Apparatus for electronically controlling internal combustion engine
First Claim
1. An electronic control apparatus for an internal combustion engine comprisinga processor having a central processing unit, a random access memory and a read-only memory;
- means for generating an interrupt signal having a predetermined period for causing an interrupt request signal to be applied to said processor; and
means for detecting said processor to be in a state of its normal operation and generating an output signal in response to said processor generating a signal equivalent to a pulse train having a pulse duration substantially equal to said predetermined period.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for electronically controlling an internal combustion engine of automobiles, in which a processor comprising a CPU, a RAM and a ROM is determined to be in the state of its normal operation when the processor delivers a predetermined pulse train in response to an interrupt signal having a predetermined period and supplied to the processor, and in which a backup circuit is actuated by a discriminant signal indicating the abnormal operation of the processor so that the operation of controlling the internal combustion engine, normally performed by the processor, is performed by the backup circuit.
28 Citations
37 Claims
-
1. An electronic control apparatus for an internal combustion engine comprising
a processor having a central processing unit, a random access memory and a read-only memory; -
means for generating an interrupt signal having a predetermined period for causing an interrupt request signal to be applied to said processor; and means for detecting said processor to be in a state of its normal operation and generating an output signal in response to said processor generating a signal equivalent to a pulse train having a pulse duration substantially equal to said predetermined period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An electronic engine control apparatus adapted for use with a combustion engine comprising
digital processing means having a central processing unit, a random access memory and a read-only memory, utilized for controlling operational conditions of said engine; -
interrupting signal generating means for generating an interrupting signal having a predetermined period to be applied to said digital processing means in response to delivery of data representative of an interval period corresponding to said predetermined period from said digital processing means; and detecting means for detecting said digital processing means to be in a state of its normal operation in response to said digital processing means producing output data corresponding to a pulse train having a pulse duration substantially equal to said predetermined period of said detecting means. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An electronic control apparatus for an internal combustion engine having:
-
sensor means for producing signals representative of operating conditions of said engine; actuator means for controlling respective energy conversion functions of said engine in response to control signals applied thereto; an input/output unit coupled to receive signals produced by said sensor means and to deliver control signals to said actuator means, and a data processing unit, coupled to said input/output unit, for carrying out engine control data processing operations in accordance with signals produced by said sensor means and thereby generating engine control codes that are coupled to said input/output unit; said input/output unit comprising; first means for generating an engine control timing signal pattern through which operational events of said engine are controlled; second means, coupled to said data processing unit, for storing said engine control codes; third means, coupled to said first means, for generating respective engine timing codes the values of which are selectively modified by said engine control timing pattern; fourth means, coupled to said second and third means, for comparing respective ones of said engine control codes with respective ones of said engine timing codes and producing respective output signals when said respective engine control codes define a prescribed relationship with respect to said engine timing codes; fifth means, coupled to said fourth means, for producing control signals to be coupled to said actuator means in response to the output signals produced by said fourth means; sixth means, responsive to the generation of an output signal by said fourth means, for generating an interrupt signal of a prescribed duration to be coupled to said data processing unit; and seventh means, coupled to said data processing unit, for generating a signal representative of a malfunction of said data processing unit, in response to said data processing unit failing to generate a prescribed signal representable by a pulse train having a pulse duration corresponding to said prescribed duration. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. An electronic control apparatus for an internal combustion engine having:
-
sensor means for producing signals representative of operating conditions of said engine; actuator means for controlling respective energy conversion functions of said engine in response to control signals applied thereto; an input/output unit coupled to receive signals produced by said sensor means and to deliver control signals to said actuator means, and a data processing unit, coupled to said input/output unit, for carrying out engine control data processing operations in accordance with signals produced by said sensor means and thereby generating engine control codes that are coupled to said input/output unit; said input/output unit comprising; first means for generating an engine control timing signal pattern through which operational events of said engine are controlled; second means, coupled to said data processing unit, for storing said engine control codes; third means, coupled to said first means, for generating respective engine timing codes the values of which are selectively modified by said engine control timing pattern; fourth means, coupled to said second and third means, for comparing respective ones of said engine control codes with respective ones of said engine timing codes and producing respective output signals when said respective engine control codes define a prescribed relationship with respect to said engine timing codes; fifth means, coupled to said fourth means, for producing control signals to be coupled to said actuator means in response to the output signals produced by said fourth means; sixth means, responsive to a selected one of the respective output signals produced by said fourth means, for generating an interrupt signal to be coupled to said data processing unit; and seventh means, coupled to said data processing unit, for generating a signal representative of a malfunction of said data processing unit, in response to said data processing unit failing to generate a prescribed signal the state of which changes within a prescribed period of time following its previous change of state. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. For use in a processor-controlled apparatus for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine in response to sensor signals representative of operating conditions of the engine supplied thereto, an arrangement for detecting misoperation of said apparatus comprising:
first means, coupled to said processor, for periodically generating an interrupt signal and causing an interrupt request signal to be supplied to said processor; and
second means, coupled to said processor, for generating an output signal representative of a malfunction of said apparatus in response to said processor failing to generate a signal equivalent to a periodic pulse train the period of which corresponds to the period of said interrupt signal.
-
36. For use in a processor-controlled apparatus for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine in response to sensor signals representative of operating conditions of the engine supplied thereto, an arrangement for detecting misoperation of said apparatus comprising:
-
first means, coupled to said processor, for generating a first data signal representative of the frequency at which an interrupt signal for causing an interrupt request to be coupled to said processor is to be generated; second means for storing a second data signal the value of which is periodically changed at a constant frequency; third means, coupled to said first and second means, for generating said interrupt signal in response to the value of said second data signal having a predetermined relationship with said first data signal; and fourth means, coupled to said processor, for generating an output signal representative of a malfunction of said apparatus in response to said processor failing to generate a signal equivalent to a periodic pulse train the frequency of which corresponds to the frequency represented by said first data signal.
-
-
37. For use in a processor-controlled apparatus for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine in response to sensor signals representative of operating conditions of the engine supplied thereto, an arrangement for detecting normal operation of said apparatus comprising:
-
first means, coupled to said processor, for generating a first data signal representative of the frequency at which an interrupt signal for causing an interrupt request to be coupled to said processor is to be generated; second means for storing a second data signal the value of which is periodically changed at a constant frequency; third means, coupled to said first and second means, for generating said interrupt signal in response to the value of said second data signal having a predetermined relationship with said first data signal; and fourth means, coupled to said processor, for generating an output signal representative of normal operation of said apparatus in response to said processor generating a signal equivalent to a periodic pulse train the frequency of which corresponds to the frequency represented by said first data signal.
-
Specification