Patent ID: 8197384

Claim:
An engine start-up device for a hybrid vehicle power transmitting device, wherein the hybrid vehicle power transmitting device comprises (i) an electrically controlled differential portion having a differential mechanism and controlling an operating state of a first electric motor connected to the differential mechanism in a power transmissive state for thereby controlling a differential state of the differential mechanism, (ii) a shifting portion forming part of a power transmitting path to function as an automatic transmission, and (iii) a second electric motor connected to the power transmitting path; the engine start-up device starts up an engine using a first method of starting the engine during a non-shifting of the shifting portion, and starts up the engine using a second method of starting the engine during a shifting of the shifting portion, the first method being different from the second method; and In a condition that the engine start-up is performed during the shifting of the shifting portion, the engine start-up device accelerates a completion timing of the shifting and an ignition initiation timing of the engine in comparison to a condition when the engine start-up is not performed during the shifting of the shifting portion.