Patent ID: 8723808

Claim:
A method of controlling a mobile terminal including a touch input device, the method comprising: displaying a rotary dial including a plurality of soft keys in a circular pattern on a screen of the touch input device; touch selecting one of the soft keys and sliding the selected soft key along the rotary dial to a rotary stopper displayed on the rotary dial, wherein the rotary dial rotates as the selected soft key is slid to the rotary stopper and the rotary stopper does not rotate as the rotary dial rotates; displaying the selected soft key as being rotated back to its original displayed position as the selected rotary soft key is released from being touched; displaying information corresponding to the selected and slid rotary soft key; executing a function related to the displayed information when none of the soft keys is touch selected for a predetermined period after a last one of the soft keys is touch selected and slid to the rotary stopper, wherein the displayed information is a number or character corresponding to the selected and slid soft key when the selected and slid soft key is not slid into the rotary dial stopper but is released before the rotary dial stopper; displaying an editor screen for editing a message on the screen of the touch input device, the editor screen comprising an information stored in a memory corresponding to the soft key when the soft key is selected and dragged into an inside area of the rotary dial; and executing a function corresponding to a menu icon associated with the selected soft key when the soft key is selected and dragged to the menu icon displayed on an outside area of the rotary dial, wherein the function related to the displayed information corresponds to a phone dialing function.