1. A tachometer system for a motor vehicle having an engine selected from a plurality of engines having unique maximum rated engine RPMS, the system comprising:
an RPM data signal and scale correction data;
a microcontroller receiving said RPM data signal and said scale correction data and generating a scaled tachometer signal therefrom in accordance with a computer program stored in a memory;
a gauge drive circuit receiving said scaled tachometer signal from said microcontroller; and
a tachometer gauge having a pointer driven by said gauge driver circuit, wherein said computer program calculates said scaled tachometer signal according to a first scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents less than a predetermined RPM, and calculates said scaled tachometer signal according to a second scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents greater than said predetermined RPM, said second scaling constant being selected from a set of predetermined scaling constants according to said scale correction data.
2. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said RPM data comprises a network bus message.
3. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said RPM data comprises a digital pulse train.
4. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said predetermined RPM is less than the lowest maximum rated RPM of the plurality of engines.
5. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said tachometer gauge further comprises a dial face having numerated indicia with a highest numbered indicium representing an RPM less than or equal to said predetermined RPM.
6. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said scale correction data is a network bus message.
7. The tachometer system of claim 1 wherein said scale correction data resides in said memory.
8. A tachometer system for a motor vehicle having an engine selected from a plurality of engines having unique maximum rated engine RPMs, the system comprising:
an RPM data signal and scale correction data;
a microcontroller receiving said RPM data signal and said scale correction data and generating a scaled tachometer signal therefrom in accordance with a computer program stored in a memory;
a gauge drive circuit receiving said scaled tachometer signal from said microcontroller; and
a tachometer gauge having a dial face with a redline indicium, said tachometer gauge further comprising a pointer driven by said gauge driver circuit, said pointer being rotatable between a zero RPM position and said redline indicium, wherein said computer program calculates said scaled tachometer signal according to a first scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents less than a predetermined RPM, and calculates said scaled tachometer signal according to a second scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents greater than said predetermined RPM, said second scaling constant being selected from a set of predetermined scaling constants according to said scale correction data and the position of said pointer when pointing at said redline indicium.
9. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said RPM data comprises a network bus message.
10. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said RPM data comprises a digital pulse train.
11. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said predetermined RPM is less than the lowest maximum rated RPM of the plurality of engines.
12. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said dial face further comprises numerated indicia with a highest numbered indicium representing an RPM less than or equal to said predetermined RPM.
13. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said scale correction data is a network bus message.
14. The tachometer system of claim 8 wherein said scale correction data resides in said memory.
15. In a vehicle having an engine RPM data signal and a gauge drive circuit which receives a scaled tachometer signal derived from the RPM data signal, said scaled tachometer signal having a value associated with a redline indicium of a tachometer dial face, a method for deriving the scaled tachometer signal, the method comprising:
determining a maximum rated RPM of an engine in the vehicle;
deriving said scaled tachometer signal according to a first scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents less than a predetermined RPM; and
deriving said scaled tachometer signal according to a second scaling constant while said RPM data signal represents greater than said predetermined RPM, wherein said second scaling constant is predetermined such that the scaled tachometer signal value associated with the redline indicium coincides with the RPM data signal at said maximum rated RPM.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of determining a maximum rated RPM of an engine in the vehicle comprises receiving scale correction data.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1-11. (canceled)
12. A driver warning device comprising:
a detection unit for detecting conditions of at least one of: i) a vehicle, and ii) a driver of the vehicle; and
a warning unit for issuing warnings to the driver when a safety-critical condition of the at least one of the vehicle and the driver is reached, a limit value for a safety-critical condition of the at least one of the vehicle and the driver being determined as a function of a user profile.
13. The device as recited in claim 12, wherein limit values for safety-critical conditions of the at least one of the vehicle and the driver are stored in the user profile.
14. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
an evaluation unit configured to determine a safety-critical limit value by comparing at least one of vehicle and driver conditions stored in the user profile to at least one of vehicle and driver conditions recorded during a predetermined period of time prior to a time of evaluation.
15. The device as recited in claim 14, further comprising:
a unit configured to change an associated safety-control limit if at least one of acceleration values and RPM values is above a predetermined limit.
16. The device as recited in claim 14, further comprising:
a unit which changes an associated safety-control limit if a distance from vehicles ahead are below a predetermined limit.
17. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
a feedback unit configured to determine a driver reaction to a warning and to adapt the user profile as a function of whether there was a reaction to the warning.
18. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
an interface configured to supply the user profile to the device.
19. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
a control unit configured to select a stored user profile.
20. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
a control unit configured to set up a new user profile.
21. The device as recited in claim 12, further comprising:
a memory unit to store user profiles for different drivers of the vehicle.
22. The device as recited in claim 12, wherein the device is connected via a data bus to a plurality of sensors to detect conditions of the at least one of the vehicle and the driver.
23. A driver warning method, comprising:
detecting conditions of at least one of a vehicle and driver of the vehicle;
issuing a warning to the driver when a safety-critical condition of the at least one of the vehicle and the driver is reached; and
determining a limit value for the safety-critical condition as a function of a stored user profile.
24. The method as recited in claim 23, further comprising:
adapting the user profile as a function of at least one vehicle conditions, driver conditions, and a driver input.
25. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the adapting includes deactivating warnings.