Apparatus and methods of selecting special characters in a mobile communication terminal

1. A method of selecting special characters in a hand-held mobile communication terminal, comprising:

receiving a letter;

determining whether a mode conversion key has been activated;

displaying a plurality of special characters corresponding to the received letter on an additional screen partially overlaying a screen if it is determined that the mode conversion key has been activated; and

allowing a user to select one of the displayed special characters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein activation of the mode conversion key activates an editing mode.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising displaying the mode conversion key and a save key in the editing mode.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the plurality of special characters in a pop-up window.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying the mode conversion key and a cancel key when the pop-up window is displayed.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the pop-up window disappears when either the mode conversion key or the cancel key is activated.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a series of numbers are associated respectively with the plurality of special characters.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displayed plurality of special characters are selected using numeral keys on a keypad, respectively.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of displaying the plurality of special characters comprises:

judging whether the received letter is changeable into a special character; and

displaying a plurality of special characters corresponding to the received letter if the received letter is changeable into a special character.

10. A method of selecting special characters in a hand-held mobile communication terminal, comprising:

storing a set of special characters in a memory;

receiving a letter to be converted to a special character;

determining whether a mode conversion key has been activated;

displaying a plurality of special characters corresponding to the received letter on a pop-up window partially overlaying a screen when it is determined that the mode conversion key has been activated, wherein the special characters are read from the memory; and

allowing a user to select a desired one of the displayed special characters.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein displaying a plurality of the special characters comprises:

judging whether the received letter is changeable into a special character;

reading available special characters stored from a memory if the received letter is changeable into a special character, wherein the special characters correspond to the received letter; and

displaying the special characters read from the memory on the pop-up window and associating a series of numbers with the special characters, respectively.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the displayed special characters are selected using numeral keys on a keypad, respectively.

13. Apparatus for selecting special characters in a hand-held mobile communication terminal, comprising:

means for receiving a letter;

means for determining whether a mode conversion key has been activated;

means for displaying a plurality of special characters corresponding to the received letter on an additional screen partially overlaying a screen if it is determined that the mode conversion key has been activated; and

means for allowing a user to select one of the displayed special characters.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

means for determining whether the received letter is changeable into a special character; and

means for displaying a plurality of special characters corresponding to the received letter if the received letter is changeable into a special character.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

means for storing a set of special characters in a memory.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:

means for determining whether the received letter is changeable into a special character;

means for reading special characters from the storing means if the received letter is changeable into the special character, wherein the special characters correspond to the received letter; and

means for displaying the special characters read from the storing means on the pop-up window and associating a series of numbers with the special characters, respectively.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one soft key is displayed on the screen.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one soft key is related to the mode conversion key.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one soft key is associated with a keypad of the hand-held mobile communication terminal.

20. A method of selecting one or more characters in a mobile communication terminal, the method comprising:

receiving at least one character;

determining whether a key has been activated, wherein the key is used to display a plurality of recommended characters related to the at least one received character;

displaying the plurality of recommended characters corresponding to the at least one received character on an additional screen partially overlaying a screen if the key has been activated; and

allowing a user to select at least one of the plurality of recommended characters.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the plurality of recommended characters are displayed in a pop-up window.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the key is displayed on the screen when the pop-up window is displayed.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein a series of numbers are associated respectively with the plurality of recommended characters.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein the displayed plurality of recommended characters are selected using numeral keys on a keypad of the mobile communication terminal.

25. A mobile communication terminal, comprising:

an input device that receives at least one character;

a display device that displays the at least one character; and

a controller operatively connected with the input device and the display device and adapted to perform the steps of:

determining whether a key has been activated, wherein the key is used to display a plurality of recommended characters related to the at least one received character;

displaying the plurality of recommended characters corresponding to the at least one received character on an additional screen partially overlaying a screen of the display device if the key has been activated; and

allowing a user to select at least one of the plurality of recommended characters.