.

Further, in the second prior art, any character can be input by pressing a key twice to designate a line / column number. However, a line / column number corresponding to a desired character is described. There is a problem that a conversion table is required, and character input cannot be performed without the conversion table, which is inconvenient, or that a skilled person who memorizes the conversion table cannot input characters.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone capable of performing a character input operation easily and quickly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone capable of performing a character input operation easily and quickly without providing any special display means.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone which can perform a character input operation easily and quickly and has a higher operability.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone capable of easily and rapidly performing a character input operation and easily inputting a character string.

A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone capable of performing a character input operation easily and quickly and inputting many kinds of characters.

A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone which can easily and quickly perform a character input operation, can input many types of characters, and has a better operability. .

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to numbers from 0 to 9, and has at least a kana character or a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A character input mode for inputting a Roman character, a storage means for dividing a required kana character or a Roman character into a plurality of character groups, and storing each character group and each telephone operation key in association with each other; Display means for reading out a character group corresponding to this key from the storage means and displaying it when one of the telephone operation keys is selected,
A character is selected and input from a character group displayed on the display means.

[0013] The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A mode, wherein the display unit includes the storage unit and the display unit, and the display unit displays a telephone number of a partner station when a call is made and displays the character group when a character is input.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least a kana character or a Roman character in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A storage mode and the display means, wherein the display means displays the telephone number of the partner station at the time of calling, the character group at the time of character input, and a communication message of an electronic mail. Is displayed.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operating keys corresponding to the numbers 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operating keys. A storage device and the display device, wherein the display device displays a character group corresponding to the selected key in accordance with the arrangement of the telephone operation keys, and displays the displayed character. Characters are selected and input from a group using telephone operation keys.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. Having a mode, comprising the storage means and the display means, wherein the display means displays a character group corresponding to the selected key in association with the number of the telephone operation key, and displays the displayed character. Characters are selected and input from a group using telephone operation keys.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A character input mode, wherein the character string being input is replaced with a character corresponding to the selected telephone operation key. The information is displayed on the display means together with the group.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers 0 to 9 to input at least a kana character or a Roman character in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. And a selection means for selecting a character from a group of characters displayed on the display means, in addition to the storage means and the display means.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. Having a mode, comprising the storage means, the display means and the selection means, moving the selection means by moving a cursor or pointer displayed on the display means, and displaying characters based on the position of the cursor or pointer. It is a touchpad to be selected.

In the portable telephone according to the present invention, at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numerals 0 to 9 are used to input at least a kana character or a Roman character which is larger in number than the telephone operation keys. A mode, wherein the storage means and the display means are provided, and each character group includes a number corresponding to a telephone operation key associated with the character group.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least kana characters or Roman characters in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A mode, wherein the storage means and the display means are provided, and each of the character groups includes a first character group and a second character group, and the display means has a first character group corresponding to a selected key. The first character group and the second character group are selectively displayed.

The portable telephone according to the present invention uses at least ten telephone operation keys corresponding to the numbers from 0 to 9 to input at least a kana character or a Roman character in a larger number than the telephone operation keys. A first mode, wherein each of the character groups includes a first character group and a second character group, and each of the character groups includes a first character group and a second character group. The display is switched by selecting and inputting a predetermined character, and this character is included in the first character group.

In the present invention, characters and character groups are
It is used at least in the sense of including kana or romaji, and unless otherwise specified, the inclusion of both kana and romaji should be interpreted arbitrarily,
The inclusion of symbols and numbers should likewise be interpreted arbitrarily.

