Patent ID: 8223127

Claim:
A virtual wheel interface structure of a mobile terminal comprising: a display unit formed in a first area of the mobile terminal; a wheel input unit formed adjacent to the display unit in a second area of the mobile terminal and having a rotatable wheel key, a selection key disposed in the center of the wheel key, and navigation keys disposed around the wheel key; a virtual wheel keypad having a plurality of virtual keys disposed in a rotational direction of the wheel and displayed on the display unit in a wheel form corresponding to a portion of the wheel key; a screen highlight displayed at a specific position on the virtual wheel keypad of the display unit and indicating a selection status of a virtual key; and a cursor displayed on the display unit and indicating a character input position, wherein the virtual wheel interface structure is configured to be converted between an input mode and a cursor mode, in the input mode, the virtual wheel keypad rotates according to rotation of the wheel key, the screen highlight is displayed at a specific position on the virtual wheel keypad, a virtual navigation key is displayed in a direction of a location of the cursor, and when a navigation key of the wheel input unit which is disposed in a direction toward the cursor is input, the virtual wheel interface structure is converted to the cursor mode, and in the cursor mode, the cursor moves according to rotation of the wheel key, the screen highlight disappears from the specific position on the virtual wheel keypad, the virtual navigation key is displayed in a direction of a location of the virtual wheel keypad, and when a navigation key of the wheel input unit which is disposed in a direction away from the cursor is input, the virtual wheel interface structure is converted to the input mode.