Patent ID: 8757025

Claim:
Shift module ( 1 ) for a shift lever of an automatic gear drive, comprising: a. a linearly displaceably supported slider ( 10 ), which is engageable with the shift lever and which can be displaced linearly within a stationary guiding slot from a rest position to a displaced position, the slider being constrained by the guiding slot to move linearly in two opposite switching directions by means of the shift lever; b. a measuring device ( 20 , 92 , 94 ) that determines the position of the slider ( 10 ), the measuring device ( 20 , 92 , 94 ) comprising a permanent magnet ( 20 ) mounted to the slider ( 10 , 200 ), the permanent magnet ( 20 ) cooperating with at least one stationary Hall sensor ( 92 , 94 ), such that the measuring device ( 20 , 92 , 94 ) measures the actual position of the slider ( 10 ) continuously in space over substantially the full travel of the slider; c. shift electronics which output a digital shift signal to the automatic gear drive at particular values measured by the Hall sensors ( 92 , 94 ) wherein the shift electronics are further arranged such that the velocity of the slider ( 10 ) and thereby the velocity of the shift lever are calculated; and d. at least one resetting element ( 30 ) that applies a resetting force to the slider ( 10 ), urging the slider toward the rest position, the resetting element ( 30 ) being biased against a guiding face ( 12 ) formed on the slider, the guiding face ( 12 ) comprising two opposing partial faces ( 13 , 14 ) which are spaced apart and substantially symmetrical to each other, each of the two opposing partial faces being convex in shape continuously over the portion of the guiding face that comes into contact with the resetting element and each of the two opposing partial faces being inclined with respect to the movement direction of the slider ( 10 ) such that the shift lever is displaced out of the rest position by means of a initially higher force ( 110 ), which decreases after a predetermined displacement of the slider, the guiding face ( 12 ) of the slider ( 10 ) further comprising an effective width (b), which is larger than the full travel of the slider; e. the resetting force alone being sufficient to move the slider ( 10 ) and the shift lever from said displaced position back to the rest position.