[0024]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. This mobile phone has a rectangular parallelepiped housing 1.
As is well known, a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a signal processing unit, and an acoustic component are built in the device. On the main surface 1a of the housing 1, a telephone operation key 3 for inputting a telephone number, characters, and the like, and performing telephone operations such as calling and receiving a call, and a telephone input key that is input by the telephone operating keys. Telephone number display of partner station,
A liquid crystal display 2 is provided as a display means for performing a memory dial display, outgoing or incoming mail display, and the like. The telephone operation key 3 is 1 corresponding to a number from 0 to 9
It includes zero keys, and these ten keys are associated with kana characters, Roman characters, and symbols, in addition to the corresponding numbers, in a plurality of character groups. That is, in the first embodiment, a character and a character group include a plurality of kana characters, Roman characters, symbols, and numbers, and each of these kana characters, Roman characters, symbols, and numbers is referred to as a character. It is called a character group. In the mode for inputting a telephone number, by pressing these telephone operation keys once, a corresponding number is input.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a portion having a character input function in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment. When the telephone operation key 3 is pressed, the input information is transmitted to the control unit 4, and the control unit 4 identifies the pressed telephone operation key 3 from the input information, and performs a process corresponding to the identified key. The processing result is displayed on the liquid crystal display 2. Here, the control unit 4 includes a microprocessor 11, a non-volatile first storage unit 12 and a readable and writable second storage unit 13 as storage means, and the microprocessor 11 performs outgoing calls, incoming calls, and the like. Control of telephone functions, detection of depression of telephone operation keys, processing of information, and input / output control of information. The first storage unit 12 stores a control program for telephone functions such as calling and receiving calls,
Numbers, symbols, kana characters, and Roman alphabet characters associated with each telephone operation key 3 and the telephone operation keys 3
Are stored in association with each other. Also, the second storage unit 13
Is used to temporarily store characters input by the telephone operation keys 3.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view showing the telephone operation key 3 provided on the main surface 1a of the housing 1 in FIG. On the front surface (key top) of the ten keys corresponding to the numbers 0 to 9 among the telephone operation keys 3, a character which can be input by the key, that is, a label representatively showing a group of characters associated with the key Is displayed. Relationship between telephone operation key 3, first and second character groups associated with these keys, and telephone operation key 3 (input selection key) pressed when selecting an input character from these character groups Are shown in Table 1.

[Table 1]

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of one of the telephone operation keys 3. A label representative of characters which can be input by the telephone operation key 31 is displayed on the key top portion 31a. ing. As shown in Table 1, the telephone operation key 31 includes a numeral "2", a pseudonym "ka", "ki", "ku", "ke",
"Ko", Roman characters "a", "b", "c", symbols "@", "."
"Ki", "ku", "ke", "ko", romaji "A",
“B”, “C”, symbols “,”, and “;” are associated with each other. Similarly, for the other telephone operation keys 3,
Character groups are associated as shown in Table 1.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when performing character input in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment. First, in a state where the mobile phone is in a character input mode such as an e-mail creation mode, when a user of the mobile phone presses any key of the telephone operation keys 3 to perform character input,
In step S101, the microprocessor 11
Detects that the telephone operation key 3 has been pressed.

Next, in step S102, the microprocessor 11 stores the first character group of the character group corresponding to the pressed telephone operation key 3 in the first storage unit 12.
And controls the liquid crystal display 2 to display the read character group as a character candidate for input.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 in step S102 when the telephone operation key 31 of FIG. 4 is pressed. In the figure, a liquid crystal display 2 has a character candidate 6 which is a first character group associated with the telephone operation key 31, that is, "ka", "ki", "ku", "ke", "ko". , "2",
“A”, “b”, “c”, “＠”, “.” And a shift symbol 7, that is, “shift” are displayed side by side on the character palette 5.

The shift symbol 7 has a function of switching the display on the character palette 5 to another character candidate in response to the input. Here, another character candidate is a second character group of the character group associated with the telephone operation key 31, and the character candidate 8 shown in FIG. ”,“ Ku ”,“ ke ”,
“K”, “A”, “B”, “C”, “,”, “;” and “shift”.

On the character palette 5 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the subscripts of the character candidate 6, the character candidate 8, and the shift symbol 7 and the symbols "*" and "#" surrounded by a circle are used for telephone operation. The correspondence with the key 3 is shown. For example, when the display of the liquid crystal display 2 is in the state of FIG.
Pressing indicates that "?" Of the character candidate 6 is input.

Further, in the first embodiment, the display of the character candidates 6 or 8 and the shift symbol 7 on the character pallet 5 correspond to the arrangement of the telephone operation keys 3 in particular. That is, in FIG. 6, “ka”, “ki”,
"Ku", "ke", "ko", "2", "a", "b",
“C”, “shift”, “＠” and “.” Are “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”,
"5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0",
It is displayed corresponding to the arrangement of “*” and “#”.
Thus, there is an effect that the key corresponding to the character to be input is easy to understand, and the operability at the time of character input is improved.

