IP Library Granted Patent US 10,794,486
Granted Patent B2
US 10,794,486 · App. 16/607,517 · Granted Oct 6, 2020

Gear indicator illumination unit

Inventors: Bernhard Bley (Hannover, DE); Andreas Löhner (Vechelde, DE); Henning Wöhl-Bruhn (Cremlingen, DE); Oliver Von Sehlen (Eicklingen, DE)
Assignee: VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
F16H63/42H05B45/325F16H2063/423
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,794,486
App. No.
16/607,517
Granted
Oct 6, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

A gear indicator illumination unit for a vehicle, particularly for an automatic vehicle, is shown. The gear indicator illumination unit provides basic lighting and individual spot lighting from a plurality of different lighting devices, particularly in the form of LEDs. The gear indicator illumination unit has a plurality of lighting devices for indicating the gear and a memory for saving parameters and/or characteristic curves of the lighting devices.

Claims (12)

1. A gear indicator illumination unit for a vehicle, wherein the gear indicator illumination unit has a plurality of lighting devices for a gear selector indicator, a memory comprising one or more of parameters and characteristic curves of the lighting devices, and an interface for connecting with a gear selector for detecting an engaged gear; wherein

one or more of the parameters and the characteristic curves of the lighting devices saved in the memory can be read out by the gear selector using the interface and the lighting devices can be operated taking into account one or more of the parameters and the characteristic curves that are read out.

2. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the interface is one or more of a specified bus interface, an I2C bus interface, a serial bus interface, and a LIN bus interface.

3. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the gear indicator illumination unit comprises one or more of a microcontroller and an activation unit for activating the lighting devices.

4. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 3 , wherein data on the current gear can be transmitted by the gear selector that can be contacted or is contacted by the gear indicator illumination unit via the interface, to the microcontroller of the illumination unit, and the lighting devices can be activated by one or more of the microcontroller and the activation unit.

5. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 3 , wherein a self-diagnosis can be performed by the microcontroller, wherein when an error is recognized, it can be transmitted to the gear selector via the interface, in particular the serial bus interface.

6. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the lighting devices can be activated by means of pulse width modulation.

7. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the gear indicator illumination unit is one or more of a board and a component of a gear selector cover.

8. A gear selector indicator system for a motor vehicle, wherein the gear selector indicator system has a gear indicator illumination unit according to claim 1 and the gear selector for one or more of detecting an engaged gear and communicating with a control unit.

9. The gear selector indicator system of claim 8 , wherein the control unit is a drive control unit.

10. The gear indicator illumination unit of claim 1 , adapted for use in an automatic vehicle.

11. The gear indicator illumination unit according to claim 1 , wherein the gear indicator illumination unit has a bus interface for contacting the gear selector.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 8, 2020
From: BLEY, BERNHARD; WÖHL-BRUHN, HENNING, DR.; VON SEHLEN, OLIVER; LÖHNER, ANDREAS
To: VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Reel/Frame 053154/0636 →
Priority Claims (1)
DE 10 2017 206 818 · Apr 24, 2017 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200141489A1 · May 7, 2020