Vehicle information display and method

Abstract

An information display system for a hybrid electric vehicle configured to display one or more reasons an engine is on is provided. The information display system also indicates how close the engine is to turning on due to an engine on reason by displaying a proximity indicator representing a value associated with the engine on reason and a threshold demarcating values which cause the engine to be on.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A display comprising:
 a threshold associated with a plurality of engine-on reasons, and   a plurality of indicators, each indicative of a value associated with an engine-on reason,   wherein the first threshold indicates the value for each engine-on reason at which an engine is caused to turn on.   
     
     
         22 . The display of claim  1 , wherein the indicators change color based upon their proximity to the at least one threshold. 
     
     
         23 . The display of claim  2 , wherein the value associated with each engine-on reason corresponds to one of a plurality of proximity levels indicating a relative proximity to the at least one threshold. 
     
     
         24 . The display of claim  1 , wherein the display displays at least one of the engine-on reasons when the value corresponding to that engine-on reason reaches the at least one threshold. 
     
     
         25 . The display of claim  4 , wherein displaying at least one of the engine-on reasons includes displaying an engine-on reason explanation for the engine-on reason. 
     
     
         26 . The display of claim  1 , wherein the at least one threshold changes color when at least one indicator reaches the at least one threshold. 
     
     
         27 . The display of claim  1 , wherein the at least one threshold includes an engine-on threshold and an engine-off threshold, the engine-off threshold indicating the value for each engine-on reason at which the engine will turn off. 
     
     
         28 . The display of claim  7 , wherein the engine-off threshold is spaced apart from the engine-on threshold, the display configured to display the engine-off threshold only when the engine is on for at least the corresponding engine-on reason and the engine-on threshold only when the engine is not on for at least the corresponding engine-on reason. 
     
     
         29 . The display of claim  7 , wherein the engine-off threshold is displayed when the engine is on for at least the engine-on reason corresponding to the first threshold. 
     
     
         30 . A method comprising:
 acquiring data for vehicle operating parameters associated with a plurality of engine-on reasons;   setting a first threshold associated with the plurality of engine-on reasons, wherein the first threshold indicates an engine on/off transition for each of the plurality of engine-on reasons; and   displaying an indicator for each engine-on reason indicating a value relative to the first threshold.   
     
     
         31 . The method of claim  10  further comprising:
 calculating the value corresponding to each engine-on reason based on the vehicle operating parameters. 
 
     
     
         32 . The method of claim  10 , wherein the value corresponds to one of a plurality of proximity levels indicating a relative proximity to the at least one threshold. 
     
     
         33 . The method of claim  12 , wherein each indicator changes color based upon the proximity level. 
     
     
         34 . The method of claim  10 , further comprising:
 displaying at least one of the engine-on reasons when the value corresponding to the at least one engine-on reason reaches the threshold.   
     
     
         35 . The method of claim  14 , wherein displaying at least one of the engine-on reasons includes displaying an engine-on reason explanation for the engine-on reason. 
     
     
         36 . The method of claim  10 , wherein the first threshold changes color when at least one indicator reaches the first threshold. 
     
     
         37 . The method of claim  10 , further comprising:
 setting a second threshold indicating the value for each engine-on reason that causes the engine to turn off, the second threshold different from the first threshold.   
     
     
         38 . A display comprising:
 a plurality of indicators, each indicative of a value associated with an engine-on reason; and   a plurality of thresholds one threshold associated with each indicator, wherein each threshold indicates a threshold value at which an engine turns on for each engine-on reason;   wherein the each indicator changes color based upon proximity to the threshold.   
     
     
         39 . The display of claim  18 , wherein each threshold changes color when the indicator reaches the threshold. 
     
     
         40 . The display of claim  18 , wherein the value corresponds to one of a plurality of proximity levels indicating a relative proximity to the threshold.