HK1069942B - Communication terminal - Google Patents

Description

Communication terminal

Technical Field

Communication terminals, such as mobile telephones or handsets, are capable of handling and exchanging ever increasing amounts of data. Traditionally, terminals of this type are equipped with a pocket calculator keypad of twelve alphanumeric keys, including the numbers 0-9 and several special symbols.

These alphanumeric keys include a few numbers, symbols, letters, specialized symbols, etc., that may be used by multiple presses of each key. In general, a key may include up to ten different symbols or more. Thus, the input of, for example, the body of a short message may require more keystrokes than the number of letters in the message.

Background

However, the integration of the input of alphanumeric data in a thumbwheel has been described in EP 755142 a. This thumb wheel is placed in the upper left corner of the phone. When text is input into the display, the position indicated by the cursor becomes highlighted. By rotating the thumb wheel, the symbol displayed in the current highlight region changes, and by pressing the thumb wheel, the highlighted symbol is selected and the cursor jumps to the next position.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having: the display comprises a first display part and a second display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, and the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates; navigation means for navigating through the information candidates; selection means for selecting one of said information candidates; a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device, wherein: one of the information candidates is highlighted by a cursor controlled by the navigation device; the candidates for highlight display in the second display portion are also highlighted in the character string of the input information in the first display portion; and the processor appends the candidate for highlight display in the second display portion to the character string of the input information in accordance with the selection by the selection means, so that the candidate for highlight display will no longer be highlighted in the first display portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having a text editor for entering text and comprising: the display comprises a first display part and a second display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, and the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates; navigation means for navigating through the list of information candidates; selecting means for selecting a candidate from said list of information candidates; and a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device; in the text editor: highlighting a candidate for information in a second display portion with a cursor controlled by said navigation device; the processor appends the candidate item of high-brightness display in the second display part to the character string of the input information according to the selection of the selection device; and the processor sorts the information candidates displayed in the second display portion according to the previously selected character or characters.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having a text editor for inputting oriental characters other than latin alphabets, and comprising: the display comprises a first display part, a second display part and a third display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates, and the third display part is used for displaying Latin letters; a group of alphanumeric keys for tapping latin letters; navigation means for navigating through the information candidates; selection means for selecting a candidate; and a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device, the selection device and the set of alphanumeric keys; in the text editor: the processor displays the Latin letters input by the group of alphanumeric keys in a third display section; the processor is connected to a memory storing a dictionary comprising oriental characters and corresponding pronunciation character strings; the processor searches the pronunciation character string in the dictionary memory for a character string matching the latin alphabet already entered in the third display section; the processor displays the oriental character as an information candidate for selection in the second display section; and the processor copies the candidate with high brightness display in the character string of the candidate in the second display part to the character string of the input information in the first display part according to the selection of the selection device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having a music synthesizer for inputting music data information into the communication terminal; the communication terminal includes: the display comprises a first display part and a second display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, and the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates; navigation means for moving the cursor means through the list of information candidates; selection means for selecting a candidate; and a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device; in the music synthesizer: the processor displays a character string of music data information input into the music synthesizer in the first display section; the processor displays character strings of a plurality of music data information candidates in a second display section; the processor controls a cursor device so as to highlight one of the character strings of a plurality of music data information candidates in the first display section.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having a calculator, and comprising: the display comprises a first display part and a second display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, and the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates; navigation means for navigating through the list of candidate items; selecting means for selecting a candidate from said list of candidates; and a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device; in the calculator: the processor displays the input data and the result in a first display part; said processor displaying in a second display portion a plurality of strings of computational operators in said table of candidates, one of which in the second display portion is highlighted with a cursor controlled by said navigation means; the processor controls the cursor device so as to represent the candidate of highlight display in the second display part as the candidate of highlight display in the first display part; and the processor appends the candidate of highlight display in the second display section to the input information character string in accordance with the selection by the selection means so that the candidate of highlight display will not be highlighted in the first display section.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal having a text editor for inputting oriental characters other than latin alphabets, and having: a display including a first display part for displaying character strings of input information, a second display part for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates, and a third display part for displaying oriental characters; navigation means for navigating through the information candidates; selection means for selecting a candidate; and a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device; in the text editor: the processor displays a plurality of stroke information candidates for selection in a second display section; the processor copies a highlighted candidate among the character string of candidates to a third display section in which a combination of strokes is displayed; and the processor copies the combination of strokes as an oriental character into the character string of the input information in the first display section according to the selection of the selection means.

Also in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of inputting information into a communication terminal, the communication terminal including display means, navigation means for navigating through candidates of the information, selection means for selecting one of the candidates, the method including displaying a character string of the input information in a display, displaying a second character string of possible candidates of the information separately from the character string of the input information, one of the candidates being highlighted by a cursor controlled by the navigation means, copying the highlighted candidate from the second character string to the character string of the input information in accordance with selection by the selection means. Thus, the user will be able to observe both the written character and the character he can select to be entered. This makes it possible to change the character strings of the candidates, and the information input method can be used for several different applications, such as normal text input, calculator input, music input, and chinese character input.

The present invention provides a new and improved method of inputting data to a communication terminal that enables a user to increase the data input rate.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the method is used in a communication terminal, such as a telephone, having navigation means provided as a depressible scroll wheel, said method comprising moving a cursor by scrolling the scroll wheel and selecting an item indicated by the cursor by depressing the scroll wheel. The user can then focus on what is going on the display, while he uses only a single key.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the terminal has at least two input modes for inputting different types of information to different applications in the terminal, and comprises sorting out possible information candidates in the second string in dependence on the current mode of the terminal. When text of latin letters is input, there is no need to display chinese letters, musical notes, or other extraneous symbols.

Preferably, the terminal sorts out possible information candidates in the second string based on at least one previously selected character. The sorting is preferably language dependent. In english, for example, when a word already contains the letter "ph", the next candidate will likely be one of the letters "a", "e", "i", or "y", and a similar table can be made for all letters and languages. If a terminal, for example, includes 20 languages, the corresponding number of tables may be stored in a total of 6-10 kbytes. However, this is only a table of languages selected using the SIM card or a table of languages manually selected by the user to be used.

When more memory space is available, the entire electronic dictionary can be loaded into the memory of the terminal. The processor will then search the dictionary memory for words that match the letters that have been entered and display the best matching word in a third display section selectable by the user. The displayed offers are dynamically adjusted as a letter is entered.

This concept is very useful for languages with many different symbols or characters, such as chinese, thai, and arabic. Here, the dictionary may tie the symbols and english pronunciations in latin letters together. The processor will then search the pronunciation string to find the string that best matches the entered letter. The corresponding symbol will be displayed in the third display section.

