Patent ID: 8380392

Claim:
A processor integrity system in a vehicle, the system comprising: m main processor modules that control at least m respective functions of the vehicle, where m is an integer greater than one; and a monitoring processor module that controls at least one function of the vehicle, that communicates with the m main processor modules over a distributed vehicle network, that selectively transmits a first query to at least one of the m main processor modules over the distributed vehicle network, that receives a first answer from at least one of the m main processor modules over the distributed vehicle network, that selectively transmits a second query to at least one of the m main processor modules if the first answer does not match a first expected answer, that receives a second answer from the at least one of the m main processor modules over the distributed vehicle network, and that sends a request for remedial action for at least one of the m main processor modules to a remedial action module if the second answer does not match a second expected answer, wherein the first query and the second query are different and the first expected answer and second expected answer are different.