Patent ID: 8762982

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a vehicle instrument cluster having a housing, a transparent pane, a plurality of vehicle gauges, a plurality of tell-tale indicators, an instrument cluster controller and a presentation device, the transparent pane being coupled to the housing and defining a cavity in which the vehicle gauges, the tell-tale indicators, and the display are housed, the plurality of vehicle gauges comprising a vehicle speedometer and an engine tachometer, the instrument cluster controller being configured to receive vehicle signals and responsively operate the vehicle gauges and the tell-tale indicators, the presentation device having a liquid crystal display (LCD) with a flash memory; using an external electronic diagnostic tool and a controller area network (CAN) diagnostic interface within the presentation device to initiate data transfer to the vehicle instrument cluster; transmitting data to a microcontroller within the presentation device and in communication with the liquid crystal display (LCD) in the presentation device using a high speed bi-directional infrared link directly between a source infrared (IR) transmitter provided on the external electronic diagnostic tool and a destination infrared (IR) receiver in the form of a universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) provided on the microcontroller; storing the transmitted data in the flash memory in the presentation device in bi-directional communication with the microcontroller; checking for proper reception by the microcontroller of the infrared transmitted data via the external electronic diagnostic tool and the CAN diagnostic interface; and issuing a command from the external electronic diagnostic tool directing how to employ the transmitted data to reprogram the microcontroller within the presentation device; wherein using the external electronic diagnostic tool comprises locating the external electronic diagnostic tool proximate to the CAN diagnostic interface; and wherein using the CAN diagnostic interface comprises using the destination infrared (IR) receiver provided on the presentation device to receive the transmitted data through the high speed infrared link.