The invention also relates to a communication terminal having display means, navigation means for navigating the information candidates, selection means for selecting one of the candidates, and a processor for controlling the display means in accordance with the operation of the navigation means and the selection means. The display means comprises a first display portion for displaying a character string of the input information and a second display portion for displaying a second character string of a plurality of possible information candidates, one of which is highlighted by means of a cursor controlled by the navigation means. The processor copies the candidate item of highlight display in the second character string into the input information character string according to the selection of the selection means. The same information concept can be used regardless of the type of input information.

When the terminal according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is used as a mobile telephone, the display may be a substantially rectangular LCD display, wherein the first display portion constitutes a major part of the display and the second display portion is a display strip along one of the edges of the display. When a graphical display is displayed, a good display will be given.

Preferably, the terminal is provided with navigation means having a roller body, such as a thumb wheel. When the roller body is rolled, the cursor will move, and when the roller body is pressed, the item pointed by the cursor is selected. This provides good control of the cursor, especially when the roller body is placed in the middle below the display. However, the navigation means may be provided as a component known per se as a navigation key and having a step-up/step-down function, and the selection means may be provided as a separate key, for example a soft key, for selecting the item currently indicated by the cursor. This will improve the input rate when the candidates are sorted with an intelligent approach.

An important advantage of the inventive concept is that the same input concept can be used for different types of input. When the terminal has at least two input modes for inputting different types of information into different applications in the terminal, the processor sorts the possible information candidates in the input string according to the mode of the terminal.

In each mode, the processor will process one basic default string of candidates. According to a preferred embodiment, the processor will generate a dynamic string of candidates for each information candidate input, followed by a default string that includes the most likely set of characters at the beginning. Then, for longer words, the letter to be entered can be found in the first 4-8 letters-this corresponds to half a turn of the roller body.

The inventive concept is particularly valuable for processing complex symbols (e.g., chinese symbols). To this end, if desired, in some applications a third display section is created, the user can enter the latin letters for pronunciation, and the terminal will display the best matching chinese symbol in response thereto for selection. This concept can also be used for general text editing where the processor proposes a complete word found in a dictionary stored in the terminal in response to an input letter of one word.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows in general terms a preferred embodiment of a portable telephone according to the invention.

Fig. 2 shows in general terms the main components of a telephone set for communication with a cellular or cordless network.

Fig. 3 shows a sequence of four displays illustrating a preferred embodiment of entering text into a telephone set according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a sequence of two displays illustrating a preferred embodiment of entering text in an intelligent manner into a telephone set according to the invention.

Fig. 5 shows a sequence of seven displays illustrating a preferred embodiment of entering numbers and operators into a calendar integrated in a telephone set according to the invention.

Fig. 6 shows the sequence of display illustrating a preferred embodiment of inputting chinese letters into the telephone set according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows another sequence of display illustrating an alternative implementation of inputting chinese letters into a telephone set according to the present invention.

Fig. 8 outlines an alternative embodiment of a portable telephone according to the invention.

Fig. 9 schematically shows the display of the telephone set in the music input mode according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

The information input concept is common to personal communication terminals having a limited display area and a limited set of input keys. Terminals of this type include cellular telephones, cordless telephones, pagers, smart phones and communicators, and users demand smaller and smaller terminals, which results in display areas of less than fifty symbols-and in extreme cases less than twenty symbols. The invention will be described below with reference to a preferred embodiment according to the concept implemented in a cellular phone.

Fig. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a telephone according to the present invention, and it can be seen that the telephone, generally designated 1, comprises a user interface having a keypad 2, a display 3, an on/off button 4, an earpiece 5 and a microphone 6. The telephone set 1 according to the preferred embodiment is adapted to communicate via a cellular network, but may equally be designed for a cordless network. The keypad 2 has a first group of keys 7 as alphanumeric keys with which the user can enter a telephone number, write a text message (SMS), write a name (associated with the telephone number) etc., each of the twelve alphanumeric keys 7 having the numbers "0-9" or the symbols "#" and "#", respectively, and in the alphabet mode each key and many of the letters used in the text editing are associated with a special symbol.

The keypad 2 further comprises two softkeys 8, two call handling keys 9, a navigation key 10, a key 11 for switching between an alpha mode and a numeric mode and a clear key 12.

Two soft keys 8 having corresponding slave telephones Nokia 2110^TM、Nokia 8110^TMAnd Nokia 3810^TMThe function of the soft keys depends on the state of the phone and the navigation in the menu using the navigation keys. The present function of the softkeys 8 is shown in a separate area of the display 3 just above the keys 8.

The two call handling keys 9 according to the preferred embodiment are used for establishing a call or a conference call, terminating a call or rejecting an incoming call, the clear key 12 can be used for example to erase the last number or letter entered by a short key, while a longer duration key will erase the whole number or word, the key 11 switching between an alpha mode and a numeric mode in a text editing mode.

The navigation key 10 is arranged in a position intermediate the front surface of the phone between the display 3 and the set of alphanumeric keys 7. Thus, the user will be able to control this key with his thumb, which is the best position to set the input key, which requires precise motor movement. Many experienced telephone users are accustomed to one-handed operation, where they place the telephone between the tip and palm of the hand so that the thumb is free to enter information.

The navigation key 10 comprises a roller body, as described in applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application serial No. US 08/923696 filed on 1997/9/4, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The roller body extends partly through a window in the front cover of the telephone and is substantially cylindrical, having the same length and diameter as the width of the keys of the alphanumeric keypad 7. When the axis of rotation of the roller body is provided such that it extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the telephone 1, the rolling of the roller body will move the cursor in the display in an up/down direction according to the movement of the thumb. The configuration of the navigation key is further provided with a micro switch for detecting depression of the roller body, thereby providing the controller 18 with a selection signal indicating that the item indicated in the display has been selected.

When the navigation key 10 is arranged as an extension of the middle column of alphanumeric keys 7, the navigation key is optimally accessible both by left-handed and right-handed users.

Fig. 2 schematically shows the most important parts of the preferred embodiment of the telephone, which parts are essential for understanding the invention. The preferred embodiment of the telephone of the present invention is suitable for use in connection with a GSM network, but of course the invention is also suitable for use in connection with other telephone networks, for example cellular networks and various forms of cordless telephone systems or dual band telephone access devices for use in these systems/networks. The microphone 6 records the user's speech and the analog signal thus formed is a/D converted in an a/D converter (not shown) before the speech is encoded in the audio unit 14. The encoded speech signals are passed to a controller 18 (physical layer processor) which supports GSM terminal software, the controller 18 also forming an interface to the peripheral units of the device including RAM and ROM memories 17a and 17b, a SIM card 16, a display 3 and keypad 2 (as well as data, power supply etc.), the controller 18 communicating with a transmitter/receiver circuit 19, and the audio part 14 speech decoding signals passed from the controller 18 to the headset 5 via a D/a converter (not shown).

