Patent ID: 8188976

Claim:
A mobile terminal device provided with a plurality of keys, comprising: a touch detector configured to continuously detect a user touching a key; a press detector configured to detect the user pressing the key; a display unit configured to sequentially display a plurality of characters one by one in a predetermined sequence, as candidate characters, assigned to the key pressed by the user, whenever the press detector detects the user pressing the key; and a controller configured to start an untouched time period when the touch detector does not detect touching of the key, and configured to convert the candidate character displayed on the display unit and assigned to a last-touched key to a finalized character, when the untouched time period expires, the candidate character remaining un-finalized and the untouched time period remaining un-started while the touch detector continues to detect touching of the key and the press detector does not detect pressing of the key, the display displaying a candidate character last displayed when the press detector detected pressing of the key, wherein the controller converts the candidate character display on the display unit to a finalized character, when a corresponding region corresponding to the pressed key is touched, each key having a different corresponding region directly adjacent thereto, each corresponding region including at least a portion of a key corresponding thereto or a region surrounding the key corresponding thereto.