Patent ID: 7433774

Claim:
A system for controlling an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders and mounted on a vehicle, comprising: an engine operation controller that conducts a switching control of engine operation based on a load of the engine between a full-cylinder operation in which all of the cylinders are operative and a cut-off cylinder operation in which some of the cylinders are inoperative, wherein the engine operative controller outputs a first signal indicating a state of the switching control; a running controller that conducts a running control including at least one of a cruise control in which the vehicle runs at a desired vehicle velocity and a preceding vehicle follow-up control in which the vehicle runs at a desired vehicle velocity to maintain a desired inter-vehicle distance from a preceding vehicle, wherein the running controller outputs a second signal indicating the state of a running control; and an acceleration suppression controller that receives the first and second signals, and conducts an acceleration suppression control if the first signal indicates that the engine operation is switched from the cut-off cylinder operation to the full-cylinder operation and the second signal indicates that the running control is in progress.