The controller 18 is connected to the user interface and it is therefore the controller 18 that monitors the activity in the telephone and controls the display 3 in response.

It is therefore the controller 18 that detects the occurrence of a state change event and changes the state of the telephone and, thus, the displayed text. A state change event may be caused by the user when he activates the keypad comprising the navigation key 10 and this type of event is referred to as an input event or user event. However, the network in communication with this telephone may also cause a state change event, this type of event and others outside the user's control being referred to as non-user events. Non-user events include a state change during call setup, a change in battery voltage, a change in antenna conditions, a message regarding receiving SMS, etc.

The telephone according to the invention has a display device, for example an LCD display 3. The processor is according to the navigation device and the selection device 10; 40, 41 (fig. 8), the display apparatus including a first display section 20 for displaying a character string of input information and a second display section 22 for displaying character strings of a plurality of possible information candidates, one of which utilizes the navigated to apparatus 10; 40 to highlight the cursor 23. The processor 18 selects the device 10; selection of 41 copies the high-luminance displayed candidates in the candidate character string into the input information character string.

Alphanumeric input concept

The roller-based alphabet input concept according to the invention is used to complement or inherit a per se known alphabet input concept based on multiple pressing of numeric keys, as for example known from Nokia 2110^TMCan be known in the cellular phone of (1). Preferably, the user will be allowed to use a mixed concept based on both concepts.

If the user chooses to use the scroll key, the user can-for each character-switch between each input mode by starting the selection of the character for each character using the scroll (for each character he can select or use from Nokia 2110^TMKnown methods or using roller-based methods).

In a preferred aspect, the communication terminal according to the invention will be implemented as a cellular telephone having display means formed as a graphic LCD display 3.

When the user indicates via the menu structure of the telephone that he wants to enter the name and telephone number in the telephone directory of the telephone, he will be asked to enter a name tag in the display shown as the first display in fig. 3. When the user accepts the name, he will be asked to enter the corresponding telephone number. When the user also accepts the number, the name and number are stored accordingly.

As is apparent from the first display image in fig. 3, the display 3 comprises a first display portion 20 for displaying a character string of input information, for example, a message or a name. The display 3 further comprises a second display section 22 for displaying a string of a plurality of possible information candidates, one of which is highlighted by means of a cursor 23 controlled by the navigation means, here the scroll key 10. For this purpose the scroll key 10 serves both as navigation means for navigating through the information candidates, and the scroll key 10 also serves as selection means for selecting one of the candidates, the scroll key 10 being equipped with a coding means (not shown) for detecting the scrolling of the scroll key 10.

The character table displayed in the second display portion 22 contains "half" characters at the top and bottom, partly to indicate that the table is continuous, partly to show as many characters as possible.

The first embodiment will be explained in connection with english, but a person skilled in the art will know that a cellular phone is capable of switching between a plurality of languages.

When the scroll key 10 is scrolled, the cursor 23 moves through the information candidates listed in the table containing all allowed symbols and characters and even including some special functions, the scroll key 10 serving as selection means, for which purpose it is equipped with a microswitch (not shown) detecting when the key is pressed beyond a predetermined level. When the scroll key 10 is pressed, the micro switch provides a pressing signal to the controller 18, and the controller 18 adds a character highlighted with the cursor 23 to the character string of the information that has been input, at least a part of the character being displayed in the first display portion 20 at a position marked with the cursor 21 in this first display portion 20.

On the upper side of the first display section 20, a header is provided which is a combined icon area including an icon 24 and an operation mode indication area including a mark 25, informing the user of the kind of text to be input. The edit display looks slightly different depending on whether the user enters a short message (SMS; long text) or a name (short text) like that of fig. 3.

A field showing the present functions 26 and 27 of the two soft keys 8 is provided below the first display section 20. The function of the soft keys 8 varies with the type of information that is entered. As can be taken from fig. 3, in the name entry the user has the functions "OK through" and "Back return" on the left and right softkeys, respectively. The "OK pass" will terminate letter input. When the input concept is used to enter an entry into the phone book database of the phone, the phone will ask for the corresponding phone number after pressing "OK pass". Pressing the "back" soft key 8 will cause the phone to jump back to a level in the menu structure, while pressing the "Clear" key 12 will cause the phone to return to idle mode.

In the message input, the function would be "Options" and "back", which would allow the user to select between "Send", "Erase", "Save store", "Highlight", "Text cursor" and "Exit". "send" will terminate the letter input and the phone will request a message from the receiver. "erasing" will clear the first display portion 20 and the user can enter new text. "storing" will store the text string and the user can use the stored text in later transmissions. Exiting will return the phone to idle mode. By selecting the function "text cursor", the user will move the cursor 21 along the text string using the scroll key 10. Once the user selects a position in the text string, the scroll key 10 again controls the movement of the cursor 23. The function "highlight" will be explained later. However, despite these differences, the process is essentially the same for text entry.

In the second display image, the user has entered the letter "B" by scrolling and pressing the scroll key 10. Note that the cursor 23 displays characters highlighted upside down from that shown in fig. 3. Meanwhile, a larger font size is used for highlighting the symbol. In the name entry, a so-called title box is employed, which is the reason for the automatic frame switching that can be seen in the first to second display sections in fig. 3, which means that the following characters will be inserted in the lower boxes, which are represented in the icons 24 "ABC" and "ABC".

In the third display of figure 3, the full name "Betty Blue" has been entered and this can be done by moving the cursor 23 to the appropriate arrow symbol in the string in the second display portion 22 as further editing is required. By pressing the scroll key 10 once, the cursor 21 is moved one step backward as shown in the fourth display of fig. 3.

In the text entry mode, the user may select from different tables. These tables depend on the currently selected language, but according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the basic tables include an upper frame table used in an upper frame (upper case) mode and a lower frame table used in a lower frame (lower case) mode. In the upper frame mode, the user may select from the following characters:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789.，-？！

AB

in the lower frame mode, the user may select from the following characters:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789.，-？！ab

character(s)Are examples of language dependent characters. The "special characters" after the number also depend on the language.Is a space character and appears twice in the table. Arrows in the candidate listAndrefers to the movement of the cursor 21 in the first display portion 20. "AB" and "AB" will manually change the frame for letters to the left of the cursor 21, or change the letter string highlighted in the first display section 20. According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the cursor 23 will continue to highlight the character selected in the second display section 22 until the cursor is moved by the scrolling of the scroll key 10. By pressing an arrow symbol a plurality of times, the cursor in the first display portion 2021 move by a corresponding number of steps until a limit in the text string is encountered. Selecting the vertical arrow will cause the cursor 21 to move up and down in a linear fashion. Pressing the scroll key 10 for a long time in order to select an arrow symbol will cause the cursor 21 to move quickly, how long the scroll key 10 is pressed.