Returning to FIG. 5, the description of the operation will be continued. In step S103, the microprocessor 11 detects that the user has pressed the telephone operation key 3 again to select and input a character from the character palette 5.

The telephone operation key 3 pressed at this time is
It is determined whether or not the key corresponding to the shift symbol 7, that is, “0” (step S104). Shift symbol 7
If it is determined that the telephone operation key 3 corresponding to is pressed, the process proceeds to step S105. If it is determined that the telephone operation key 3 corresponding to the other character candidates 6 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S106. move on.

In step S105, the microprocessor 11 stores the information in the first storage unit 12 in step S101.
Then, the second character group corresponding to the telephone operation key 3 whose press is detected is read out, and is controlled to be displayed side by side as the character candidate 8 on the character palette 5 in which the character candidate 6 is not displayed. After that, returning to step S103 again,
Proceed to step S104.

In step S106, step S103
The character corresponding to the telephone operation key 3 whose press is detected is determined as an input character, and the microprocessor 11 stores the determined input character in the storage unit 13,
The information is displayed on the liquid crystal display 2. The character palette 5 and the character candidates 6 or 8 are not displayed.

When characters are subsequently input, the input character or character string (sentence) 15 is displayed on the upper part of the liquid crystal display 2 as shown in FIG. 8, and the character palette 5 is displayed below it. To do. As a result, the user who is performing character input can input the next character while checking the input text, and this has the effect of facilitating text input. In FIG. 8, the character string 15 exemplifies a character string composed of kana characters. May be added, or the kana character may be a character string converted to kanji.

As described above, the character candidates 6 or 8 corresponding to the respective telephone operation keys 3 are displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 and the input characters are input therefrom, so that a conversion table is not required, and Input characters can be input with a small number of key presses.

Further, since the liquid crystal display 2 for displaying the telephone number of the partner station in the portable telephone is used as the display means for displaying the character candidates 6 or 8, no special display means is required.

Since the character candidates 6 or 8 include characters of different types, such as numbers, kana, romaji, and symbols, a sentence in which these are mixed can be input without frequently switching the input mode. can do.

Furthermore, the character candidates are divided into character candidates 6 and character candidates 8 and the display is switched by inputting the shift symbol 7, so that even a small screen such as the liquid crystal display 2 of a portable telephone can be used. Can be easily displayed and characters can be easily input.

In the first embodiment, character candidate 6
And 8 are displayed on the character palette 5 of the liquid crystal display 2 corresponding to the arrangement of the telephone operation keys 3.
Since the telephone operation key 3 is associated with a subscripted number, it may be displayed at an arbitrary position.

Embodiment 2 In the first embodiment, the telephone operation key 3 is used to select and input a specific character from the character candidates 6 or 8 displayed on the character palette 5, but another selection means is provided. Even when used, effects such as improved operability can be obtained.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Since the components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same components, the description is omitted. Case 1
A touch pad 9 capable of detecting a contact position of a finger using a contact sensor or the like is provided on a side surface 1b of the touch panel. In the second embodiment, the characters and the character groups include a plurality of kana characters, Roman characters, symbols, and numbers as in the first embodiment. A set of these is called a character group.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a portion having a character input function in the mobile phone according to the second embodiment. The components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. The touch pad 9 serving as a character selection unit includes a contact position detecting unit 10 for detecting a contact position of a user's finger on the touch pad 9, and the contact position detecting unit 10 divides the touch pad 9 into 12 squares. And by detecting a signal voltage corresponding to each cell generated from the cell in contact with the finger, position information of the cell in contact with the finger is obtained. The detected contact position information is sent to the control unit 4. In the control unit 4, the microprocessor 11 displays a cursor on the character palette 5 of the liquid crystal display 2 based on the contact position information.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when performing character input in the mobile phone according to the second embodiment. First, in a state where the mobile phone is in a character input mode such as an e-mail creation mode, when a user of the mobile phone presses any key of the telephone operation keys 3 to perform character input, a step is performed. In S201, the microprocessor 1
1 detects pressing of the telephone operation key 3.

