Electronic control system with self-diagnostic function for use in motor vehicle

An electronic control system for use in a motor vehicle which performs self-diagnostics in terms of abnormalities, comprising:

• an intake air amount sensor for sensing an intake air amount into an engine of said motor vehicle and generating a detection signal indicative of the sensed intake air amount;
• an engine speed sensor for sensing an engine speed and generating a detection signal indicative of the sensed engine speed;
• a cooling water temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of a cooling water of said engine and generating a detection signal indicative of the sensed cooling water temperature;
• a processing unit, responsive to said detection signals from said sensors, for processing data corresponding to said detection signals, said processing unit being equipped with a microprocessor, a first write-allowable internal memory and a second write-allowable internal memory;
• a write-allowable external memory backed up by a battery and provided at an outside of said processing unit so as to be electrically coupled to said processing unit;
• and
• wherein said processing unit is equipped with means for storing a plurality of data corresponding to all of said detection signals into said first internal memory at a time when an abnormality does not occur, means for transferring data corresponding to the sensed intake air amount and data corresponding to the sensed engine speed from said first internal memory to said second internal memory and transferring data corresponding to the sensed cooling water temperature from said first internal memory to said external memory when an abnormality occurs, and means for outputting the data stored in said second internal memory and external memory in response to a signal inputted from an external circuit.

An electronic control system for use in a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a first sensor for sensing a first operation state and generating a first detection signal indicative of the sensed first operation state;
• a second sensor for sensing a second operation state and generating a second detection signal indicative of the sensed second operation state, said second detection signal categorized as having a lower significance than said first detection signal;
• a third sensor for sensing a third operation state and generating a third detection signal indicative of the sensed third operation state, said third detection signal categorized as having a lower significance than said first detection signal;
• a processing unit, responsive to all of the detection signals from said first to third sensors, for processing data corresponding to all of the detection signals, said processing unit being equipped with a microprocessor, a first write-allowable internal memory and a second write-allowable internal memory backed up by a battery;
• a write-allowable external memory backed up by said battery and provided outside of said processing unit so as to electrically coupled to said processing unit;
• wherein said processing unit is equipped with means for storing a plurality of data corresponding to all the detection signals into said first internal memory at a time when an abnormality does not occur, and further equipped with means for adding first check-function data to said data corresponding to the detection signal of said first sensor and transferring them from said first internal memory to said second internal memory when an abnormality occurs, means for adding second check-function data to said data corresponding to the detection signals of said second and third sensors and transferring them from said first internal memory to said external memory when an abnormality occurs, said second check-function data being constructed by taking the sum of said second and third sensor data, and means for outputting said data stored in said second internal memory and external memory in response to a signal inputted from an external circuit.

An electronic control system for use in a motor vehicle, comprising:

• sensor means for sensing an operation state of said motor vehicle and generating a detection signal indicative of the detected operation state;
• a processing unit responsive to the generated detection signal to process data corresponding to the detection signal, said processing unit equipped with a microprocessor and a write-allowable internal memory;
• a write-allowable backup memory electrically coupled to said processing unit;
• wherein said processing unit has means for storing a plurality of data corresponding to said detection signal into said memory when an abnormality does not occur, means for adding check-function data to the data stored in said internal memory, means for transferring said data from said internal memory to said backup memory when the abnormality occurs, and means for outputting any data in said internal memory and external memory in response to a signal inputted from an external circuit.