Driver Interface
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsAnthony Sebastian Riera, Edwin D. Robertson, Charles William Suter, Majed Samhan Mohammed
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle driver interface includes a mode selector, such as a shift lever, and two shift paddles. The shift paddles perform different functions according to which driving mode is selected via the mode selector. In a manual mode, driver activation of one of the shift paddles results in an upshifts and driver activation of the other shift paddle results in a downshift. In a snowplow mode, driver activation of one of the shift paddles shifts the transmission to reverse while driver activation of the other shift paddle shifts the transmission to forward.
Claims14
A vehicle comprising:
- a transmission implementing a reverse gear and multiple forward gears;
- a driver interface including a mode selector and two shift buttons;
- and
- a controller programmed to, in response to selection of a first mode via the mode selector, command shifts between the reverse gear and one of the forward gears in response to activation of the shift buttons.
A vehicle controller comprising:
- input channels configured to receive signals from two shift buttons and a mode selector;
- output channels configured to send signals to a transmission;
- and
- control logic configured to, in response to selection of a first mode via the mode selector, issue commands to the transmission to shift between a reverse gear and a forward gear in response to activation signals from the shift buttons.
A method of controlling a transmission comprising:
- in a first driver selected mode, commanding, by a controller, shifts among a plurality of forward gears in response to activation of shift buttons;
- and
- in a second driver selected mode, commanding, by the controller, shifts between one of the forward gears and a reverse gear in response to activation of the shift buttons.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.