Patent ID: 7370517

Claim:
A method of recognizing the change of the coupling of a crankshaft and a camshaft of an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps: determining angular positions of said crankshaft and said camshaft from signals of two detecting devices; monitoring a relative angular position of one of the shafts relative to the other of the shafts; providing a tolerance region of the relative position; determining whether a change of the determined actual relative position is located outside the tolerance region; recognizing the change of the coupling of said crankshaft and said camshaft and, without compensating the changes, releasing an action depending on whether a change of the determined actual relative position is located outside said tolerance region; and changing a desired relative position of the both shafts relative to one another; and using an actual relative position for the monitoring, wherein the actual relative position is determined in a certain position of a possible adjusting region.