Method and Apparatus for an Internal Combustion Engine With Learning Closed-Loop Control

1. A method for learning control with precontrol for an operating variable of an internal combustion engine, the method comprising the steps of: determining a precontrol value and correcting said precontrol value by means of an adaptation value and an output value with the adaptation values being formed from the desired values by means of logic operations utilizing corrective values; storing counter values in a counter reading memory for a predetermined number of operating points, the counter values being a measure for the learning advancement at a particular operating point with the counter value being limited to a maximum value; applying the counter reading from the counter reading memory and a value dependent on an actuating variable to a counter difference table and for these values, reading out a corresponding counter difference with which the counter reading is changed in the counter reading memory for the particular operating point; applying a counter read value and a value dependent on an actuating variable to a learning intensity table and reading a corresponding learning intensity value out of the table in dependence upon the values applied; logically combining the value dependent upon an actuating variable with the learning intensity value for forming the correction value; and, applying the correction value to control the internal combustion engine.

2. Apparatus for learning control with precontrol for an operating variable of an internal combustion engine wherein the variable is to be adjusted, the apparatus comprising: precontrol means for issuing a precontrol value for the operating variable to be adjusted in dependence upon values of operating variables other than the variable to be adjusted; desired value generating means for issuing a control variable desired value; control means for forming an output value of an actuating variable in dependence upon the difference between the control variable desired value and the measured control variable actual value, the precontrol value being controllably corrected with said output value; attenuation means for receiving the actuating variable and for issuing a correction value; learning condition recognition means for issuing a learning signal when a predetermined learning condition is fulfilled; an adaptation value memory for storing adaptation values which are addressable via values of address operating variables and for issuing that adaptation value for the controlling correction of the precontrol value which corresponds to the data record of values of the address operating variables with at least one adaptation value being corrected by means of the correction value when the learning condition recognition means issues the learning signal; and, said attenuation means including: a counter reading memory which is addressable in the same manner as the adaptation value memory and which stores a counter reading for each support point which is a measure for the learning advancement at this support point and which is limited to a maximum value; a learning intensity table which stores learning intensity values addressable via values of counter reading and an actuating variable dependent quantity and, for each data record of values of counter reading and mentioned quantity, issues the corresponding learning intensity value; logic operation means for attenuating the actuating variable dependent value with the learning intensity value for forming the correction value; and, a counter difference table which stores counter difference values addressable via values of counter reading and actuating variable dependent quantities and which issues the corresponding counter difference value to the counter reading characteristic field for a data record of values of counter reading and mentioned quantity for changing the counter reading at the particular support point by the counter difference value.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: the operating value to be adjusted is the fuel metering time, the control variable is the lambda value, the actuating variable is a control factor, the adaptation value is an adaptation factor and the learning intensity value is a learning factor, and the logic operation means includes a multiplication step which multiplicatively corrects the adaptation factors by means of the correction values.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: the operating variable to be adjusted is the ignition time point, the control variable is a torque indicating variable, the actuating variable is a control summand, the adaptation value is an adaptation summand and the learning intensity value is a learning summand, with all summands being capable of also taking on negative values; and, said logic operation means includes an adding step which additively corrects the adaptation values by means of the correction values.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: said learning condition recognition means issues a learning signal when a support point region of the adaptation value memory is left and when steady state operation was present therebefore.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, comprising delay means for changing a previous value in the counter reading memory into a new value only when there is confirmation that, for the readout of a value from the learning intensity table, the previous vale from the counter memory has been used, said change and said readout both being triggered by the occurrence of a learning signal.