Patent ID: 8155862

Claim:
A method of controlling an internal combustion engine having a cylinder accommodating a piston which reciprocates therein, and defining a combustion chamber, an air intake passage through which air is inducted into said cylinder, and an intake valve capable of shutting off air flowing into said cylinder from said air intake passage, the method comprising: closing said intake valve at a timing in a first range, which is before a maximum charge closing timing with which an amount of air inducted into said cylinder from said air intake passage would be maximized at a given engine speed, during a cylinder cycle when a desired amount of air to be inducted into said cylinder is less than or equal to a predetermined air amount at the given engine speed; and closing said intake valve at a timing in a second range, which is after said maximum charge closing timing and separated from said first range during a cylinder cycle, when a desired amount of air to be inducted into said cylinder is greater than said predetermined air amount at the given engine speed.