Patent ID: 8322247

Claim:
A shifter assembly for use in conjunction with an electronically shifted manual transmission of a vehicle comprising a shift lever, a shift knob disposed on the shift lever, a guide, at least one shifter tactile sensor, and at least one gear selection sensor, wherein: the shift lever is disposed in the guide and is operable to move relative to the guide; the guide comprises a pattern of shift lever positions corresponding to specific gear ratios of the transmission of the vehicle such that, when the shift lever is positioned in a specific shift lever position, a corresponding gear ratio of the transmission is selected; the at least one shifter tactile sensor is disposed over the shift knob such that, when pressure is applied to the shift knob, the at least one shifter tactile sensor outputs a tactile signal indicating that pressure is being applied to the shift knob; and the at least one gear selection sensor is a resistive sensor comprising a ring disposed on the shift lever and a plurality of sensing strips positioned at locations along the guide such that the ring is in electrical communication with the sensing strips as the shift lever traverses the guide thereby producing a different output voltage depending on a location of the shift lever in the guide, wherein the at least one gear selection sensor is operable to detect a position of the shift lever in the guide and output a gear selection signal corresponding to the position of the shift lever in the guide and the selected gear ratio.