In a method for monitoring the operation of a vacuum pump in a brake system, the vacuum pump is operated between an activation pressure and a deactivation pressure to generate a vacuum, the evacuation period between the activation pressure and the deactivation pressure being measured and compared with a reference period. An estimated value of the amount of intake air at a valve closing time at which an intake value is closed, is computed. A cache coherency protocol ensures data accessed by each unit is up-to-date. In the layout, a relationship of a first shape and a second shape associated with the first and the second nets, respectively, is defined using the first data. The voltage and current information is digitized and provided to a control integrated circuit. Identification of the abrupt transition in content includes calculating a difference in light intensity histograms between the current frame and a preceding frame, and comparing the histogram difference to a dynamically determined threshold.