Patent ID: 7124017

Claim:
A method of operating an internal combustion engine in which fuel is combusted during a working stroke in at least one combustion chamber, comprising the steps of determining by a pressure sensor a gas pressure acting in the combustion chamber during the working stroke; monitoring a plausibility of a measuring variable obtained from a signal of the pressure sensor; determining, from a plurality of actual operational variables of the internal combustion engine, which are not based on the signal of the pressure sensor, a reference variable corresponding to the measuring variable; comparing the measuring variable with the reference variable; and by this comparison checking the plausibility of the signal of the pressure sensor and the measuring variable obtained from it, further comprising determining time courses of the measuring variable and the reference variable within one working stroke and comparing the both courses with one another, and determining a deviation of the measuring variable from the reference variable in equal time locations of the both courses, forming a sum value from said deviation; and comparing the sum value with at least one limiting value.