received by the International Bureau on 07 December 2017 (07.12.2017)

1. A shifter assembly (20) for selecting a first mode and a second mode of a transmission for a vehicle, said shifter assembly (20) comprising:

a housing (22) having an exterior surface (24);

a shift lever (26) movably coupled to said housing and pivotable relative to said housing (22), said shift lever (26) comprising;

a body (32) having a first body end (34) and a second body end (36) with the second body end (36) adjacent die exterior surface (24) of said housing (22),

a cap (38) defining an aperture (44) and being coupled to said body (32) adjacent said first body end (34) with said cap (38) being rotatable relative to said body (32) between a first orientation for selecting said first mode and a second orientation for selecting said second mode of the transmission,

a toggle device (52) coupled to said cap (38) for movement with said cap (38) between said orientations and disposed in said aperture (44), with at least a portion of said toggle device (52) moveably coupled to said cap (38) between a rest position and a depressed position,

a biasing member (66) disposed in said body (32) and engaging said toggle device (52) to bias said toggle device (52) toward a predetermined position,

an element (94) mounted to said toggle device (52) and rotatable with said toggle device (52) and said cap (38) between said first orientation and said second orientation, and

a sensor system (96) mounted in said body (32) adjacent said toggle device (52) and configured to interact with said element (94) to detect rotation of said cap (38) between said first and said second orientations.

2. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said sensor system (96) is configured to output a first voltage when said cap (38) is in said first orientation for selecting said first mode of die transmission and configured to output a second voltage different man said first voltage when said cap (38) is in said second orientation for selecting said second mode of the transmission.

3. The shifter assembly of claim 1 or 2, wherein said sensor system (96) comprises a hall effect sensor (101) and said element (94) comprises a magnet (102) with said magnet (102) rotatable with said cap (38) relative to said hall effect sensor (101) such mat said hall effect sensor (101) outputs a first voltage when said cap (38) is m said first orientation and outputs a second voltage when said cap (38) is in said second orientation.

4. The shifter assembly of claim 3, wherein said hall effect sensor (101) of said sensor system (96) detects rotation of said cap (38) between said first and said second orientations and detects movement of at least said portion of said toggle device (52) between said rest position and said depressed position.

5. The shifter assembly of claim 1 or 2, wherein said sensor system (96) comprises a hall effect sensor (101) and a switch (98) with said hall effect sensor (101) detecting rotation of said cap (38) between said first and said second orientations and said switch (98) detecting movement of at least a portion of said toggle device (52) between said rest position and said depressed position.

6. The shifter assembly of claim 1 or 2, wherein said sensor system (96) comprises a potentiometer (112) and said element (94) comprising a resistance element (114) with said resistance element (114) rotatable with said cap (38) relative to said potentiometer (112) such that said potentiometer (112) outputs a first voltage when said cap (38) is in said first orientation and outputs a second voltage when said cap (38) is in said second orientation.

7. The shifter assembly of claim 6, wherein said sensor system (96) further includes a switch (98) with said potentiometer (112) detecting rotation of said cap (38) between said first and said second orientations and said switch (98) detecting movement of at least said portion of said toggle device (52) between said rest position and said depressed position.

8. The shifter assembly of claim 6, wherein said potentiometer (112) of said sensor system (96) detects rotation of said cap (38) between said first and said second orientations and detects movement of at least said portion of said toggle device (52) between said rest position and said depressed position.

9. The shifter assembly of claim 6, wherein said potentiometer (112) defines an orifice (116) with said resistance element (114) received by said orifice (116) to detect rotation of said resistance element (114) relative to said potentiometer (112).

10. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said shift lever (26) defines a longitudinal axis (LA) extending therethrough with said sensor system (96) disposed along said longitudinal axis (LA).

11. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said toggle device (52) comprises a plurality of detent surfaces (60) with said biasing member (66) engaging said plurality of detent surfaces (60) to provide tactile feedback.

12. The shifter assembly of claim 11, wherein said body (32) comprises two biasing members (66).

13. The shift assembly of claim 1, wherein said toggle device (52) comprises a rotary cam drive portion (72) and a button portion (74) with a spring (76) disposed between said rotary cam drive portion (72) and said button portion (74) to bias said button portion (74) toward said rest position.

14. The shifter assembly of claim 13, wherein said cap (38) is coupled to said rotary cam drive portion (72) such that said cap (38) is coupled to said body (32) while permitting said rotation of said cap (38) relative to said body (32).

