Patent ID: 11884375
Assignee: CATERPILLAR INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 18:
19. A method of determining a current gear of a marine vessel, the marine vessel including a transmission and a propulsion control processor to execute the method, the method comprising:
determining whether a transmission oil pressure sensor is enabled or disabled;
receiving, if the transmission oil pressure sensor is enabled, an oil pressure;
determining if a feedback sensor is installed in a gearbox of a transmission of the marine vessel;
receiving, if the feedback sensor is installed, a gear state of the transmission;
determining if a shaft rotational direction sensor is installed on a shaft of a propulsion device of the marine vessel;
receiving, if the shaft rotational direction sensor is installed, a direction of rotation of the shaft; and
receiving a commanded gear, the commanded gear being set by an operator of the marine vessel, wherein, upon receipt of the oil pressure, the gear state, the direction of rotation of the shaft and the commanded gear, the propulsion control processor first compares the oil pressure with a predetermined pressure threshold to determine whether the current gear is neutral or one of forward and reverse, the propulsion control process then compares one or more of the gear state, the direction of rotation, and the commanded gear based on the first comparison to determine whether the current gear is one of neutral, forward and reverse.