Patent ID: 7778672

Claim:
A portable electronic device comprising: a display member comprising a liquid crystal display (LCD); a support member formed with a hard member and disposed to cover part of the display surface of the liquid crystal display (LCD); and an operating unit including a plurality of operating buttons lined in a plurality of columns, having at least part of the plurality of operating buttons mounted on the support member, and having at least operating buttons other than the operating buttons mounted on the support member shaped to come into contact with a finger, with which the operating buttons are manipulated, along a line or at a point, a key sheet member having contacts formed at the positions of the respective buttons: wherein at least part of the plurality of the operating buttons mounted on the support member are located at positions of contacts that overlap with a portion of the liquid crystal display (LCD), wherein the support member is positioned between the overlapping contacts and the overlapping portion of the liquid crystal display (LCD), wherein the support member includes a first portion being parallel to the overlapped portion of the liquid crystal display (LCD), and a second portion being sloping along the direction in which the thickness of the device decreases, wherein the key sheet member includes a first potion being parallel to the overlapped portion of the LCD, and a second portion being sloping along the direction in which the thickness of the device decreases, wherein the operating buttons other than the operating buttons mounted on the support member have at least the surfaces thereof, which are on the display member side, sloped in the direction of the thickness of the portable electronic device, and come into contact with a finger, with which the operating buttons are manipulated, along a line, wherein a stroke of press of the operating buttons projecting from a housing of the electronic device prevents the finger from manipulating an adjoining operating button, and wherein the portions of the operating buttons projecting from the housing of the electronic device have a substantially triangular cross section.