On-screen gear selector for automatic transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9410613-B2
Application number	US-201213686397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2012
Priority date	Nov 27, 2012
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

An on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission, which provides an interface between the driver and the automatic transmission. The gear selector provides the current selection by the driver to the transmission control unit. The virtual on-screen gear selector provides safety and security features, and is incorporated into the software of the gear selector, such as not allowing the transmission to change from park until the brake pedal is depressed, or not allowing the transmission to change from drive to a lower gear or reverse if the speed of the vehicle is above a predetermined value, thereby avoiding damage to the transmission. The use of the on-screen gear selector also provides the benefit of reducing space and weight of the vehicle, by having less mechanical parts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
an on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle, including:
a touch screen;
an on-screen gear selector for selectively being displayed on the touch screen, the on-screen gear selector having a minimized position and a pop-up mode; and
a plurality of icons,
each of the plurality of icons representing a mode of operation of the automatic transmission,
the plurality of icons selectively displayed on the touch screen,
the plurality of icons being part of the on-screen gear selector;
wherein each of the plurality of icons is touched to configure the transmission to operate in a mode of operation represented by the touched icon, and
only the icon representing a current mode of operation is displayed on the touch screen when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position, and
when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position,
the displayed icon representing the current mode of operation is touched to configure the touch screen such that all of the plurality of icons are displayed on the touch screen; and

wherein the on-screen gear selector is placed in the minimized position after a predetermined amount of driving time in the mode of operation represented by the displayed icon, allowing other functions to be displayed on the touch screen; and
wherein the on-screen gear selector chances from the minimized position to pop-up mode when the speed of the vehicle is below a predetermined value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
one of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in park,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in drive,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in reverse,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in neutral, and
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in manual low gear.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of icons are arranged horizontally.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an indicator used with the plurality icons for providing an indication of which mode of operation the automatic transmission is configured.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , the indicator further comprising an outline substantially surrounding the touched icon.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein when the on-screen gear selector is placed in the minimized position,
the shown icon representing the current mode of operation is surrounded by the outline.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the on-screen gear selector prohibits the automatic transmission to shift one from gear to another when the vehicle is travelling above a predetermined speed.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an instrument panel, the touch screen being part of the instrument panel.

9. An on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle, comprising:
a touch screen;
an on-screen gear selector for selectively being displayed on the touch screen the on-screen gear selector having a minimized position and a pop-up mode; and
a plurality of icons selectively displayed on the touch screen, each of the plurality of icons being part of the on-screen gear selector; and
an indicator used on one of the plurality of icons, the indicator displayed on the touch screen in proximity to one of the plurality of icons;
wherein each of the plurality of icons represents a mode of operation of the automatic transmission, and
wherein each of the plurality of icons is touched to configure the transmission to operate in a mode of operation represented by the touched icon, and
only the icon representing the current mode of operation displayed on the touch screen when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position, and
when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position,
the displayed icon representing the current mode of operation is touched to configure the touch screen such that all of the one or more plurality of icons are displayed on the touch screen; and

wherein the on-screen gear selector is placed in the minimized position after a predetermined amount of driving time in the mode of operation represented by the displayed icon, allowing other functions to be displayed on the touch screen; and
wherein the on-screen gear selector changes from the minimized position to pop-up mode when the speed of the vehicle is below a predetermined value.

10. The on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of icons are arranged horizontally when displayed on the touch screen.

11. The on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle of claim 9 , the indicator further comprising an outline substantially surrounding the icon representing the current mode of operation.

12. The on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle of claim 9 ,
one of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in park when displayed with the indicator,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in drive when displayed with the indicator,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in reverse when displayed with the indicator,
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in neutral when displayed with the indicator, and
another of the plurality of icons providing an indication that the vehicle is in manual low gear when displayed with the indicator.

13. The on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle claim 9 , further comprising an instrument panel, the touch screen being part of the instrument panel.

14. The on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission of a vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the on-screen gear selector prohibits the automatic transmission to shift one from gear to another when the vehicle is travelling above a predetermined speed.

15. An on-screen gear selector for an automatic transmission, comprising:
an instrument panel;
a touch screen mounted as part of the instrument panel;
an on-screen gear selector for selectively being displayed on the touch screen;
a plurality of icons, each one of the plurality of icons representing a mode of operation of an automatic transmission,
the plurality of icons being part of the on-screen gear selector; and

an outline surrounding at least one of the plurality of icons,
the outline providing an indication in which mode of operation the automatic transmission is configured to operate;

wherein one of the plurality of icons is selected by a touch on the touch screen to configure the automatic transmission to operate in the corresponding mode of operation, and the outline surrounds the icon which is selected, and
wherein each of the plurality of icons is touched to configure the transmission to operate in a mode of operation and
only the icon representing a current mode of operation is displayed on the touch screen when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position, and
when the on-screen gear selector is in the minimized position,
the displayed icon representing the current mode of operation is touched to configure the touch screen such that all of the plurality of icons are displayed on the touch screen; and

wherein the on-screen gear selector is placed in the minimized position after a predetermined amount of driving time in the mode of operation represented by the displayed icon, allowing other f

Assignees

• Continental automotive systems inc

Inventors

• Montes Carlos

Classifications

• B60K35/22

  Display screens · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• F16H59/08 Primary

  Range selector apparatus · CPC title

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title

• B60K2350/1032

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic