1. An airbag for minimizing a risk of injury to a vehicle occupant, comprising:
an inflatable bag having a primary chamber and a secondary chamber adjacent to said primary chamber;
said primary chamber inflating before said secondary chamber and applying a generally downward force to a lower-body portion of the vehicle occupant in order to allocate a substantial portion of an initial impact force to said lower-body portion and to position the vehicle occupant for minimizing a risk of injury to the vehicle occupant;
said inflatable bag deployed sequentially in a generally linearly upward direction from said primary chamber to said secondary chamber;
said primary chamber comprising an upper sub-chamber and a lower sub-chamber;
said lower sub-chamber extending substantially across a width and a depth of the improved airbag and allocating said substantial portion of said initial impact force to said lower-body portion of the vehicle occupant;
said upper sub-chamber sized substantially smaller than said lower sub-chamber along said depth of the improved airbag;
said upper sub-chamber absorbing and re-directing said initial impact force generally downward and providing immediate protection for an upper-body region of the vehicle occupant;
said upper sub-chamber is sized substantially smaller than said lower sub-chamber along said width of the improved airbag.
2. The airbag of claim 1 further comprising:
a releasable tether attached to said inflatable bag for maintaining said secondary chamber in a collapsed configuration until a sufficient threshold pressure causes said releasable tether to detach from said inflatable bag and allow said secondary chamber to inflate.
3. The airbag of claim 1 wherein said inflatable bag includes a primary inlet for allowing a gas to be injected directly into said primary chamber of said inflatable bag.
4. The airbag of claim 3 wherein said inflatable bag includes a secondary inlet for allowing said gas to flow from said primary chamber to said secondary chamber.
5. The airbag of claim 4 wherein said secondary inlet is at least one open vent hole.
6. The airbag of claim 4 wherein said secondary inlet is at least one baffle vent.
7. The airbag of claim 4 wherein said secondary inlet is a permeable fabric panel integrated within said inflatable bag.
8. An airbag for minimizing a risk of injury to a vehicle occupant, comprising:
an inflatable bag having at least one panel defining a primary chamber and a secondary chamber that is adjacent to said primary chamber;
said primary chamber inflating before said secondary chamber and applying a generally downward force to a lower-body portion of the vehicle occupant in order to allocate a substantial portion of an initial impact force to said lower-body portion and to position the vehicle occupant for minimizing a risk of injury to the vehicle occupant; and
a releasable tether attached to said at least one panel and maintaining said secondary chamber in a collapsed configuration until a sufficient threshold pressure causes said releasable rather to detach from said at least one panel and allow said secondary chamber to inflate;
said inflatable bag deployed sequentially in a generally linearly upward direction from said primary chamber to said secondary chamber;
said at least one panel defining said primary chamber with an upper sub-chamber and a lower sub-chamber;
said lower sub-chamber extending substantially across a width and a depth of the airbag and allocating said substantial portion of said initial impact force to said lower-body portion of the vehicle occupant;
said upper sub-chamber substantially smaller than said lower sub-chamber along said depth of the airbag and absorbing and re-directing said initial impact force generally downward;
said upper sub-chamber providing immediate protection for an upper-body region of the vehicle occupant;
said upper sub-chamber sized substantially smaller than said lower sub-chamber along said width of the airbag.
9. The airbag of claim 8 wherein said at least one panel includes a primary inlet for allowing a gas to be injected directly into said primary chamber of said inflatable bag.
10. The airbag of claim 9 wherein said at least one panel includes a secondary inlet for allowing said gas to flow from said primary chamber to said secondary chamber.
11. The airbag of claim 10 wherein said secondary inlet is at least one open vent hole.
12. The airbag of claim 10 wherein said secondary inlet is at least one baffle vent.
13. The airbag of claim 10 wherein said secondary inlet is a permeable fabric panel integrated within said inflatable bag.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display:
displaying a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display, wherein a respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons corresponds to two or more symbols;
detecting a finger contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the respective icon;
determining a respective first symbol in the two or more symbols to which the position of the finger contact further corresponds; modifying the displayed respective icon to indicate that the finger contact corresponds to the respective first symbol, wherein the modifying includes:
asymmetrically distorting a shape of the respective icon towards the respective first symbol, and
enlarging the respective first symbol;
detecting a change of the finger contact to a different position within the respective icon, the different position corresponding to a second symbol of the two or more symbols of the respective icon, if the finger making the contact is being rolled by the user to the different position; and
selecting the respective symbol corresponding to the respective current position of the finger contact.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the respective symbol when the user breaks finger contact with the respective icon.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising capitalizing the respective symbol when finger contact is maintained for a time interval exceeding a pre-determined value.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the respective symbol in a region within the shape of the respective icon and outside of a region corresponding to the finger contact.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more symbols for the respective icon are determined in accordance with a lexicography model.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the lexicography model corresponds to a user usage history, and wherein the user usage history occurs prior to the establishment of the finger contact.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the lexicography model corresponds to a frequency of usage of symbols in a language.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein an initial shape of the respective icon includes an arc.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a visual indicator corresponding to the respective symbol.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual indicator includes visual illumination proximate to the respective icon.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the visual illumination includes a band around at least a portion of the respective icon.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual indicator is in accordance with a user usage history that occurs prior to the detecting of the finger contact.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the finger contact includes a gesture that is selected from the group consisting of one or more taps, a swipe and a rolling of a finger.
14. A computer program product for use in conjunction with an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising instructions for:
displaying a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display, wherein a respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons corresponds to two or more symbols;
detecting a finger contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the respective icon;
determining a respective first symbol in the two or more symbols to which the position of the finger contact further corresponds;
modifying the displayed respective icon to indicate that the finger contact corresponds to the respective first symbol, wherein the modifying includes:
asymmetrically distorting a shape of the respective icon towards the respective first symbol, and
enlarging the respective first symbol;
detecting a change of the finger contact to a different position within the respective icon, the different position corresponding to a second symbol of the two or more symbols of the respective icon, if the finger making the contact is being rolled by the user to the different position; and
selecting the respective symbol corresponding to the respective current position of the finger contact.
15. A graphical user interface on an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, a memory, and one or more processors to execute one or more programs stored in the memory, the graphical user interface comprising:
a plurality of icons displayed on the touch-sensitive display, wherein a respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons includes two or more symbols;
wherein:
a finger contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display is detected that corresponds to the respective icon;
a respective first symbol in the two or more symbols is determined to which the position of the finger contact further corresponds;
the displayed respective icon is modified to indicate that the finger contact corresponds to the respective first symbol by asymmetrically distorting a shape of the respective icon towards the respective first symbol and enlarging the respective first symbol;
a change of the finger contact to a different position within the respective icon is detected, the different position corresponding to a second symbol of the two or more symbols of the respective icon, if the finger making the contact is being rolled by the user to the different position; and
the respective symbol corresponding to the respective current position of the finger contact is selected.
16. A portable electronic device, comprising:
a touch-sensitive display;
one or more processors;
memory; and
a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the program including:
instructions for displaying a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display, wherein a respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons corresponds to two or more symbols;
instructions for detecting a finger contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the respective icon;
instructions for determining a respective first symbol in the two or more symbols to which the position of the finger contact further corresponds;
instructions for modifying the displayed respective icon to indicate that the finger contact corresponds to the respective first symbol, wherein the modifying includes:
asymmetrically distorting a shape of the respective icon towards the respective first symbol, and
enlarging the respective first symbol;
instructions for detecting a change of the finger contact to a different position within the respective icon, the different position corresponding to a second symbol of the two or more symbols of the respective icon, if the finger making the contact is being rolled by the user to the different position; and
instructions for selecting the respective symbol corresponding to the respective current position of the finger contact.
17. A portable electronic device, comprising:
touch-sensitive display means;
one or more processor means;
memory means; and
program mechanism, wherein the program mechanism is stored in the memory means and configured to be executed by the one or more processors means, the program mechanism including:
instructions for displaying a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display, wherein a respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons corresponds to two or more symbols;
instructions for detecting a finger contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the respective icon;
instructions for determining a respective first symbol in the two or more symbols to which the position of the finger contact further corresponds;
instructions for modifying the displayed respective icon to indicate that the finger contact corresponds to the respective first symbol, wherein the modifying includes:
asymmetrically distorting a shape of the respective icon towards the respective first symbol, and
enlarging the respective first symbol;
instructions for detecting a change of the finger contact to a different position within the respective icon, the different position corresponding to a second symbol of the two or more symbols of the respective icon, if the finger making the contact is being rolled by the user to the different position; and
instructions for selecting the respective symbol corresponding to the respective current position of the finger contact.