When this table is displayed in the second display section 22, it is processed as a cyclic character string of a periodically repeated table.

When a key appears in the alphanumeric key group 7, a special character list will appear in the second display section 22. Such a special character table may comprise special characters currently available in known telephones, e.g. all greek letters, numerical operators and currency symbols, the special character patterns being represented in the icon area by special character icons.

Pressing the "clear" soft key 8 at any time will delete the character to the left of the cursor 21, if one exists. The cursor 21 in the second display section 22 does not move when deleting a character.

When the available "highlight" operation is selected by the "candidate" soft key 8, the user is asked to mark the beginning of the highlight portion of the text. The cursor 21 in the second display section 22 will automatically jump to the first symbol among the four arrow labels. By pressing the scroll key 10 an appropriate number of times with the desired arrow symbol highlighted, the cursor 21 is moved to the right position. By pressing the left soft key 8 "Mark" the user indicates the start of the highlight. The end of the highlighting is marked in the same way. The right soft key 8 "exit" allows the user to terminate the "highlight" operation without affecting the entered text. Once the text portion has been highlighted, the user is allowed to perform operations on the text portion, such as copy to clipboard, delete, move.

As can be seen from the above, numbers and numbers can be entered through a character table using a roller. It is obvious that a number can be entered by pressing the corresponding number key of the set of number keys 7. This number can be inserted in the position indicated with the cursor 21.

Even though all characters can be entered through the scroll key 10 and the character string in the second display part 22, it is preferable to let the user use a mixed concept based on the scroll key 10 and a conventional alphanumeric keypad, in which the characters of one key depend on the number of times this key is pressed. A character is added to a text string after not pressing for a certain period of time, timeout, or after activating another key. And Nokia 2110^TMIn contrast, the special symbol has been moved from the alphanumeric key to the special symbol string controlled by the scroll key 10, so that each key in the keypad 7 is associated with only four symbols on average.

When the user presses one of the keys "0-9", the cursor 23 will jump to the first number in the character string in the second display section 22. If the user presses this key, the corresponding number will be inserted at the position marked with the cursor 21 after a time-out corresponding to, for example, 0.8 seconds. If the user releases the key, he can select another numeric character using the scroll wheel, whereby the numeric keys are available for movement between strings.

When the user now presses the "5/jkl" key for a long time, for example, which will immediately insert the "5" and show the cursor again, the user can continue to enter characters using the scroll key 10.

By pressing a numeric key multiple times, for example, the "5/jkl" key, a second press (within a timeout) will pop up a "J", and so on. The cursor 23 will remain in the number field during the multiple presses.

When the user has pressed the "5/jkl" key twice, "J" will appear in the "pending" area in the first display section 20. This mode is referred to as "timeout mode". It should be noted that the cursor 21 does not appear within the timeout period, the right soft key 8 is now changed to the function "clear", and activation of the "clear" soft key 8 will immediately clear the character ("J") being entered.

After entering a character in the timeout mode, the cursor 23 in the character table will not return to the starting point ("a"), and pressing another alphanumeric key-including the special "+" key-within the timeout period will immediately insert the character and begin inserting another character. Successive characters may be inserted using exactly the same method or using a roller method.

Basically, the input method (either the traditional method or the scroll key based method) can be used on a "character basis". This means that the user can change the input method character by character. The user may also change from the traditional approach to the scrolling approach for the same character.

The manual switching between the upper frame and the lower frame will be described below. As mentioned above, the editor concept is based on the so-called title box concept in the name entry mode, and when entering SMS messages and other longer texts, the phone will also automatically switch between the top and bottom frames according to the so-called text box concept. Both concepts of automatically connecting to the phone mode will mean that manual up/down frame switching becomes less critical.

However, manual frame change would be possible in two ways (i.e., by pressing the # key or selecting the frame switch icon "a/a" in the second display section 22). Manual top/bottom frame switching will never affect automatic frame switching-whatever the method. For the case of only one character, the frame will be cancelled. The frame switch is visible on the frame/mode icon 24 in the header and on the frame of the character in the second display section 22.

The title box concept and text box will be discussed briefly below. The characters separating the two sentences are called hard separators, and these separators may include the following symbols: ". ","! "and"? ". Hard separators may be language dependent to some extent. Characters separating two words are called soft separators, which may include the following symbols:"-" and ": ". The soft separators may also be language dependent to some extent.

The title box skeleton automatically selects the upper frame for the first character of each word, which means after each soft delimiter and after each hard delimiter. The text skeleton automatically selects the upper frame for the first character of each sentence, i.e., after each hard delimiter.

As indicated above, the described editor concept contains several character patterns that are partially automatically changed (title box processing, automatic return to the normal alphabet after special character selection, etc.) and partially manually selected (using manual up/down frame switching, or by activating special characters on the 1 and x keys).

Intelligent alphanumeric input

A second embodiment according to the present invention will be described below. The second embodiment of the present invention provides a higher text entry rate. The basic idea is the same in both embodiments and this is simply a modified table displayed in the second display section 22.

According to the present invention, when such a character is input, the controller 18 checks a character previously input. The ROM memory 17b contains a number of prediction tables-one for each language. Since many languages are available in the telephone and the memory available in the telephone is limited, it is desirable to reduce the required storage space for these prediction tables.

The simplest way to generate a prediction table is to analyze a dictionary, such as english. Whenever an "a" occurs, the succeeding letter is registered. Finally, the frequency of the succeeding letters is calculated and the most frequently occurring letters, for example 5-12, are selected, placed in alphabetical order in the prediction table of the most likely letters following "a", this being done for all letters included in the language.

Alternatively, exactly five letters are included in the probability table, and the letters may be listed in a queue order related to the probability. For english speech this gives 130 characters in the prediction and a prediction table for 20 languages based on latin letters will occupy less than 3Kbyte of storage space.

Alternatively, instead of proposing a fixed number of letters in the probability table, letters that occur with a probability higher than, for example, 5-10% may be included in the table, such modifications having substantially no effect on the size of the prediction table.

The first character in a word is difficult to predict, so the user is here simply provided with the usual complete alphabet, as is the case according to the first embodiment. The cursor 23 highlights the letter "a" as shown in the first display section in fig. 4. When the second character of a word is to be entered, the telephone begins to suggest the appropriate predicted character in the character bar. Assuming that the user has typed in "B", the second display section 22 will now suggest the most likely character after "B". In this example, these letters are "a, e, i, l, o, r, u, y". This list of most likely characters will be sorted alphabetically according to the preferred embodiment. These characters may be referred to as probability tables.