Next, in step S202, the microprocessor 11 stores the first character group of the character group corresponding to the pressed telephone operation key 3 in the first storage unit 12.
And controls the liquid crystal display 2 to display the read character group as a character candidate 6 for input. Note that, also in the second embodiment, the correspondence between the telephone operation keys 3 and the character groups is as shown in Table 1.

In step S203, the position of the finger on the touch pad 9 is detected by the contact position detecting section 10 and sent to the control section 4 as contact position information. The microprocessor 11 converts the contact position information into the character palette 5
The information is converted into information corresponding to the upper position, and the position is displayed on the character palette 5 of the liquid crystal display 2 with a cursor. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 in steps S202 and S203 when the telephone operation key 31 of FIG. 4 is pressed. In the figure, the position of the cursor 14 indicates that the position of the user's finger on the touch pad 9 is at a position corresponding to the number “2” on the character pad 5.

In step S204, the microprocessor 11 continuously acquires the contact position information from the contact position detecting unit 10, and changes the position of the cursor 14 according to the change of the contact position of the finger on the touch pad 9 according to the change. Is moved over the character candidate 6 corresponding to.

At this time, it is determined whether or not the cursor 14 is on the character corresponding to the shift symbol 7, that is, on "shift" (step S205). If it is determined that the cursor 14 is on “shift”, step S206
If it is determined that the character exists on the other character candidates 6, the process proceeds to step S207.

In step S206, the microprocessor 11 stores the information in the first storage unit 12 in step S201.
Then, the second character group corresponding to the telephone operation key 3 whose press is detected is read out, and is controlled to be displayed side by side as the character candidate 8 on the character palette 5 in which the character candidate 6 is not displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 in step S206. In the figure, the position of the cursor 14 indicates that the position of the user's finger on the touch pad 9 is at a position corresponding to the number “shift” on the character pad 5. Thereafter, the flow returns to step S203 again, and step S204,
Proceed to step S205.

In step S207, the microprocessor 11 detects that the user's finger has been released from the touch pad 9. When it is detected that the finger is released, the character candidate 6 or 8 where the cursor 14 was positioned at the time of the detection is determined as an input character, and the determined input character is stored in the storage unit 13 and the liquid crystal display 2 is displayed. To be displayed. Further, the character palette 5 and the character candidates 6 or 8 are not displayed (step S208).

As described above, the character candidates 6 or 8 corresponding to the respective telephone operation keys 3 are displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 and the input characters are input therefrom. Therefore, a conversion table is not required, and Input characters can be input with a small number of key presses.

Since the character candidates 6 or 8 include different types of characters such as numerals, kana, roman characters, symbols, etc., a text in which these are mixed can be input without frequently switching the input mode. can do.

The character candidates are character candidate 6 and character candidate 8
The display is switched by inputting the shift symbol 7, so that even on a small screen such as the liquid crystal display 2 of a mobile phone, many character candidates are displayed in an easy-to-read manner, and character input is also easily performed. be able to.

Since the touch pad 9 is used as a character selection means, the operability at the time of character input is improved.

Further, since the separation of the finger from the touch pad 9 is detected and the input character is determined, the character can be input quickly.

Further, the character candidates are divided into character candidates 6 and character candidates 8 and the display is switched by moving the cursor on the shift symbol 7, so that a small screen such as the liquid crystal display 2 of a mobile phone is provided. However, many character candidates can be displayed in an easy-to-read manner, and characters can be easily input.

Although the touch pad is used as the character selecting means in the above-described second embodiment, the selecting means may include a cursor key, a cursor lever, a jog dial, a track ball, a touch panel, a voice recognition device. Alternatively, the pointer may be moved instead of the cursor. In this case, the same effect as described above can be obtained. When a touch panel is used, it may be used instead of the liquid crystal display 2 as a display means.

Further, in the second embodiment, the character is determined when the finger is released from the touch pad. However, a method such as fixing the character by touching the touch pad again, providing a determination button, and pressing the button is used. But it is good.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, necessary kana characters or Roman characters are divided into a plurality of character groups, each of which is stored in association with each telephone operation key.
When one telephone operation key is selected, a character group corresponding to this key is read out from the storage means and displayed, and a character is selected from the character group displayed on the display means and input. The operation can be performed easily and quickly.

