Patent ID: 7179189

Claim:
An automatic transmission for a vehicle comprising: an input shaft; an output shaft; a first plurality of gears; a second plurality of gears; a series of engagement elements operable between an engaged position and a disengaged position, said series of engagement elements including at least one overrunning engagement element in mechanical communication with said second plurality of gears; and a controller operable to selectively apply and release said series of engagement elements between said engaged position and said disengaged position to selectively couple one of said first plurality of gears and one of said second plurality of gears to said input shaft and said output shaft; wherein said controller is operable to controllably release a first engagement element coupled to one component of said first plurality of gears and controllably apply a second engagement element coupled to another component of said first plurality of gears to achieve a speed change of said first plurality of gears, said controller adapted to controllably release said one element from engagement with one of said second plurality of gears within a range of about 20 to 120 milliseconds after start of said speed change of said first plurality of gears to accomplish a speed change of said second plurality of gears and a speed change of said first plurality of gears to achieve a gear shift of the transmission.