Patent ID: 7966115

Claim:
A system for controlling shift points of a transmission carried by a motor vehicle, the transmission including a tailshaft coupled to at least one wheel of the vehicle, the system comprising: means for determining a weight of the vehicle, a memory unit having stored therein at least one transmission shift point schedule and having stored therein at least one set of instructions, the at least one transmission shift point schedule comprising a default upshift schedule defining transmission shift points between two or more gear ratios of the transmission as a function of a throttle position, rotational speed of the tailshaft and a vehicle weight that is one of or between a minimum weight of the vehicle and a maximum weight of the vehicle, and a control circuit configured to determine the throttle position as a function of user-requested fueling and to execute the at least one set of instructions to modify the default upshift schedule as a function of the weight of the vehicle and as a function of the default upshift schedule by extrapolating the default upshift schedule to lower rotational speeds of the tailshaft than those of the default upshift schedule if the weight of the vehicle is below that upon which the default upshift schedule is based, and by extrapolating the default upshift schedule to higher rotational speeds of the tailshaft than those of the default upshift schedule if the weight of the vehicle is above that upon which the default upshift schedule is based, and to control automatic upshifting between two or more gear ratios of the transmission in accordance with the modified default upshift schedule.