Shifter for controlling the transmission of a motor vehicle, and a method for controlling the transmission of a vehicle with a shifter

A shifter for controlling a transmission of a motor vehicle, the shifter comprising:

• a rotatably mounted actuation element including a plurality of angular positions;
• a sensor assembly comprising:
• an annular detent track mounted to the actuation element, the annular detent track including a circumferential edge having a plurality of detent positions and an axial surface;
• a detent plunger that selectively extends into one of the plurality of detent positions;
• a trigger device including a plurality of trigger elements that extend axially outwardly of the axial surface parallel to an axis of rotation of the detent track, the plurality of trigger elements being arranged in at least three annular trigger lines;
• a plurality of binary sensors that selectively detect one or more of the plurality of detent elements;
• wherein the detent track and the detent plunger are arranged to interact in such a way that every angular position of the actuation element corresponds to a rest position for the detent plunger along the detent track;
• and
• a control unit for determining an angular position of the actuation element based on an input signal from the sensor assembly, wherein the plurality of binary sensors include at least three binary sensors, wherein the at least three binary sensors arranged such that each binary sensor corresponds to one annular trigger line of the trigger device, wherein each annular trigger line comprises a plurality of trigger elements that are arranged to be individually detectable by corresponding ones of the at least three binary sensors, and
• wherein the plurality of trigger elements in each annular trigger line are distributed such that at least one of the binary sensors is able to detect a presence of a trigger element in one of the annular trigger lines for each angular position of the actuation element, wherein at least one trigger element from each annular trigger line together form a trigger pattern, and the trigger pattern is repeated at least twice on the trigger device to initiate a shift command.