The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 15, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 17, 1999
Michael J. White, Jr., Almont, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
Apparatus (,) for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle (,) that has a side structure (,) and a roof (,) comprises an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (,). The inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (,) is inflatable away from the vehicle roof (,) into a position between the side structure (,) of the vehicle (,) and a vehicle occupant. An inflation fluid source (,) provides inflation fluid for inflating the inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (,). The inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (,) comprises overlying panels (,and,) connected together along a perimeter (,) of the panels to define an inflatable volume and a connection (,) that interconnects the overlying panels within the perimeter. The connection (,) comprises a plurality of linear segments (,) that extend in a generally horizontal direction and are spaced vertically apart. The linear segments (,) are positioned relative to each other such that the second terminal end (,) of one of the linear segments (,) lies on a vertically extending line (,) that intersects the first terminal end (,) of another of the linear segments.