System and method to determine the operating status of an electrical system having a system controller and an actuator controller

1. A method to determine an operating status of an electrical system having a system controller configured to send commands to several actuator controllers subordinate to the system controller, each of the several actuator controllers controlling an actuator of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a system key by the system controller for the several actuator controllers;

transmitting the system key from the system controller to a respective one of the several actuator controllers;

evaluating the system key by the respective one of the several actuator controllers to determine whether the system controller is operating properly or improperly;

initiating a first safe mode operation upon determining by the respective one of the actuator controllers that the system controller is operating improperly, the first safe mode operation causing the respective one of the several actuator controllers to ignore all subsequent commands received from the system controller while allowing the system controller continues to send new commands to the respective one of the several actuator controller controllers;

generating an actuator key by the actuator controller;

transmitting the actuator key from the actuator controller to the system controller upon

determining that the system controller is operating properly;

comparing the actuator key by the system controller with an expected actuator key value;

determining by the system controller that the actuator controller is operating improperly upon determining that the actuator key is an unexpected actuator key value; and

initiating a second safe mode operation upon determining that the actuator controller is operating improperly, the second safe mode operation causing the system controller to remove power from the actuator controller.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

comparing, by the actuator controller, the system key with an expected system key value; and

initiating the first safe mode upon determining that system key is an unexpected system key value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actuator key value is based on a system rate of the actuator controller.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actuator key value is based on system checks of at least one logic unit of the actuator controller.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one logic unit of the actuator controller is a read only memory, a random access memory, or an arithmetic logic unit.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

comparing, by the system controller, a rate at which the actuator key was generated with an expected rate; and

removing power from the actuator controller upon determining that the actuator key was generated at an unexpected rate.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of transmitting from the actuator controller to the system controller information regarding an operating state of the system controller.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the system key value is based on a system rate of the system controller.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the system key value is based on system checks of at least one logic unit of the system controller.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one logic unit of the system controller is a read only memory, a random access memory, or an arithmetic logic unit.

11. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:

comparing, by the actuator controller, a rate at which the system key was generated with an expected rate; and

ignoring commands from the system controller by the actuator controller upon determining that the system key was generated at an unexpected rate.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of transmitting from the actuator controller to the system controller information regarding an operating state of the system controller.

13. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:

determining by the actuator controller if the system controller is capable of determining if the actuator key is the expected actuator key value; and

ignoring commands from the system controller by the actuator controller upon determining that the system controller is incapable of determining if the actuator key is the expected actuator key value.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

determining by the system controller if the actuator controller is capable of determining if the system key is the expected system key value; and

removing power from the actuator controller upon determining that the actuator controller is incapable of determining if the system key is the expected system key value.