Apparatus and method for controlling operation of mobile terminal

A mobile terminal comprising:

• a display screen;
• a physical key for executing an application, wherein the application is a program that produces new information based on user input;
• a memory storing information regarding the physical key and mapping information of the application for the physical key;
• and
• a controller configured to control operations of:
• turning on the display screen when actuation of the physical key is sensed while the display screen is turned off;
• in response to the sensed actuation, executing the application mapped to the physical key, which comprises displaying an executing screen of the application;
• displaying an icon for displaying a main menu screen;
• and
• displaying the main menu screen instead of the application executing screen upon touch selection of the icon;
• wherein the executing screen is a screen for receiving user input, displaying an image or data corresponding to the user input and storing the image or data, which is subsequently reproduced on the display screen.

A mobile terminal comprising:

• a display screen;
• a physical key for executing an application;
• a memory storing information regarding the physical key and mapping information of the application for the physical key;
• and
• a controller configured to control operations of:
• turning on the display screen when actuation of the physical key is sensed while the display screen is turned off;
• displaying an application executing screen for executing the application mapped to the physical key;
• displaying an icon for displaying a main menu screen;
• and
• displaying the main menu screen instead of the application executing screen upon touch selection of the icon;
• wherein the mapped application has a function which is one of phone dial, web browsing, memo making, and music playing functions, and an image for the function is displayed on a majority of the application executing screen.