Position sensing apparatus

Patent 5561416 Issued on October 1, 1996. Estimated Expiration Date:

May 1, 2015. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

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Inventors

Assignee

Ford Motor Company

Application

No. 432348 filed on 05/01/1995

US Classes:

340/456, Gear position200/61.88, Gear shift lever477/906MEANS DETECTING OR AMELIORATING THE EFFECTS OF MALFUNCTION OR POTENTIAL MALFUNCTION

Examiners

Primary: Mullen, Thomas
Assistant: Wu, David W.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Godwin; Paul K.

International Class

B60Q 001/00

Abstract

A position sensing apparatus (10) for detecting the manually selected operating mode of an automatic transmission (14) in a motor vehicle comprising a digital position sensor (20) for providing a digital position signal and an analog position sensor (22) for providing an analog position signal. The position sensing apparatus 10 may be used to advantage in a position selection and detection system which further includes a selector (12) for selecting one of a plurality of predetermined selectable positions and a decoder (18) responsive to both the digital position signal and the analog position signal for determining the selected position.