Patent 7310746 was granted and assigned to BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT on December, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method is provided for transmitting messages between bus users that are each linked with a communication bus for the purpose of exchanging messages and with a diagnostic device for detecting the failure of the communication bus. In a diagnostic operation mode that is different from the normal operation mode, the bus user receiving the message is requested by the diagnostic device to output the message to the communication bus, thereby diagnosing a message transmission between two bus users.