Patent ID: 7715882

Claim:
A mobile terminal apparatus which displays characters on a display unit comprising: a plurality of keys to each of which a plurality of characters are assigned; and a control unit which operates to request the display unit to display a character corresponding to one of the plurality of keys which is operated; wherein the control unit operates in a manner in which the control unit when a first key is pushed as first operation, requests a character be displayed which is assigned to the first key, when the same key as the first key is continuously operated as second operation from the first operation in predetermined time, requests a next character be displayed which is assigned to the first key instead of the character which is currently being displayed, when a time span between the first and the second operation exceeds the predetermined time and the currently displayed character is a special character that has a variation, requests that the displayed character be changed to the variation, and when the time span exceeds the predetermined time and the currently displayed character is not the special character, requests a new character be displayed next to the currently displayed character.