Patent ID: 8339254

Claim:
A method of displaying data representative of data received from, an on-board computer of a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: providing a data acquisition and display system; connecting said data acquisition display system to a motor vehicle via a data link connector extending between a vehicle connection port and at least one on-board computer positioned within said motor vehicle for bi-directional electrical communication of data relating to said motor vehicle, said data acquisition and display system including software constructed and arranged for operator configuration of said data acquisition and display system regarding the delivery of instructions to a display monitor for display of an operator configured visual image relating to said data relating to said motor vehicle received from said on-board computer; providing said display monitor with a touch sensitive screen display for display of said operator configured visual image in the form of a gauge skin, said data acquisition and display system having a configuration mode for selecting gauge skin properties according to various modifying options; touching a gauge skin displayed upon said screen display to toggle said data acquisition and display system into said configuration mode; configuring said gauge skin by selecting the desired properties for said gauge skin; saving said configuration to a memory means in electrical connection with said data acquisition and display system; recalling said configured gauge skin for display on said display monitor, said configured gauge skin representative of said motor vehicle data, said display monitor simultaneously displaying at least two said operator configured visual images relating to data received, the position of each of said at least two operator configured visual images on said display monitor being repositionable relative to other operator configured images on said display monitor.