Patent ID: 7417401

Claim:
A method for operating a drive mechanism for shifting an automatic transmission and/or a clutch in a motor vehicle ( 1 ), with the motor vehicle being provided with a control device ( 19 ), by which at least a control of the drive mechanism and a determination of measurement data of a transmission path sensor and/or a clutch path sensor ( 20 ) for determining the position of the transmission and/or the clutch occurs, with the drive mechanism having an engine ( 16 ), being connected in a driving manner to a mobile element ( 18 ) to be positioned, comprising the steps of: a) bringing the mobile element ( 18 ) into a predetermined reference position with the help of the engine ( 16 ) and setting an absolute position signal to a reference value allocated to a reference position; b) changing the position of the mobile element ( 18 ) with the help of the engine ( 16 ) and creating an incremental position measurement signal, depending on the change in position, for the mobile element ( 18 ); c) controlling the incremental position measurement signal and following the absolute position signal when a change in the incremental position measurement signal occurs; d) repositioning the mobile element ( 18 ) in the reference position with the help of the engine ( 16 ) and determining the position value indicated by the absolute position signal in the reference position; e) determining a difference value from the position value and the reference value and saving said difference value in a data storage; and, f) repeating steps b) through e) are performed at least one more time; g) wherein at least two of the difference values created in this manner are added to a control value; h) wherein the control value is compared to a predetermined target value range and an error state is detected when deviations occur between the control value and the target value range.