15. The shifter assembly of claim 14 further comprising a retainer (82) disposed between said cap (38) and said body (32) with said retainer (82) coupled to said body (32) wherein said retainer (82) is configured to retain said rotary cam drive portion (72) of said toggle device (52) between said body (32) and said cap (38).

16. The shifter assembly of claim 13, wherein said element (94) is mounted to said rotary cam drive portion (72) of said toggle device (52).

17. The shifter assembly of claim 1 , wherein said body (32) has a first locking member (90) and said cap (38) has a second locking member (92) with said first (90) and said second (92) locking members engaged to each other such mat said cap (38) is coupled to said body (32) while permitting said rotation of said cap (38).

18. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said cap (38) is rotatable relative to said body (32) to a third orientation.

19. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said cap (38) comprises an indicator extension (46) extending toward said body (32) of said shift lever (26) to provide indication of said orientation of said cap (38).

20. The shifter assembly of claim 1, wherein said shift lever (26) is mono-stable relative to said housing (22).

21. The shifter assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first mode of the transmission is further defined as a drive position of the transmission, and the second mode of the transmission is further defined as a reverse position of the transmission, and wherein when said cap (38) actuates between said first and second orientations, said rest position of said toggle device (52) corresponds to an automatic mode of the transmission and said depressed position of said toggle device (52) corresponds to a manual mode of the transmission.

22. A method of operating a shift lever (26) of a vehicle transmission with the shift lever (26) coupled to a housing (22) having an exterior surface (24) and the shift lever (26) having a body (32) having a first body end (34) and a second body end (36) with the second body end adjacent the exterior surface of the housing, a cap (38) coupled to the body (32) adjacent the first body end (34), a toggle device (52) coupled to the cap (38), an element (94) mounted to the toggle device (52), and a sensor system (96) mounted in the body (32), said method comprising the steps of:

rotating the cap (38) relative to the body (32) to at least one of a first orientation to select a first mode of the transmission and a second orientation to select a second mode of the transmission;

actuating at least a portion of the toggle device (52) from a rest position corresponding to an automatic mode of the transmission to a depressed position corresponding to a manual mode of the transmission;

sensing the rotating of the cap (38) and the toggle device (52) by the sensor system (96) detecting rotation of the element (94) mounted to the toggle device (52) between said first and second orientations; and

pivoting the body (32), cap (38) and toggle device (52) relative to the housing (22) to select a specific gear of the transmission.

23. A method as set forth in claim 22 further including the step of sensing the actuating of at least a portion of the toggle device (52) with the sensor system (96).

24. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the step of rotating the cap (38) is further defined as rotating the cap (38) and the toggle device (52) as a unit.

25. A method as set forth in claim 24 wherein the step of rotating the cap (38) and actuating at least a portion of the toggle device (52) are performed independently from each other.

26. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the toggle device (52) includes a rotary cam drive portion (72) and a button portion (74), and wherein the step of rotating the cap (38) is further defined as rotating the cap (38) and the rotary cam drive portion (72) as a unit, and wherein the step of actuating at least a portion of the toggle device (52) is further defined as actuating the button portion (74).

27. A method as set form in claim 27 wherein the button portion (74) is biased toward the rest position by a biasing member (66) disposed in the body (32).

28. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the shift lever (26) further includes a biasing member (66) disposed on the body (32) and engaging the toggle device (52) and further comprising the step of biasing the toggle device (52) with the biasing device (66) toward the rest position.

29. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the element (94) includes a magnet (102) and the sensor system (96) includes a hall effect sensor (101) and further comprising the steps of.

sensing a rotation of the magnet (102) with the rotating of cap (38) relative to the hall effect sensor (101);

outputting, by the hall effect sensor (101), a first voltage when the cap (38) is in the first orientation; and

outputting, by the hall effect sensor (101), a second voltage when the cap (38) is in the second orientation.

30. A method as set form in claim 30 further comprising the step of detecting, by the hall effect sensor (101), movement of at least a portion of the toggle device (52) between the rest position and the depressed position.

31. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the sensor system (96) includes a switch (98) and further comprising the step of detecting, by the switch (98), movement of at least a portion of die toggle device (52) between the rest position and the depressed position.

32. A method as set forth in claim 22 wherein the element (94) includes a resistance element (114) and the sensor system (96) includes a potentiometer (112) and further comprising the steps o£

sensing a rotation of the resistance element (114) with the rotating of the cap (38) relative to the potentiometer (112);

outputting, by the potentiometer (112), a first voltage when the cap (38) is in the first orientation; and

outputting, by the potentiometer (112), a second voltage when the cap (38) is in the second orientation.