Patent ID: 7489303

Claim:
A configurable instrument panel for controlling functions of a vehicle, said panel comprising: a vehicle instrument panel display including a rear projection display screen; a plurality of physical control details capable of movement between a plurality of positions and mounted in front of said screen, at least one of said physical control details comprising a rotatable control knob; an electro-optical sensing system, located behind said screen and capable of sensing the plurality of positions of each of said plurality of physical control details, and having a field of view which encompasses said plurality of physical control details, for sensing a current position of each of said plurality of physical control details based on reflected light; and a computer, connected to said electro-optical sensing means, for reconfiguring the instrument panel from a display on the screen of one vehicle function to a different display on the screen of at least one other vehicle function, and for determining, from a current position of a physical control detail sensed by the electro-optical sensing means, as least one input to control a currently configured function of the vehicle, said vehicle functions and associated displays on said screen being selected from the group consisting of functions and associated displays of an audio system, climate control system and navigation system.