The remaining characters of the alphabet are shown after the most probable character list, which means that the characters shown in the probability list are not considered according to the preferred embodiment, which characters are of course also ordered alphabetically.

The character table displayed in the second display section 22 after the typing in of "B" is therefore as follows:

AE1ORUY|BCDFGHJKMNPQSTVWXZ_0123456789.，-？！_AB

the symbol "|" represents a boundary line between the probability table and the rest of the table, which may be represented by a horizontal dashed line (not shown) in the second display portion 22.

Alternatively, the entire string may be shown after the outline of the second display portion 22, which results in some extra characters-but only for the most likely character. If the user misses the letter "r" in the probability table, that letter may be found in the rest of the table, which may then be as follows.

AEILORUY|ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

01234567890.，-？！_AB

Reordering of the alphabet can be performed in a number of ways, some of which are discussed below.

When one or more characters of a word are typed in, a prediction of possible characters may be performed. Prediction can be achieved in essentially three ways or a combination of these, and the above description is based on using only the previous characters for prediction. In general, vowels have more characters than consonants in the probability table.

An example relating to a set of prediction tables in english will be given with reference to table 1. The prediction table includes all letters and space symbols in english, the table suggests a second letter following the first letter, the table includes only letters with an occurrence probability higher than 5%.

Table 1 is a paper based on r.william Sourekoff and i.scoff Mackenzie: "thermal upper and lower bases on typing speed used as astylus and soft keyguard"; behaviour & InformationTechnology, (1995)14(6), pp 370-379. In this paper, the authors propose a table of similarity matrices, representing the number of times a second letter follows a first letter in a standard body containing more than 100000 letters. Spaces are included in this table because some letters appear very frequently at the end of a word, and it is statistically apparent that spaces are likely to be the next letter when those letters appear in the word. Even if no correlation between the space and the first letter of the next word is expected, some letters appear very frequently at the beginning of the word. However, this relationship is clearly weaker than the relationship between two letters in a word, but is stronger than the correlation between the appearance from the beginning to the end in the body and the appearance as the starting letter.

The first column in table 1 includes the 26 letters used in english and a space symbol separating the two words. Special symbols, delimiters and numbers are not considered for the probability table. When a letter in the first column appears in the first display section 20 before the cursor 21, the initial display will contain the corresponding probability table at the top of the second display section 22, and the cursor 23 will highlight the first letter in the probability table.

The letters in the probability table are ordered according to the probability of occurrence at the position in question. In the preferred embodiment, only the letters with an occurrence probability higher than 5% are present in the table, and the number of letters in the table varies between 0 and 9, as shown in the third column. However, the average is just about 5.5 letters per table.

The fourth column shows the frequency of occurrence of the first letter in the body and the fifth column shows the efficiency of the probability table. Typically, five of the six letters may be entered through the probability table and only one of the six letters may have to be entered by scrolling through the rest of the candidate table. It is noted that it is difficult to predict letters after a space. Also note that the letters following some vowels (e.g., "a", "e", and "o") are difficult to predict. However, predicting letters after a consonant is quite good.

First letter	Probability table	Number of letters in probability table	Probability of first letter	The probability tables containing percentages of letters
					a	n；r；t；s；l；d.	6	7.00％	69％
b	e；u；o；a；l；r；i.	7	1.40％	92％
					c	h；a；o；e；k；t；l.	7	2.03％	88％
d	“space”；e	2	3.73％	80％
					e	“space”；r；n；d；a；s.	6	11.47％	78％
f	o；i；r；e；a；“space”；t；f.	8	1.54％	91％
					g	“space”；e；h；0；r；i.	6	1.88％	84％
h	e；a；i；“space”；o	5	6.65％	94％
					i	n；t；s；l；c；r；d；m；g	9	4.45％	84％
j	u；o；e；i.	4	0.14％	99％
					k	e；“space”；i；n；s.	5	0.92％	97％
l	“space”；e；l；i；o；a；d；y.	8	3.85％	87％
					m	e；“space”；a；o；i.	5	2.13％	85％
n	d；“space”；g；e；t；o.	6	5.18％	83％
					o	u；n；m；t；w；o；“space”.	7	5.71％	76％
p	e；l；o；a；“space”；r；i；u.	8	1.32％	85％
					q	u.	1	0.07％	100％
r	“space”；e；o；s；i；a.	6	5.06％	79％
					s	“space”；t；e；h.	4	5.23％	74％
t	h；“space”；e.	3	8.44％	78％
					u	t；r；s；n；“space”；l；g.	7	2.65％	79％
v	e；i.	2	0.85％	92％
					w	a；h；i；“space”；e；o.	6	2.47％	93％
x	t；p；“space”；a；i；c；e；u.	8	0.12％	99％
					y	“space”；o；e.	3	1.81％	91％
z	e；z；l；a；s；y.	6	0.05％	89％
					Blank space	t；a；w；s；h；f；b.	7	19.76％	63％

Table 1 shows an example of probability table setting for english.

Alternatively, two or more preceding characters may be used for prediction, which increases the need for memory space, but gives the user an improved prediction result. A table of prediction concepts based on many characters can be generated using essentially the same method as the prediction concepts based on single characters. Of course these tables are actually larger, especially when the prediction is performed using more than two preceding characters, but the idea is basically the same.

After "ph" (anywhere in the word), the probability table should possibly contain only the letters a, e, i and y. After "Su", this table may include the letters: a, b, c, d, f, g, and the like. After "Sc", this table may contain: a, e, h, i, l, o, r, u and y.

An advantage of the multiple character based prediction concept is that the probability table often contains all possible letters, so that the user does not have to scroll through the remaining characters.

According to another alternative, a complete dictionary can be used for the prediction, which will make it possible to suggest all 10-12 characters after having typed in 2-5 characters! However, the user should have the possibility to scroll the words matching the input letters from head to end, and this requires an improved display. It should also be mentioned that this requires a very large space in the ROM memory 17 b.

Calculator input using rollers

The basic input concept is very useful for calculators integrated in e.g. cellular phones. It will be straightforward to enter numbers with the number keys 7 and to enter the desired numerical operators via the second display section 22 and the scroll keys 10.

The second display section 22 may basically comprise four basic numerical operators, equality symbols for performing input calculations, decimal points, per se known memory functions, percentage symbols, changes in symbols and certain currency conversion symbols, including user defined possibilities for currency symbols updated e.g. by SMS service. The candidate list may include the following candidates:

+-×÷＝.M+M-MR MC％+/-$...＞￡￥...＞￡DM→￡

the first display in fig. 5 shows the initial display when the calculator is accessed from e.g. the main menu of the telephone, it will be seen that the two soft keys 7 have the functions "option" and "exit". Pressing "exit" will cause the phone to leave calculator mode and return to idle mode. "options" will allow the user to specify and update, for example, currency exchange rates, but "options" may also include functions such as "copy", "paste", and other more general functions.

