Patent ID: 7765042

Claim:
A method for monitoring a motor vehicle system having mechanical components and at least one control device, the method comprising: detecting a plurality of input signals and a plurality of output signals as continuous-value signals that characterize the operating behavior of the motor vehicle system; assigning discrete values to value intervals of the input signals and the output signals to form a plurality of discrete-value input signals and a plurality of discrete-value output signals, wherein the value intervals correspond to values between a plurality of pre-established thresholds, wherein at least one value interval is not equal in size to another value interval, wherein the discrete-value input signals are sequences of the discrete values that correspond to the values of the input signals, and wherein the discrete-value output signals are sequences of the discrete values that correspond to the values of the output signals; combining the plurality of discrete-value input signals to form a single combined discrete-value input signal and combining the plurality of discrete-value output signals to form a single combined discrete-value output signal; detecting as an event a change to at least one of: the single combined discrete-value input signal or the single combined discrete-value output signal; storing consecutive events as at least one signal event sequence; comparing the at least one signal event sequence with at least one normal model comprising at least one normal event sequence, wherein the normal model is of a normal behavior of the motor vehicle system, and if the at least one signal event sequence matches the at least one normal event sequence then a determination is made that the motor vehicle system is operating properly, and if the at least one signal event sequence does not match the at least one normal event sequence then a determination is made that the motor vehicle system is operating erroneously.