Indicating instrument with a gear indicator
AssigneePreh GmbH
InventorsAnton Ruttiger, Jurgen Nauth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An indicating instrument including at least one display unit including display segments that are used to represent a currently engaged gear and a background surrounding the display segments, and a control circuit configured to apply a first signal having a first polarity to the display segments and a second signal having a second polarity opposite to the first polarity to the background such that the display segments and the background have different contrasts to indicate the currently engaged gear.
Claims21
An indicating instrument, comprising:
- at least one display unit including display segments that are used to represent a currently engaged gear, and a background surrounding the display segments;
- and
- a control circuit configured to apply a first signal having a first polarity to the display segments and a second signal having a second polarity opposite to the first polarity to the background such that the display segments and the background have different contrasts to indicate the currently engaged gear.
A method for indicating an optimal shift time for a motor vehicle with a manual transmission, comprising:
- determining the optimal shift time using a shift control device included in the motor vehicle;
- transmitting a signal corresponding to the optimal shift time to a control circuit controlling an indicating instrument, said indicating instrument having at least one display unit including display segments that are used to represent a currently engaged gear, and a background surrounding the display segments;
- applying, via the control circuit, a first signal having a first polarity to the display segments and a second signal having a second polarity opposite to the first polarity to the background such that the display segments and the background have different contrasts to indicate the currently engaged gear;
- and
- alternately reversing, via the control circuit, the first and second polarities of the first and second signals so the display unit flashes the currently engaged gear to indicate the optimal shift time.
An indicating instrument, comprising:
- at least one display unit including a first display portion configured to indicate a currently engaged gear, and a second display portion surrounding the first display portion;
- and
- a control circuit configured to apply a first signal to the first display portion and a second signal to the second display portion such that the first and display portions have a different illumination characteristic to thereby display the currently engaged gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.