In the initial calculator display, the user can now press one or more number keys 7 to insert a number or to use the scroll key 10 to indicate a particular operator/function with a cursor and to select a particular transporter/function by pressing the scroll key 10.

If the user presses the number key 7, the corresponding number will be inserted-here the number "9". When a numeric key has been pressed, the number is not uniformly right-aligned because an extra space is used as an operator area. The right soft-key 8 "clear" will delete the last entered digit. Holding down this key will clear all numbers after a first timeout (e.g., 0.8 seconds) and will completely fall back from calculator mode to idle mode after a second timeout (e.g., 1.6 seconds).

From the third display in fig. 5, it is seen that: the user has moved the cursor 21 by means of the scroll roller. Now the cursor is movedThe symbol is highlighted. The operator currently highlighted will also be seen after the number in the first display section 20. By the steps ofHaving selected an operator and pressed the roller key 10, the already entered symbol will be moved one line up in the display, thereby preparing the bottom line for the next input.

Now the right softkey 8 has again the function exit, the operator that has been entered can be deleted with the "options" softkey 8.

The user can now type in the number again using the number pad 7 in order to enter further numbers. In the fifth display of fig. 5, the user has entered the number "7291" and in the next display section the cursor 23 is moved to an equality symbol, selection of which will cause the entered number and operator to jump one step upwards and perform a calculation whereby the result will appear on the bottom row of the first display section 20, as can be seen in the seventh and last display sections of fig. 5. The result cannot be edited, but the user is free to add operators to the result, for example, to use the result in further calculations.

When the scroll key 10 is scrolled, pressing the number key 7 will not select the operator; the number will be inserted directly. When scrolling the operator, pressing the clear soft key will delete the temporary operator first.

Pressing one of the standard or user-specified currency conversion symbols (e.g., "$. >. form", "@" or "DM.. >) will convert the previously entered amount of one currency to the corresponding selected currency amount.

Roller-based text entry using non-Latin letter-based languages

Some languages are based on non-Latin characters. However, Russian and Greek are very relevant to Latin, so text input can be handled in the same way.

Text entry using words such as chinese, japanese, thai and arabic is difficult to handle through alphanumeric keypads because the number of characters is very large compared to latin, and so a list of character candidates would seem endless if no means were provided to reduce the number of candidates.

It will be described below how characters in many foreign languages can be entered using the scroll key 10 and thus without any additional pressing of the alphanumeric keys 7. This aspect of the invention will be described with reference to chinese. Because of the many characters in the text, it is important to allow switching between several input methods.

The most important Chinese input methods are listed below

The pinyin method is based on the pronunciation of chinese characters. The Chinese pronunciation system includes 6 basic vowels and 21 consonants, the leading consonant is called the prefix, the others are the word endings, the vowel must be the main part of the word endings, the pinyin is mainly used in the continental China, the ZhuYin method includes 37 symbols representing vowels and consonants, the consonants are pronunciation codes which cannot be used independently, and they must be combined with a vowel to form a character. Zhuyin is mainly used in Taiwan. The Guangdong sound method is the same as the Pinyin method, but it is designed for the person who says Cantonese, and Guangdong sound is mainly used in hong Kong.

The input method of chinese is well known, and the most important of them is: pinyin, yue-yin and nature. When selecting a Chinese character input from the "options" main menu item in the main menu of the telephone, the user can switch between the various Chinese input methods by pressing the "#" key in the alphanumeric key group 7.

An example is illustrated in the first display portion of the sequence shown in fig. 6, where the user selects the pinyin method as the chinese text input. On top of the first display section 20, some chinese symbols 24 illustrate the mode of the phone. The selected text input method is shown in a first dedicated area 30, which is used in the display for non-latin related languages. The current function of the soft key 8 is indicated in the functional areas 26 and 27 for the soft key 8. During text entry, the user is allowed to switch between different text entry methods, including English.

In the first display portion of the sequence, the user selects pinyin as the input method, after which the user enters the latin letter "hou" via the alphanumeric key 7. The entered letters appear in a second special area 31 in the display for non-latin related languages.

Characters in non-latin related languages are stored in an electronic dictionary that contains associations with corresponding pronunciations based on the latin alphabet. Preferably, the search in the pronunciation table is implemented by fuzzy logic, whereby pronunciation characters with a match to the input latin alphabet are placed at the top of the list of candidates displayed in the second display section 22, while less well matched candidates are shown at the bottom of the list, irrespective of non-matched candidates in the list.

As seen from the first display section, the characters highlighted in the candidate list are the same as the characters highlighted in the first display section 20. The user selects the correct character highlighted with the cursor 23 by pressing the scroll key 10. When this is done, the second dedicated area 31 is cleared, thereby also clearing the candidate list in the second display section 22. As can be seen from the second display section, the character just selected is no longer highlighted in the first display section 20 and the user can now start entering the latin alphabet for the pronunciation of the next character or accept the entered text by selecting a menu item.

If the user wants to switch to another Chinese input method, he can do so without affecting the characters already entered. The user may effect the switching by means of an "options" function available at the left softkey 8. In the "options" table, the user selects Chinese input (third display) and selects the desired Chinese input method in the fourth display.

Alternatively, the user may press the "#" key in the second display section to switch to a cantonese. Pressing the "#" key again will cause the phone to switch to the natural input method.

In the natural input mode the candidate list in the second display section 22 will contain the available strokes as shown in the fifth display of the sequence. The user now defines the character by scrolling and selecting strokes from the scroll list, the selected strokes being copied to a second dedicated area 31 which is used in the natural input mode for constructing chinese characters, as represented in the sixth display. When the user wants to transfer the constructed chinese character to the first display section 20, this is done via the "options" menu on the left soft-key 8.

Text input based on step up/down scroll and select keys using non-Latin alphabet based languages Into

The invention has so far been described with reference to a telephone provided with a roller key 10 serving as a combined navigation and selection means for a cursor in a display. However, the concept according to the invention, in which a list of candidates is shown in the display and a cursor can be moved through the candidates in a stepwise manner, is also very useful for telephones with navigation and selection functions that are divided in separate keys.

Fig. 8 shows an alternative embodiment for such a telephone, the two softkeys 8 and the call handling key 9 being integrated in one single softkey 40, the stepwise movement of the cursor being controlled by a scroll key 41. This concept is described in a pending patent application GB 9624520.4 filed by the applicant at the Cebit exposition at the end of 2 months 1997 and used in the GSM phone Nokia 3110, which was marketed in 6 months of the year.

As can be seen from the first display section of fig. 7, when the user has entered the chinese character input mode based on the pinyin method, either the first display section 20 or the second display section 22 initially displayed is blank. However, the cursor 21 in the first display portion 20 indicates the position of the next input character. The function "OK pass" (save input character) of the soft key 40 is displayed in the center soft key area 42.

When the letter "h" is entered through the alphanumeric keypad 7, the list of candidates appears in the second display section 22, one of the characters is highlighted by means of the cursor 23, and the highlighted character will be highlighted simultaneously by means of the cursor 21 in the first display section 20. The user may navigate through the list of candidates in an up/down direction by pressing the scroll key 41. In addition, the user may also enter latin letters to reduce the number of chinese letters in the candidate list. When the desired character becomes highlighted, the user selects the character by pressing the soft key 40 with the function "select". When this is done, the second display section 22 is cleared and the cursor 21 is moved to indicate the position of the next character to be input. This will be seen from the third display, the user can now start entering the next character by entering the latin alphabet, or he can accept the complete text by pressing the "OK through" soft key 40.

Roller-based music input

The idea of inputting information to a communication terminal, such as a telephone, is very successful for inputting music into the telephone, which music can be used as a ringing tone (alert signal), thereby allowing the user to personalize his telephone by inputting the user's own created jingle or an input based on e.g. a music book.

Basically, music can be specified as the notes in a staff on a musical score. The clef number, beat signature and, if necessary, key signature determine the pitch (frequency) and tempo. The submenu loop may be entered by the menu item "tone set" in the main menu loop of the phone. This tone menu setting may include a set of submenu items, as is known from the phone called Nokia 3110 provided by the applicant. These items may include "call alert," ring volume, "" ring tone, "" keypad tone, "and" warning tone. The main menu item "tone settings" may include a submenu item called "enter ring tune" according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. This submenu item will for example allow the user to enter music through a user interface operated by the user. By selecting this submenu item, the first image in fig. 9 will appear in the display.

On the upper side of the first display section 20, a header is provided which is a combined icon area including an icon 24 and an operation mode indication area including a mark 25, informing the user that music is to be input.

Fig. 9 shows a first display section 20 for displaying a character string of input music in the form of musical notes laid in a staff including five lines. The second display section 22 comprises a string of a plurality of possible information candidates. When music input is started, the candidates include a clef and a key at the top of the table. If the user disregards these characters, the music will enter the C major. As each note is entered, the staff segments 43 will appear in the second display portion 22 in alignment with the staff in the first display portion 20. The position of the staff segment 43 will be fixed as long as the note is entered and navigation using the scroll key 10 will move the note 44 by one whole tone in the staff segment 43. The current position of the note is also shown with a cursor 21. When the user selects a note by pressing the scroll key 10, the cursor 21 will become a thin line cursor, positioned next to the last entered note. The position of the note 44 will be maintained. When the scroll key is pressed or scrolled again, the cursor 21 will highlight the note in question.

The function of the soft key 8 is default "options" and "clear" as shown from the fields 26 and 27. "clear" will clear the character to the left of the cursor 21. An "option" would allow the user to edit the string of notes that have been entered, for example by adjusting the notes to a half-tone or deleting and adding notes. Also, the tempo of the music and the duration of one or more tones may be changed from the standard settings. The "options" will also allow the user to save the entered music. "options" may also allow a user to use more than one tone on a note. The buzzer is used for alarming. The tone is generated by adjusting the duty cycle of the buzzer. When the duration of a tone is divided into smaller segments with the required duty cycle of the respective tone, the buzzer provides a multi-tone output.

The present phone only allows the user to use a limited number of tones, e.g. between 14 (two octaves) and 21 (three octaves), depending on the frequency range of the buzzer. In addition to the clef and key signature, the candidate list will include staff segments with a number of note positions corresponding to the number of tones. Furthermore, the candidate list will comprise a number of operators, e.g. arrows, wherein selecting one of these operators will move the cursor 21, e.g. move the cursor one step back.

The cursors 21 and 23 have been mentioned in the above description only as cursors. However, it is only meaningful for those skilled in the art that the cursor 23 is to identify a candidate. As can be seen in fig. 9, this is achieved by using the position of the candidate string alone when the staff segments 43 are aligned with the staff in the first display portion 20. However, when the cursor indicates an operator or a clef and a key, the color of the character is changed. In some applications the cursor 21 is a music line cursor indicating only where a character is to be entered, e.g. fig. 3, and in other applications the cursor is a rectangular cursor, e.g. fig. 9, representing the character to be entered.

The invention includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or any generalization thereof, whether or not it relates to the claimed invention or mitigates any or all of the mentioned problems.

In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims (38)

1. A communication terminal having a predictive text editor for entering text and comprising:

the display comprises a first display part and a second display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, and the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates;

navigation means for navigating through a list of information candidates;

selecting means for selecting a candidate from said list of information candidates; and

a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device;

in the predictive text editor:

highlighting a candidate for information in a second display portion with a cursor controlled by said navigation device;

the processor appends the candidate item of high-brightness display in the second display part to the character string of the input information according to the selection of the selection device; and

the processor sorts the information candidates displayed as information candidates in the second display section according to the previously selected character or characters.

2. A communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the first display section constitutes a main part of said display and the second display section is provided as a display strip along one edge of said display.

3. A communication terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the navigation means is provided as a navigation key having a roller body which, when operated, causes a cursor to move, and wherein the selection means is integrated in the navigation key as a sensor detecting a depression of the roller body.

4. A communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein said navigation means are provided as navigation keys for navigating step-wise through information candidates, and wherein said selection means are provided as a separate key for selecting an item currently indicated with said cursor.

5. A communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein said separate selection key is provided as a softkey, the current function of which is displayed in a dedicated part of said display.

6. The communication terminal of claim 5, wherein the communication terminal has at least two input modes for inputting at least a first type and a second type of information into different applications of the communication terminal, and the processor ranks the information candidates in the candidate string according to the input modes of the communication terminal.

7. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein said processor ranks information candidates in a default string of candidates according to a current input mode of said communication terminal, and said processor generates for each information candidate input an associated candidate string comprising a set of characters having a maximum probability at a beginning followed by said default string.

8. A communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein said display includes a third display section for displaying the latin alphabet being input.

9. A communication terminal according to claim 8, wherein said processor is connected to a memory storing a dictionary comprising symbols of a non-latin character based language and corresponding pronunciation strings, said processor searching the pronunciation strings in this dictionary memory for symbols matching said pronunciation strings and displaying the corresponding symbols in the second display portion.

10. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein said processor ranks possible information candidates in a default string of candidates, and said processor generates for each information candidate entry an associated candidate string comprising at the beginning a set of characters having the highest probability followed by said default string.