According to the present invention, as the display means for displaying the character group, the display means for displaying the telephone number of the partner station at the time of calling or the display of the electronic mail message is used. The character input operation can be performed easily and quickly while maintaining the portability of the mobile phone without providing a simple display means.

Further, according to the present invention, the character group is displayed on the display means in correspondence with the arrangement of the telephone operation keys or with the numerals, and the characters are input from the character group by the telephone operation keys. Thus, character input can be performed easily and quickly, and operability can be further improved.

According to the present invention, the character string being input in the character input mode is displayed on the display means together with the character group corresponding to the selected telephone operation key. Can be easily performed.

Further, according to the present invention, since the touch pad is used as the character selecting means, the character input operation can be performed easily and quickly, and the operability can be further improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the character group corresponding to the selected telephone operation key is divided into the first character group and the second character group, and these are selectively displayed. In addition, the character input operation can be performed easily and quickly, and many types of characters can be input.

According to the present invention, a character group corresponding to the selected telephone operation key is divided into a first character group and a second character group, and these are selectively displayed. Since this display switching is performed by inputting a character included in the first character group, the character input operation can be easily and quickly performed, many types of characters can be input, and further, operability is improved. Can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portion having a character input function in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of a telephone operation key in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a telephone operation key in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation at the time of character input according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a display example of a character palette displayed on a liquid crystal display in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a display example of a character palette displayed on a liquid crystal display when the display is switched to a second character group.

FIG. 8 shows a mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
This is a display example in which a character string (sentence) is displayed on a liquid crystal display together with character candidates.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a mobile phone according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portion having a character input function in a mobile phone according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation at the time of character input according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a display example of a character palette displayed on a liquid crystal display in the mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a display example of a character palette displayed on the liquid crystal display when the display is switched to the second character group in the mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile phone 2 Liquid crystal display 3 Phone operation key 6 Character candidate 7 Shift symbol 8 Character candidate 9 Touch pad 12 Storage unit 13 Storage unit 14 Cursor 15 Character string (text)

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04M 1/56 H04M 11/00 302 11/00 302 H04B 7/26 109T F term (reference) 5K023 AA07 GG05 GG09 5K027 AA02 AA11 EE01 EE13 FF01 FF22 HH24 5K036 AA07 DD33 FF03 JJ03 JJ05 JJ13 KK06 5K067 AA34 BB04 DD53 FF07 FF23 FF28 HH23 KK15 5K101 KK02 LL12 NN02 NN18 PP03

Claims (11)

[Claims] At least one corresponding to a number from 0 to 9
It has a character input mode for inputting at least kana characters or Roman characters in a greater number than the telephone operation keys by using 0 telephone operation keys, and using the telephone operation keys. Divide characters or Roman characters into multiple character groups,
Storage means for storing the respective character groups and the respective telephone operation keys in association with each other, and when one of the plurality of telephone operation keys is selected,
A mobile phone, comprising: display means for reading and displaying the character group corresponding to the selected key from the storage means, and selecting and inputting a character from the character group displayed on the display means. 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein said display means displays a telephone number of a partner station at the time of calling, and displays said character group at the time of character input. 3. The mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein said display means displays an electronic mail message. 4. The display means displays a character group corresponding to the selected key in accordance with the arrangement of the telephone operation keys, and displays the telephone group from the character group displayed on the display means. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein characters are selected and input using the operation keys. 5. The display means displays a character group corresponding to the selected key together with a numeral of the telephone operation key, and displays the telephone group from the character group displayed on the display means. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein characters are selected and input using keys corresponding to the numbers of the operation keys. 6. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein in the character input mode, a character string being input is displayed on the display together with a character group corresponding to the selected telephone operation key. phone. 7. The mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit for selecting a character from a group of characters displayed on the display unit. 8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said selection means is a touch pad for moving a cursor or pointer displayed on said display means and selecting a character based on the position of said cursor or pointer. The mentioned mobile phone. 9. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein each of the character groups includes a number corresponding to the telephone operation key associated with the character group. 10. Each of the character groups includes a first character group and a second character group, and the display means includes a first character group and a second character group corresponding to the selected key. 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the mobile phone is selectively displayed. 11. The display switching between the first character group and the second character group is performed by selecting and inputting a predetermined character, wherein the predetermined character is the first character The mobile phone according to claim 10, which is included in a group.