11. A communication terminal having a text editor for inputting oriental characters other than latin alphabets, comprising:

a display including a first display part for displaying character strings of input information, a second display part for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates, and a third display part for displaying oriental characters;

navigation means for navigating through the information candidates;

selection means for selecting a candidate; and

a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device and the selection device;

in the text editor:

the processor displays a plurality of stroke information candidates in a second display part for selection;

the processor is connected to a memory storing a dictionary, searches this dictionary memory for a word fitting to the stroke information that has been selected, and displays the best fitting word in the third display section; and

the best fit word is copied to the input information string in the first display section according to the selection by the selection means.

12. A communication terminal having a text editor for inputting oriental characters other than latin alphabets, comprising:

the display comprises a first display part, a second display part and a third display part, wherein the first display part is used for displaying character strings of input information, the second display part is used for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates, and the third display part is used for displaying Latin letters;

a group of alphanumeric keys for tapping latin letters;

navigation means for navigating through the information candidates;

selection means for selecting a candidate; and

a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device, the selection device and the set of alphanumeric keys;

in the text editor:

the processor displays the Latin letters input by the group of alphanumeric keys in a third display section;

the processor is connected to a memory storing a dictionary comprising oriental characters and corresponding pronunciation character strings;

the processor searches the pronunciation character string in the dictionary memory for a character string matching the latin alphabet already entered in the third display section;

the processor displays the oriental characters in the second display section as possible candidates of the information for selection; and

the processor copies the candidate with high brightness display in the character string of the candidate in the second display part to the character string of the input information in the first display part according to the selection of the selection device.

13. A communication terminal according to claim 12, wherein the first display section constitutes a main part of said display and the second display section is provided as a display strip along one edge of said display.

14. A communication terminal according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the navigation means is provided as a navigation key having a roller body which, when operated, causes a cursor to move, and wherein the selection means is integrated in the navigation key as a sensor detecting a depression of the roller body.

15. A communication terminal according to claim 12, wherein said navigation means are provided as navigation keys for navigating step-wise through the information candidates, and wherein said selection means are provided as a separate key for selecting the item currently indicated with the cursor.

16. A communication terminal according to claim 15, wherein said separate selection key is provided as a softkey, the current function of which is displayed in a dedicated part of said display.

17. The communication terminal of claim 16, wherein said communication terminal has at least two input modes for inputting at least a first type and a second type of information into different applications of said communication terminal, and said processor ranks the information candidates in the candidate string according to the input modes of said communication terminal.

18. The communication terminal of claim 17, wherein said processor sorts the information candidates among the character strings of the plurality of information candidates according to a previously selected character or characters.

19. The communication terminal of claim 12, wherein said processor ranks information candidates in a default string of candidates according to a current input mode of said communication terminal, and said processor generates for each information candidate input an associated candidate string that includes a set of characters with a maximum probability at a beginning followed by said default string.

20. A communication terminal having a music synthesizer for inputting music data information into the communication terminal; the communication terminal includes:

a display including a first display portion for displaying character strings of input information and a second display portion for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates;

navigation means for moving the cursor means through the list of information candidates;

selection means for selecting a candidate; and

a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device;

in the music synthesizer:

the processor displays a character string of music data information input into the music synthesizer in the first display section;

the processor displays character strings of a plurality of music data information candidates in a second display section;

the processor controls a cursor device so as to highlight one of the character strings of a plurality of music data information candidates in the second display section.

21. A communication terminal according to claim 20, wherein the first display section constitutes a main part of said display and the second display section is provided as a display strip along one edge of said display.

22. A communication terminal according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the navigation means is provided as a navigation key having a roller body which, when operated, causes a cursor to move, and wherein the selection means is integrated in the navigation key as a sensor detecting a depression of the roller body.

23. A communication terminal according to claim 20, wherein said navigation means are provided as navigation keys for navigating step-wise through the information candidates, and wherein said selection means are provided as a separate key for selecting the item currently indicated with said cursor.

24. A communication terminal according to claim 23, wherein said separate selection key is provided as a softkey, the current function of which is displayed in a dedicated part of said display.

25. The communication terminal according to claim 20, wherein the character string of the input music data information is displayed as a staff fragment in the first display section.

26. The communication terminal according to claim 20, wherein music data information candidates are displayed with high brightness in said second display section until said music data information candidates to be input into a character string of input music data information to become a part of said character string of input music data information are selected by activating said selection means.

27. The communication terminal according to claim 26, wherein music data information candidates to be input into the character string of the input music data information are highlighted also in the first display section and the second display section during the operation of said navigation means until said selection means is activated.

28. A communication terminal according to claim 25, wherein staff segments will appear in the second display portion when the respective notes are entered.

29. The communication terminal of claim 28, wherein the staff segments in the second display portion are aligned with the staff segments in the first display portion.

30. A communication terminal according to claim 29, wherein the position of the staff segments in the second display portion will be fixed during setting of the height of said note with said navigation means.

31. A communication terminal having a text editor for inputting oriental characters other than latin alphabets, and having:

a display including a first display part for displaying character strings of input information, a second display part for displaying character strings of a plurality of information candidates, and a third display part for displaying oriental characters;

navigation means for navigating through the information candidates;

selection means for selecting a candidate; and

a processor for controlling the display in accordance with operation of the navigation device with the selection device;

in the text editor:

the processor displays a plurality of stroke information candidates for selection in a second display section;

the processor copies a highlighted candidate among the character string of candidates to a third display section in which a combination of strokes is displayed; and

the processor copies the combination of strokes as an oriental character into a character string of the input information in the first display section according to the selection of the selection means.

32. A communication terminal according to claim 31, wherein the first display section constitutes a main part of said display and the second display section is provided as a display strip along one edge of said display.

33. A communication terminal according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the navigation means is provided as a navigation key having a roller body which, when operated, causes a cursor to move, and wherein the selection means is integrated in the navigation key as a sensor detecting a depression of the roller body.

34. A communication terminal according to claim 31, wherein said navigation means are provided as navigation keys for navigating step-wise through the information candidates, and wherein said selection means are provided as a separate key for selecting the item currently indicated with the cursor.

35. A communication terminal according to claim 34, wherein said separate selection key is provided as a soft key, the current function of which is displayed in a dedicated part of said display.

36. The communication terminal of claim 35, wherein said communication terminal has at least two input modes for inputting at least a first type and a second type of information into different applications of said communication terminal, and said processor ranks the information candidates in the candidate string according to the input modes of said communication terminal.

37. The communication terminal of claim 36, wherein said processor sorts the information candidates among the character strings of the plurality of information candidates according to a previously selected character or characters.

38. The communication terminal of claim 31, wherein said processor ranks information candidates in a default string of candidates according to a current input mode of said communication terminal, and said processor generates for each information candidate input an associated candidate string that includes a set of characters with a maximum probability at a beginning followed by said default string.